Arts & Culture

Zain Duraie’s Sink is as honest as it is heartbreaking

Zain Duraie’s Sink is the right amount of devastating. One of my favourites of the festival, the film had its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival last week. There is no shortage of films that cover mental illness in the modern context. Predominantly American or European, there are dozens if not hundreds of projects that show the sadness, the stigma, and the need for community support when dealing with mental health issues. Still, few films expertly portray an earnest perspective of the emotions involved outside of the melodrama frequently depicted. To truly succeed in portraying mental illness requires…

Read MoreZain Duraie’s Sink is as honest as it is heartbreaking

Seemab Gul’s Ghost School is an outstanding debut feature

With gorgeous cinematography and keen direction from director Seemab Gul’s debut feature, Ghost School shows remarkable strength and film-making talent. The Urdu-language feature, which premieres at the Toronto International Film Festival this week, follows the journey of 10-year old Rabia (an outstanding performance from child actress Nazualiya Arsalan) who undertakes the journey of uncovering the mystery behind “ghost school” phenomenon in Pakistan after her school is abruptly shut down. The exploration takes place through the pure and curious lens of a young girl who above-all wants to go back to school. Ghost schools are institutions that exist on paper, or…

Read MoreSeemab Gul’s Ghost School is an outstanding debut feature

“Out of this World!”: Alien-themed Sapphic night seeks to provide safe space for underrepresented segment of London’s queer community  

On August 29th, London’s vibrant sapphic community gathered downtown at the Honey Dip Bar for our city’s first ever “Sapphic Invasion” event. Organized by Sapphire 519’s Theresa Hayes, the highly anticipated alien-themed event was met with overwhelming enthusiasm, with many attendees saying that it provided a much-needed safe space for the often-underrepresented community to connect.   “I am so tired of sapphic people getting breadcrumbs when it comes to events and dedicated groups for them in London,” said Hayes. “We’re a city of over 447 000 people, yet we’re seriously lacking in representation for queer women and nonbinary folks.”   Following the…

Read More“Out of this World!”: Alien-themed Sapphic night seeks to provide safe space for underrepresented segment of London’s queer community  

Full Circle Cooking Episode 4: Beanage Dream Full Circle Cooking

We’re keeping it simple at full circle cooking this month. Here’s a tangy, delicious and super filling recipe for a bean and tahini salad with roast zucchini. It’s totally customizable and I’ve included a few ideas for add-ons as well as the base recipe. Enjoy!  The best roast zucchini you’ll ever have Trim both ends of the zucchini, then cut it in half lengthwise. Score the open side of each half, creating a checkerboard pattern. Salt the open side liberally and let it sit for at least 10 minutes. Zucchinis hold a lot of water, and these steps are to…

Read MoreFull Circle Cooking Episode 4: Beanage Dream Full Circle Cooking

“We won’t forget, and we won’t stay silent”: London’s Bosnian community marks 30th anniversary of Srebrenica genocide

On Saturday, July 12, the Bosnian Canadian Islamic Centre (BCIC) held a memorial in the Rayner Gardens area of Springbank Park to mark 30 years since the devastating events of the Srebrenica genocide. As the hot midday sun bore down on the attendees, members of the BCIC, local MPs, City officials, and Muslim community leaders spoke on the importance of remembrance and recognition in preserving the memory of the victims and ensuring the atrocities of that day are never repeated again. In April of 1993, a year into the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina, the UN declared the town of…

Read More“We won’t forget, and we won’t stay silent”: London’s Bosnian community marks 30th anniversary of Srebrenica genocide

London Film Screening Marks the 35th Anniversary of Mohawk Kanehsatà:ke Resistance

On July 11, 1990, a 78-day standoff began when the Mohawk of Kanehsatà:ke resisted the violent expansion of a golf course onto their sacred forest and ancestral burial grounds. Commonly called the “Oka crisis” in settler communities, the siege by Sûreté du Québec (SQ) Quebec provincial police, the Canadian Army and RCMP, marks a “watershed moment” for Indigenous land defense and struggle on Turtle Island. To mark the 35th anniversary, there was a free public screening of Kanehsatake: 270 Years of Resistance (1993, directed by Alanis Obomsawin) on July 10 at DoughEV (621 Dundas Street), co-hosted by London International Socialists,…

Read MoreLondon Film Screening Marks the 35th Anniversary of Mohawk Kanehsatà:ke Resistance

“Letters in a Shell” and “The Alarm”

A lyric in free verse, I wrote Letters in a Shell in June 2025 as an emotional response to the ongoing and escalating suppression of Palestine activism observed on Western University’s campus, in London, and on social media. Letters in a Shell The body is a shell It speaks, sometimes it moves, Across imaginary lines. It arrives and it departs.  The body is a shell Sometimes it’s recognized, Sometimes handled.  There are times this is unwanted. At such times this is unjust.  The body is a shell, but a hand can write a letter,  on paper or on glass. The…

Read More“Letters in a Shell” and “The Alarm”

Pride and Protest: “Parade” Screening at Museum London

Last month, I went to Toronto’s Soulpepper Theatre to watch a production of Michael R. Jackson’s Tony and Pulitzer award-winning musical, “A Strange Loop.” I was stunned by its unapologetic Blackness, especially seeing it amongst a predominantly white crowd. The musical offers a gritty understanding of the lived experiences of a Black gay man in the modern era (modern as in like 2015 modern, to be fair), so much so that a white family with their young daughter packed up and left by the third song. I could not stop thinking about this white family leaving. I kept wondering if…

Read MorePride and Protest: “Parade” Screening at Museum London
Crowd of people sitting on the floor of Poacher's Arms surrounding the stage as Whine Problem prepares to play their final song of the evening

MAGICAL Evenings: June 18, 19 Music Show Reviews

Last week I went to two music events at a local bar, Poacher’s Arms, 171 Queens Ave. The first one was a free event on Wednesday called “Queerrr Jam”. This was held in collaboration with “Grrrls Jam”, a free event held at Poachers Arms once a month, where femme and gender-nonconforming people can go up and jam on the Poacher’s stage.  In this case, it was for anyone within the queer community to perform at. Queerrr Jam was run in collaboration with MAGICAL 519, which stands for Multicultural Accessible Gatherings Improving 2SLGBTQIA+ Community Affirmation in London, a collective that aims…

Read MoreMAGICAL Evenings: June 18, 19 Music Show Reviews

Inside the London Premiere of Vancouver-based documentary series Ana Falastini

On May 25, Palestinian-Canadian filmmakers Dalia Al Ahmad and Rawan Ramini came to Western University’s Conron Hall to premiere their Vancouver-based documentary series “Ana Falastini.”  The event brought upwards of 100 community members together and featured surprise performances from the Asala Dabke group and the debut of the Palestinian Threads of Diaspora project in London. The filmmaker duo showed three episodes of their five-episode documentary series, each discussing a specific part of Palestinian identity through interviews in both Arabic and English. Part 1 — History “To be a Palestinian is politicized.”  The first portion of the documentary opened with members…

Read MoreInside the London Premiere of Vancouver-based documentary series Ana Falastini