Melora Koepke

All Sex Workers want for Christmas is a Charter Challenge, etc Why is the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms Émilie Laliberté’s Christmas wish list? Our cover model is a sex worker and spokeswoman for Stella, Montreal’s community organization by and for sex workers. There is still a long way to go before sex workers […]

I arrive at Price Canyon Ranch just as the sun is setting behind the Chiricahua Mountains in southeastern Arizona. Half a dozen riders are ravenously tucking into ranch-raised flatiron steaks as I sit down across from the head wrangler, Randy Barnhart. I expect questions about my riding experience, but he just grins and asks if […]

Expectations are high for Due Date, screenwriter/director Todd Phillips’ follow-up to last year’s The Hangover, a dirty little flick set on the seedy side of Sin City, starring semi-unknown actors, that became the highest-grossing R-rated film of all time. The Hangover‘s most memorable quality, besides the Phil Collins/Mike Tyson cameo, wasthe wildcard in a movie of wildcards: Zach […]

I’ve been missing Mexico lately, maybe it’s the winter in the air in Montreal. Here’s an article about museums in the D.F. I wrote for onAir, Air Canada’s newsletter. A few stolen moments contemplating Rivera’s splendid four-part Carnaval de la Vida Mexicana – a riot of colour and emotion that stretches across a north wall […]

Five stops on my crustacean vacation in Sydney, written for onAir, Air Canada’s monthly newsletter. 1. To get myself in an aquatic frame of mind, I start by heading to the venerable Sydney Fish Market, the city’s source for all things fishy since 1945. It’s also the largest fish market in the southern hemisphere and […]

Delicate Essence: Jean-Pierre Jeunet finds his muse for Micmacs à tire-larigot Bienvenue chez Les Ch’tis was a monster hit in Canada and the United States, bringing French comedy films back into the limelight – though some might say that Ch’tis, though undeniably hilarious, was rather broad, and that indeed, France has a subtler and richer […]

Earth Angel: Vincenzo Natali’s Splice explores potentialities of our genetic future Splice, Toronto director Vincenzo Natali’s (Cube) more-than-a-decade-in-the-making film about the near-future of genetic engineering, is by far the best Canadian film this year, and possibly the best sci-fi monster movie since Aliens. Though, in Natali’s words, it’s more like “a monster movie spliced with […]

“They don’t give you much in terms of nutrition,” shrugs Noland Johnson as he pulls down a tall frond of ocotillo and hands me its small scarlet buds. “But if you’re out walking in the desert and it’s really hot, they’re nice and refreshing.” Sure enough, when I put the bud on my tongue, I […]

Socalled Life: Filmaker Garry Beitel takes a kaleidoscopic approach to Josh Dolgin in The Socalled Movie It sounded like a great idea for a documentary: In 2007, the Montreal rapper and producer Socalled, a.k.a. Josh Dolgin, along with his parents, organized a klezmer/heritage cruise down the Dnieper River from Kiev to Odessa. On the chartered […]

The Real Neil Diamond: Cree documentarian finds his own fame at FIFA The receptionist at the Palm Springs Hilton doesn’t miss a beat when I dial up and ask for Neil Diamond. Apparently, he’s staying at the hotel under his own name. The Montreal-based Cree filmmaker Neil Diamond may not yet be as famous as […]