Ladies and Gentlemen, Brian Mulroney Takes to TIFF’s Midnight Madness
According to the synopsis of Ladies and Gentlemen, Brian Mulroney, the new “psychedelic doomscroll” by Winnipeg-born filmmaker Matthew Rankin, “In 1976, Brian Mulroney launched a charm offensive the likes of which Canada had never seen, dismantling the political establishment one dad joke at a time.”
Rankin began this project during the worst of the COVID-19 pandemic, taking a break from it for the filming of his award-winning absurdist comedy, Universal Language (2024); now he is set to bring his “genre-bending collage of VHS-ravaged Canadiana” to TIFF’s Midnight Madness program this month.
After years spent combing through NFB Archives and other sources, and remixing and reimagining the treasures he found, Rankin’s latest offering chronicles “our 18th prime minister’s crash course with destiny as he clobbers Joe Clark and ushers in a new kind of conservatism for the 1980s. What emerges is a fever dream of politics, propaganda and pop culture as hypnotic as its subject.”
“Behold the unstoppable ascent of a generational political genius who charmed a nation into oblivion,” and stay tuned to this newsletter for details of the never-before-seen Canadian political footage that was uncovered for this project in the NFB’s vaults.
The Stunt Driver Ramps Up for Its Launch
NFB Archives are about to take flight in the latest comedy by director Michael Dowse (Fubar, Goon, It’s All Gone Pete Tong), starring Jay Baruchel, Ed Helms and Ben Foster.
Based on the two classic NFB docs directed by Robert Fortier about Montreal-born stuntman Ken Carter (The Mad Canadian and Devil at Your Heels), the film fictionalizes Carter’s attempt to pull off his life’s greatest feat: “a historic jump in a rocket-powered Lincoln Continental across a mile-wide expanse of the St. Lawrence River. What could go wrong? In short: everything.” (TIFF 2026)
The Stunt Driver brings to full circle an epic saga of obsession and (some would say) pure folly that began with Carter’s big dreams in the mid-1970s, culminated with the “Super Jump” in October 1979 and continued into the early ’80s with the release of Devil at Your Heels.
The film’s fictional incarnation, studded with excerpts from the original but now-remastered documentary, will premiere on September 11 at TIFF before hitting theatres across North America on September 25. Buckle up, it’s sure to be a fun ride!
New Documentary Brings “Psychedelic Superhero” and Its Creator to the World
Premiering soon at AIFF, Captain Newfoundland: The Geoff Stirling Story delves into the legendary, eccentric Newfoundland business mogul who founded Newfoundland Television (NTV) in the 1960s, thereby bringing psychedelic enlightenment to the Rock.
Millionaire, mystic and yogi, the late Geoff Stirling was also a friend of the Beatles and one of the main characters of Michael Rubbo’s classic NFB documentary Waiting for Fidel. After opening North America’s first TV station to broadcast 24-7, Stirling filled its late-night airwaves with programming that featured a superhero of his own invention called Captain Newfoundland. Through this character, he pushed his belief that Newfoundland was in fact the northern tip of the ancient continent of Atlantis, and beamed his message of peace, meditation and the power of pyramids across the universe, every night.
Stirling left an indelible mark on generations of Newfoundlanders (including Captain Newfoundland co-directors Jamie Miller and Mike Feehan), encouraging them to unleash their creative energies. As it turns out, Waiting for Fidel is also widely influential on the Rock; the filmmakers wove numerous excerpts from it throughout Captain Newfoundland to demonstrate Stirling’s character and ideas, and to explain his unlikely friendship with late NL and Labrador premier and self-described socialist Joey Smallwood.
According to Michelle Demeyere, Captain Newfoundland’s archival producer, “Waiting for Fidel means a lot to Newfoundlanders; former premier Danny Williams says it helped him better understand Geoff and Joey’s affinity, and musician and CBC radio host Tom Powers comments on how much he loves the film for what it does for Newfoundland. These are among other Newfoundland writers and artists who extoll how Waiting for Fidel inspired, amused, baffled and enthralled them. The excerpts of this unique NFB classic give Newfoundlanders a chance to see and love Geoff Stirling all the more.”
While waiting for the release of Captain Newfoundland, head over to NFB.ca to get a taste of the man, the icon who was Geoff Stirling.