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Open Roof Festival is in full swing! It’s been on for a few weeks now, but I checked it out last night. A night of beer, music and movies, this festival is awesome. Held in the parking lot of the Amsterdam Brewery in Toronto, the festival started June 16 and runs until September 1st. I’d advise you to check it out. And why wouldn’t you? Parking is free, tickets are $15 and you get to see a band perform, a short film and a feature. 

Girl band Betty Burke opened things up with great energy and a lot of laughs. They really entertained, cracking light hearted jokes and engaging in great vamping leading into their songs. 

Next was the short film Family First which was a squeamishly funny short flick about a fairly intense subject matter. It was quick, lacking in depth, but altogether a fun 5 minutes and I’m not angry I spent it on this film.

               

And then came the pièce de résistance, Bruce McDonald’s Trigger. It is the story of two ex-rockers of the Toronto indie rock and roll scene meeting up again years later. Both have changed, and yet, both have stayed fairly the same! Now, I’m not here to review the film, but I will say that I thought it was well done. The end came up a tad short, but I thought it fitting considering the situation and the way these characters have spent their lives. Kudos to both Molly Parker and the late, greatTracy Wright for their acting. And extra kudos to Wright who portrayed Vic with great sensitivity and delivered a very sombre and beautiful monologue about her former life and her ideas on love. I loved seeing Toronto as Toronto and not as New York and the snickering and giggling people did upon hearing that Parker’s Kat works and lives in LA. Also there’s a great little sequence involving alcoholism, fire-breathing, heroin, businessmen orgies and Hair’s “Good Morning Starshine”. But I’ll let you check out the movie so you can judge it yourself. 

All of this was done in the open, beautiful summer air. It was like an urban drive/bike/walk-in movie and being Canadian we need to appreciate all the summer and warm weather we can get before receding back into 6 or 7 months of winter.