Posts from — March 2008

TORONTO – A handful of new shows coming to CBC-TV in the wake of several high-profile program cancellations are getting rave reviews from test

TORONTO – A handful of new shows coming to CBC-TV in the wake of several high-profile program cancellations are getting rave reviews from test

The short documentary Baghdad Twist has been selected to screen at the Tribeca Film Festival.  This thoughtful documentary is a personal story from filmmaker Joe Balass, whose family escaped Iraq in the 1960s, a troublesome time for Jews in that country. Balass found 8 mm footage of a family wedding, where the guests are dancing the “twist,” sharing good times despite the difficult political climate. The happy event took place only weeks before his family fled the country to Canada.

Baghdad Twist is told through the commanding voice of the filmmaker’s mother, Valentine Balass, along with family photos and archival footage.
Four other Canadian films were selected for the Tribeca Film Festival, which takes place in New York City, April 23 – May 4.

Check out an article on the 5 Canadian selections on the CBC site. 

NFB Leading the Way with Feature-Length Documentaries

From March 30 to April 7

The CBC’s Passionate Eye is celebrating National Film Board documentaries all week beginning with the television premiere of Up the Yangtze on March 30 at 10 pm ET/PT.

Here are all the listings:

Up the Yangtze - Sunday March 30 – 10 pm ET/PT

Winner of Best Canadian Documentary at the Vancouver International Film Festival, this film is about the human cost of the Three Gorges Dam project on the Yangtze River in China.

Raised to be Heroes - Tuesday April 1 at 10 pm ET/PT

A film about conscientious objectors in Israel’s national army.

Buried at Sea – Saturday April 5 at 10 pm ET/PT

A documentary about hundreds of thousands of tons of toxic metals rotting on the ocean floor.

Radiant City – Sunday April 6 at 10 pm ET/PT

The Genie award-winning film about suburban sprawl.

They Chose China – Monday April 7 at 10 pm ET/PT

A documentary about a group of American soldiers who defiantly stayed in China after the Korean war.

Head over to the Passionate Eye’s website to learn more about their upcoming programs.

Three Hot House 2007 animated films have been accepted at the Annecy International Animation Film Festival in France. Hot House is an animation workshop program for emerging talent, and the films that have been nominated can be watched below, and you can see all the Hot House films on the HH4 blog.

ROY G BIV by Dale Hayward
Biology Made Un-Easy by James Braithwaite
Monster Hop by Jody Kramer

Hot Docs, Toronto’s annual international documentary festival, is presenting nine NFB films this year. The festival kicks off April 17 and runs for 10 days. It’s a place where documentary fans, filmmakers, and producers gather to celebrate the best of their craft.

Here’s the NFB lineup.

In competition for Best Canadian Feature Documentary:

Triage: Dr. James Orbinski’s Humanitarian Dilemma – Directed by Patrick Reed. Produced by Peter Raymont (White Pine Productions) and Silva Basmajian (NFB)

Dr. James Orbinski, the president of Doctors without Borders (MSF), returns to the countries where he was stationed in the 1990s. He travels to war-torn Somalia, then to Rwanda, where he was MSF head of mission during the 1994 genocide. Finally he goes to Goma, Democratic Republic of Congo, where it seems humanitarian dreams go to die.

Club Native –Directed by Tracey Deer. Produced by Linda Ludwick, Christina Fon (Rezolution Pictures) and Adam Symansky (NFB)

What does it mean to be Mohawk, and who gets to ask this question? Following the stories of women who identify as being Mohawk but who are having their choices or their family background up for debate.

Passage – Directed by John Walker. Produced by Andrea Nemtin (PTV Productions), John Walker (John Walker Films) and Kent Martin (NFB)

A veritable historical whodunit. Walker reveals the story behind Sir John Franklin’s famous Northwest Passage exploration that ended in madness and cannibalism, a story covered up by the British elite that blamed the Inuit people.

Junior - Directed by Isabelle Lavigne and Stéphane Thibault. Produced by Johanne Bergeron (NFB)

A behind-the-scenes, off-the-ice look at a junior hockey team. We learn about the lives of these young men in a hyper-competitive environment, where boys as young as 16 gamble with their future.

Tiger Spirit – Directed by Min Sook Lee. Produced by Min Sook Lee, Ed Bareveld and Anita Lee (NFB).

The war between North and South Korea has been splitting families apart for decades. Tiger Spirit explores the reunification process that attempts to bring families together after all these years.

FLicKeR – Directed by Nik Sheehan. Produced by Maureen Judge (Makin Movies Inc.) and Anita Lee (NFB).

FLicKeR tells the story of the dream machine, still in use by artists and musicians, and its creator Brion Gysin, who believed the revolving cylinder would revolutionize human consciousness.

In competition for Best International Feature Documentary:

Milosevic on Trial – Directed by Michael Christoffersen. Produced by Mette Heide and Christian Medawar (NFB)

This documentary gives one of the only behind-the-scenes look at one of largest war crimes trials before an international court in which a judgment
was never rendered.

In competition for Best Short- and Mid-Length Documentary:

Carts of Darkness - Directed by Murray Siple. Produced by Tracey Friesen (NFB)

In the picture-postcard community of North Vancouver, filmmaker Murray Siple follows men who have turned bottle picking, their primary source of income, into the extreme sport of shopping-cart racing.

Bevel-Up – Directed by Nettie Wild. Produced by Betsy Carson and Svend-Eriksen (NFB)

The camera follows street nurses as they reach out to youth, sex workers, and street-entrenched men and women in the alleys and hotels of Vancouver’s inner city.

Prolific documentary filmmaker Alanis Obomsawin will receive the Governor General’s Performing Arts Award for Lifetime Artistic Achievement from Her Excellency the Right Honourable Michaëlle Jean, Governor General of Canada. This ceremony will take place on May 2, 2008, at Rideau Hall in Ottawa.

Alanis has made over 30 documentaries about issues that affect Aboriginal People in Canada. With films like Kanehsatake: 270 Years of Resistance, Waban-Aki: People from Where the Sun Rises and Gene Boy Came Home, she consistently makes films that tell human stories, evoke debate and motivate social change.

Amongst Alanis’s shelves of accolades are two she has already received from the Government of Canada: the Governor General’s Award in Visual and Media Arts and Officer of the Order of Canada.

Alanis will be honoured along with five other recipients, and the NFB will produce short films on each of them that will screen at the Gala event on May 3. These creative pieces will celebrate their artistic achievements and social contributions.

Government Film commissioner and Chairperson of the NFB, Tom Perlmutter stated, “I stand in awe of Alanis, of her remarkable creative energy and indefatigable passion to connect and engage. For me, she embodies the heart and soul of the NFB—social engagement through creation; transforming people and communities through the power of the imagination. Alanis makes clear why art matters.”

The Governor General’s Performing Arts Awards are the most prominent artistic honour bestowed upon Canadian performing artists. The nominations for the Awards are solicited from the public and the performing arts community.

Pick up two awards and a lifetime achievement

The National Film Board of Canada shone at this week’s 10th Jutra Awards.

The special Jutra-tribute award honoured the career of Jean-Claude Labrecque, who made many of his films at the NFB, and the NFB picked up an award in both nomination categories.

The Best Documentary Prize went to The Invisible Nation, a profile of the Algonquin nation by Richard Desjardins and Robert Monderie (who won the same award for their film, Forest Alert, in 1999), and Sleeping Betty, an update of the Charles Perrault classic by Claude Cloutier for Best Animated Film.

The Invisible Nation continues to screen in Montreal and Trois-Rivières and Sleeping Betty will be in theatres soon opening for Continental, un film sans fusil.

Other Jutra-nominated NFB films are still in theatres. Up the Yangtze, which was nominated for Best Documentary, continues its record-breaking run across Canada this month while Au pays des colons is set to hit Quebec cinemas in May.

The other NFB films selected for Best Animated Film can also be seen. Madame Tutli-Putli is screening for free at the Toronto Mediatheque and Montreal CineRobotheque until March 31, and Subservience is screening in competition at the Festival de cinéma des 3 Amériques in Quebec City this month.

The Jutra Award is an annual Quebec film industry award and is named after legendary Quebec filmmaker Claude Jutra.

Award-winning films about courageous people in challenging situations

DigIn, a community organization located in Toronto presents monthly screenings of NFB films focusing on social and environmental issues. Each screening will be followed by a discussion with experts on the films’ topics.

The event is pay-what-you-can, with a suggested donation of $4 per person and $8 per family.

Screenings at the Bloor Collegiate. 1141 Bloor St. West

Films start at 7 pm. Doors open at 6:30.

March 17 CHEATING DEATH

A journey into the world of drugs, gangs and guns—a world much talked about and feared but rarely understood.

Confirmed guests include Gyasi Ferdinand, subject of Cheating Death; Karim Ismaili; Associate Professor & Interim Chair, Dept. of Criminal Justice and Criminology at Ryerson University; Staff Sergeant Frank Besenthal, Toronto Police Services

April 14 THROUGH A BLUE LENS

Addicts who ended up on the streets talk openly about their lives in hopes of helping to stop others from joining their nightmare.

Confirmed guests include Peter Markwell, John Howard Society; Susan Shepherd, manager, Toronto Drug Strategy Secretariat; Staff Sergeant Frank Besenthal, Toronto Police Services.

May 12 STREET HEALTH STORIES

Street Health Stories gives a human face and voice to the statistics in the Street Health 2007 Report.

THE INTERVENTIONISTS

A unique crisis team composed of a mental health nurse and a police officer responds to 911 calls in downtown Toronto. Their mandate is not only to de-escalate crises but to avoid unnecessary arrests and emergency room visits.

Confirmed guests include Kate Mason, researcher, Street Health; Kat Cizek, filmmaker; Anne Longair, director of Hostel Services, City of Toronto; Staff Sergeant Frank Besenthal, Toronto Police Services.

For more information, check out DigIn’s blog.

Presented by the Friends fo the Edmonton Public Library

Date: March 13, 2008
Time: Reception at 6 pm, Films start at 6:45 pm
Venue: Edmonton Public Library, Stanley A. Milner Library Theatre

Admission is free.

This is a free film festival celebrating International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, which is March 21.

Film Program:

BETWEEN ─ LIVING IN THE HYPHEN (NFB)
Some Canadians don’t always fit into a single category. Documents experiences of Canadians of mixed backgrounds through interviews.
Introduction: Anne Marie Nakagawa, Director

SHADES OF BLUE (Thinkstock Inc.)
An exploration of the relationship between Canada’s diverse youth community at Hobbema and the RCMP.
Introduction: Constable Richard Huculiak, Hobbema Cadets

HANNAH’S STORY (NFB)
Hannah is an 11-year-old Jewish Canadian who is able to tackle a social issue in collaboration with an elder Aboriginal in Winnipeg by changing the plight of the homeless.

Check the library web site for more information.