David Parkinson

Toronto

Deputy Head of Newsroom Development at The Globe and Mail

David Parkinson, Deputy Head of Newsroom Development, The Globe and Mail, Canada's national newspaper

Articles

Twice upon a time in Hollywood: how history repeats itself for ageing directors

2 weeks ago | bfi.org.uk | Maha Albadrawi |David Parkinson |Adam Nayman |Andy Medhurst

Martin Scorsese occupies a rarefied position on the internet these days: part elder statesman of film (on Letterboxd), part TikTok dad (to Francesca), and always good for an 8 to 12 minute YouTube sit-down. But in 2019, he found himself on the wrong side of internet ire when he compared Marvel films to theme parks. It was a throwaway comment in a longread about his career and upcoming film, The Irishman (2019).
5 things to watch this weekend - 4 to 6 April

2 weeks ago | bfi.org.uk | Sam Wigley |David Parkinson |Alex Ramon

Irish tragicomedy, a story of sex and publishing, and a Hitchcock classic on TV. What are you watching this weekend? 4 April 2025Where’s it on? Cinemas nationwideBy a quirk of scheduling, two films about budding gay novelists and the publishing world open in cinemas this week.
Richard Chamberlain obituary: dashing star of Dr. Kildare, Shōgun and The Three Musketeers

2 weeks ago | bfi.org.uk | David Parkinson Obituaries |David Parkinson |Adam Nayman |Andy Medhurst

A combination of good looks and impeccable control meant that Richard Chamberlain, who died two days before his 91st birthday, was never quite afforded his due as an actor. The son of an alcoholic shop fittings salesman, he was born in Beverly Hills (“the wrong side of Wilshire Boulevard”) on 31 March 1934. Having hidden the fact he was gay to serve in the US military in post-war Korea, he later returned to Los Angeles to study with blacklisted actor Jeff Corey.
10 great films about The Beatles

3 weeks ago | bfi.org.uk | David Parkinson |Sam Wigley |Alex Ramon

Poor old Ringo Starr. George Harrison was commemorated by Martin Scorsese, while Paul McCartney is about to be profiled by Morgan Neville, and Kevin Macdonald’s One to One: John & Yoko and Alan G. Parker’s Borrowed Time: Lennon’s Last Decade are the latest in a long line of tributes to John Lennon –in the last year alone, these included Daytime Revolution, Revival 69, and the three-part John Lennon: Murder Without a Trial.
The U.S. waged a trade war against Canada before. Here’s how it ended - The Globe and Mail

3 weeks ago | theglobeandmail.com | David Parkinson

The McKinley Tariff Act of 1890 delivered tariffs of up to 50 per cent on Canadian exports to the U.S. But it didn’t dissuade Canadian trade – it rerouted it
Increase in AI means we should re-assess what we teach in schools

2 months ago | countypress.co.uk | David Parkinson |Totland Bay

Whiteboard in a school classroom (Image: Pixabay) David Parkinson, Totland Bay: Hans Bromwich suggests in his prescient letter (CP 07-01-25) that the rapid development of AI may mean large numbers of people no longer need to work. This is not some far off fantasy. Finland recognised this change and in 2018 piloted a form of universal basic income to see how this would affect its citizens.
10 great films that cover huge spans of time

Jan 16, 2025 | bfi.org.uk | Matthew Thrift |Anton Bitel |Pamela Hutchinson |David Parkinson

There’s no separating the past from the present in Robert Zemeckis’s extraordinary Here (2024). One of the most adventurously experimental studio pictures to emerge this century, the film retains the unique formal gambit of its source material, a 2014 graphic novel by Richard McGuire. As on the page, a fixed perspective surveys millions of years of history, from the primordial era all the way through to the creation of a suburban home.
10 great Mexican horror films

Jan 8, 2025 | bfi.org.uk | Anton Bitel |Pamela Hutchinson |David Parkinson

Guillermo del Toro was born, grew up, and studied in Guadalajara, Jalisco in western Mexico. In 1986 he co-founded the Guadalajara International Film Festival, expressly intended to raise the profile of Mexican cinema. The first edition included his own short Doña Lupe.
24 films to watch on TV this Christmas

Dec 19, 2024 | bfi.org.uk | David Parkinson

So much for 2024... time to hit the sofa. 20 December 2024Each December, we rifle through the packed festive telly schedules and try our best not to pick the same old chestnuts. You know the things we mean. They tend to feature Victorian misers, wonderful wizards, holiday inns, crop-dusting planes, singing nuns, white-vested cops and angels getting their wings. Of course, they’re all worth revisiting or discovering with younger family members.
10 great British Christmas films

Dec 18, 2024 | bfi.org.uk | David Parkinson

British filmmakers have been producing Christmas pictures for more than 125 years, dating back to G.A. Smith’s Santa Claus in 1898. In 1901 came R.W. Paul’s Scrooge, or Marley’s Ghost (1901), the first of over 400 worldwide screen adaptations of A Christmas Carol, starring Daniel Smith as Charles Dickens’s miser.