STONEWALL, a drama about a fictional young man caught up during the 1969 Stonewall Riots, considered the birthplace of the LGBT rights movement, which will World Premiere at the upcoming Toronto Film Festival, followed by a release in the theaters in the US on September 25th, just released its official trailer which is not going over well with some in the LGBT community.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kNXkJMXPBGc
Why? According to Matt Baume in The Advocate, “The trailer focuses on a cis white boy who moved to New York just in time to spark the riots. And that’s hardly the full story of Stonewall, since participants included people of color, trans people, drag queens, and lesbians. In fact, I think it’s the diversity of the riots that makes them as powerful as they were and still are.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tQxfdLnpTD4
“Accounts differ, so there’s no way to know for sure who started things or who the ringleaders were, and there’s no complete list of who was there. But participants included Marsha P. Johnson, a trans woman who’s said to have smashed a police car. There was Stormé DeLarverie, a butch lesbian who’s said to have thrown the first punch. And many participants describe seeing Sylvia Rivera, a 17-year old nonbinary-gender drag queen who went on to be a leader for disenfranchised groups for decades.”
Roland Emmerich, who directed “Stonewall,” defended his film in a Facebook post, ” When I first learned about the Stonewall Riots through my work with the Los Angeles Gay and Lesbian Center, I was struck that the circumstances that lead to LGBT youth homelessness today are pretty much the same as they were 45 years ago. The courageous actions of everyone who fought against injustice in 1969 inspired me to tell a compelling, fictionalized drama of those days centering on homeless LGBT youth, specifically a young midwestern gay man who is kicked out of his home for his sexuality and comes to New York, befriending the people who are actively involved in the events leading up to the riots and the riots themselves. I understand that following the release of our trailer there have been initial concerns about how this character’s involvement is portrayed, but when this film – which is truly a labor of love for me – finally comes to theaters, audiences will see that it deeply honors the real-life activists who were there — including Marsha P. Johnson, Sylvia Rivera, and Ray Castro — and all the brave people who sparked the civil rights movement which continues to this day. We are all the same in our struggle for acceptance.”
Actor Jeremy Irvine, who stars in the film (pictured above),also released a statement via Instagram where he states, “To anyone with concerns about the diversity of the #StonewallMovie. I saw the movie for the first time last week and can assure you all that it represents almost every race and section of society that was so fundamental to one of the most important civil rights movements in living history. Marsha P Johnson is a major part of the movie, and although first hand accounts of who threw the first brick in the riots vary wildly, it is a fictional black transvestite character played by the very talented @vlad_alexis who pulls out the first brick in the riot scenes. My character is adopted by a group of street kids whilst sleeping rough in New York. In my opinion, the story is driven by the leader of this gang played by @jonnybeauchamp who gives an extraordinary performance as a Puerto Rican transvestite struggling to survive on the streets. Jonathan Rhys Meyers’ character represents the Mattachine Society, who were at the time a mostly white and middle class gay rights group who stood against violence and radicalism. I felt incredibly nervous taking on this role knowing how important the subject matter is to so many people but Roland Emmerich is one of the most sensitive and heartfelt directors I’ve worked with and I hope that, as an ensemble, we have not only done such an important story justice but also made a good movie as well. Jeremy”
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STONEWALL Official Trailer Faces Backlash From Some in LGBT Community
STONEWALL, a drama about a fictional young man caught up during the 1969 Stonewall Riots, considered the birthplace of the LGBT rights movement, which will World Premiere at the upcoming Toronto Film Festival, followed by a release in the theaters in the US on September 25th, just released its official trailer which is not going over well with some in the LGBT community.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kNXkJMXPBGc
Why? According to Matt Baume in The Advocate, “The trailer focuses on a cis white boy who moved to New York just in time to spark the riots. And that’s hardly the full story of Stonewall, since participants included people of color, trans people, drag queens, and lesbians. In fact, I think it’s the diversity of the riots that makes them as powerful as they were and still are.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tQxfdLnpTD4
“Accounts differ, so there’s no way to know for sure who started things or who the ringleaders were, and there’s no complete list of who was there. But participants included Marsha P. Johnson, a trans woman who’s said to have smashed a police car. There was Stormé DeLarverie, a butch lesbian who’s said to have thrown the first punch. And many participants describe seeing Sylvia Rivera, a 17-year old nonbinary-gender drag queen who went on to be a leader for disenfranchised groups for decades.”
Roland Emmerich, who directed “Stonewall,” defended his film in a Facebook post, ” When I first learned about the Stonewall Riots through my work with the Los Angeles Gay and Lesbian Center, I was struck that the circumstances that lead to LGBT youth homelessness today are pretty much the same as they were 45 years ago. The courageous actions of everyone who fought against injustice in 1969 inspired me to tell a compelling, fictionalized drama of those days centering on homeless LGBT youth, specifically a young midwestern gay man who is kicked out of his home for his sexuality and comes to New York, befriending the people who are actively involved in the events leading up to the riots and the riots themselves. I understand that following the release of our trailer there have been initial concerns about how this character’s involvement is portrayed, but when this film – which is truly a labor of love for me – finally comes to theaters, audiences will see that it deeply honors the real-life activists who were there — including Marsha P. Johnson, Sylvia Rivera, and Ray Castro — and all the brave people who sparked the civil rights movement which continues to this day. We are all the same in our struggle for acceptance.”
Actor Jeremy Irvine, who stars in the film (pictured above),also released a statement via Instagram where he states, “To anyone with concerns about the diversity of the #StonewallMovie. I saw the movie for the first time last week and can assure you all that it represents almost every race and section of society that was so fundamental to one of the most important civil rights movements in living history. Marsha P Johnson is a major part of the movie, and although first hand accounts of who threw the first brick in the riots vary wildly, it is a fictional black transvestite character played by the very talented @vlad_alexis who pulls out the first brick in the riot scenes. My character is adopted by a group of street kids whilst sleeping rough in New York. In my opinion, the story is driven by the leader of this gang played by @jonnybeauchamp who gives an extraordinary performance as a Puerto Rican transvestite struggling to survive on the streets. Jonathan Rhys Meyers’ character represents the Mattachine Society, who were at the time a mostly white and middle class gay rights group who stood against violence and radicalism. I felt incredibly nervous taking on this role knowing how important the subject matter is to so many people but Roland Emmerich is one of the most sensitive and heartfelt directors I’ve worked with and I hope that, as an ensemble, we have not only done such an important story justice but also made a good movie as well. Jeremy”
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24 Films in Zabaltegi Section of the 63rd San Sebastian Festival
The Zabaltegi program at the 63rd San Sebastian Festival showcases the Spanish premieres of the latest works by reputed filmmakers including Laurie Anderson, Jem Cohen, Anca Damian, Andrés Di Tella, Eric Khoo, Corneliu Porumboiu, Walter Salles, and Alexander Sokurov, alongside films selected for international festivals at which they have won numerous awards. Feature films, documentaries, animated movies and a short film make up a selection that reflects the vitality of contemporary cinema.
327 CUADERNOS
ANDRÉS DI TELLA (ARGENTINA – CHILE)
A documentary by Andrés Di Tella starring Ricardo Piglia, one of the great narrators in the Spanish language, who decides to closely read his intimate diary for the first time. A record of 50 years of life. 327 identical notebooks, all with black oilskin covers, stored away in 40 cardboard boxes.
ADAMA
SIMON ROUBY (FRANCE)
Premiered at Annecy Film Festival, an animated coming-of-age story. 12-year-old Adama lives in a remote West African village. One night his older brother, Samba, disappears and he decides to set off in search of him on a quest that takes him over the seas, to the North, to the frontline of the First World War.
ALLENDE MI ABUELO ALLENDE (BEYOND MY GRANDFATHER ALLENDE)
MARCIA TAMBUTTI (CHILE)
35 years after the coup d’état that overthrew her grandfather, Salvador Allende, Marcia draws a family portrait that addresses the complexities of irreparable loss and the role of memory in three generations of an iconic family. Winner of the L’Oeil d’Or award for Best Documentary at the last Cannes Festival.
COMOARA / THE TREASURE
CORNELIU PORUMBOIU (ROMANIA – FRANCE)
Corneliu Porumboiu returns with a tender black comedy, in which a father’s love transforms an unlikely treasure hunt into a fairytale. Winner of the Un Certain Talent Prize at the last Cannes Festival.
COUNTING
JEM COHEN (USA)
Fifteen distinct but interconnected chapters, shot in locations from Russia to New York City to Istanbul. Together, these build to a reckoning at the intersection of city symphony, diary, and essay film. Perhaps the most personal of Cohen’s documentary works, it measures street life, light, and time, noting not only surveillance and over-development but resistance and its phantoms as manifested in music, animals and everyday magic.
EFTERSKALV / THE HERE AFTER
MAGNUS VON HORN (POLAND – SWEDEN – FRANCE)
The feature directorial debut by Magnus von Horn was presented at the Cannes Festival Directors’ Fortnight. After having served time in prison, John’s punishment has come to an end. But he soon discovers that the real pain he needs to experience has not yet begun.
FRANCOFONIA
ALEXANDER SOKUROV (FRANCE – GERMANY – NETHERLANDS)
Paris 1940: Large armies are trampling on the heart of civilisation and cannon fire is once again taking its toll. Jacques Jaujard and Count Franziskus Wolff Metternich worked together to protect and preserve the treasure of the Louvre Museum. Alexander Sokurov tells their story. He explores the relationship between art and power, and asks what art tells us about ourselves, at the very heart of one of the most devastating conflicts the world has ever known. The film will compete in the Official Selection of the Venice Film Festival.
HEART OF A DOG
LAURIE ANDERSON (USA)
Composer and artist Laurie Anderson explores in this personal essay film themes of love death and language. The director’s voice is a constant presence as stories of her dog Lolabelle, her mother, childhood fantasies, political and philosophical theories unfurl in a seamless song like stream. The film will compete in the Official Selection at the Venice Film Festival.
IN THE ROOM
ERIC KHOO (HONG KONG – SINGAPORE) (pictured main image aboce)
Eric Khoo’s latest film is a tapestry of stories, all of which unfold in a hotel room over several decades. The common thread is sex. That hotel room is Room 27 at the Singapura Hotel, which started out as a ritzy establishment in the 1940s but has, over the decades, lost its sheen of respectability. In that time, Room 27 has felt and experienced – through the individuals who have passed through its doors and made love on its bed – all facets of the human condition: joy, love, fear, compassion, cruelty, depravity and redemption.
UNE JEUNESSE ALLEMANDE / A GERMAN YOUTH
JEAN-GABRIEL PÉRIOT (FRANCE – SWITZERLAND – GERMANY)
A chronicle of the political radicalization of a number of German youths in the late 1960s, giving rise to the Red Army Faction (RAF), a German revolutionary terrorist group founded, among others, by Andreas Baader and Ulrike Meinhof. It premiered at the Berlinale’s Dokumente Panorama section.
JIA ZHANG-KE, UM HOMEM DE FENYANG / JIA ZHANGKE, A GUY FROM FENYANG
WALTER SALLES (BRAZIL)
The portrait of a young Chinese director who has become one of the most important filmmakers of our time. The documentary, directed by Walter Salles, dwells on the question of memory (individual as well as collective) and cinema. Jia Zhang-ke returns to his birthplace, the Shanxi province in Northern China, and to the locations of his films. It premiered at the Berlinale’s Dokumente Panorama section.
KARATSI / LOSERS
IVAILO HRISTOV (BULGARIA)
Winner of the top prize at Moscow Film Festival, this film stars Elena, Koko, Patso and Gosho, high school students in a small provincial town. Koko is in love with Elena. She wants to be a singer and is excited about the upcoming concert by a famous rock band. An event that shakes up the town and gives birth to new love.
MARIPOSA
MARCO BERGER (ARGENTINA)
A butterfly’s flapping wings divides Romino and Germán’s universe into two parallel realities: in one of them they grow as siblings who conceal their desire for one another; while in the other they are two youngsters who have an unusual friendship. Winning film of the Sebastiane Latino 2015 Award.
MONTANHA
JOÃO SALAVIZA (PORTUGAL – FRANCE)
A hot summer in Lisbon. David, 14, awaits the imminent death of his grandfather but refuses to visit him, fearing this terrible loss. The void already left by his grandfather forces David to become the man of the house. He doesn’t feel ready to assume this new role, but without realizing it: the more David tries to avoid adulthood, the more he gets closer to it…Selected for Venice’s Critics’ Week.
MUNTELE MAGIC / THE MAGIC MOUNTAIN
ANCA DAMIAN (ROMANIA – FRANCE – POLAND)
The latest film by filmmaker Anca Damian (Crulic) landed a special mention at the Karlovy Vary Festival. In the form of an animated docudrama, the biography of Adam Jacek Winker, a Polish refugee in Paris, portrays a boundless life driven by the desire to change the world.
PSICONAUTAS
ALBERTO VÁZQUEZ, PEDRO RIVERO (SPAIN)
Teenagers Birdboy and Dinki have decided to escape from an island devastated by ecological catastrophe: Birdboy by shutting himself off from the world, Dinki by setting out on a dangerous voyage in the hope that Birdboy will accompany him.
THE SHOW OF SHOWS: 100 YEARS OF VAUDEVILLE, CIRCUSES AND CARNIVALS
BENEDIKT ERLINGSSON (ICELAND – UK)
Benedikt Erlingsson, winner of the Kutxa-New Directors Award in 2013 for Of Horse and Men, takes us back to the days when the most outlandish, skillful and breathtaking acts traveled the world. In this film, rarities and never-before seen footage of fairgrounds, circus entertainment, freak shows, variety performances, music hall and seaside entertainment are chronicled from the 19th and 20th century with an original score by Sigur Rós.
SWAP
REMTON ZUASOLA (PHILIPPINES)
Produced by Brillante Mendoza, Remton Zuasola’s film tells the story of a young father torn between solving a crime and committing another when his only son is kidnapped and the only way to get him back is to kidnap another child in exchange for his life.
The following titles join the Spanish productions already announced:
UN DÍA VI 10.000 ELEFANTES – Alex Guimerà, Juan Pajares
ISLA BONITA – Fernando Colomo
MI QUERIDA ESPAÑA – Mercedes Moncada
LA NOVIA – Paula Ortiz
THE PROPAGANDA GAME – Álvaro Longoria
DUELLUM (Short film) – Tucker Dávila Wood
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Todd Haynes to Receive Director Tribute at IFP’s 25th Gotham Independent Film Awards
Todd Haynes will be presented with this year’s Director Tribute at the 25th Annual IFP Gotham Independent Film Awards. Each year, the Director Tribute is awarded to a veteran filmmaker with unique vision who has made a significant contribution to the motion picture industry.
In its press release the IFP states that Todd Haynes exemplifies the true independent spirit, with a career spanning over the last three decades and a truly extraordinary and uncompromising body of work. Haynes made his directorial debut in 1987 with the controversial short film Superstar: The Karen Carpenter Story, using Barbie dolls to portray the life and death of singer Karen Carpenter. His feature film debut followed in 1991 with the provocative Poison, which went on to win the Grand Jury Prize at the Sundance, spearheading what would become known as the New Queer Cinema. Haynes’s second feature, Safe, was later voted the best film of the 90’s by the Village Voice’s Critic Poll. Haynes’s next film, Velvet Goldmine, premiered in Official Selection at the 1998 Cannes Film Festival, where it received a Special Jury Prize. This was followed by Far From Heaven (2002), which received four Oscar nominations, including one for Haynes’ Original Screenplay. His 2007 film, I’m Not There, imagined the life and work of Bob Dylan through the guise of seven fictional characters, and once again won him mass critical acclaim. In 2011, Haynes directed and co-wrote Mildred Pierce, a five-hour mini-series, which garnered 21 Emmy nominations, winning five of them, in addition to three Golden Globes Awards. His latest feature film, Carol, premiered in the Official Selection of the 2015 Cannes Films Festival, where Rooney Mara was awarded the prize for Best Actress. The much-anticipated film, which also stars Cate Blanchett, is scheduled for release in November 2015.
“We are thrilled to present the Director Tribute to Todd Haynes in our 25th Anniversary year” said Joana Vicente, Executive Director, IFP and Made in NY Media Center. “Todd’s career exemplifies precisely the kind of visionary, independent filmmaking the Gotham Awards first began championing in 1991. We’re also honored to celebrate screenwriting this year for the first time, finally giving due credit to the significance of this craft to independent film as an art form.”
The eight competitive Gotham Awards include Best Feature, Best Actress, Best Actor, Best Documentary, Bingham Ray Breakthrough Director, Breakthrough Actor, Audience Award, and now Best Screenplay. Recent past winners include Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance), CITIZENFOUR, and Boyhood (2014) Inside Lleywn Davis, Fruitvale Station and The Act of Killing (2013); Moonrise Kingdom, Beasts of the Southern Wild and How to Survive a Plague (2012);Beginners, The Tree of Life and Better This World (2011); all of which went on to win numerous awards and garner Oscar™ nominations.
Last year the organization honored director Bennett Miller, actress Tilda Swinton, and Netflix Chief Content Officer Ted Sarandos.
Todd Haynes and the additional Gotham Awards tribute recipients to be announced will join a prestigious group of previous honorees including: Jeff Skoll, James Schamus, Bob & Harvey Weinstein, Mayor Michael Bloomberg, Sheila Nevins, Jonathan Sehring and film critic Roger Ebert; actors Matt Damon, Marion Cotillard, Charlize Theron, Stanley Tucci, Natalie Portman, Javier Bardem, and Penélope Cruz; filmmakers David O. Russell, David Cronenberg, Mira Nair and Gus Van Sant.
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19th Fantasia International Film Festival Awards, TAG by Sion Son Wins Best Film
After 23 days of screenings, the 19th Fantasia International Film Festival closed with the World Premiere of ATTACK ON TITAN from Shinji Higuchi, and announced the names of the winners of its awards. The prizes were awarded by the juries of each category. TAG by Sion Sono (pictured above) took home the Cheval Noir Award for Best Film, along with Award for Best Actress for Reina Triendl, and a Special Mention for its “creative, surprising, and monumental opening kill sequence.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RSmNYUj7oFo
Two buses filled with jubilant schoolgirls are rolling down a country road, and Mitsuko is the only one who is sitting calmly, writing poetry. When she bends down to pick up a pencil dropped by her friend, something unthinkable happens: both vehicles are cut in half by an invisible entity, lengthwise. Standing amidst dozens of severed bodies, the young girl is suddenly being chased by a homicidal wind whose clutches she barely escapes. When she finally makes it back to school after a hot pursuit, she finds herself surrounded by her fellow classmates who are acting as nothing ever happened. Was she dreaming? Hallucinating? Is Mitsuko trapped in a parallel dimension? What’s certain is that she’s at the mercy of Sion Sono’s twisted imagination! via Fantasia Film Festival
The 20th anniversary edition of The Fantasia International Film Festival will take place in Montreal from July 14 to August 2, 2016. CHEVAL NOIR AWARD – FEATURE FILMS The jury, presided over by Andrew Frank (VP of Sales and Acquisitions, Mongrel Media) and composed of Roxanne Benjamin (filmmaker), François Létourneau (writer and actor), Ian Rattray (co-founder, Film4 FrightFest), and Ryan Turek (director of development, Blumhouse Productions), awarded the following prizes: Cheval Noir Award for Best Film: TAG by Sion Sono Award for Best Director: Malik Bader for CASH ONLY Award for Best Screenplay: Tomoe Kanno for LA LA LA AT ROCK BOTTOM Award for Best Actor (unanimous): Subaru Shibutani for LA LA LA AT ROCK BOTTOM Award for Best Actress (unanimous): Reina Triendl for TAG Special Mention for Sion Sono’s TAG for its creative, surprising, and monumental opening kill sequence. NEW FLESH AWARD – FIRST FEATURES The jury, presided over by Patrick Ewald (CEO, Epic Pictures) and composed of Dave Alexander (Editor-in-Chief, Rue Morgue Magazine), Jimmy Beaulieu (comic artist), and Emico Kawai (Producer and International Sales, Nikkatsu Corporation), awarded the following prizes: New Flesh Award for Best First Feature Film: CRUMBS by Miguel Llanso Special Mention awarded to THE BLUE HOUR by Anucha Boonyawatana for the artist’s courage and vision INTERNATIONAL SHORT FILM COMPETITION PRIZE The jury, presided over by John McNaughton (filmmaker) and composed of Matthew Hays (journalist) and Francesco Simeoni (Film preservationist, director of Arrow Video), awarded the following prizes: Award for Best International Short Film: MAURICE by François Jaros Special Mention awarded to LA SÉANCE by Edouard de La Poëze for its atmosphere, décor, and wardrobe SATOSHI KON AWARD FOR EXCELLENCE IN ANIMATION The jury, presided over by Benoit Godbout (filmmaker and artistic director) and composed of Marie-Josée Saint-Pierre (filmmaker) and Johanne Ste-Marie (filmmaker), awarded the following prizes: Satoshi Kon Award for Best Animated Feature Film: MISS HOKUSAI by Keiichi Hara Special Mention awarded to POSSESSED by Sam for its playful homage to horror cinema Satoshi Kon Award for Best Animated Short Film: MISSING ONE PLAYER by Lei Lei Special Mention awarded to GHOST CELL by Antoine Delacharlery for its technical and visual excellence Satoshi Kon Award for Best Family Short Film: UNE HISTOIRE D’OURS by Gabriel Osorio Special Mention awarded to LA MOUFLE by Clémentine Robach for the charm and beauty of its animation and story BARRY CONVEX AWARD FOR BEST CANADIAN FEATURE FILM The Winner of Spectacular Optical’s 2015 Barry Convex Award for Best Canadian Feature or Co-Production is Larry Kent’s SHE WHO MUST BURN. Whether with words or imagery, Larry’s films have always been ferocious and critically engaged with the culture he creates them in. The award is accompanied by a $1000 prize, thanks to The Paul A. Ray Memorial Fund. PRIX AQCC 2015 The jury, composed of Céline Gobert, André Lavoie, and Jean-Marie Lanlo, awarded the Prix AQCC to BRIDGEND by Jeppe Ronde. PRIX SÉQUENCES The jury, composed of Pascal Grenier, Maxime Labrecque, and Mathieu Séguin-Tétreault, awarded the Prix Séquences to MISS HOKUSAI by Keiichi Hara, with a Special Mention for THE BLUE HOURby Anucha Boonyawatana. PRIX L’ÉCRAN FANTASTIQUE The Prix L’Écran fantastique, judged by Yves Rivard, was awarded to SYNCHRONICITY by Jacob Gentry. AUDIENCE AWARDS Best Asian Feature: Gold Prize – LOVE & PEACE by Sion Sono Silver Prize – Poison Berry in My Brain / A Hard Day (TIE) Bronze Prize – Robbery Best European, North American, or South American Feature: Gold Prize – THERAPY FOR A VAMPIRE by David Ruhm Silver Prize – Marshland Bronze Prize – Børning / Turbo Kid / Shamer’s Daughter (THREE-WAY TIE) Best Canadian or Quebec Feature: Gold Prize – TURBO KID by Anouk Whissell, François Simard, and Yoann-Karl Whissell Silver Prize – Bite / Demolisher (TIE) Bronze Prize – Limoilou Best Animated Feature: Gold Prize – MISS HOKUSAI by Keiichi Hara Silver Prize – Possessed Bronze Prize – The Case of Hanna and Alice Best Documentary: I AM THOR by Ryan Wise Guru Prize for Best Action Feature: BIG MATCH by Choi Ho AddikTV Prize for Best Thriller or Suspense Film: MARSHLAND by Alberto Rodriguez Most Innovative Short or Feature: THEY LOOK LIKE PEOPLE by Perry Blackshear Best Short Film: Gold Prize – GOLD FISH by Michael Konyves Silver Prize – Fools Day Bronze Prize – Iris
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Documentary WINTER ON FIRE: UKRAINE’S FIGHT FOR FREEDOM to Debut on Netflix After Premiere at Venice Film Fest
The documentary Winter on Fire: Ukraine’s Fight for Freedom, directed by Evgeny Afineevsky, will debut on Friday, October 9, 2015 exclusively on Netflix, after making its world premiere at the 72nd Venice Film Festival in September.
Chronicling events that unfolded over 93 days in 2013 and 2014, Winter on Fire: Ukraine’s Fight for Freedom witnesses the formation of a new civil rights movement in Ukraine. What started as peaceful student demonstrations supporting European integration morphed into a full-fledged violent revolution calling for the resignation of the nation’s president. The film captures the remarkable mobilization of nearly a million citizens from across the country protesting the corrupt political regime that utilized extreme force against its own people to suppress their demands and freedom of expression.
“While we were filming unfathomably brutal attacks by the police on unarmed citizens, we weren’t thinking about how to get the best shots, only the importance of showing the ways in which the movement would forever change the country and the lives of its participants,” said director Evgeny Afineevsky.
The Winter on Fire: Ukraine’s Fight for Freedom filmmakers investigated the escalating political crisis in Ukraine from directly within the conflict zone. At the onset of demonstrations, they were there to record the special forces who were deployed to disperse the crowds, beating and seriously injuring hundreds of protesters. It was this moment that ultimately gave rise to mass protests and large-scale civil unrest in the country. In response, millions of Ukrainians rallied together to fight against the police state. Through interviews with protesters, activists, journalists, medical workers, artists and clergy representing multiple generations, social classes, nationalities and faiths, including a twelve-year old volunteer, the film tells the story of a diverse movement that self-organized towards one common goal, that stood their ground in the midst of extreme bloodshed, despair and the harshest of conditions.
Winter on Fire: Ukraine’s Fight for Freedom is Evgeny Afineevsky’s third feature documentary. He has produced over ten feature and short films, including the 2002 adaptation of Crime & Punishment, starring Vanessa Redgrave, Crispin Glover, John Hurt and Margot Kidder. He also produced and directed numerous TV projects. His feature directorial debut, Oy Vey! My Son is Gay! has garnered numerous awards at film festivals globally.
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Eight Films Added to Official Selection of 2015 San Sebastian Festival
Eight films have been added to the competition for the Golden Shell at the upcoming 2015 San Sebastian Festival, running from September 18 to 26. Films include French directors Jean-Marie and Arnaud Larrieu’s new film 21 NUITS AVEC PATTIE / 21 NIGHTS WITH PATTIE, which tells the story of Caroline, a woman who cuts her vacation short to organize the funeral of her mother, Isabelle, who has died suddenly at her house in the Pyrenees.
21 NUITS AVEC PATTIE / 21 NIGHTS WITH PATTIE
JEAN-MARIE LARRIEU, ARNAUD LARRIEU (FRANCE) (pictured above)
French directors Jean-Marie and Arnaud Larrieu’s new film tells the story of Caroline, a woman who cuts her vacation short to organise the funeral of her mother, Isabelle, who has died suddenly at her house in the Pyrenees. She befriends Pattie who looks after her mother’s house. But her funeral preparations take an unexpected twist when her mother’s body mysteriously disappears.
BAKEMONO NO KO / THE BOY AND THE BEAST
MAMORU HOSODA (JAPAN)
The latest film from the master of anime, Mamoru Hosoda is the first animatied film to compete at the San Sebastian Film Festival Official Selection. Kyuta is a solitary boy who lives in Tokyo, and Kumatetsu is a supernatural creature isolated in an imaginary world. One day the boy crosses the border into the imaginary world and makes friends with Kumatetsu, who becomes his friend and spiritual guide. The encounter opens the way to all sorts of adventures.
LES DÉMONS / THE DEMONS
PHILIPPE LESAGE (CANADA)
While a series of kidnappings of young boys is raging in Montreal, Felix, 10, finished school in Old Longueuil, an ordinary suburb of peaceful appearance. Imaginative and sensitive, Felix, like many children, is afraid of everything. Little by little, the childhood imaginary demons mix with demons of a disturbing reality.
EVOLUTION
LUCILE HADZIHALILOVIC (FRANCE – BELGIUM – SPAIN)
After winning the New Directors award in 2004 with Innocence, Lucile Hadzihalilovic returns to the San Sebastian Festival with her new film. On a remote island inhabited solely by women and young boys, Nicolas and the other boys are subjected to mysterious and sinister medical treatments.
HIGH-RISE
BEN WHEATLEY (UK)
British director Ben Wheatley presents his last work, based on J.G. Ballard’s novel of the same name. Dr. Robert Laing moves into his new apartment seeking soulless anonymity, only to find that the building’s residents have no intention of leaving him alone. As he struggles to establish his position, Laing’s good manners and sanity disintegrate along with the building.
MOIRA
LEVAN TUTBERIDZE (GEORGIA)
This is a dramatic story of the family living in the seaside city. After Mamuka is released from prison, he tries to rescue his family from poverty. His mother is working abroad, his father is wheelchair-ridden, and his unemployed younger brother appears to be attracted by criminals. Mamuka takes a loan and buys a small fishing boat. But fate is often blind and merciless
SPARROWS
RÚNAR RÚNARSSON (ICELAND – DENMARK – CROATIA)
A coming-of-age story about the 16-year old boy Ari, who has been living with his mother in Reykjavik and is suddenly sent back to the remote Westfjords to live with his father Gunnar. There, he has to navigate a difficult relationship with his father, and he finds his childhood friends changed. In these hopeless and declining surroundings, Ari has to step up and find his way.
SUNSET SONG
TERENCE DAVIES (UK – LUXEMBOURG)
An intimate epic of hope, tragedy and love at the dawning of the Great War, adapted from the Scottish novel by Lewis Grassic Gibbon and directed by Terence Davies.
These titles join the Official Selection to the Spanish productions already announced:
AMAMA (Amama: When a tree falls) – Asier Altuna
EL APÓSTATA (The Apostate) – Federico Veiroj
UN DIA PERFECTE PER VOLAR – Marc Recha
EVA NO DUERME (Eva doesn´t sleep) – Pablo Agüero
EL REY DE LA HABANA (The king of Havana) – Agustí Villaronga
TRUMAN – Cesc Gay
MI GRAN NOCHE – Álex de la Iglesia (Not in competition)
LEJOS DEL MAR (Far from the sea) – Imanol Uribe (Special screenings)
NO ESTAMOS SOLOS – Pere Joan Ventura (Special screenings)
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European Premiere of STEVE JOBS to Close 59th BFI London Film Festival | TRAILER
STEVE JOBS directed by Academy Award winner Danny Boyle will be the Closing Night film of the 59th BFI London Film Festival.
Working from Walter Isaacson’s best-selling biography, STEVE JOBS is directed by Academy Award winner Danny Boyle and written by Academy Award winner Aaron Sorkin. The film takes us behind the scenes of the digital revolution to create a revealing portrait of the man at its epicenter.
STEVE JOBS stars Michael Fassbender in the title role, Academy Award® winner Kate Winslet, Seth Rogen, Jeff Daniels, Michael Stuhlbarg, and Katherine Waterston. Boyle, Fassbender and Winslet will attend the Closing Night Gala, which marks the film’s European Premiere, on Sunday October 18 at the Odeon Leicester Square. STEVE JOBS is the third film directed by Boyle to close the BFI London Film Festival, following SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE (2008) and 127 HOURS (2010).
Spanning a period of 14 years between 1984 and 1998 the story is built around three seminal product launches — of the Macintosh in 1984, the NeXT ‘Cube’ in 1988 and the iMac in 1998 — and it uses this innovative structure to create a cross-hatched portrait of Jobs’ life and to tell the story of the new mass-market technologies that have revolutionized how we communicate with one another.
Director Danny Boyle, says: If London was the cradle of the Industrial Revolution then San Francisco is the Bethlehem of the digital one. We had a brilliant time making this movie in Silicon Valley and I hope Londoners will enjoy a behind-the-scenes look into the making of the modern world. It’s always special to bring work home so thanks to BFI London Film Festival for their continued support.
In addition to Fassbender and Winslet, the film stars Seth Rogen as Steve Wozniak, the co-founder of Apple, and Jeff Daniels as John Sculley, the former Apple CEO. The principal cast also includes Katherine Waterston as Chrisann Brennan, Jobs’ ex-girlfriend, and Michael Stuhlbarg as Andy Hertzfeld, one of the original members of the Apple Macintosh development team.
The 59th BFI London Film Festival runs from Wednesday 7 October to Sunday 18 October 2015. The full program for the Festival will be announced on Tuesday 1 September 2015.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aEr6K1bwIVs
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Guy Édoin’s “Ville-Marie” to World Premiere at Toronto International Film Festival
Canadian filmmaker Guy Édoin’s second feature film Ville-Marie will World Premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival as a “Special Presentation”. “It is a great honour that Ville-Marie will have its world premiere at TIFF, a festival that has seen me grow and evolve as a filmmaker over the course of my five films” declared the director.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FB2WPgCyKlQ
The film stars Monica Bellucci (Spectre), Pascale Bussières (When Night Is Falling), Patrick Hivon (À l’origine d’un cri) and Aliocha Schneider (Le journal d’Aurélie Laflamme), who has also been selected as one of four TIFF RISING STARS 2015. Designed to find the next generation of Canadian actors poised for international careers, TIFF Rising Stars draws homegrown talent into the bright spotlight provided by the annual September Festival.
An actress (Monica Bellucci) in town shooting a film, hopes to reconcile with her son (Aliocha Schneider). A paramedic (Patrick Hivon), haunted by his past struggles, is under the watchful eye of a nurse (Pascale Bussière) who is trying to keep the emergency room running at Ville Marie Hospital, where these four lives will come together and take an unexpected turn.
Written by Guy Édoin, in collaboration with Jean-Simon DesRochers, Ville-Marie was the very first Canadian script to be officially selected for L’Atelier de la Cinéfondation at the Cannes Film Festival in 2014. Guy Édoin’s creative team includes Director of photography Serge Desrosiers; Artistic Director David Pelletier; Costume Designer Julia Patkos; Editor Yvann Thibaudeau; and Music Composer Olivier Alary who worked in collaboration with Johannes Malfatti.
The film received financial support from SODEC, Téléfilm, provincial and federal tax credits as well as the Harold Greenberg Fund. Ville-Marie is produced by Félize Frappier of Max Films Media, distributed in Canada by Filmoption International, and sold worldwide by Films Boutique. Ville-Marie will be released in theaters on October 9th, in Quebec, Canada.
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French Coming of Age Film BREATHE Gets US Release Date
BREATHE, described as a taut coming-of-age tale of the depths and escalating passions in female friendships, and starring talented newcomers Joséphine Japy and Lou De Laâge as two young girls whose all-consuming friendship takes a dark and dangerous turn, will open at the IFC Center in New York on September 11th, and at the Laemmle Royal in LA on September 18th. A national release will follow.
BREATHE is the second feature by actress-turned-director Mélanie Laurent ( Inglorious Basterds, Beginnings ), and her assured adaptation of the French young-adult novel of the same name.
Charlie (Joséphine Japy) is seventeen and bored. Her estranged parents are too caught up in their own drama to pay much attention to her. School holds no surprises either and Charlie grows tired of her staid friends. Enter Sarah (Lou De Laâge), a hip new transfer student who brings with her an alluring air of boldness and danger. The two girls form an instant connection. Sarah brings the excitement Charlie so desperately seeks, and Charlie is a stable influence on the wild child. Through shared secrets, love interests and holiday getaways, their relationship deepens to levels of unspoken intimacy, which eventually leads to jealousy and unrealistic expectations, and the teens soon find themselves on a trajectory toward a jarring outcome.
Already well-known as an actress in her native France, Mélanie Laurent ’s international breakthrough was her portrayal of Shosanna Dreyfus in Quentin Tarantino’s Inglourious Basterds, for which she shared the Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast with her co-stars. Her numerous credits include Beginners in which she played Ewan McGregor’s girlfriend, the Golden Globe-nominated film The Concert, and Denis Villeneuve’s Enemy co-starring Jake Gyllenhaal. Ms. Laurent will next be seen in the Angelina Jolie-directed film By the Sea, co-starring Ms. Jolie and Brad Pitt, as well as in French-Vietnamese director Tran Anh Hung’s Eternité. Her next directorial effort is Demain, a documentary about the environment. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VXncAEif-zY
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THE DEMONS Directed by Philippe Lesage to World Premiere at San Sebastian International Film Festival
The Demons, directed by Quebec director Philippe Lesage, will get its world premiere in official competition at the 63rd San Sebastian International Film Festival (Donostia Zinemaldia) in Spain, which runs Sept. 18 to 26. The Demons will be competing for the Concha de Oro, the festival’s top prize, awarded in the past to such luminaries as Francis Ford Coppola, Claude Chabrol, Bahman Ghobadi, François Ozon, Peter Mullan and Arturo Ripstein. “I’m very honoured and happy to see my first feature selected in official competition at the prestigious San Sebastian festival,” said Lesage. “Bravo to our entire team!”
The film’s exceptional cast is mostly made up of children and teenagers, some making their first appearance on screen. The young actors include Édouard Tremblay-Grenier, Yannick Gobeil-Dugas, Vassili Schneider, Sarah Mottet, Mathis Thomas, Théodore Pellerin and Rose-Marie Perreault. They play alongside such seasoned professionals as Laurent Lucas, Pascale Bussières, Bénédicte Décary and younger talents including Victoria Diamond and Pier-Luc Funk.
With the city of Montreal shaken by a series of kidnappings of young boys, a sensitive 10-year-old named Félix lets his imagination run wild as he comes to the end of his school year. Nothing much ever seems to happen in the quiet suburbs where he lives, but Félix is afraid of everything: his parents’ impending divorce, the maniacs who target little boys, his weird neighbours, even the AIDS epidemic. Slowly but surely, the child’s imaginary demons begin to resemble those of the real, disturbing world around him.
Before venturing into fiction, Philippe Lesage made four feature-length documentaries: Pourrons-nous vivre ensemble ? (2007), Comment savoir si les petits poissons sont heureux ? (2009), Ce cœur qui bat (2010) andLaylou (2011). Centred on life in a Montreal hospital, Ce cœur qui bat won the prize for best Canadian film and most promising Canadian film at the 2010 Rencontres internationales du documentaire de Montréal (RIDM), as well as the prize for best feature documentary at the 2012 Jutras. In 2011, Lepage was honoured with a retrospective of his works at the Cinémathèque Québécoise called Découvrir Lesage, giving the public a chance to see his early films. Between his many projects, Lesage also taught filmmaking at the European Film College in Denmark. His first two feature dramas – Copenhague A Love Story and The Demons – have been selected at a number of festivals and will open in cinemas in 2015 and 2016. His next feature, Genèse, is now in pre-production, with shooting slated to begin in the summer of 2016.
Produced by Galilé Marion-Gauvin and Philippe Lesage for Les Films de l’Autre in collaboration with Unité Centrale, The Demons is written and directed by Philippe Lesage (2012 Jutra for best documentary, Ce cœur qui bat). The crew includes Dominique Noujeim, associate producer; Nicolas Canniccioni, director of photography; Marjorie Rhéaume, artistic director; Marcel Chouinard and Pascal Van Strydonck, sound (with overall design by Olivier Calvert); and Mathieu Bouchard Malo, editing. The Demons received funding from the SODEC, Téléfilm Canada, the CALQ, Super Écran and La Société Radio-Canada , as well as federal and Quebec tax credits.
The film is distributed in Canada by Funfilm Distribution and will open in Quebec cinemas on Oct. 30.
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Toronto International Film Festival Reveals Short Films Lineup
The Toronto International Film Festival unveiled a slate of 44 short films packed with strong emerging voices and uniquely Canadian perspectives. This year’s roster is highlighted by a record number of Canadian works in the Wavelengths program – from smart satire to savvy social commentary, twists on genre to gut-punching powerful dramas, quirky documentaries to delightfully deranged animation and daring, formal experiments, these works showcase fascinating, provocative stories in short form.
Films in the Short Cuts program are eligible for the Award for Best Canadian Short Film. This year’s jury includes the head of the shorts program and creations unit at Canal+ France, Pascale Faure, film writer John Anderson (The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times), and actor Rizwan Manji (Outsourced, The Wolf of Wall Street).
The 40th Toronto International Film Festival runs from September 10 to 20, 2015
SHORT CUTS
4 Quarters.
Ashley McKenzie, Canada Toronto Premiere
Willy and Jane just want to feel happy in one another’s company. He’s a sleep-deprived student living close to the bone. She’s a troubled drug addict in constant need of $20. Nursing their fledgling friendship on the margins of society proves to be a wicked problem.
A New Year (Nouvel an).
Marie-Ève Juste, Canada World Premiere
Florence is having a New Year’s Eve party, but at 37 weeks pregnant she feels somewhat ambivalent about the festivities and frolics of her friends.
Bacon & God’s Wrath.
Sol Friedman, Canada World Premiere
In this short documentary, a 90-year-old Jewish woman reflects on her life’s experiences as she prepares to try bacon for the first time.
The Ballad of Immortal.
Joe Hector Herrera, Canada World Premiere
Written with a nod to traditional cowboy songs and to the northern ballads of Robert W. Service, this film puts a supernatural twist on a tragically romantic Western. Voiced by Canadian actor Kenneth Welsh (Twin Peaks, The Aviator, The Day After Tomorrow) and scored by Toronto greats The Sadies, this is the third chapter in the silly rhyme collection Beastly Bards.
BAM.
Howie Shia, Canada World Premiere
In a dense inner city haunted by primordial gods, a young boxer struggles to understand the disturbing consequences of his explosive rage — both inside and outside the ring. Presenting the young boxer’s battles in terms both heroic and tortured, BAM combines a biting urban soundtrack with a hand-drawn, comic-book style, mashing up cacophonous drums and grinding electronics with soft brushwork and swift action.
Benjamin.
Sherren Lee, Canada World Premiere
When a dually-pregnant lesbian couple loses one of the babies in utero, the grieving mothers break their surrogacy arrangement with their closest friends in order to keep the remaining baby.
Beyond The Horizon.
Ryan J. Noth, Canada World Premiere
In 1845 Sir John Franklin led 128 men on the ships HMS Erebus and HMS Terror on a search for the Northwest Passage. The fate of the crew and ships has been slowly uncovered since September 2014, when Parks Canada archaeologists discovered the resting place of the HMS Erebus in the remote Arctic Ocean. Reflecting on the ship and story from the perspective of the sailors and the archaeologists, the film paints a crushing visual portrait of a place where time can lose all meaning.
Boxing.
Grayson Moore and Aidan Shipley, Canada World Premiere
Sheila returns to her weekly boxing class after a traumatic event, and tensions mount when one of the other women refuses to stop showering her with sympathy.
Boy.
Connor Jessup, Canada World Premiere
After a fatal bicycle accident, 12-year-old Jacob moves through the world as a ghost. Unseen and unheard, he trails his classmate home from school. As the ghost boy watches, an image of a grief-stricken family slowly begins to take shape.
Casualties of Modernity.
Kent Monkman, Canada World Premiere
Celebrity artist and humanitarian Miss Chief Eagle Testickle tours a hospital specializing in the treatment of conditions afflicting modern and contemporary art. Led by the doctor of fine arts and closely supervised by the no-nonsense head nurse, Miss Chief encounters romance, tragedy and triumph.
Clouds of Autumn.
Trevor Mack and Matthew Taylor Blais, Canada North American Premiere
Set on the Tsilhqot’in plateau in the 1970s, this film focuses on two siblings, and explores the impact that Canadian residential schools had on the relationships of First Nations children with each other, their heritage, and nature itself.
Dogs Don’t Breed Cats (Les chiens ne font pas des chats).
Cristina Martins, Canada Canadian Premiere
Pregnant and homeless, Joëlle shows up at the home of her father Jeff. Even though this solitary non-conformist and former punk rocker is reluctant to the idea, she decides to stay and Jeff is overwhelmed by his new interactions with the daughter he barely knows.
Dredger.
Phillip Barker, Canada World Premiere
The crew of a salvage ship is tossed into turmoil when the young captain’s wife becomes infatuated with an older shipmate. She casts herself ashore but can’t break free from the seabed of secrets the old man brought to the surface.
The Guy From Work (Les gars d’la shop).
Jean-François Leblanc, Canada World Premiere
Raynald is a family man who has been working in the same tire plant for over 30 years. This week, there is nothing unusual in his daily life: work, hockey games with the guys, and family night. However, Raynald will make the biggest move of his life.
It’s Not You.
Don McKellar, Canada World Premiere
It’s not you…or is it? Whether dumper or dump-ee, being in that situation brings out feelings you didn’t know you had. Under thedirection of the talented Don McKellar, the graduating class of the National Theatre School of Canada takes audiences through the perpetuity of break ups.
KOKOM.
Kevin Papatie, Canada Toronto Premiere
Kevin Papatie, participant of the Wapikoni Mobile for 10 years, presents a beautiful experimental film that pays tribute to his grandmother — his kokom — and to the Anishnabe people who have survived the trials of history and remained strong.
The Magnificent Life Underwater (La vie magnifique sous l’eau).
Joël Vaudreuil, Canada World Premiere
In this absurd animated parody of a classic undersea adventure show, an authoritative narrator reveals the wonders and mysteries of the sea — although the banal habits of these homely aquatic creatures have an odd familiarity.
The Man Who Shot Hollywood.
Barry Avrich, Canada World Premiere
In a town lit up by a thousand stars, Jack Pashkovsky practiced his art anonymously. By the time he was finished, he had brilliantly photographed hundreds of the biggest Hollywood icons from Garbo to Swanson. His collection of photographs have never been seen. Until now.
Mia’.
Amanda Strong and Bracken Hanuse Corlett, Canada World Premiere
A young Indigenous female street artist walks through the city streets painting scenes rooted in the supernatural history of her people. As the alleyways become her sanctuary and secret gallery, her art comes to life, pulling Mia’ into her own transformation via the vessel of a salmon. This hybrid documentary uses animation and sound as a vehicle to tell the story of transformation and reconnection.
Mobilize.
Caroline Monnet, Canada World Premiere
Guided expertly by those who live on the land and driven by the pulse of the natural world, this film takes audiences on an exhilarating journey from the far north to the urban south. The fearless polar punk rhythms of Tanya Tagaq’s “Uja” underscore the perpetual negotiation between the modern and traditional by a people always moving forward. The National Film Board of Canada (NFB) invited four talented and renowned Aboriginal artists to create a program of works addressing Aboriginal identity and representation by reworking material in the NFB’s archives.
Never Happened.
Mark Slutsky, Canada World Premiere
When colleagues Grady and Laura have an affair on a business trip, they decide it might be easier if it just never happened.
Never Steady, Never Still.
Kathleen Hepburn, Canada World Premiere
Distressed and overwhelmed by the mistakes of his past, a young lease-hand returns from Alberta’s oil fields to his childhood home on Lillooet Lake, where he finds solace in the strength of his recently widowed mother.
NINA. Halima Elkhatabi, Canada World Premiere
At 16 years old, Nina is helpless to her 4-month-old baby’s incessant crying. Without any escape from the cries and from this new presence in her life, she ventures out from her tiny apartment into a working-class neighborhood of Montréal for a brief escapade.
o negative.
Steven McCarthy, Canada World Premiere
A young woman and the man who takes care of her find shelter in a roadside motel and take the necessary steps to feed her addiction.
Our Remaining Lives (Les vies qui nous restent).
Luiza Cocora, Canada World Premiere
Having recently moved to Quebec, Sofia, a 10-year-old Romanian girl, lives with her mother in a small flat in Montreal. In a world where technology imposes human isolation, Sofia is trying to understand her new life.
Overpass (Viaduc).
Patrice Laliberté, Canada World Premiere
A 17-year-old named Mathieu goes out one night to write graffiti on an overpass. But whereas his actions require a swift escape from the scene of the crime, their true meaning is far more unexpected.
Portal to Hell!!!
Vivieno Caldinelli, Canada World Premiere
The late and great “Rowdy” Roddy Piper plays a crusty superintendent who is thrust into the ultimate fight against evil when a pair of cultists opens a multidimensional portal in his basement.
Quiet Zone (Ondes et silence).
David Bryant and Karl Lemieux, Canada Canadian Premiere
This film takes audiences deep into the world of those who suffer from electromagnetic hypersensitivity. Combining elements of documentary, film essay and experimental film, David Bryant and Karl Lemieux — known for their work in the musical group Godspeed You! Black Emperor — weave together an unusual story in which sound and image distort reality to convey the suffering of these “wave refugees.”
Rock the Box.
Katherine Monk, Canada World Premiere
Electronic dance music (EDM) is now the most lucrative sector of the music industry but it’s dominated by men. To break that glass ceiling, a Vancouver-raised deejay named Rhiannon Rozier did something she never thought she’d do: pose for Playboy. Thanks to its impressionistic images, exhilarating montage and Rozier’s remarkable candour, this film tells the story of one woman who rocked conventions by owning her own image, her own voice, and her own box.
She Stoops To Conquer.
Zachary Russell, Canada World Premiere
An aspiring performer struggles to breathe life into a new character she’s created. Suddenly, she sees him: the real-life version of the man she’s been playing. Where’s the line between inspiration and theft? A gender-bending romantic comedy about a man and her double.
The Sleepwalker (Sonámbulo) (pictured above)
Theodore Ushev, Canada North American Premiere
A surrealist journey through colours and shapes inspired by the poem Romance Sonámbulo by Federico García Lorca. It’s visual poetry in the rhythm of fantastic dreams and passionate nights.
The Swimming Lesson (Le cours de natation)
Olivia Boudreau, Canada North American Premiere
Brought by her mother to her first swimming lesson, a 7-year-old girl must find, on her own, her place in the unfamiliar world of the pool.
Wolkaan
Bahar Noorizadeh, Canada/Iran/USA World Premiere
Insightful and enigmatic, this multi-layered mediation on the experience of exile begins with the streets of Tehran gradually filling with enigmatic streams of lava. In Michigan, a boy and his father’s fateful journey ends up amid dinosaurs and a plastic volcano.
World Famous Gopher Hole Museum
Chelsea McMullan and Douglas Nayler, Canada World Premiere
A portrait of Torrington, a fading Albertan farm town with a secret wish to be frozen in time like the taxidermied gophers that populate its world-famous tourist attraction.
MIDNIGHT MADNESS
The Chickening
Nick DenBoer and Davy Force, Canada World Premiere
How can a boy not get excited when his dad gets a new job as senior chief night manager at Charbay’s Chicken World and Restaurant Resort, the world’s largest fast food entertainment complex in North America? However, in this short film things quickly get very, very clucked.
The Chickening will screen preceding the Opening Night Film in the Midnight Madness programme.
WAVELENGTHS
Bunte Kuh
Ryan Ferko, Parastoo Anoushahpour and Faraz Anoushahpour, Canada/Germany Toronto Premiere
Through a flood of images, a narrator attempts to recall a family holiday. Bunte Kuh combines a found postcard, family photo album, and original footage to weave together the temporal realities of two separate vacations.
Engram of Returning
Daïchi Saïto, Canada World Premiere
The figure of the jig-saw / that is of picture, / the representation of a world as ours / in a complex patterning of color in light and shadows, / masses with hints of densities and distances, / cut across by a second, discrete pattern / in which we perceive on qualities of fitting and not fitting / and suggestions of rhyme / in ways of fitting and not fitting – / this jig-saw conformation of patterns / of different orders, / of a pattern of apparent reality / in which the picture we are working to bring out appears / and of a pattern of loss and of finding / that so compels us that we are entirely engrossed in working it out, / this picture that must be put together / takes over mere seeing. — Robert Duncan, poet
Fugue
Kerstin Schrödinger, Canada/Germany North American Premiere
Fugue is a formal and physical experiment in order to understand the relationship between image, sound and movement. Movements are also printed on the part of the film strip that is read as optical sound by the light sensitive sensor of the projector. What you hear is what you see.
May We Sleep Soundly
Denis Côté, Canada World Premiere
Winter persists. Something happened. At the heart of the woods, on the slopes of mountains, in the streets and even inside homes, a strange silence took up residence. Will there remain a soul to witness the recent event?
May We Sleep Soundly will screen preceding the feature 88.88.
Office Space Modulation
Terrarea (Janis Demkiw, Emily Hogg and Olia Mishchenko), Canada World Premiere
The Office Space Modulator is an improvised animation device employing an outsized Lazy Susan as the central mechanism to produce looped analogue projections of light and shadow. The resulting single-take field recordings document a subtle gymnastic interplay of scale, transparency, reflection, rotation, puppetry, and general field-ground tomfoolery.
Palms
Mary-Helena Clark Canada/USA World Premiere
Musical and mysterious, this is a sphinx-like, modular film in four parts, with two hands animating stillness, the repeated approach of headlights, a < — > tennis match, and thoughts that emerge like objects.
Something Horizontal
Blake Williams, Canada/USA World Premiere
Three-dimensional flashes of Victorian domestic surfaces and geometric shadows transform the physical world into a somber, impressionistic abstraction, while elsewhere a spectre emerging from the depths of German Expressionism reminds us that what goes up always comes down.
Théodolitique
David K. Ross, Canada World Premiere
Théodolitique merges the geodetic and the filmic, linking the very long history of land surveying with the comparatively new technologies of filmmaking. Connecting these two methods of visual observation and recording, the film documents student surveyors from the École des Métiers du Sud-Ouest-de-Montréal as they take an outdoor exam over the course of a single day.
UNcirCling
John Creson and Adam Rosen, Canada World Premiere
Elegant and enigmatic, UNcirCling is a visual music miniature composed of a bokeh of lights and digital chirping.
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Mexican Documentary, Café, Wins Grand Prize at 25th First Peoples Festival
The Mexican documentary, Café, by Hatuey Viveros Lavielle (pictured above), is the big winner of the 25th First Peoples Festival, winning both the Teueikan Grand Prize and the Best Sequences documentary Prize. In Café, a family struggles after the death of the father and primary provider. Tere, the mother must now sell crafts to earn money. Jorge, her son is nearly finished with law school and must now decide to continue with his plans of leaving and starting a professional career, or to stay home and help out with the family.When his 16-year-old sister reveals that she is pregnant, she too must face new challenges.