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Director of Istanbul Film Festival's first feature film, “Oregon” seems to be a trip down memory lane, not just because it takes place on a summer day in 1985, but because it evokes a nostalgia for the popular comedies of the 60s and 70s that were quite prevalent in both the Turkish and the Greek movie industry.

“Oregon“ is screening at Thessaloniki International Film Festival

The story begins with a couple of former filmmaker students, Hakan and Gaye, who are now operating a souvenir shop in Bodrum, vacationing in Istanbul. During their last day, they have to leave a mix cassette in one of their friends from school, Selen, but the fact that she has left for Cappadocia and the overzealous caretaker of the building, Durmus, result in a series of unfortunate events that end up with them in the police precinct. While there, they stumble upon a very friendly prostitute,...

The Narcissus myth, where a man falls in love with his own reflection and ultimately destroys himself over it, has only grown more relevant with time. The dominance of social media, the performative aspects that come with it, self-help culture, various forms of media pushing self-affirmation, and a culture driven towards individualism are just some of the ways we’ve led ourselves to a place where terms like “toxic positivity” begin taking prominence. It’s a topic well worth exploring, and thank God Canadian provocateur Bruce Labruce chose to. Rather than getting too intellectual about it, Saint-Narcisse gives audiences the reflection of their obsessed selves they deserve: a sleazy, incestuous, soapy good time evoking ‘70s B-movies as it drags traditional values around religion and family to the extreme endpoint of loving oneself.

Set in 1970s Quebec, the film starts with 22-year-old Dominic (Felix-Antoine Duval), who spends his days taking care...

Slamdance 2019: ‘Happy Face’ Directed by Alexandre Franchi, Montreal 1992. The film is in Quebecois French and English.The main character is a troubled boy trying to figure out / escape from his family problems.

Emotionally estranged from his seriously ill cancer-stricken mother, Stan, a strange quixotic 19-year-old, dons a face deforming disguise and joins a therapy workshop for physically disfigured patients in a misguided attempt to reconnect with her.

Desperate to become less shallow, the handsome teenage boy deforms his face with bandages and attends a support group for physically and facially disfigured people.

He is drawn into their plight as the withdrawn deformed ones who yearn for normal lives.

The drama of the film follows Stan’s attempts to get the half dozen deformed individuals to get past their withdrawal and confusion about their situation. When he’s exposed as a ‘fake’ deformed person he refuses to be kicked out of...