From mockumentaries to documentaries, four superb screenings

As part of Innis’s ongoing virtual screenings, on Sept. 10, 2020, creator-writer-actor David Pelech (HBA ’09 Innis, Writing & Rhetoric) presented his new digital mockumentary series, Decoys, which follows five duck decoy carvers pursuing their dreams of winning the illustrious Northern Alberta Carving Cup. Filmmaker and journalist Chandler Levack (HBA ’11 Innis, Cinema Studies) joined for a postscreening discussion.

Documentarians Jeff Kaufman and Marcia Ross offered a free virtual screening of their film, Nasrin, followed by a live panel discussion moderated by Shahrzad Mojab. The Nov. 25, 2020 co-presentation with the Critical Studies in Equity and Solidarity Program, New College, and PEN Canada, also featured Payam Akhavan, member of the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague.

On Feb. 23, 2020, in a co-presentation with the Cinema Studies Institute, and as part of Black History Month, filmmaker Yoruba Richen presented her documentary, How It Feels to Be Free. Writer, actor, programmer, and alumna Barbara Mamabolo (HBA ’14 Cinema Studies, MA ’15 Cinema Studies) moderated the discussion that followed.

Innis College presented a screening of Picture a Scientist, and a panel discussion with filmmaker Ian Cheney and U of T scientists Maydianne Andrade, Megan Frederickson, and Molly Shoichet Special guests included Melanie Woodin, dean of the Faculty of Arts & Science, and trailblazing zoologist Anne Innis Dagg (BA ’55, MA ’56, Hon LLD ’21).