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

NY Int'l Children's FF: Spring Edition 2012

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Parent Category: Film Festivals

Category: Previews

Published on Thursday, 15 March 2012 19:10

Written by Joanne Choi

The New York International Children’s Film Festival (March 2nd - 25th, 2012) is back once again this year with new films from around the globe. From the romantic scenery of France to the nostalgic horizons of Japan, the diversity of animated and feature films is celebrated.

The festival is packed with premieres of both live action and animated features, filmmaker Q & A sessions, and more.  

Screenings include: 

Cinderella Moon
Richard Bowen (China)
Chinese version of the classic Cinderella story
US Premiere

Based on the earliest known version of Cinderella, the Chinese tale “Ye Xian” from 768 A.D., cinematographer Richard Bowen’s wonder-filled feature debut is a gorgeous and enchanting fairytale, with exquisitely ornate costumes, dazzling scenery shot in Yunnan Province, and an underlying message that is as timely today as it was thirteen centuries ago. 

In a mythical kingdom, a girl is born. The village shaman had foretold a boy and Mei Mei’s father is sorely disappointed. Years later with her mother gone, Mei Mei is left with nothing but a pair of bejeweled slippers and the hope that one day she will get to dance at the Festival of the Full Moon. Meanwhile, the kingdom has been thrown out of balance – the moon is stuck in the sky – and the handsome young king is commanded by his mother to take a wife to restore the celestial harmony. But the king refuses to have a child with a woman he does not truly love. 

One day, peering through a telescope from his island home, the king spies Mei Mei floating on air in her magical slippers. Convinced that he’s seen an angel, he sets out in search for her – but she runs off, losing one bejeweled slipper along the way.

Screening date with Q &A: Saturday, March 17th 2:30pm & 5:00pm at the Asia Society Theater

3D animated features include:

Magic Piano, a magical tale from Poland by Martin Clapp

US PREMIERE - IN 3D WITH LIVE MUSIC AT MAR 17 SCREENING ONLY
MAR 18 SCREENING WILL BE IN 2D, NO LIVE MUSIC - Don’t miss this special US Premiere presentation of Magic Piano, the virtuosic stop-motion masterpiece from the Academy Award-winning producer of Peter and the Wolf, and set to Chopin’s etudes in celebration of the 200th anniversary of his birth. The film will be screened in 3D with live concert piano accompaniment by Derek Wang and Anna Larsen, Young Scholars of the Lang Lang International Music Foundation.

The film, part of the Flying Machine series – and short-listed for an Oscar – is a soaring tale of a girl who takes off into the open skies and travels the globe on a flying piano in search of her father. Other musical animation in the program includes Little Postman, Pl!ink, and Night Island, also from the Flying Machine series, as well as the award-winning musical films Luminaris (winner at Annecy and also short-listed for an Oscar) and The Maker. 

Screening Date with Q&A: Saturday, March 17th at 7:15pm in Walter Reade

Explore fables from France in Tales of the Night by Michel Ocelot

IN 3D WITH FILMMAKER Q&A AT MAR 18 SCREENING ONLY
MAR 3 SCREENING WILL BE IN 2D - NYICFF welcomes renowned animator Michel Ocelot (Kirikou and the Sorceress, Azur & Asmar) to present his newest film. Tales of the Night is Ocelot’s first foray into 3D animation and extends the shadow puppet style of his Princes and Princesses into the third dimension, with silhouetted characters set off against exquisitely detailed backgrounds bursting with color and kaleidoscopic patterns like a Day-Glo diorama.

The film weaves together six exotic fables each unfolding in a unique locale, from Tibet, to medieval Europe, an Aztec kingdom, the African plains, and even the Caribbean Land of the Dead. In Ocelot’s storytelling, history blends with fairytale as viewers are whisked off to enchanted lands full of dragons, sorcerers, werewolves, captive princesses, and enormous talking bees - and each fable ends with its own ironic twist.

Screening Date with Q&A: Sunday, March 18th at 5pm in the Walter Reade Theater

China’s magical tale in The Monkey King- Uproar in Heaven by Su Da/Chen Zhihong 

NORTH AMERICAN PREMIERE - IN 3D - NYICFF is thrilled to present this sumptuous new frame-for-frame restoration and 3D rendering of the Wan Laiming masterpiece, a national treasure and China's most celebrated and accomplished work of animation. Composed of gorgeously flowing animation created by hand from over 130,000 ink drawings and an opulent soundtrack inspired by the Beijing Opera, the film follows the adventures of the magical Monkey King of Flower Fruit Mountain, a mischievous character who creates havoc by refusing to bow down to the authority of the Celestial Jade Emperor.

After stealing a magic staff from the Dragon King of the Eastern Sea, the cheeky Monkey King challenges the established order of heaven, freeing horses from the imperial stables, disrupting imperial banquets, and entering into epic battle with one colorful god after another – while snubbing his nose at the pompous formality of the heavenly court. 

Based on the classic Chinese story Journey to the West, the original film was made at the height of that country’s golden period of animation and was released a mere months before the before the entire film industry was shut down by the Cultural Revolution. This is a truly stunning work of animation and mythological storytelling, far surpassing anything China has produced before or since.

Screening date with Q&A: Wednesday, March 21 at 6:30pm in Walter Reade Theater

Advanced tickets are still available for some screenings; there are also waitlists for shows. Check out the website above for more info.

For further details on screening schedules/tickets visit: http://www.gkids.tv/intheaters.cfm  

New York Int'l Children's Film Festival
NYICFF
295 Greenwich Street, #426
New York, NY 10007 (212) 349-0330

Marrakech Int'l Film Fest Celebrates Its 11th Year

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Parent Category: Film Festivals

Category: Previews

Published on Tuesday, 13 March 2012 22:02

Written by Renzo Adler

The 11th edition of the Marrakech International Film Festival (MIFF) brings together a wide range of films from all over the world. This year’s MIFF will feature 83 films from 21 different countries, including 15 films focused on emerging filmmakers from around the world and as many as 10 debut features.

Film categories include:

• feature film competitions
• out of competition films
• a short film competition

A special spotlight on alternative Mexican and Spanish cinema called Generation Mexique looks at films like sexual odyssey Y Mama Tu Tambien, the political horror/fantasy fable Pan’s Labyrinth, and  the hardboiled The Bastards. 

There will also be a spotlight on young Morroccan directors called Moroccan Cinema at Heart.

Films include:

• 180° -- directed by Cihan Inan
• Baby Factory -- directed by Eduardo Roy Jr. & Almon L. Derla
• Belvedere -- directed by Ahmed Imamovic 

MIFF will also include special honors given to some of the best actors, wirters, and directors working in film including:

• actor  Mohamed Bastaoui
• Italian director Marco Bellocchio
• American director Terry Gilliam
• Indian actor and director Shah Rukh Khan
• American actor-director Forest Whitaker 
• Moroccan actor-director Roschdy Zem 

Gilliam, Bellocchio and other writers and directors will also be hosting a series of Master Classes on cinema for film students and festival goers.

His Royal Highness Prince Moulay Rachid, President of the MIFF Foundation, offered his take on this very international festival by saying:  “This year, at the dawn of the second decade of the FIFM, I wish to make the following statement: it is no accident that Moroccan cinema should open and end our 11th edition, as it results indeed from the happy and deliberate meeting of a great festival and a strong emerging cinema!”

To learn more, go to: http://en.festivalmarrakech.info/

Marrakech International Film Festival
December 2nd to 10th, 2011

Angle Boulevard Mohammed VI Rue Ibn El Kadi 
BP 14212  Riad Larrouss - 40 000
Marrakech, Morocco

Tel: + 212 (0)5 24 43 24 93/94   
Fax: + 212 (0)5 24 43 25 11

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