(no subject)
FESTIVAL MEDIA SCREENINGS
Vancity Theatre, 1181 Seymour Street
Wednesday September 17, 2008:
10:00 am: CIRCUS ROSAIRE (89 min., USA, dir. Robin Bliley) *Director will attend Festival
For nine generations the Rosaire family has fascinated audiences around the world with their legendary animal acts. But changing mores towards animals and competition for the entertainment dollar has led to a drastic downturn for the animal-friendly circus... Robin Bliley's documentary is intimate, heartbreaking and often hilarious.
**INTERNATIONAL PREMIERE
11:45 am: SECRET MUSEUMS (77 min., Belgium, dir. Peter Woditsch)
Among the world's largest collections of erotic art are those housed by the Vatican, the Louvre, the British Museum and the Hermitage. For centuries, antiquities that depicted every possible permutation of human sexuality have been squirreled away behind locked doors, available only to a very select few. Director Peter Woditsch pulls back the covers...
1:15 pm: CAPTAIN ABU RAED (110 min., Jordan/USA, dir. Amin Matalqa)
The handsome winner of the Audience Award in the World Cinema competition at Sundance, this first-ever independent film from Jordan makes fantastic use of the city of Amman as a backdrop for a winning tale about a wise old airport janitor mistaken for a jet-setting pilot by the kids in his neighbourhood...
**CANADIAN PREMIERE
3:30 pm: CAT DANCERS (75 min., USA, dir. Harris Fishman)
Harris Fishman's singular documentary chronicles the lives of Ron and Joy Holiday, a pioneering exotic-cat entertainment act, who invited Chuck Lizza into their circle in 1988. An intriguing, heartbreaking and frequently funny look at expressions of love, family, identity and the glory of large felines.
**CANADIAN PREMIERE
Thursday September 18, 2008
***NOTE: THURSDAY SCREENINGS WILL TAKE PLACE AT PACIFIC CINEMATHEQUE, 1131 HOWE ST.***
10:00 am: THE ATOM SMASHERS (81 min., USA, dir. Clayton Brown, Monica Long Ross) *Directors will attend Festival
At Illinois' Fermilab, physicists race to find the elusive Higgs' boson, theorized to be the missing link that will explain existence. In Bush's America, though, military spending, not science, is the priority. An exploration of the beautiful truths and frustrating difficulties of particle physics, Clayton Brown and Monica Long Ross' captivating documentary examines the intersection between science, politics and culture on an international scale. **WORLD PREMIERE
11:45 am: THE FALLEN: A SILENT COLLAPSE (85 min., Mexico, dir. Rudy Joffroy) *Director will attend Festival
When 63 miners were killed at the Pasta de Conchos coal mine in Mexico, their deaths were only the beginning of an appalling story of corporate corruption and government collusion. Director Rudy Joffroy recreates the disaster and its aftermath, including a deadly strike, through interviews with the people who lived through it.
1:30 pm: THE WITCH OF THE WEST IS DEAD (115 min., Japan, dir. Nagasaki Shunichi)
Nagasaki Shunichi's exquisite adaptation of a novel by Nashiki Kaho must be one of the most luminous feminine rite-of-passage films ever. A troubled teen is sent to stay with her English grandmother in the Japanese countryside; the old lady teaches her "witches' lore" and the girl recovers her emotional equilibrium. But life is never as neat and tidy as you might wish... Stars Shirley MacLaine's daughter, Sachi Parker. **NORTH AMERICAN PREMIERE
Friday September 19, 2008 ***SCREENINGS AT VANCITY THEATRE
10:00 am: SUIVRE CATHERINE (93 min., Canada, dir. Jeanne Crépeau) *Director will attend Festival
This charming film introduces us to filmmaker Jeanne Crépeau as she follows her new girlfriend, Catherine, to Paris and beyond. Crépeau's eye for composition, ear for dialogue and low-key sense of humour elevate this work and make it much more than the sum of its parts.
12 noon: Heaven & Earth **cancelled**, replaced by STONE OF DESTINY (96 min., Canada, dir. Charles Martin Smith) *Director will attend Festival
The Stone of Destiny or the Coronation Stone has been used for centuries in the coronation of the monarchs of Scotland and, more recently, British monarchs. In 1950, a group of four Scottish students took the Stone from Westminster Abbey for return to Scotland. This is their story, directed with charm and wit by Charles Martin Smith.
2:00 pm: Cherry Blossoms - Hanami **cancelled**, replaced by THE REST IS SILENCE (140 min., Romania, dir. Nae Caranfil)
Director Nae Caranfil crafts a gorgeous belle époque homage to the birth of cinema by retelling the story behind the first ever Romanian feature film, a two-hour magnum opus made in 1912. Epic in both scope and execution. "An intelligent crowd-pleaser made with affection..."--Variety