Quebec nurse had to clean up after husband's death in Montreal hospital
On a night she should have been mourning, a nurse from Quebec's Laurentians region says she was forced to clean up her husband after he died at a hospital in Montreal.
Two of Netflix's most-prized 2021 festival movies have leaked online after debuting as part of the at-home digital offerings of the Toronto International Film Festival.
Jane Campion's drama "The Power of the Dog," starring Benedict Cumberbatch, and the Antoine Fuqua thriller "The Guilty," led by Jake Gyllenhaal, both appeared on pirate websites as of early Monday.
It was not immediately clear if TIFF showings were the source of the pirated copies or if they came from elsewhere. However, both movies premiered over the weekend as part of TIFF's hybrid festival model with screenings in theatres as well as virtually in homes across the country.
Representatives for Netflix and TIFF did not immediately respond for comment.
The leaks are a nightmare scenario for Netflix which opted to sit out most of last year's film festivals but returned in recent months with some of their buzziest upcoming movies.
Piracy can erode a film's prospects at the box office and derail some of the buzz that builds ahead of awards season for festival titles. For movies still looking for distribution, it can also affect the chances of a lucrative sale.
Many in the Hollywood film community have worried that making high-definition copies available through digital festival platforms almost guarantees those titles could show up on the black market.
But those same filmmakers and distributors have few options if they want to premiere their new films amid the COVID-19 pandemic, when many cinephiles are reluctant to gather en masse as the Delta variant spreads.
Virtual screenings at home became one solution but the model has been disliked by many major international film festivals that thrive on the mass gathering of film lovers.
Cannes, Venice, Telluride and the New York Film Festival, have all opted to hold only in-person screenings this year with COVID-19 testing and safety measures in place. Sundance introduced a virtual element last January, a practice it intends to continue next year at a hybrid edition.
Organizers at TIFF were put in a tougher spot as Toronto only emerged from one of the world's longest lockdowns over the summer, and its virtual component offered one way to ensure the festival wouldn't be cancelled if case numbers skyrocketed.
Not all filmmakers and distributors were on board with the idea. Some of the festival's biggest titles, including "Last Night in Soho" and "Dune," opted out of the digital component.
Organizers at TIFF took various measures to discourage piracy with warnings before all in-person and digital screenings that recording is strictly prohibited and violators could face legal action.
Digital screenings at home included personally identifiable watermarks that appeared at various points throughout the film.
A separate screening portal for accredited press and industry uses a different watermark system that includes each user's name and email address.
A copy of "The Power of the Dog" that spread on torrent sites did not include the opening Netflix logo, nor any visible watermarks. It was tagged as a "webscreener" by the pirates, suggesting it was pulled from an online source.
Both Netflix titles have release dates -- "The Guilty" is set to debut Oct. 1 on the streaming service after a limited theatrical release while "The Power of the Dog" is also expected to hit theatres before shifting to the small screen in December.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2021.
On a night she should have been mourning, a nurse from Quebec's Laurentians region says she was forced to clean up her husband after he died at a hospital in Montreal.
A North Bay, Ont., lawyer who abandoned 15 clients – many of them child protection cases – has lost his licence to practise law.
Members of the Bank of Canada's governing council were split on how long the central bank should wait before it starts cutting interest rates when they met earlier this month.
Brad Marchand scored twice, including the winner in the third period, and added an assist as the Boston Bruins downed the Toronto Maple Leafs 4-2 to take a 2-1 lead in their first-round playoff series Wednesday
Cuba's foreign affairs minister has apologized to a Montreal-area family after they were sent the wrong body following the death of a loved one.
Mounties in Nanaimo, B.C., say two late-night revellers are lucky their allegedly drunken antics weren't reported to police after security cameras captured the men trying to steal a heavy sign from a downtown business.
The federal government's proposed change to capital gains taxation is expected to increase taxes on investments and mainly affect wealthy Canadians and businesses. Here's what you need to know about the move.
Canada's Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland was among the 1,700 delegates attending the two-day First Nations Major Projects Coalition (FNMPC) conference that concluded Tuesday in Toronto.
The daughter of a New Brunswick man recently exonerated from murder, is remembering her father as somebody who, despite a wrongful conviction, never became bitter or angry.
A property tax bill is perplexing a small townhouse community in Fergus, Ont.
When identical twin sisters Kim and Michelle Krezonoski were invited to compete against some of the world’s most elite female runners at last week’s Boston Marathon, they were in disbelief.
The giant stone statues guarding the Lions Gate Bridge have been dressed in custom Vancouver Canucks jerseys as the NHL playoffs get underway.
A local Oilers fan is hoping to see his team cut through the postseason, so he can cut his hair.
A family from Laval, Que. is looking for answers... and their father's body. He died on vacation in Cuba and authorities sent someone else's body back to Canada.
A former educational assistant is calling attention to the rising violence in Alberta's classrooms.
The federal government says its plan to increase taxes on capital gains is aimed at wealthy Canadians to achieve “tax fairness.”
At 6'8" and 350 pounds, there is nothing typical about UBC offensive lineman Giovanni Manu, who was born in Tonga and went to high school in Pitt Meadows.
Kevin the cat has been reunited with his family after enduring a harrowing three-day ordeal while lost at Toronto Pearson International Airport earlier this week.