News

Multiple groups at Concordia are working to convince the university to restore full service for the shuttle bus between the Downtown campus and the Loyola campus.

Back in June, Concordia announced that the shuttle bus which students use to get between the two campuses would reduce services. The bus now only runs from 9:15 am to 6:30 pm, making commuting difficult for students with early morning and late evening classes. 

Since the announcement the Concordia student union has been gathering testimonials and petition signatures to restore the shuttle busses early morning and late evening service. The petition currently has 1500 signatures and 500 testimonials.

The Concordia Faculty Association is investigating whether recent actions from the university violate academic freedom. 

On September 5, a memo was sent from the Universities Vice-President, Academic Anne Whitelaw, the memo prohibited faculty departments from posting political statements on the Concordia website. Part of the memo said that “recent geopolitical conflicts, particularly in the Middle East, have led to an escalation of tensions […] leading some faculty, and staff to feel unwelcome.”

After the memo, the university took down existing statements from departments it deemed political. Statements condemning Israel’s actions against Palestine were removed, so were older statements on topics like feminism and colonialism.

On Friday October 11, a group of Concordia faculty screened a Palestinian documentary on the side of the Hall building, after Concordia University canceled their planned screening in the library.

The English Montreal School Board, or EMSB, is in election season, the first since they successfully overturned parts of bill-40, thwarting attempts to abolish English school boards. The EMSB is the largest English school board in Quebec, serving thirty-five thousand students.

On November 3 voters will be able to vote for commissioners in their school districts and vote for chair. 

There are two candidates running for chair of the EMSB. The current chairperson Joe Ortona is seeking re-election after four years, and he is being challenged by the President of the English Parents’ Committee Association of Quebec, Katherine Korakakis. CJLO spoke with both candidates about their platforms, English language rights, mental health, and student success rates.

*Reader discretion is advised for the films mentioned in this article* 

The Fantasia Film Festival is back at Concordia University’s Hall Building and surrounding area for the 28th edition, which runs from July 18th - August 4th. The premier genre film festival gives the excuse to beat the heat and grab a seat for a film that will surely entertain. Before we get to our top film picks curated by us, Remi and Danny of At The Movies, here are some things to look forward to at this year's edition.

Alex Garland’s film Civil War taps into the director’s trademark nerve-inducing wake-up calls that hit close to home about where we are at as a society. There was the wake-up call about artificial intelligence in Ex Machina and whatever nerves he wanted to provoke about humanity with his following films Annihilation and Men. The films leave the audience with a haunting, somewhat uneasy, feeling that makes me have questions about humanity. I normally end up doing deep dives on YouTube for explanations and in-depth analysis of these films.

November 25th was the premiere of Venus Envy: The House of Venus and the closing night of the Image+Nation film festival. Image+Nation is an 11-day festival that includes international short films, documentaries, and feature films about LGBTQ+ topics. The closing night event combined queer culture and history with visual culture. 

The night started with a drag performance. The performer was wearing a retro, 1960s-styled outfit with a bejewelled fascinator with feathers, shaped like a hand. 

The new Netflix documentary Wham! explores every aspect of the pop music duo of George Michael and Andrew Ridgeley. Whenever I think of the 80s, I think of the quirky, unconventional styles which a lot of people had, I think of the really cool movies that were released, and how can I not think of the great music that was available to us at the time? When of think of music from the 80s, I think of bands such as Hall and Oats, Tears for Fears and of course Wham! I recently stumbled upon the Wham! documentary which is now available on Netflix, and I could not resist taking the time to watch it.

Past Lives is the directorial debut feature of Celine Song, and one of the best films of the year. After making its premier at this year’s Sundance Film Festival and garnering positive reviews from critics  it’s now in theaters. Past Lives is a meditative, slow film about first love that has been lost, the immigration experience, and of the nature of relationships.

South Asian Film Festival of Montreal (SAFFM) 2023, presented by Kabir Centre for Arts & Culture is back after a year of dormancy. The festival was screened with Bibliothèques de Saguenay and La Cinémathèque québécoise from April 28 to May 10. This year’s films were picked all the way from India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh, to Canada and the United States; aired in person and online.  Kabir Centre aims to unite communities through thought-provoking films from the Indian Sub-continent empowering the culture and the languages.