fORT yORK
monday, June 27, 2022

man on wire

With the short film Terra Nova Matadora

Few films are as integral to TOPS’ performance-themed Curtains Up! programme as Man on Wire, James Marsh’s Best Documentary Oscar-winning recounting of tightrope artist Philippe Petit’s headline-making stunt walk between the Twin Towers. Dubbed by Frenchman Petit as “le coup,” the stunt of a lifetime, the highwire walker looked up – way up – for his next challenge after successfully completing a walk between the towers of Paris’ Notre Dame Cathedral and of Sydney Harbour Bridge. (Hey, it was the 70s, when a suave guy with cable wire could set up a circus act at the top of the world’s most notable buildings without anyone noticing.) Deftly blending astounding 30-year-old found footage of the 45-minute walk with surprisingly humorous testimonials from Petit and his accomplices, Man on Wire is a nail-biting thriller featuring a super-human performance you won’t forget seeing in the shadow of Toronto’s Gardiner expressway.

In filmmaker Rhonda Buckley’s doc short Terra Nova Matadora, a Newfoundland woman finds her true calling as Carolyn the Matadora, a bullfighter who stared death in the eye to compete as one of the best in Mexico. It’s a night of maverick performances in every sense of the word.