A few weeks ago, John Semley at the Onion’s A.V. Club Toronto wrote a prescient piece on cultural overload – more specifically, the wealth of screenings, festivals, cultural celebrations, etc. that seem to be on the rise each year in the city, making weekend and weekday offerings a lot richer, with some overlapping each other instead of each event starting and stopping with gaps between for audiences to sleep & eat a bit.

The piece’s timing is perhaps ideal, because festivals have to start promoting themselves in various ways far in advance to ensure we know they exist – that way, when they’re ready to announce the roster, we’ve been waiting impatiently for months.

It’s a necessary tactic, and even the big ones have to start early to ensure they too don’t lose anyone, but you have to admit it’s pretty amazing that multiple festivals can coordinate screenings using the same venues which are also being booked by so-called rivals (and limbs of affected staffers and volunteers are nowhere to be seen… unless they employ a special cleanup crew for inter-festival rumbles).

The TIFF Bell Lightbox houses screenings and galas for stuff other than their own, as does the Bloor Hot Docs Cinema (note new shiny happy signage), U of T’s Innis TownHall, the Toronto Underground, and more. Of course, if more festivals keep popping up, things will get a lot tighter. From a programmer’s vantage, it’s got to be stressful before and during the show (mandating occasional therapeutic use of Vitamin Q injections, aka a “Zoiiing! shot”), and for audiences, it means you have to pick and choose more diligently, if not figure out which work days to call in sick so you can attend the screening to a film that may not get a distributor for a while. Last year I caught two great docs – Cinema Komunisto (about the epic war films produced in the former Yugoslavia), and Grande Hotel [M] (a former luxury hotel in Mozambique becomes massive slum) – and neither’s out on DVD.

This year’s HotDocs (April 26-May 6) will overlap the Toronto Jewish Film Festival (May 3-13), and while I’m covering selected screenings at KQEK.com, it’s still tough to pick films given there’s a lot of really intriguing stuff to see. However (and here’s where this preamble becomes self-serving), because of the film music content at TJFF and my assistance in a few screenings, I have to see lots; and while there may not be directly horrific material in either festival, there is some noteworthy material.

At HotDocs, perhaps the most prominent horror show is Despite the Gods, a fly-on-the-wall doc that follows Jennifer Lynch’s direction of a “Bollywood/Hollywood action film about a man-eating snake goddess.” Penny Vozniak’s doc is making it’s world premiere here, and apparently it’s not too flattering towards Lynch, whose prior film efforts (Boxing Helena, anyone?) haven’t resulted in a steady career. I’m definitely covering it, along with more eclectic films.

Between the HotDocs screenings, there are unique film music docs and special presentations that are part of TJFF’s Sidebar Series, The Sound of Movies: Masters of the Film Score.

Elmer Bernstein (Blind Terror, Saturn 3, An American Werewolf in London) gets the spotlight via a rare screening of a live TV appearance I’ve never seen before. Titled American Musical Theatre: Elmer Bernstein, it shows the Oscar and Emmy Award-winning composer talking shop in 1961 with students while taking advantage of the CBS Symphony orchestra. This doc isn’t available on DVD (it comes straight from the Paley Center), and the ticketed screening is complimented with two Charles & Ray Eames shorts scored by Bernstein, “House: After Five Years of Living” (1955) and “Top” (1969). I’ll be providing an introduction, as Bernstein is among my Composer Gods. I interviewed him once for Film Score Monthly about his jazz scores (see Parts A and B), and he was an absolute gentleman.

TJFF also offers 5 FREE programmes (see below details for specifics), and students can get in free 5 minutes prior to any film in the festival, subject to availability.

FREE is a rare screening of the doc Film Music Masters: Jerry Goldsmith, directed by composer Fred Karlin (Westworld). I’ll also be providing an intro to the screening, as I know the history of the doc’s making and home video release (the DVD was produced by Paul Place, my former editor at Music from the Movies), and Goldsmith (The Omen, Psycho II, The Boys from Brazil) is also a Composer God.

Fans of Goldsmith can also check out a rare 35mm archival screening of the original Planet of the Apes (1968), which features an intro by Canada’s own Mychael Danna  Atom Egoyan’s longtime composer, and he who started out scoring SC Entertainment fodder like Blood Relations (1988) and Murder One (1988) before returning to the unstable mental condition genre with Chloe (2009).

Also making an appearance is David Shire (The Taking of Pelham One Two Three [M], Return to Oz, Monkey Shines) who will be present for a screening of Francis Ford Coppola’s The Conversation (1974) with film critic/author Kevin Courrier, and appear for a screening of the eerie teleplay Evening Primrose (1968). Shire contributed some underscoring for the Stephen Sondheim (Sweeney Todd) scored shocker, for which I reviewed the CD [M], the teleplay [M], and interviewed the album’s producer, Bruce Kimmel [M] (The Last Nudie Musical) not long ago.

Kevin Courrier will also conduct a film music talk called Notes and Frames: The Neglected Art of Film Music, which is FREE, and there will be 3 additional FREE screenings of the following docs: Movie Music Man: A Portrait of Lalo Schifrin, The Hollywood Sound, and Music for the Movies: Bernard Herrmann. If memory serves correct, in the last doc, Bernstein discusses Herrmann’s knack for simple thematic hooks using Cape Fear, and there’s generous material devoted to his horror (Psycho), fantasy (Ray Harryhausen), and thriller (The Bride Wore Black) films.

Lastly (relax, I’m getting to the score tally), Alex North (The Bad Seed, Willard, Dragonslayer), will get a big tribute May 7th via the screening of The Last Butterfly (1990), adapted from the novel by Canadian author (and my former screenwriting prof) Michael Jacot.

The evening will include a rare NBC Today interview with the humble composer, followed by an intro by son Steven North, producer Butterfly. After the screening, I’ll do a Q&A with Steven North, and for those still energized from the day’s diet of carbs and coffee, there’s a rare screening of David Boulton’s Emmy Award-winning doc The Gingerbread Revolution, which captured the fall of the communist regime during the making of Butterfly.

There. All done. Now to things collectible.

This past Record Store Day yielded some special promo 7” LPs in the U.K., of which the soundtrack-related ones were Dracula A.D. 1972, Dr. Who, and

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ISOLATED SCORES ON VIDEO:

Bell, Book and Candle (Twilight Time)

Journey to the Center of the Earth (Twilght Time)

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REGULAR RELEASES:

Beat Records (Italy)

Quella sporca storia nel west (Francesco De Masi) – ltd. 500

Lo chiamavano tresette… Giocava sempre col morto (Bruno Nicolai) – ltd. 500

Porno Holocaust (Nico Fidenco) – ltd. 500

Supercolpo da 7 miliardi (Nico Fidenco) – ltd. 500

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BSX Records (USA)

Moon 44 (Joel Goldsmith) – remastered; ltd. 1500

Starchaser: The Legend of Orin in 3D (Andrew Belling)

Tag: The Assassination Game (Craig Safan) – ltd. 1000

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Creature Features Records (USA)

Lost Skeleton Returns Again (John Morgan, William Stromberg)

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DigitMovies (Italy)

L’assassino e’ al Telefono (Stelvio Cipriani)

Ombre roventi (Carlo Savina)

Ritratto di Borghesia in Nero (Fabio Frizzi, Franco Bixio, Vince Tempera)

Ursus nella valle dei Leoni (Ursus in the Valley of Lions) (Riz Ortolani)

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Film Score Monthly (FSM) (USA)

It’s Alive (Bernard Herrmann) – orig. score

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Intrada (USA)

Black Cauldron (Elmer Bernstein)

Déjà vu (Pino Donaggio)

Island at the Top of the World (Maurice Jarre)

Once Upon a Time (Mark Isham)

Predator (Alan Silvestri)

Whispers in the Dark (Thomas Newman)

Wolfen (James Horner, Hans Zimmer)

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Kritzerland Records (USA)

Invasion USA / Tormented (Albert Glasser) – ltd. 1000

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Lakeshore Records (USA)

From Inside (Brett Smith)

Gone (David Buckley)

Red Lights (Victor Reyes)

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La-La Land Records (USA)

Batman Forever (Elliot Goldenthal) – 2CDs

Jennifer 8 (Christopher Young / Maurice Jarre) – ltd. 2000

Planet of the Apes (Danny Elfman) – 3CDs [M]

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Monstrous Movie Music (USA)

Kronos / The Cosmic Man (Paul Sawtell, Bert Shefter)

Rocketship X-M (Ferde Grofe)

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MovieScore Media / Screamworks Records (Sweden)

Dawn of the Dragonslayer (Panu Aaltio)

Eye of the Eagles: The Film Music of Soren Hyldgaard

Innkeeper, The (Jeff Grace) [M]

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Quartet Records (Spain)

Masque of the Red Death (David Lee) – ltd. 1000

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Silva Screen (USA / UK)

Complete Harry Potter Film Music Collection (various)

Haywire (David Holmes)

Music from the Twilight Saga (various)

Music of John Williams: 80th Birthday Tribute – 6CDs

Sherlock: Series 2 (David Arnold, Michael Price)

Woman in Black (Marco Beltrami)

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Sony (USA)

Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, The (Thomas Newman)

Titanic: Collector’s Anniversary Edition (James Horner) – 3CDs [M]

Twisted Metal (Michael Wandmacher) [M]

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Sugar Records (Italy)

8 ½ (Nino Rota)

Amarcord (Nino Rota)

Cage aux folles, La (Ennio Morricone)

City of Women (Nono Rota)

Dolce Vita (Nino Rota)

Il Bidone (Nino Rota)

Il Postino (Luis Bacalov)

Juliette of the Spirits (Nino Rota)

Leopard, The (Nino Rota)

Mondo Cane (Riz Ortolani)

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Sumthing Else (USA)

Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning (Grant Kirkhope) [M]

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Varese Sarabande (USA)

Battleship (Steve Jablonsky)

Bel Ami (Lakshman Joseph De Saram, Rachel Portman)

Brake (Brian Tyler)

Cabin in the Woods (David Julyan)

Coriolanus (Ilan Eshkeri)

Columbus Circle (Brian Tyler)

Dr. Seuss’ The Lorax (John Powell)

Fringe: Season 3 (Michael Giacchino)

Game of Thrones: Season 2 (Ramin Djawadi)

Hostel: Part III (Frederik Wiedmann)

Spartacus: Vengeance / Gods of the Arena (Joseph LoDuca)

Toughback (William Ross)

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Water Tower Music (Warner Bros.) (USA)

Dark Shadows (Danny Elfman)

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This handy-dandy list was compiled from various awesome sources, including catalogue announcements at Screen Archives Entertainment, Soundtrackcollector.com, Chris’ Soundtrack Corner, and Intrada.

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Mark R. Hasan (Mondomark.com)