Geoff Pevere (born October 1957) is a Canadian lecturer, author, broadcaster, teacher, arts and media critic, currently the program director of the Rendezvous With Madness Film Festival in Toronto.John Semley, "Can we play with madness?: Toronto's Rendezvous with Madness festival chips away at the lingering stigmas surrounding mental health". The Globe and Mail, November 3, 2016. He is a former film critic, book columnist and cultural journalist for the Toronto Star, where he worked from 1998 to 2011. His writing has appeared in several newspapers, magazines and arts journals, and he has worked as a broadcaster for both radio and television. He has lectured widely on cultural and media topics, and taught courses at several Canadian universities and colleges. In 2012, he contributed weekly pop culture columns to CBC Radio Syndication, which were heard in nearly twenty markets across Canada. He has also been a movie columnist and regular freelance contributor with The Globe and Mail.
Early life
Born in Ottawa, Ontario, Pevere grew up in a variety of locations including London and St. Catharines.Angela Murphy, "Maybe it was the water: Mr. Mondo Canuck could owe his quirkiness to Niagara roots". St. Catharines Standard, November 30, 1996. He graduated in 1982 from the film studies program at Carleton University, where he was also a writer for the student newspaper The Charlatan and a contributor to CKCU-FM.James Hale, "Hipper-than-thou approach keeps Prime Time from becoming boring". Ottawa Citizen, February 17, 1991. He was subsequently a film reviewer for the city's CHEZ-FM.David MacDonald, "Stuffing the bibliophile's stocking: what book-lovers want to give and get". Ottawa Citizen, December 7, 1985.
In 1986 he was named the first program coordinator of the Toronto International Film Festival's Perspective Canada program, which introduced the work of Atom Egoyan, Bruce McDonald and Guy Maddin, among others, during his tenure.Robert Everett-Green, "Celluloid experiments". The Globe and Mail, September 6, 1986.
Broadcasting From 1986 to 1988 he contributed to CBC Radio's State of the Arts program, and in 1988 started a twelve-year stint as the movie reviewer on CTV's Canada AM.
From 1989 to 1993, Pevere hosted Prime Time, a groundbreaking nightly pop culture magazine series on CBC Radio."Prime Time clicks with a new age of radio". The Globe and Mail, December 29, 1990. In 1993, after the death of Jay Scott, he was the host of Film International on TVOntario."TVO picks Pevere". The Globe and Mail, November 27, 1993.
From 2003 to 2008 he was the co-host, with Richard Crouse, of Rogers Television's Reel to Real."Rogers cancels Reel to Real". Playback, July 10, 2008.
Writing He co-wrote the book Mondo Canuck (1996), a bestselling critical evaluation of Canadian pop culture. He is also the author of Team Spirit: A Field Guide to Roots Culture (1998),Pamela Young, "A pop valentine to Roots culture Geoff Pevere's Team Spirit isn't authorized by Roots, but it might as well be". The Globe and Mail, November 14, 1998. Toronto on Film (2009)Bruce Kirkland, "TIFF opens the books on film". Toronto Sun, September 8, 2009. and Donald Shebib's Goin' Down the Road (2012)."Goin' Down the Road gets special screening at The Revue next week". The Villager, August 9, 2012. In 2014, he published Gods of the Hammer: The Teenage Head Story, a history of the influential Canadian punk rock band Teenage Head, for Coach House Books.Ian McGillis, "Getting punked in the Hammer; Geoff Pevere's new Teenage Head biography pays tribute to one of Canada's greatest rock bands". Montreal Gazette, June 21, 2014.
In 2012, he launched a network of encyclopedic critical pop cultural websites called "The Blessed Diversions Network". "Mean Justice" is devoted to western movies and TV shows; "The Big Shadow" is dedicated to the movie and TV culture of crime; "Riff Free or Die" covers the visual history of rock music; and "The Directory of Intemperate Enthusiasms" covers cult movies and TV.
Rendezvous with Madness November 2015 saw Pevere's first stint as program director of the Rendezvous With Madness Film Festival, an annual event dedicated to showcasing the best in current cinema addressing issues of mental health, addiction and recovery.
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