Hope

Promo trailer/reel for an ultimately unproduced horror feature.

Twenty-one years after Alan Zweig’s groundbreaking first feature documentary Vinyl, Zweig returns to the topic of compulsive record collecting with newfound introspection and a sunnier disposition. Punctuated by his signature mirror-confessionals, Records compiles colourful interviews with vinyl enthusiasts, swirling around the proverbial maxim that music has the power to connect us all.

Toronto filmmaker Alan Zweig analyzes the phenomenon of record collecting.

As the president of a trashy TV channel, Max Renn is desperate for new programming to attract viewers. When he happens upon "Videodrome," a TV show dedicated to gratuitous torture and punishment, Max sees a potential hit and broadcasts the show on his channel. However, after his girlfriend auditions for the show and never returns, Max investigates the truth behind Videodrome and discovers that the graphic violence may not be as fake as he thought.

From the 1930's to the 1970's, pretty well every comedian or comic you might see on TV or the movies was Jewish. Jews came to dominate the world of western‐society comedy on radio, stage and screen alike.Why did Jews dominate comedy in this period? And why did that domination end? Were Jews just funnier back then? And if so, did that extend to your average Jew on the street? In this 90 minute documentary acclaimed director Alan Zweig will examine these questions and many others in this exploration of 20th century humour, cultural decay, and a search for a missing heritage.

Spanning years of correspondence and three separate trips to Nunavut, Alan Zweig's latest documentary navigates issues of culture and identity with his pen-pal and semi-reluctant guide, Tatanniq Idlout, a.k.a. Inuk rock singer Lucie Idlout.

While on her way home from a Rave, Stacey encounters God and is given a special mission. Not quite sure how to deal with this, she tries her best; losing friends and gaining converts before a final, miraculous event transforms her from average Rave Girl into Stacey of Suburbia.

The Ballad of Don Quinn tells the story of southern Saskatchewan’s original punk rocker and his attempts to resurrect his band a decade after their scarcely noticed demise.

What gives your life meaning? Family, yoga, good food, those shoes that were on sale? Ray Robertson outlines his own list in his non-fiction book “Why Not: Fifteen Reasons To Live?” And that has inspired Alan Zweig’s documentary feature 15 REASONS TO LIVE which takes up that list as a call to adventure. The list is: Love, Solitude, Critical Mind, Art, Individuality, Home, Work, Humour, Friendship, Intoxication, Praise, Meaning, Body, Duty and Death.

A look at the careers of retired police officers, as described in their own words.

When an old friend takes his own life, Alan Zweig seeks out others grappling with the suicide of a loved one. As hard as it can be to speak of such an unfathomable loss, more than 20 friends and acquaintances feel compelled to tell their stories. Zweig engages with them as only he can-reflecting with disarming candour on the grief and resilience of those left standing. Love, Harold is a profound gesture of cinematic empathy from one of Canada's most distinctive filmmakers.