A book by two reporters provided the source material for BlackBerry, a movie kept under wraps until production ended. The parts of Research In Motion co-founders Jim Balsillie and Mike Lazaridis are played by Glenn Howerton and Jay Baruchel; director Matt Johnson feels like his vision represents “a bright new day for Canadian film.”
A preview of the next election
The pace at which the government responded to offensive tweets highlighted for over a week before funding was cut to anti-racism media seminars has led to Liberal MP Anthony Housefather questioning the delayed actions of diversity minister Ahmed Hussen. But the lag led to wider scrutiny of the preceding reputation of Laith Marouf over two decades.
Jean Charest is still trolling for a denouncement from Pierre Poilievre. But he seems unlikely to get one over a handshake as the Conservative leadership voting nears the finish line. Poilievre only said he doesn’t believe in guilt by association, as his supporters point out Justin Trudeau similarly posed with unseemly characters.
LaFlamme saga still smouldering
Unilever Canada says Dove isn’t pulling any ads from Bell Media, as the brand takes the viral marketing approach by implying inspiration from the firing of Lisa LaFlamme—which has earned Dove further media attention. That includes the CTV Atlantic bureau covering the campaign with comments from their own former host in Halifax:
Nelson Branco dead at 48. The recent digital and video lead for the Toronto Sun was recently laid off from his role, which came after an editing stint for Postmedia’s now-defunct commuter daily, 24 Hours. But his greater passion involved journalism about soap operas, which once meant writing a column called Suds Report for TV Guide Canada.
Finally, another walk in the dark
Night Walk, the legendary overnight show from Global Television, produced in 1986, has come up more frequently in recent years. A pioneering example of what became known as “Slow TV,” it also inspired a 4K remake from roaming Toronto streets in 2019. And now the footage accompanies a new Junior Boys track: