MoMA Hosts 9th Canadian Front in New York

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Parent Category: Film Festivals

Category: Previews

Published on Thursday, 15 March 2012 20:04

Written by Brad Balfour

New York's Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) teams up again with Telefilm Canada to present the ninth annual Canadian Front series, which runs from March 14 - 19, 2012 at the midtown museum.

Since NYC is the center for independent filmmaking in the United States, it's only natural that it be the host city for this annual series that highlights the best of Canadian cinema from the previous year.


Canadian Front is screening five dramas, four documentaries and three comedies, with eight of the films coming from Quebec, two from Ontario, and one each from Nova Scotia and British Columbia. There are 10 different languages spoken in the films being shown.

In addition to director Philippe Falardeau's drama Monsieur Lazhar, a foreign-language Oscar nominee (and Canada's official Academy Award entry), this year's selection has a larger number of comedies than usual — from Canada's East (Andrew Bush's Roller Town, from Nova Scotia) and West (Aaron Houston's Sunflower Hour, from British Columbia) coasts, and from the more traditional filmmaking centers of Quebec (Ken Scott's Starbuck) and Ontario (Ingrid Veninger's I Am a Good person, I Am a Bad Person). Minority communities are strongly represented as well, especially in Ivan Grbovic's debut film, Romeo 11, about Montreal's Lebanese community, and Yves Sioui Durand's Mesnak, which was shot in part in the Innu language.

Among those making their return to MoMA are the Inuit filmmaker Zacharias Kanuk, with Sirmilik, a short film shot in Nanvit's National Park; and Jean-Marc Vallée, whose melodrama Café de Flore stars Vanessa Paradis and was shot in both Canada and France. Two unusual and compelling documentaries complete the selection: Briggite Poupart's Over My Dead Body examines the compromised life of Montreal choreographer David St-Pierre, and Carl Leblanc's The Heart of Auschwitz investigates an extraordinary object in the Montreal Holocaust Memorial Centre.

Said Executive Director of Telefilm Canada Carolle Brabant, “This year’s Canadian Front demonstrates that Canadian cinema is truly global, with movies that enthrall markets around the world. From dramas to documentaries, by way of comedies, New Yorkers will be able to see a range of original stories through these 11 feature films and one short.

"The line-up includes, notably the New York premieres of Philippe Falardeau’s Monsieur Lazhar, which we are proud to present in following Philippe’s wonderful Oscar run, and of Jean-Marc Vallée’s Canada-France co-production Café de Flore, starring Vanessa Paradis. Both these films have captivated movie-lovers worldwide.”

Added Laurence Kardish, Senior Curator, Department of Film at MoMA, “Canadians have a gift for humour, sometimes dry, sometimes slippery, which is evident in this year's survey, and moves east from Halifax with a Saturday-Night-Live straight face Roller Town, through Quebec with an all too relevant Starbuck, and the Toronto mini-budget comedy i am a good person / i am a bad person, and ends on the West Coast with the Vancouver foul-mouthed and hilarious mockumentary The Sunflower Hour,” 

“But all that is good is not necessarily funny, such as the documentaries The Heart of Auschwitz and Over My Dead Body, about the idea of mortality, and Bestiary, about the notion of what's real, and two emotionally stunning dramas, Romeo Eleven, a first film about a young man with a disadvantage, and Café de Flore, about two intertwining narratives about intense loves.”


Telefilm Canada is a federal cultural agency dedicated to developing and promoting the Canadian audiovisual industry. It provides financial support to the private sector to create distinctively Canadian productions that appeal to domestic and international audiences. It also administers the Canada Media Fund’s programs. For more info on Canadian filmmaking visit www.telefilm.gc.ca

Bestiary (Bestiaire)

East Coast premiere

Writer/director Denis Côté
In the southern Quebec tourist destination of Parc Safari, celebrated Canadian auteur Denis Côté observes the animals and their relationships to their environment, man and each other.

Café de Flore

New York premiere

Writer/director Jean-Marc Vallée
A DJ in contemporary Montreal is mysteriously bonded to a single mother in 1969 Paris in this new drama from C.R.A.Z.Y. writer/director Jean-Marc Vallée, making a return appearance at Canadian Front.

The Heart of Auschwitz (Le Cœur d’Auschwitz)

East Coast premiere

Director: Carl Leblanc

Writers: Luc Cyr and Carl Leblanc

The incredible true story of a hand-made valentine given to a camp inmate in Auschwitz, its survival through the horrors of war, and the filmmaker who tracked down its surviving signatories.

i am a good person / i am a bad person

International premiere

Writer/director: Ingrid Veninger
During a film-festival jaunt to present her confrontational new work, an increasingly insecure, questioning director agonizes over life choices thus far and a murky future.

Mesnak

U.S. premiere

Director: Yves Sioui Durand

Writers: Louis Hamelin, Robert Morin and Yves Sioui Durand

When urban Aboriginal Dave leaves Montreal in search of his birth mother, he discovers, in a northern reserve community, hidden truths that explain his past.

Monsieur Lazhar

New York premiere

Writer/director: Philippe Falardeau
In this Oscar-nominated drama, an Algerian immigrant teacher takes over a sixth-grade Montreal class following his predecessor’s suicide and guides his charges through their loss.

The National Parks Project: Sirmilik

East Coast premiere

Director: Zacharias Kanuk

Canadian Front alumnus Zacharias Kunuk, director of Atanarjuat: The Fast Runner, joins with musicians Dean Stone, Andrew Whiteman and Tanya Tagaq on this short profiling his northern Nunavut homeland.

Over My Dead Body

International premiere

Director: Brigitte Poupart
As he awaits the double-lung transplant that could save his life, controversial Montreal-based choreographer Dave St. Pierre prepares new work and ruminates on dance.

Roller Town

New York premiere

Director: Andrew Bush

Writers: Andrew Bush, Mark Little and Scott Vrooman
 
The laughs come rolling non-stop in this affectionate, frequently bawdy spoof of 1970s roller-disco movies from the white-hot online sketch comedy collective Picnicface.

Romeo Eleven (Roméo Onze)

U.S. premiere

Director: Ivan Grbovic

Writers: Ivan Grbovic and Sara Mishara
Obsessed with a mysterious woman he met in an online chat room, second-generation Lebanese immigrant Rami finally seems able to overcome the shyness induced by his cerebral palsy. The film screened at the 2011 Toronto International Film Festival.

Starbuck

New York premiere

Director Ken Scott

Writers: Martin Petit and Ken Scott

David, a 40-something wastrel, discovers his sperm bank’s misdeeds have resulted in his fathering 533 children, 142 of whom now want to know who their father is. To date, the film has earned almost $3.5 million at the Canadian box office.

Sunflower Hour

East Coast premiere

Writer/director Aaron Houston

Inspired by Christopher Guest’s mockumentaries, this is the story of four very damaged puppeteers as they vie to audition for a popular children’s television show.

For more information about the films and screening schedule, go to: http://www.moma.org/visit/calendar/films/1254 or www.canadianfront2012.ca

Canadian Front
March 14 - 19, 2012 

Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) 
On 53rd/54th Sts. between 6th &5th Ave's
New York

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