Audrey

Hannah

Hannah: My style is "rock 'n' roll times bounce that shit like woah." Mick Jagger and Keith Richards inspire me. They're just everlasting and they don't give a f#%k. Next week, I'm going to see them at the Desert Trip Festival in Indio, California. I grew up on rock 'n' roll. Rock spans the ages. There's rock from the 80's, 90's and now. It's beautiful.

Follow Hannah on Instagram.

Tatiana

Zeke

Zeke: When I moved to Toronto I only had two hundred bucks in my pocket. I eventually began producing TV shows, working for the Food Network and making something for myself by becoming a chef. Life's been good.

Check out Zeke's culinary art on his Instagram.

Rebecca

Rebecca: My style can be described as 'vintage tomboy.' I'm wearing a boy's t-shirt and shoes today. My boyfriend inspires my style. He doesn't wear flares, but I steal his style all the time.

TorontoVerve: What's the best advice you've received in life?

Rebecca: Somebody once told me that if you ever need anything in life, tell everybody because someone may help you get it.

Follow Rebecca on Instagram.

Dana

Dana: My style is grungy and bag lady inspired.

TorontoVerve: What's the best advice you've received in life?

Dana: Stop getting tattooed [laughs].

TorontoVerve: What do the tattoos mean to you?

Dana: They make me feel like myself. If I didn't have them, it wouldn't feel right. I get a lot of people on the street who give me dirty looks and other people who are stoked about them. My dad hates them. My mom hated them, but now she thinks they actually look cool.

Follow Dana on Instagram.

Dre

Dre: My style is boho hip hop. Lisa Bonet inspires me. She's a free spirit and that definitely shows through her clothing, and I'm all about that.

TorontoVerve: What's the best advice you've received in life?

Dre: An astrologer told me that we shouldn't let anyone get in the way of our journey. Now I'm more aware of the things that should be in my life. I let go of anything that doesn't serve my higher purpose.

Kirstin

My mom gave me the best advice. She said, "Keep going. Never give in." I've had to deal with some issues. I was recently diagnosed with bipolar disorder and my mom helps me deal with it. She helps me achieve what I want to achieve.

Alisson

Alisson is an artist and just graduated from OCAD. Check out her website to see her work. "It's multi-media. It's like trans-media performance," she says. "There's photography and a little bit of drawing, but it's more conceptual than anything. It's about what it feels like to be an immigrant Colombian here in Canada."

Natalie

Halle

Adriana

Lauralee

Lauralee: My style is nouveaux vintage. I like old school glam with a Blade Runner thing going. Kind of like retro but future. Rachel's (Sean Young) look inspires me. Her style is fierce with all the black. I love her hair and the way she puts herself together.

TorontoVerve: What's the best advice you've received in life?

Lauralee: I read this online: "You're always one decision away from changing your whole life." Every decision gets you closer to where you need to be in life. I made some decisions recently that were life changing and I'm happy.

Follow Lauralee on Instagram.

Yeelen

Yeelen: "I'm an actor so I like to be different people every day. Sometimes I'll be in a suit. Sometimes I'll be in a dress. Today I'm in both. I like to transcend hetero-normative style conventions. I define myself as gender queer. I don't really believe in gender and that's representative in my style."

"I don't really have style inspirations or follow style icons. Probably subconsciously I do. I like fashion from different eras and countries. Sometimes I like to be in an outfit inspired by the middle ages and other times I like to be in an outfit that's inspired by the future. This jacket is from the 70's, my shoes and tight pants are more modern. This is a woman's dress that reminds me of India. I dress 95% of the time in women's clothing."

TorontoVerve: What's the best advice you've received in life?

Yeelen: I learned this from the Pedro Almodóvar film, All About My Mother: “It costs a lot to be authentic. And one can't be stingy with these things because you are more authentic when you resemble what you've dreamed of being.” The price of being authentic in our society is high -- whether you're a person of colour or whether you're queer. When I dress this way, you might think it's interesting and want to take my picture, but other people may reject it and it'll bring out something within them that they're not comfortable with. Sometimes that can be dangerous. The more you fight for authenticity, the more you'll realize what your purpose in this world will be.

Follow Yeelen on Instagram.

Yeelen was at TIFF supporting his mother, director Guetty Felin, and her feature film, Ayiti Mon Amour. Felin has the distinction of being the first female Haitian director invited to the festival.

Ayiti Mon Amour trailer 

TIFF Talk 2016: Ariel, "Window Horses"

Name: Ariel from Toronto

The Film: Window Horses (Canada)

What's it about?

It's an animated story about Rosie (voiced by Sandra Oh) who is half Chinese and half Persian. She lives in BC with her grandparents ever since her mother died and her father abandoned her. She's a poet and gets this anonymous invitation to a poetry contest in Shiraz, Iran. She goes knowing that's where her father lives and she progressively learns more about her past, her father and the history of the Persian Empire. It's a coming of age story that involves a culture that is currently under a great deal of scrutiny and Canadian director/animator Ann Marie Fleming sheds a more just light on it.

Did you like it?

It's a beautiful film. More so than I expected. It's really moving and very compassionate. It's incredibly fluid in its depiction of an artistic culture. The film embraces those notions of self doubt that many artists have about creating their art and reveals many international concepts on the nature of expression and creativity.

The great thing about the film being animated is that it can appeal to children. It's not specifically a kid's film, but I think 10 to 15-year olds will get it and that's important because there's more to life than what we know.

The animation is incredibly simple considering Rosie is essentially a stick figure. I find it very indicative of how bare and raw she is. She's still learning about life and with her being simplistically drawn, you get the impression that she's not fully formed yet. She's still growing. I loved it.

Follow Ariel on Instagram.

Ariel Fisher is a film reviewer and co-hosts the new film podcast, A Frame Apart.


Window Horses Trailer

TIFF Talk 2016: Nikki & Alexandra, "Below Her Mouth"

Name: Nikki (Left) & Alexandra (Right) from Toronto

The Film: Below Her Mouth (Canada)

What's it about?

[Two very different women, Dallas (Erika Linder) and Jasmine (Natalie Krill), fall in love with each other and completely turn their lives upside down.]

Alexandra: It was a story about love. The characters discovered new things within themselves because they found each other.

Nikki: It was also about courage. Learning to be true to yourself and not being afraid to show the world who you really are.

Did you like it?

Alexandra: I loved it so much. I went through a lot of emotions from start to finish in terms of their journey. Everything from the cinematography, the direction and the writing was great. In the Q&A, I was surprise to learn that it was filmed chronologically and I think that really helped in building the actresses' emotional connection.

Nikki: The film hits you right in your heart. I really felt for the characters because they were real and their emotions were raw. Both of them were very different people and they were following very different paths. Seeing them interact and trying to figure things out was neat.

Alexandra: I don't think that the infidelity in the film matters (Jasmine cheats on her fiancé Rile to be with her girlfriend Dallas). Are you being unfaithful when you're being unfaithful to yourself [by being in a loveless relationship]? Infidelity is inexcusable, but it's real life. People go through shit, they do shit and then they regret shit. Eventually, they figure it out and move on.

Nikki: Sometimes people do things that they're not proud of in order to find their way in becoming the person that they're meant to be.

Alexandra: Another reason that we wanted to see this film is because the filmmakers are all women.

Nikki: I'm proud of that. I think it's an incredible time for female artists and I hope that this film helps break that glass ceiling in the film industry.

Below Her Mouth will be released in theatres in February 2017.

Below Her Mouth trailer

TIFF Talk 2016: Topher, "Christine"

Name: Topher from Toronto

The Film: Christine (USA)

What's it about?

[It's the true story about Christine Chubbuck (Rebecca Hall) -- a troubled Florida news reporter who committed suicide on live TV in 1974.] 

Did you like it?

It was really well done. I actually work in the news industry so I thought it was very interesting. [Christine suffered from depression and shot herself in the head during a live broadcast. She deplored sensationalism.] There's a line in the movie: "If it bleeds, it leads." As a photographer, it kind of sucks because I know that's partly the truth. Sometimes you want to report good things in the news, but most viewers just want to click on gruesome stuff. If more people wanted happy stories, we'd give them happy stories.

Like Christine, I don't think the news should be sensationalized and I believe a lot of people in the industry feel the same.

 Follow Topher on Instagram.

Christine trailer 

TIFF Talk 2016: Pauline, "The Bad Batch"

Name: Pauline from Toronto

The Film: The Bad Batch (USA)

What's it about?

It's a post-apocalyptic movie about criminals (aka Bad Batch) trying to survive a group of cannibals in the desert.

Did you like it?

I loved it. I sat right at the front so I couldn't escape the mayhem. The director, Ana Lily Amirpour (A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night), introduces us to this gruesome cannibalistic world; which is so raw and jarring. It was so disturbing to watch the girl (Suki Waterhouse) get her arm and leg sawed off to be eaten.

The film got a positive response from the TIFF crowd so I think audiences will generally like it, but it's not for everybody. All I can say is if you go see it, have an open mind.

Follow Pauline on Instagram.

Clip from The Bad Batch

TIFF Talk 2016: Kyisha, "I Am Not Your Negro"

Name: Kyisha from Toronto

The Film: I Am Not Your Negro (USA, France, Belgium, Switzerland)

What's it about?

It's a documentary about the life of novelist James Baldwin and his impact and continued impact on the anti-Black racism conversation in North America and the world.

Did you like it?

I really liked the film. I was impressed that you can do a documentary without talking heads. It was very poetic and experimental; which I think matched the essence of James Baldwin. I thought it was interesting how much Europe supported [his social and political views] when he was alive, and then to learn in the Q&A that the film was mostly financed by European investors (France, Belgium and Switzerland). Unfortunately, the US didn't support his ideas much back then nor did they support this film much now. Although there was also anti-Black racism where Baldwin lived in Europe, he was supported more as a person there than in the states.

Not very much has changed when it comes to race relations in North America. There are a lot of clear parallels that we can draw from what was happening back then and what is happening now. You hope that things will change and films about anti-Black racism will stop being relevant, but unfortunately, it's still very very relevant.

Follow Kyisha on Instagram.

TIFF Talk 2016: Matthew, "Lady Macbeth"

Name: Matthew from Toronto

The Film: Lady Macbeth (United Kingdom)

What's it about?

The film is called Lady Macbeth, but it's not a literal depiction of Shakespeare's Macbeth. It's sort of a spiritual cousin to that. It's set in Scotland in the 1800's and it's about this woman who is essentially purchased into this wealthy land-owning Scottish family. She's made the wife to the heir of the estate just for sexual purposes and to give him an heir. The film asks, "What do you do when all of society is against you and you're in a situation where you have no power?" What she does is she turns to these acts of violence.

Did you like it?

It's beautifully photographed. The acting is tremendous. It's all shot meticulously well. The Scottish countryside is gorgeous. The lines that she's willing to cross to achieve agency and to be her own person are incredible and it's thrilling to watch. It's my absolute favourite film at TIFF so far.

To me, the film spoke a lot to now. Look at how society is stacked against People of Colour and women. It speaks to the idea of being pushed and pushed into a corner and not allowing the world to steamroll over you. 


Matthew Price is the co-presenter & programmer of Musicale - a new monthly film series that showcases musicals from the 50's to present at the Royal Cinema. They recently screened Prince's Sign 'O' the Times, Victor/Victoria and Car Wash.

Follow Matthew on Twitter.