AHANS is buying the Travelodge Suites by Wyndham Halifax Dartmouth, located at 101 Yorkshire Ave Ext., off Windmill Road in Dartmouth, using a mix of provincial and federal funding directed through the municipal government targeted toward deeply affordable housing.
Halifax regional council approved a proposal from AHANS to use about $6.3 million in federal money from the Rapid Housing Initiative to convert an existing non-residential building, as the Halifax Examiner reported in September.
Woodford continues:
An employee on the front desk confirmed to the Examiner by phone that Thursday is the last day the hotel will be open. He said he found out about the sale a couple weeks ago.
The sale price isn’t yet publicly listed. According to ViewPoint Realty, the building last sold in January 2019 for $4.2 million.
Twenty-six new cases of COVID-19 were announced on Wednesday. Tim Bousquet has the full update here. Twenty-two of the new cases are in Nova Scotia Health’s Central Zone; the other four are in the Northern Zone.
There are 146 known active cases in Nova Scotia. Ten people are in hospital with the disease and one of those patients is in ICU.
You can still get tested and here are the locations for today and Friday:
Thursday Halifax Convention Centre, noon-7pm — Kentville Lions Club, 10am-5pm
Environment Minister Tim Halman speaks with reporters on Oct. 27, 2021. Photo: Tim Bousquet
Tim Bousquet has a report on the Environmental Goals and Climate Change Reduction Act, which the Houston government tabled on Wednesday. As Woodford notes, the Act is a new version of the previous Liberal government’s Sustainable Development Goals Act of 2019, although there are some big differences.
Woodford breaks it all down and also got reaction from Noreen Mabiza, the Energy Coordinator at the Ecology Action Centre (EAC) who said the EAC was happy to see the goals in legislation and added this:
Of course more work has to be done. We’re in a climate emergency, so there’s more work to do — we need to get rid of offshore oil, for example.
Film director Hubert Davis talks to Paul Byard about the former Colored Hockey League of the Maritimes. Byard’s father St. Clair Byard was a member of the Truro Victorias. Photo(s): Matthew Byard.
Matthew Byard interviewed Hubert Davis, the Oscar-nominated director of Black Ice, a new documentary being filmed about the Colored Hockey League of the Maritimes. The documentary is based on the 2004 book, Black Ice: The Lost History of the Colored Hockey League of the Maritimes, 1895-1925, which was written by brothers George and Darril Fosty.
As Byard learned, the players from the league have all since passed away, so Davis is interviewing their descendants, which includes Byard’s father Paul.
St. Clair Byard, Paul’s father, played for the Truro Victorias. Davis told Byard why it’s important to get these stories:
What we’re finding is, I think in the Black community, the oral tradition is really how stories have been handed down. So [we’re] trying to kind of reclaim some of those stories so that they’re out there and documented so that they don’t kind of get lost from generation to generation.
Byard interviewed his father, Paul, who talked about the legacy of the league:
When my father and those guys played, their skills and things were passed down from somebody else and then they passed it down. And I think as the country grew and as Blacks got more involved in sports, in hockey in particular, by time the 1940s and 50s came, there was just an explosion of talent — of Black talent. And it just couldn’t be held down anymore, it was all over Canada.
I’ve been working with Byard on his stories and I’ve said this before: he has really good instincts for ideas, he gets out into the community and digs for stories, and he’s creating a good network of contacts. He’s also a very good photographer. It’s been fun following his progress and reading his work.
A few years ago, I was driving past Feed Nova Scotia’s warehouse in Burnside and wondered, “why is the food bank getting bigger?” For years, Feed Nova Scotia was located in a much smaller space on the Bedford Highway. Some people don’t like it when you comment on food banks because they think you’re criticizing the staff and volunteers who run them. That’s not the case at all, of course. But seeing food banks getting bigger and busier means there are other societal issues that are being ignored. Bigger and busier food banks aren’t a success story.
It looks like Dolores Campbell at the Cape Breton Spectator was thinking about food banks, too. She wrote this piece, Banking on food banks, this week.
Campbell writes about an article she saw by Lori Nikkel, CEO of Second Harvest, Canada’s largest food rescue organization, in the Globe and Mail. I saw that article, too, and it has this statistic that stands out:
Food charities outnumber grocery stores in Canada four to one.
Campbell writes:
Nikkel quotes a recent report from Second Harvest, “Canada’s Invisible Food Network,” which found that the $33 billion worth of food these organizations distributed last year would “make them the second-largest grocery store chain in Canada, having served about 6.7 million Canadians.”
She also cites a Statistics Canada report that found that in 2019, “an estimated 1.2 million households” in Canada were living with food insecurity, a number that increased to one in seven families during the COVID pandemic in 2020.
Campbell also has some stats on food bank use in Nova Scotia and it’s not getting any better:
As far back as its HungerCount 2016 report, Food Banks Canada found a rise in food bank use across the country — including a 20.9% surge in Nova Scotia and a 24.9% spike in the territories. By 2019, food bank visits nationally had plateaued, as had overall visits in Nova Scotia, but 53.9% of this province’s 123 reporting food banks reported an increase in visits between 2018 and 2019.
That HungerCount 2021 report is out today and you can read it here.
But here are some stats:
33.3% of food bank users are children while representing only 19.1% of the population
Single adult households represent 46.1% of households accessing food banks, while representing only 28.2% of the population
Those receiving provincial social assistance as their main source of income support represent 50.5% of households accessing food banks
The percentage of single adults with children using food banks is 17.8% while representing only 10.1% of the population
While seniors represent 8.7% of food bank users, the rate of increase is far outpacing other age groups
3,216,631 meals and snacks served in March 2021 (does not include Hamper programs) through food banks across Canada.
Tara Thorne has a spooktacular episode of The Tideline this week with a Hello City Halloween special. Liam Fair, Henri Gielis, Colin McGuire, and Beth Poulsen share spooky tales all made up in the moment. Oh, this show is rated G for Ghoulish.
Stick around for the bit on the best Halloween candy.
I know those molasses kisses don’t get much love — they’re likely one of the most divisive of Halloween candies — but I like them.
Some kids don’t want their photos shared on school social media
Caroline Arsenault has two children who attend schools under the Conseil Scolaire Acadien Provincial (CSAP). Each September, Arsenault gets a media release form asking if she gives permission for her children’s photos to be used by teachers and the schools on its website, social media, and other platforms. But before she signs the forms, Arsenault asks her kids if they give consent to share their photos. This September, her youngest said they were okay with their photos being shared. The oldest, however, not so much. Arsenault said when her oldest child first didn’t give consent, it was because they didn’t want to pose for photos that might be shared. They were okay with group photos of them with fellow students being shared. But that has since changed.
This is a child who is aware of social media. My kids don’t have social media, but they do have access to devices. They know about social media, for sure. I am active on social media. My oldest child who doesn’t want to give consent is not in favour of social media.
Denying consent hasn’t really been an issue for Arsenault and her oldest child, until they had a school project that involved recording a video. The teacher reached out to Arsenault to ask how to have her child take part in the project.
To me, it’s an unnecessary barrier caused by the overly broad consent form. I wish I were able to say I do not give consent for sharing over social media. I do give consent for in-class work, for sharing with parents. I wish there were different levels. I’ve written that in on the form.
It’s more information to manage and control for each child, but if the school wants to use all these platforms for its own promotion, along with that activity or possibility of promotion comes some responsibility.
Sharing success stories and examples of student engagement on social media is one way teachers and schools are able to bring families into the classroom. This has proven to be especially helpful during the pandemic when, for the most part, only essential visitors were allowed in school.
Signing the form may not be a big deal for most parents, but some parents, like Arsenault, would prefer to have more options on how their children’s photos are shared.
Of course, schools and teachers have good intentions in sharing the photos of their students. But for some parents who limit what they share about their kids on their own social media, sharing photos on school Facebook and Twitter accounts is too uncomfortable. Most regional education centres in the province have Twitter, Facebook, and/or YouTube accounts. So do many teachers. It’s not difficult to find those accounts either. There’s a big difference between sharing photos with the parents of your kid’s classmates, and posting them on a Twitter account. The media release forms don’t account for that — you give consent to everything or nothing.
I contacted all the regional education centres — I still want to call them school boards — and the ones that got back to me said they follow the Provincial Privacy of Student Information Policy, which you can find here.
There are some photos of students on the Halifax Regional Centre for Education Twitter account. In some cases, the students are identifiable. In others, they’re not. But I personally find the issue is with Twitter itself. It can be a toxic place. The HRCE account on a snow day is just wild. And that’s not the HRCE’s fault; it’s the users who are the issue. I feel badly for the person monitoring that account on those days. And teacher Twitter accounts aren’t protected. If your kid wants privacy online, I can see how they wouldn’t want their photos on school or teacher social media accounts.
I also reached out to the Department of Education and spokesperson Jenna McQueen sent this statement about the forms and social media use:
Consent forms: The broad nature of the consent form is required as any information shared publicly (i.e social media, school website, newsletters, etc.), can result in further distribution on social media platforms. If families have questions or concerns, they should contact their school principal.
If a family does not consent or doesn’t return the form to the school, the school keeps a list of the students and ensures the student’s image or student work are not published. If a parent or guardian changes their mind at anytime, they can update the consent form.
Social media: Nova Scotia teachers have teaching standards (comprehensive guide) which guide their work, including a focus on professionalism. Teachers must adhere to the confidentiality requirements and demonstrate professional conduct in a variety of settings, including schools, communities, digital sites, and social media.
Students, parents or guardians, teachers, support staff, volunteers, principals, school board and regional centres for education staff share a responsibility for demonstrating good digital citizenship and respect through appropriate and responsible behaviour when using technology as outlined in Nova Scotia’s Provincial School Network Access and Use Policy. The appropriate use of technology is embedded within the curriculum and taught to students. We encourage parents to continue the conversation about privacy and consent.
Arsenault says at their home, they weave conversations about consent and social media into everyday life.
We are clear that we are parents and we make decisions on their behalf; it’s our responsibility. But they do have a say in some decisions, especially when it’s something that really is optional and has to do with sharing information quite broadly.
I hope they feel heard and that they perspective is valid, that they have some agency in what happens. Something that is really important: I do want them to know consent is theirs to give and they can withdraw it at any time. They are entitled to give and withdraw consent. It’s so much easier to teach that when it’s a form to share photos.
Arsenault says a simple fix is having levels of how photos would be shared. She says schools and regional education centres can also have continuing conversations with students on social media, how content is shared, and what the implications are.
There are lots of really interesting points to cover with kids of all ages, beginning with what we think of as really innocent photo sharing, to photo sharing without consent. There is a lot of opportunity to educate kids about their behaviour online and sharing images. To educate but to also demonstrate and model behaviour. As a school, we can model that behaviour by always checking for consent and being clear about what we’re doing with that information and the purpose behind it. The eyes-wide-open approach.
Arsenault says she doesn’t like seeing stock photos being used for promotional materials because they don’t reflect the actual school community. She says schools can get consent for those specific campaigns.
For general promotion, I don’t know if it’s necessary to promote photos of smiling children all the time. There are lots of ways to make it a little more anonymous, but still demonstrate what’s happening in schools with the great work being done.
Arsenault intends on bringing up this issue with the CSAP because she’s hearing about it from other parents. She’s also the chair of the Fédération des parents acadiens de la Nouvelle-Écosse, an advocacy group for Francophone parents. She says they will likely meet in November.
I do think it’s important to bring it to their level of awareness that some parents have an issue with this and that there are possibilities for different solutions, and make some recommendations on how to move forward.
I appreciate the way Arsenault handles this. She not only has the conversations about consent with her kids, but she takes into account her children’s need for privacy. Every kid is different and some are more private than others. Not all parents get that, unfortunately. And some kids are aware of social media and its potential harms, especially as they get older. It’s a good conversation to have with them. I’d be interested in hearing how other parents handle this.
Yesterday, I bought a copy of On Animals by New Yorker staff writer Susan Orlean. Orlean was on CBC Sunday Magazine with Piya Chattopadhyay a couple of weeks ago talking all things animals and her book, which is a collection of essays about, well, animals.
I love animals and if I had to do things over I’d probably work with them. I love cats, horses, donkeys, whales, and foxes — which are cousins to dogs, but somehow look like cats, too. Every week I ride horses at a ranch. My favourite horse to ride, Wrex, is a sweet, calm boy who is a retired race horse. It always amazes me that I have somehow learned to work and even communicate with this 1,200 pound animal well enough to trot around a ring and through obstacle courses or walk through the woods with him. And disconnecting, taking care of and riding a horse for a few hours each week is incredibly therapeutic.
I also love bees, which are fascinating in so many ways, and even spiders. I once held a tarantula at one of those travelling educational shows. I asked the handler, “Can I pet the tarantula?” who replied, “You never pet a tarantula.” Instead I let it crawl on my arm.
Anyway, Orlean’s interview on animals was a good one. She talked about people who aren’t interested in animals, which I also don’t understand. Orlean said:
It’s really interesting because I find it puzzling. I am able to roll with just about anybody’s taste that’s different than mine. But in a way it feels like you’re expressing a lack of interest in the natural world and that I find is the last breaking point. … a profound lack of interest in animals seems to me probably lacking an interest in nature in general.
In one of her book’s essays, “The Rabbit Outbreak,” Orlean writes about rabbit hemorrhagic disease (RHD), which has crossed from domestic rabbits to wild rabbits, and is highly contagious and almost always fatal. She talks about RHD in her interview with Chattopadhyay and that chat included a discussion on COVID:
One thing that COVID has reminded us of is that this lifeform, mainly the virus, doesn’t see a huge distinction between the animal world and the human world. Not every virus can move from animals to humans, but a whole lot of them can … I think we have just sort of forgotten we’re another animal species. And while there are barriers between us, the barriers are maybe a little more permeable than we really think. We, of course, sit way, way, way at the top of the animal kingdom. For better or worse, we are the apex predator. We are above and beyond other animal species, but we still are animals. Now, seeing how rabbit hemorrhagic disease travelled through the rabbit kingdom was exactly the way COVID travelled in the human population. The parallels are uncanny. If you want a rude reminder we are animals, all you have to do is look at viruses because viruses see us all as one continuum, rather than people being this distinct, separate, walled-off species. We’re not. We’re all living creatures on earth.
But this one part of the interview stuck with me and is likely one of the reasons I love animals:
Animals and humans share a whole range of behaviours that we really do have in common and yet their strangeness is so profound. The fact that we can never communicate with them keeps the desire to connect with them in a state of unrequited questing. To feel that you communicated with an animal is a pretty overwhelming sensation. You crossed the barrier between our species and their species.
I do think that we find in them something greater than the pettiness that human existence can sometimes include. There’s something that goes beyond.
It’s a good listen and you can check it out here. Oh, here’s a photo of my sweet Wrex who I will get to see on Saturday.
Transportation Standing Committee (Thursday, 1pm, City Hall) — agenda here
Province
No meetings
On campus
Dalhousie
Thursday
Rossetti-Watson Travel Scholarship Exhibition (Thursday, 12pm, Exhibition Room, School of Architecture) — the findings of six Master of Architecture students who received a scholarship for thesis-related travel and research
Re-envisioning leadership (Thursday, 2:30pm) — Session 7 of the Moral Courage: Dallaire Cleveringa Critical Conversation Series. This conversation asks participants to consider what approach to leadership is needed in our current context. What can we learn from examples of moral courage to inform the future of leadership? What are some strategies to effectively teach moral courage? Register here.
Friday
MacKay Symposium – Happiness in Troubled Times (Friday, 1pm) — virtual event to discuss
How can we think about happiness at a historical juncture overshadowed by troubles like the climate crisis, rising populism & xenophobia, increasing social inequality, and the COVID-19 pandemic? Four internationally renowned speakers put happiness into social & cultural context. CART captioning provided for the entire event.
Queen Elizabeth’s Swedish Gossips: Female Friends and Family in Early Modern England (Friday, 3:30pm, room 1170, McCain Building and online) — Krista Kesselring will talk.
Saint Mary’s
Thursday
Treat Accessibly (Thursday, 1pm, SMU Quad) — Pick up a free lawn sign, and read these tips to make your home more accessible for trick-or-treaters. More info here.
5th Annual National Retail Innovation Awards (Thursday, 4pm) — online celebration; register here
Friday
The James Webb Space Telescope: The Countdown Is On (Friday, 7pm, McNally Main Theatre Auditorium and online) — René Doyon, Director of the Institute for Research on Exoplanets at Université de Montreal and lead scientist for Canada’s contribution to Webb, will explain that
The James Webb Space Telescope, successor to the prestigious Hubble Space Telescope, will be the largest telescope ever deployed in space when it launches this winter. Thanks to its unprecedented observing capabilities, Webb promises to revolutionize our understanding of the Universe, Webb will study the population of young galaxies formed early after the Big Bang, and probe the atmospheres of nearby temperate Earth-size exoplanets that may have conditions conducive for life. Canada is a key partner in the development of this observatory, arguably among the most complex machines ever built by humanity.
Halifax 10:30: Ile D Aix, cable layer, moves from Pier 9 to Irving Oil 16:00: Oceanex Sanderling, ro-ro container, moves from Pier 41 to Autoport 16:00: Ile D Aix, cable layer, moves back to Pier 9 16:00: CMA CGM T. Jefferson, container ship, arrives at Pier 41 from Colombo, Sri Lanka 18:00: Acadian, oil tanker, sails from anchorage for sea
Cape Breton 13:00: Stemnitsa, oil tanker, arrives at Point Tupper from Bejaïa, Algeria 15:00: Horizon Arctic, offshore supply ship, sails from Fiddle Pier for sea
Footnotes
I’ve written about bad bosses in previous Morning Files, but I thought I’d tell you about a good boss of mine. I met Mike at one of my very first jobs when I was almost 18. Then in the early 90s, he hired me to do research for a company he owned. Mike was a rather eccentric person and had a brain full of knowledge. He knew so much about so many things. He especially loved languages, literature, and music. He had thousands of CDs and probably just as many books. We talked about and debated politics, social issues, music — just about anything. I’d say he was one of my first mentors.
We kept in touch over the years and I became friends with his kids, who are about my age. I think he thought of me as another one of his kids. He kept track of my career and would call if he saw my byline somewhere. I last saw him about four years ago, not long after he was diagnosed with dementia. He was aware then that some of his memories were slipping away, although he still recalled much about me, my work, my kid, and all that knowledge of literature and music.
Mike passed away in late September. I went to his celebration of life on Saturday, where the priest called him a “Renaissance man.” Mike would have liked that. I was reading some of the tributes to him on the funeral home website where his obituary is posted. Mike was a school teacher for years before I worked with him, and a student of his from more than 50 years ago recalled how he introduced her to the poem “Daffodils” by William Wordsworth, and how she thinks of Mike whenever she reads Wordsworth’s writing. Another lifelong friend said Mike was “never at a loss for words, nor was he easily intimidated” and his “love of music, literature, and engaging debate were legendary.” This is the same Mike I remember.
I learned a lot from Mike, too. We’d probably have some good debates on what I write now. He wouldn’t agree with everything — in fact, he’d probably disagree and he’d tell me so! But he’d also say, “Good for you for writing it.”
Some people have a profound impact on your life. Mike was that for me.
Toronto, on – Blood in the Snow Film Festival (BITS), a unique and imaginative showcase of contemporary Canadian genre films are pleased to announce the popular Festival is back for its 13th exciting year. The highly anticipated Horror Film festival presented by Super Channelruns November 18th– 23rd at Toronto’sIsabel Bader Theatre. The successful, long running festivaltakes on many different faces this year that include Scary, Action Horror, Horror Comedy, Sci-Fi and Thrillers. Festival goers will be kept on the edge of their seats with this year’s powerful line-up.
Blood in the Snow Festival begins with the return of alumni (Wolf Cop) Lowell Dean’s action horror feature Dark Match featuring wrestling veteran Chris Jericho followed by the mysterious Hunting Mathew Nichols. The unexpected thrills continue with Blood in the Snow World Premiere of Pins and Needles and the Fantasia Best First Feature Award winner, Self Driver. The festival ends this year on a fun note with the Toronto Premiere of Scared Sh*tless (featuring Kids in the Hall’s Mark McKinney). Other titles include the horror anthology series Creepy Bits and Zoom call shock of Invited by Blood in the Snow alumni Navin Ramaswaran (Poor Agnes). The festival will also include five feature length short film programs including the festivals comedy horror program Funny Frights and UnusualSights and the highly anticipated Dark Visions program, part of opening night festivities. Blood in the Snow Film Festival Director and Founder, Kelly Michael Stewart anticipates this year’s festival to be its strongest. “This was the first time in our 13 year history, all our programmers agreed on the exact same eight feature programs we have selected.”
Below is this year’s horror fest’s excitinglineup of features and shorts scheduled to screen, in-person at the Isabel Bader theatre.
**All festival features will be preceded by a short film and followed by a Q&A with filmmakers.
Super Channel is pleased to once again assume the role of Presenting Sponsor for the Blood in the Snow Film Festival. We extend our sincere appreciation to the entire BITS team for their unwavering commitment to amplifying the voices of diverse filmmakers and providing a platform for the celebration of Canadian genre content. –Don McDonald, the CEO of Super Channel
Blood in the Snow Festival 2024 Full screening schedule:
Monday November 18th 7pm – Dark Visions
Shiva (13:29) dir. Josh Saltzman
Shiva is an unnerving tale about a recently widowed woman who breaks with a long-held Jewish mourning ritual in hopes of connecting with her deceased husband.
How to Stay Awake (5:30) dir. Vanessa Magic
A woman fights to stay awake, to avoid battling the terrifying realm of sleep paralysis, but as she risks everything to break free, will she be released from the grip of her nocturnal tormentor?
Pocket Princess (9:45)dir. Olivia Loccisano
A young girl must take part in a dangerous task in order to complete her doll collection in this miniature fairytale.
For Rent (10:33) dir. Michèle Kaye
In her new home, Donna unravels a sinister truth—her landlord is a demon with a dark appetite. As her family mysteriously vanishes, Donna confronts the demonic landlord, only to plunge into a shadowy game where the house hungers for more than just occupants. An ominous cycle begins, shrouded in mystery.
Lucy’s Birthday (9:29) dir. Peter Sreckovic
A father struggles to enjoy his young daughter’s birthday despite a series of strange and disturbing disruptions.
Parasitic (10:00) dir. Ryan M Andrews
Last call at a dive bar, a writer struggling to find his voice gets more than he bargains for.
Naualli (6:00) dir. Adrian Gonzalez de la Pena
A grieving man seeks revenge, unwittingly awakening a mystical creature known as the Nagual.
The Saint and The Bear (6:34) dir. Dallas R Soonias
Two strangers cross paths on an ominous park bench.
The Sorrow (13:00) dir. Thomas Affolter
A retired army general and his live-in nurse find they are not alone in a house filled with dark secrets.
Cadabra (6:00) dir. Tiffany Wice
An amateur magician receives more than he anticipated when he purchases a cursed hat from the estate of his deceased hero.
9:30 – Dark Matchdir. Lowell Dean Horror / Action
A small time WRESTLING COMPANY accepts a well-paying but too good to be true gig.
Tuesday November 19th 7pm – Mournful Mediums
Night Lab (15:00) dir. Andrew Ellinas
When a mysterious package arrives from one of the lab’s field research stations, a promising young researcher uncovers a conspiracy against her masterminded by her jealous boss. She soon finds herself having to grapple with her conscience before making a life-or-death decision.
Dirty Bad Wrong (14:40) dir. Erica Orofino
Desperate to keep her promise to host the best superhero party for her 6-year-old, young mother Sid, a sex worker, takes extreme measures and books a last-minute client with a dark fetish.
Midnight at the lonely river (17:00) dir. Abraham Cote
When the lights go out at a seedy little motel bar, at the crossroads of a seedy little town, nefarious happenings are taking place, and three predators are enacting their evil deeds. Enter Vicky, a drifter who quickly realizes what’s happening right under everyone’s nose. After midnight, In the shadows of this dim establishment, evil begets evil, and the predator becomes the prey.
Mean Ends (14:58) dir. Émile Lavoie
A buried body, a missing sister and an inquisitive neighbour makes for a hell of an evening. And the sun isn’t close to settling on Eric’s sh*tty day.
Stuffy (18:26) dir. Dan Nicholls
A young couple sets off in the middle of the night to bury their kid’s stuffed bunny, as one of them is convinced that the stuffy might be cursed.
Dungeon of Death (18:33) dir. Brian P. Rowe
Torturer Raullin loves a work challenge, especially if that challenge involves hurting people to extract information from them.
9:30 – Hunting Matthew Nichols(96 mins) dir. Markian Tarasiuk
Twenty-three years after her brother mysteriously disappeared, a documentary filmmaker sets out to solve his missing person’s case. But when a disturbing piece of evidence is revealed, she comes to believe that her brother might still be alive.
w/ short: Josephine (6:15) dir. John Francis Bregar
A man haunted by his past seeks forgiveness from his deceased wife, but a session with two spirit mediums leads to an unsettling encounter.
Wednesday November 20th 7pm – BITS and BYTES
Ezra (10:57) dirs. Luke Hutchie, Mike Mildon, Marianna Phung
After fleeing the dark and demonic chains of his shadowy old home, Ezra, a killer gay vampire, takes a leap of faith and enters the modern world.
Head Shop (18:14 episode 1-3) dir. Namaï Kham Po
In a post-apocalyptic world, Anna’s life and work are dominated by her father Sylvestre, a short-tempered mechanic with a terrible reputation for tearing the head off anyone who dares cross him. He decides that she’s old enough to follow in his footsteps, much to her dismay. To prove herself, she must now decapitate her first victim. Can she find a way to defy fate?
D dot H (18 :15 episodes 1-2) dirs. Meegwun Fairbrother, Mary Galloway
Struggling artist Doug is visited by the beautiful and enigmatic H, who claims he holds the power to visiting “inconceivable places.” Still half-asleep, Doug is shocked when H vanishes suddenly and her doppelganger, Hannah, strides past.
Creepy Bits: “Last Sonata” (21:08) dir.
Adrian Bobb, Ashlea Wessel, David J. Fernandes, Sid Zanforlin and Kelly Paoli.
Set among forests, lakes, and small towns, Creepy Bits is a horror anthology series helmed by five innovative filmmakers exploring themes of human vs. nature, the invasion and destruction of the natural world by outsiders, and isolation within a vast, eerie landscape that is not afraid to fight back.
Tales from the Void: “Whistle in the Woods” (24:36) dir. Francesco Loschiavo
Horror anthology TV series based on stories from r/NoSleep. Each tale blends genre thrills & social commentary exploring the dark side of the human psyche.
9:30 – Self Driverdir. Michael Pierro Thriller
Facing mounting expenses and the unrelenting pressure of modern living, a down-on-his-luck cab driver is lured on to a mysterious new app that promises fast, easy money. As his first night on the job unfolds, he is pulled ever deeper into the dark underbelly of society, embarking on a journey that will test his moral code and shake his understanding of what it means to have freewill. The question becomes not how much money he can make, but what he’ll be compelled to do to make it.
A couple on a cottage getaway tries to work on their relationship but ends up getting more than they bargained for when they discover something sinister lurking beneath the surface.
Thursday November 21st 7pm – Funny Frights
Midnight Snack (1:41) dir. Sandra Foisy
Hunger always strikes in the dead of night.
Hell is a Teenage Girl (15:00) dir. Stephen Sawchuk
Every Halloween, the small town of Springboro is terrorized by its resident SLASHER – a masked serial killer who targets sinful teenagers that break ‘The Rules of Horror’ – don’t drink, don’t do drugs, and don’t have sex!
Gaslit (10:36) dir. Anna MacLean
A woman goes to dangerous lengths to prove she wasn’t responsible for a fart.
Bath Bomb (9:55) dir. Colin G Cooper
A possessive doctor prepares an ostensibly romantic bath for his narcissistic boyfriend, but after an accusation of infidelity, things take a deeply disturbing turn.
Any Last Words (14:22) dir. Isaac Rathé
A crook trying to flee town is paid an untimely visit by some of his former colleagues. What would you say to save your life if you were staring down the barrel of a gun?
Papier mâché (4:30) dir. Simon Madore
A whimsical depiction of the hard and tumultuous life of a piñata.
The Living Room (9:59) dir. Joslyn Rogers
After an unexpected call from Lady Luck, Ms. Valentine must choose between her sanity and her winnings – all before the jungle consumes her.
A Divine Comedy: What the Hell (8:55) dir. Valerie Lee Barnhart Dante’s classic Hell is falling into oblivion. Charlotte,
sharp-witted Harpy, navigates the chaos and sets out despite the odds for a new life and destiny.
Mr Fuzz (2:30) dir. Christopher Walsh
A long-limbed, fuzzy-haired creature will do whatever it takes to keep you watching his show.
Out of the Hands of the Wicked (5:00)dirs. Luke Sargent, Benjamin Hackman
After a harrowing journey home from hell, old Pa boasts of his triumph over evil, and how he came to lock the devil in his heart.
The Shitty Ride (9:13) dir. Cole Doran
Hoping to impress the girl of his dreams, Cole buys a used car but gets more than he bargained for with his shitty ride.
9:30 – Inviteddir. Navin Ramaswaran Horror
When a reluctant mother attends her daughter’s Zoom elopement, she and the rest of the family in attendance quickly realize the groom is part of a Russian cult with deadly intentions.
w/ shorts: Defile dir. Brian Sepanzyk
A couple’s secluded getaway is suddenly interrupted by a strange family who exposes them to the horrors that lie beyond the tree line.
+ A Mother’s Love dir. Lisa Ovies
A young girl deals with the consequences of trusting someone online.
Friday November 22nd 7:00 pm – Creepy Bits(anthology horror series)
Creepy Bits is a short horror anthology series that explores pandemic age themes of isolation, paranoia and distrust of authority, serving them up in bite-sized chunks. Directed by Adrian Bobb, Ashlea Wessel, David J. Fernandes, Sid Zanforlin and Kelly Paoli.
9:30 – Pins and Needles (81 min) dir. James Villeneuve Horror / Thriller
Follows Max, a diabetic, biology grad student who is entrapped in a devilish new-age wellness experiment and must escape a lethal game of cat and mouse to avoid becoming the next test subject to extend the lives of the rich and privileged.
w/ short: Adjoining (11:42) dirs. Harrison Houde, Dakota Daulby
A couple’s motel stay takes a chilling turn when they discover they’re being observed, leading to unexpected consequences.
Saturday November 23rd 4pm – EmergingScreams (94 mins)
Apnea (14:58) dir. David Matheson
A single, working mother finds her career and her offbeat son’s safety in jeopardy when she discovers that her late mother is possessing her in her sleep.
Nereid (7:48) dir. Lori Zozzolotto
A mysterious woman escapes from an abusive relationship with earth shattering results.
BedLamer (15:00) dir. Alexa Jane Jerrett
On the shores of a small fishing village lives a lonely settlement of men – capturing and domesticating otherworldly creatures that were never meant to be tamed.
Blocked (6:30) dir. Aisha Alfa
A new mom is literally consumed with the futility of cleaning up after her kid.
Dance of the Faery (10:23) dir. Kaela Brianna Egert
A young woman cleans up her estranged, great aunt’s home after her death. Upon inspection, she soon realizes that her eccentric obsession with fairies was not born out of love, but of fear.
Deep End (7:36) dir. Juan Pablo Saenz
A gay couple’s heated argument during a hike spiral into a nightmare when one of them vanishes, leading the other to a mysterious cave that could reveal the chilling truth.
Ojichaag – Spirit Within (11:21) dir. Rachel Beaulieu
An emotionally devastated woman seeks comfort in her choice to end her life. As she faces death in the form of a spirit, she must decide to let herself go to fight to stay alive.
Lure (9.56) dir. Jacob Phair
A tormented father awaits the return of the man who saved his son’s life.
Let Me In (10:00) dirs. Joel Buxton, Charles Smith
A reluctant man interviews an unusual immigration candidate: himself from a doomed dimension
7:00 pm –The Silent Planet (95 mins) dir. Jeffrey St. Jules Sci-fi
An aging convict serving out a life sentence alone on a distant planet is forced to confront his past when a new prisoner shows up and pushes him to remember his life on earth
w/ short: Ascension (3:57) dir. Kenzie Yango
Deep in a remote forest, two friends, Mia and Riley, embark on a leisurely hike. As tensions run high between the two, a strange humming noise appears that seems to be coming from somewhere in the woods.
A plumber and his germophobic son are forced to get their hands dirty to save the residents of an apartment building, when a genetically engineered, blood-thirsty creature escapes into the plumbing system.
w/ short: Oh…Canada (6:20) dir. Vincenzo Nappi
Oh, Canada. Such a wonderful place to live – WHETHER YOU LIKE IT OR NOT. A musical look into the artifice surrounding Canadian identity.
Sometimes, you just have to return to the classics.
That’s especially true as Halloween approaches. While you queue up your spooky movie marathon, here are 10 iconic horror movies from the past 70 years for inspiration, and what AP writers had to say about them when they were first released.
We resurrected excerpts from these reviews, edited for clarity, from the dead — did they stand the test of time?
“Rear Window” (1954)
“Rear Window” is a wonderful trick pulled off by Alfred Hitchcock. He breaks his hero’s leg, sets him up at an apartment window where he can observe, among other things, a murder across the court. The panorama of other people’s lives is laid out before you, as seen through the eyes of a Peeping Tom.
James Stewart, Grace Kelly, Thelma Ritter and others make it good fun.
— Bob Thomas
“Halloween” (1978)
At 19, Jamie Lee Curtis is starring in a creepy little thriller film called “Halloween.”
Until now, Jamie’s main achievement has been as a regular on the “Operation Petticoat” TV series. Jamie is much prouder of “Halloween,” though it is obviously an exploitation picture aimed at the thrill market.
The idea for “Halloween” sprang from independent producer-distributor Irwin Yablans, who wanted a terror-tale involving a babysitter. John Carpenter and Debra Hill fashioned a script about a madman who kills his sister, escapes from an asylum and returns to his hometown intending to murder his sister’s friends.
— Bob Thomas
“The Silence of the Lambs” (1991)
“The Silence of the Lambs” moves from one nail-biting sequence to another. Jonathan Demme spares the audience nothing, including closeups of skinned corpses. The squeamish had best stay home and watch “The Cosby Show.”
Ted Tally adapted the Thomas Harris novel with great skill, and Demme twists the suspense almost to the breaking point. The climactic confrontation between Clarice Starling and Buffalo Bill (Ted Levine) is carried a tad too far, though it is undeniably exciting with well-edited sequences.
Such a tale as “The Silence of the Lambs” requires accomplished actors to pull it off. Jodie Foster and Anthony Hopkins are highly qualified. She provides steely intelligence, with enough vulnerability to sustain the suspense. He delivers a classic portrayal of pure, brilliant evil.
— Bob Thomas
“Scream” (1996)
In this smart, witty homage to the genre, students at a suburban California high school are being killed in the same gruesome fashion as the victims in the slasher films they know by heart.
If it sounds like the script of every other horror movie to come and go at the local movie theater, it’s not.
By turns terrifying and funny, “Scream” — written by newcomer David Williamson — is as taut as a thriller, intelligent without being self-congratulatory, and generous in its references to Wes Craven’s competitors in gore.
— Ned Kilkelly
“The Blair Witch Project” (1999)
Imaginative, intense and stunning are a few words that come to mind with “The Blair Witch Project.”
“Blair Witch” is the supposed footage found after three student filmmakers disappear in the woods of western Maryland while shooting a documentary about a legendary witch.
The filmmakers want us to believe the footage is real, the story is real, that three young people died and we are witnessing the final days of their lives. It isn’t. It’s all fiction.
But Eduardo Sanchez and Dan Myrick, who co-wrote and co-directed the film, take us to the edge of belief, squirming in our seats the whole way. It’s an ambitious and well-executed concept.
— Christy Lemire
“Saw” (2004)
The fright flick “Saw” is consistent, if nothing else.
This serial-killer tale is inanely plotted, badly written, poorly acted, coarsely directed, hideously photographed and clumsily edited, all these ingredients leading to a yawner of a surprise ending. To top it off, the music’s bad, too.
You could forgive all (well, not all, or even, fractionally, much) of the movie’s flaws if there were any chills or scares to this sordid little horror affair.
But “Saw” director James Wan and screenwriter Leigh Whannell, who developed the story together, have come up with nothing more than an exercise in unpleasantry and ugliness.
— David Germain
Germain gave “Saw” one star out of four.
“Paranormal Activity” (2009)
The no-budget ghost story “Paranormal Activity” arrives 10 years after “The Blair Witch Project,” and the two horror movies share more than a clever construct and shaky, handheld camerawork.
The entire film takes place at the couple’s cookie-cutter dwelling, its layout and furnishings indistinguishable from just about any other readymade home constructed in the past 20 years. Its ordinariness makes the eerie, nocturnal activities all the more terrifying, as does the anonymity of the actors adequately playing the leads.
The thinness of the premise is laid bare toward the end, but not enough to erase the horror of those silent, nighttime images seen through Micah’s bedroom camera. “Paranormal Activity” owns a raw, primal potency, proving again that, to the mind, suggestion has as much power as a sledgehammer to the skull.
— Glenn Whipp
Whipp gave “Paranormal Activity” three stars out of four.
“The Conjuring” (2013)
As sympathetic, methodical ghostbusters Lorraine and Ed Warren, Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson make the old-fashioned haunted-house horror film “The Conjuring” something more than your average fright fest.
“The Conjuring,” which boasts incredulously of being their most fearsome, previously unknown case, is built very in the ’70s-style mold of “Amityville” and, if one is kind, “The Exorcist.” The film opens with a majestic, foreboding title card that announces its aspirations to such a lineage.
But as effectively crafted as “The Conjuring” is, it’s lacking the raw, haunting power of the models it falls shy of. “The Exorcist” is a high standard, though; “The Conjuring” is an unusually sturdy piece of haunted-house genre filmmaking.
— Jake Coyle
Coyle gave “The Conjuring” two and half stars out of four.
Fifty years after Sidney Poitier upended the latent racial prejudices of his white date’s liberal family in “Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner,” writer-director Jordan Peele has crafted a similar confrontation with altogether more combustible results in “Get Out.”
In Peele’s directorial debut, the former “Key and Peele” star has — as he often did on that satirical sketch series — turned inside out even supposedly progressive assumptions about race. But Peele has largely left comedy behind in a more chilling portrait of the racism that lurks beneath smiling white faces and defensive, paper-thin protestations like, “But I voted for Obama!” and “Isn’t Tiger Woods amazing?”
It’s long been a lamentable joke that in horror films — never the most inclusive of genres — the Black dude is always the first to go. In this way, “Get Out” is radical and refreshing in its perspective.
In Ari Aster’s intensely nightmarish feature-film debut “Hereditary,” when Annie (Toni Collette), an artist and mother of two teenagers, sneaks out to a grief-support group following the death of her mother, she lies to her husband Steve (Gabriel Byrne) that she’s “going to the movies.”
A night out with “Hereditary” is many things, but you won’t confuse it for an evening of healing and therapy. It’s more like the opposite.
Aster’s film, relentlessly unsettling and pitilessly gripping, has carried with it an ominous air of danger and dread: a movie so horrifying and good that you have to see it, even if you shouldn’t want to, even if you might never sleep peacefully again.
Yesterday, I bought a copy of On Animals by New Yorker staff writer Susan Orlean. 
