Before Trilogy

Fort York
Friday, August 28 2020

bEFORE suNRISE, before Sunset & Before Midnight

With short film 100 Musicians

Originally featured in TOPS’ Cinematic Cities series in 2018, Richard Linklater’s Before films explore the quiet stillness of cities after dark, and the unique friendships and romances that can be found in the hours when most have gone to sleep. And what better way to watch all three films in this trilogy than into the wee hours of the night, at a Toronto historical site, on the 25th anniversary of this classic cinematic duo’s first meeting? In Before Sunrise, after a chance meeting on a train, two foreign strangers agree to abandon their tourist itineraries, and instead spend the evening meandering around Vienna. And just like that, losing their sense of geographical direction and social inhibitions provides the freedom to discuss where they would like to be and who they would like to become. Cafés, bridges, trams, fountains, record stores and carnivals become the stage on which chemistry and conversation are choreographed, a meandering journey that continues nine years later in Paris in Before Sunset and nine years after that in Greece in Before Midnight (which will indeed hit our big screen just a few minutes before midnight).

Acclaimed Toronto filmmaker Charles Officer’s 100 Musicians takes place closer to home, but adopts a similar meandering conversational structure, as a Black couple wake up on a hot spring afternoon in their Kensington Market apartment and get in an argument over what they heard on the radio. Does the mayor want to combat structural racism by hiring 100 musicians? Or 100 policemen? As the conversation spirals, old wounds and deeply held beliefs about race, gender, social justice, and art rise to the surface.

before sunrise
Before Sunset
Before midnight

Richard Linklater, 1995, 2004 & 2013

With the short film 100 Musicians
directed by Charles Officer, 2012

Friday, August 28, 2020
Admission: Get your free tickets here
There will be no admission without an advance ticket
Donations make our programming possible

Venue: "Walled Fort" of Fort York National Historic Site - entry at west gates of 100 Garrison Road

Event details:
Gates open @ 6:30pm / Showtime @ sundown (tonight’s triple-feature programme will end at 1:30am)
COVID-19 on-site protocols - please read before attending
Snacks and alcoholic beverages for sale (no outside alcohol permitted)
BYOBlanket & Chairs
Please see the accessibility features of Fort York
Films are screened with captioning
This programme is rated PG/14A and is suitable for most audiences, but includes some mature language

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