With cinemas and film festivals in Canada, Germany and across the world currently closed or postponing their live programming, we are discovering the virtues of streaming. Among the offerings, one of the best is Kanopy. The platform is an award-winning video streaming service providing access to more than 30,000 independent and documentary films ─ titles of unique social and cultural value from The Criterion Collection, The Great Courses, Media Education Foundation, and thousands of independent filmmakers.You can use it for free for example through the Toronto and many other public library cards. Download the Kanopy app, log in with your library account, and a portal of high-quality global content awaits.
To sift through the catalogue, I am curating a little series of my personal film recommendations here and on social media #MyKanopyKanon. #Docs #features #shorts #femalefilmmakers #arthouse #mainstream ... Let me know your favourites and film viewing experiences and let's turn social distancing into social connecting.
☆ Here comes Angela Merkel's favourite film: The East German film production house DEFA has many of their gems on Kanopy, and one classic is "The Legend of Paul and Paula" by Heiner Carow, who also did queer classic "Coming Out," which we have shown recently. "Paul and Paula" was meant to be shot by female DEFA director Ingrid Reschke but she was killed in a car crash before she could realize the film. Carow took over, and you'll see his dedication to her in the credits. The two super star actors who beautifully portray this bittersweet love story --Angelica Domröse and Winfried Glatzeder, now 74 and on TV hit show "Dark"-- both fled the GDR a few years later and fell from grace with the regime, but continued great careers in the west.
