International Festival of Films on Art 

by Isabelle Schumacher

Thirty years ago, René Rozon had “une idée folle.” His crazy idea was this: a film festival dedicated to the arts. During its first year, FIFA (the International Festival of Films on Art) showcased 50 films from 12 countries. The festival lasted five days, and took place in a single theatre, the Cinémathèque québécoise. Since then, FIFA has gone on to show more than 5 000 films on art. More...

Montreal, Patchwork City of Design

by Nachammai Raman

A cross between the brash New York huckster and the fun-loving Parisian artist, Montreal is the entrepreneurial designer. It's the only city in North America with a commission to encourage the development of the design industry, which has been recognized as Montreal's leading cultural sector. Design permeates Montreal's living envirnment, cultural expression, and identity to such an extent that in 2006, it was designated a UNESCO "City of Design". Always a frontrunner in the most liveable cities ratings, Montreal has ambitions to become "one of the most beautiful cities in the world because of quality of life is a critical factor in the success of cities serving as beacons of the 21st Century," according to the city's imagining-Building Montreal 2025 plan.

Where One Hears a Noise Like This

by Ernesto Livorni

When nonno Carmine Fortunato's family stopped hearing from him, they thought what people often thought when a husband and father suddenly stopped writting: "He started a new life!" As if there was more than one life to live... So, his wife and daughters thought that he had met another woman; that maybe he squandered his money on her; that maybe he had even started a new family. The type of woman he had met or the kind of life he now led made no difference to them. They only cared because he no longer thought about them; he no longer sent that little bit of money which accompanied his ungrammatical letters. 

Detective Joe Ricci: One of Vancouver's Finest

by Ray Culos

The story of detective Joe Ricci reads like a Mickey Spillane novel: intrigue, shootings, drugs and prostitues. In the process, he is remembered as a law-enforcement officer who pushed the rules to the limit in order to take down a criminal. The year was 1912, six years following Joe Ricci's arrival from Falvaterra, a town southeast of Rome. "Guiseppe" Ricci is at the Vancouver police station demanding to know what progress has been made in apprehending the thief who stole his coat. "Look Mr. Ricci, I've told you before. We're doing our best to get your coat back, " replied the desk sergeant. "But hey, if you think you can do a better job, why don't you join the force and put your cheek where your mouth is?" More...

Salvatore Ala, Poet of Clarity

by Venera Fazio

"They are poems of integrity and clarity, and many of them possess a startling beauty," writes Canadian author Alistar McLeod on the back cover of Salvatore Ala's first book of poems, Clay of the Maker (1998). Since I first heard Salvatore Ala's poetry, some fifteen years ago at a literary festival in Sarnia, Ontario, I've been drawn to his writing, Just as Alistar McLeod was. Richard Stevenson wrote in Arc Poetry Magazine that Ala "knows his yard goos, crafts a clean line and sculpted narrative... You trust the voice; it's quiet, self-assured."

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