Offscreen Notes
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New NFB Documentaries
NFB Documentary Films Premiering at the 30th World Film Festival are: Waban-Aki by Alanis Obomsawin, which sees the reknowned First Nations (Abenaki) filmmaker return to the village where she was raised; Shameless: The Art of Disability from the director of Not a Love Story, Bonnie Sherr Klein, which attempts to dispell the myths of and prejudices against people with disabilities (Klein being one of her own subjects); Unspeakable by John Paskievich, which takes a humorous look at his own speech impediment: stuttering; Breaking Ranks by Michelle Mason, a film about US soldiers seeking refuge in Canada as part of their resistance to the war in Iraq; Mike Birch, le cow-boy des mers, by James Gray, which chronicles the life of 72-year-old Canadian Mike Birch, one of the world’s greatest sailboat racing skippers: and Wal-Town by Sergeo Kirby, which “follows a group of six students as they travel across Canada to raise public awareness about Wal-Mart’s business practices and the effects of the company’s policies on cities and towns in Canada.”
Schedule of the above films at the WFF:
Breaking Ranks August 30, 9:30 pm, Quartier Latin, theatre 13; September 1, 10:00 am, Quartier Latin, theatre 13
Mike Birch, le cow-boy des mers (original French version with subtitles – 50 min) August 26, 7:10 pm, NFB Cinema; August 29, 12:30 pm, NFB Cinema
Shameless: The Art of Disability (original English version – 72 min) September 1, 7:20 pm, Cinémathèque québécoise; September 2, 12:40 pm, Cinémathèque québécoise September 3, 3:20 pm, Cinémathèque québécoise; September 3, 9:40 pm, Cinémathèque québécoise
Unspeakable (original English version – 89 min) August 30, 7:20 pm, NFB Cinema; August 31, 1:00 pm, NFB Cinema
Waban-Aki: peuple du soleil levant (French version – 104 min)
August 31, 7:20 pm, Quartier Latin, theatre 12
Waban-Aki: People From Where the Sun Rises (English version – 104 min) August 31, 7:20 pm, Quartier Latin, theatre 11
Wal Town (original English version – 66 min 30) September 1, 3:20 pm, NFB Cinema; September 2, 7:30 pm, NFBCinema -
Italia Odia: Il cinema poliziesco italiano
Hot off the presses is long-time Offscreen contributor Roberto Curti’s latest book, Italia Odia, an-in depth (over 400 pages) critical analysis of the Italian policier, one of the most prolific genres during the heyday of Italian genre filmmaking, the 1970s. Although written in Italian, English-only readers can get a glimpse of Curti’s book in an upcoming essay written by Curti exclusively for Offscreen, “Naples by Calibre 9.”
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Valerie and Her Week of Wonders
If you happen to be in Philadelphia on the 8th of September, don’t miss the special screening of Jaromil Jires’ enchanting coming-of-sexual age film, Valerie and Her Week of Wonders (Czech, 1970). The screening will be accompanied by a live musical performance by members of Espers, Fern Knight, Fursaxa and Grass (also featuring Mary Lattimore, Charles Cohen and Jesse Sparhawk). Presenting this event is Joseph A. Gervasi, co-owner of Diabolik DVD, who says of the event: “This will be a one-time performance in Philadelphia and will be a part of the Fringe Festival. Scrumptious vegan food will be provided by Zinnia Piotrowski and drinks and snacks by Bull and the Mariposa Food Co-op of West Philadelphia. A wide variety of DVDs will be sold in the lobby by Philly’s own Diabolik DVD. Right now a documentary is being shot about the production and there will be a multi-camera shoot of the live performance. All of this should appear on a DVD to be released by Drag City Records, home of Espers and many other bands. The hope is that the DVD release will feature the film from a 35mm source (unlike the current Facets DVD) with multiple sound options, the live performance, documentary, amazing cover art by Tracy Nakayama, etc.”
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Young Cuts
A festival featuring the long-standing, yet underappreciated film format, the short. A very ambitous festival, with 50 films from over 40 countries, with many filmmakers present, awards, and gala events. The festival tours to Toronto for a one-day jaunt on August 26. The festival program can be downloaded from the website.
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Auckland Film Festival
Founded in 1970 as a component of the Auckland Festival, the Auckland International Film Festival in time became a fund-raising event subsidising live arts. Rescued from this role by the intervention of the Federation of Film Societies in 1984, the 34th Festival in 2005 achieved an audience in excess of 100,000.
Ken Loach’s The Wind That Shakes the Barley, winner of cinema’s most prestigious award, the Cannes Palme d’Or, will open this year’s Telecom New Zealand International Film Festivals and screen in the country’s four main centres. It is just one of many Cannes winners to play at the Festivals. “We are delighted to have scooped this controversial film for the opening of the 2006 Telecom New Zealand International Film Festival. This year’s programme is clamorous with films of activism and protest, so it’s the perfect year to be celebrating this richly deserved accolade to one of cinema’s most persistent agitators,” says Bill Gosden, Festival Director.
Other films include, Korea’s A Bittersweet Life, Canada’s C.R.A.Z.Y., Hard Candy and many more major films of the past year.
