Barney's Version (2010)

Canadian author Mordecai Richler’s Barney’s Version has completed production, after being in development for 12 years.

The film is directed by Richard J. Lewis and stars Paul Giamatti and Dustin Hoffman.

It has mostly been shot in Montreal, and partly in the Laurentians, Rome and New York.  The special effects are produced by Modus FX of Montreal.

Having read the book a decade ago, I look forward to the film for two main reasons: Montreal and Dustin Hoffman.

Here is a little teaser for your pleasure:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sIu7kLKpZxE

Hommage to Automatistes

As we are three days away from May, it is snowing pretty hardcore here in Montreal.  And so I went on an web quest to find some interesting artistic outdoors activities to do in the city, longing for the sunny days.

While looking around, I came across this short film by Jean Palardy called Artist in Montreal from 1954.  It’s about a group of artists, who call themselves the “automatistes”.  It’s only half an hour, but besides the story, the casual yet trendy life style in the city and the general ambiance was rather enjoyable.

Alright, if you are stuck indoors because of the weather too, and have thirty minutes to spare, give it a go, it’s on the NFB site and here’s the link:

Artist in Montreal (1954)

Nollywood

Following the African breeze of the World Cup 2010 summer, I thought it was in order to take a glimpse at one of the up and rising film industries within Africa: Nollywood.  With 2,500 films produced per year, Nigeria has one of the fastest growing film industries in the world.

You don’t believe me.? See it for yourselves…

Nollywood Babylon

2nd Annual Montréal Turkish Film Week starts today at the Cinéma du Parc.  Similar to last year, it will showcase recent features and short films, as well as documentaries, with a nice touch of guests and Q&A sessions.

I know the sunny weather tempts you to stay outside, though I would strongly advise you to take a couple of hours and check these showcases out.  Although the opening film is Wrong Rosary (2009) by Mahmut Fazil Coskun, I am more excited to see Biket Ilhan’s Nazim Hikmet Blue Eyed Giant (2007).

The week-long event takes place in the Cinéma du Parc on 3575 Avenue du Parc and includes roughly seventeen screenings in total.  Montreal based Turkish newspaper Bizim Anadolu organizes the event.

For more information about the location and schedule, visit:

http://festivaldufilmturc.org/site/
http://www.bizimanadolu.com/english/e49.htm

Organizers: Omer Ozen, Zeynep Akcay, Mustafa Uzuner, Sinem Vardaryildiz

5th annual Montreal Underground Film Festival (M.U.F.F.) took place past weekend in Montreal.

The festival was launched and still run by two Concordia film alumni; Karina Mariano and Zoe Brown.  M.U.F.F. mainly ‘promotes low-budget filmmakers and those who challenge the boundaries of mainstream Hollywood and the conventional film aesthetic attitude.’ In other words, M.U.F.F. is home to all those movies we watch and get bewitched, bothered, and bewildered.

Steven Woloshen’s Editorial was certainly worth a look; a harmonious splash of various footage accompanied by an old folk song.

It’s good to know there are people out there looking after experimental and avant-garde works, as they are the founding stones of many established fundamentals in the filmmaking as we know it.

F.F.E.Q. 2010

A three-day long festival of Quebecoise student films is to take place at Université Laval Campus (Pavillon Alphonse-Desjardins) in Quebec City.

For those interested, the program is as follows:

Friday, 30/April/2010
5.30PM Opening of the 8^th F.F.E.Q. in Pavillon Alphonse, Desjardins de L’Universite Laval

Saturday 1/May/2010
12.30PM Screening of the films in the young category
3PM Tele-Quebec presents ‘Atelier-rencontre’ with Pier-Luc Funk and Jean-Carl Boucher
7.30PM Screening of the films in the main category (fiction, documentary, animation, experimental)

Sunday 2/May/2010
12.30PM Screening of the films in the environment category and the main category
3PM Conference by Spirafilm on independent cinema
5.30PM Screening of Kabaret Kino as well as the films in the main category
8PM Screening of the films in the main category and the Prize Ceremony

For those interested, below are two extract videos for the festival:
FFEQ 2010 Video 1
FFEQ 2010 Video 2

Oh, did I say there’ll be an opening party?! Enjoy!

FFEQ 2010 Official Web Site

La Cité (2010)

Kim Nguyen’s latest feature La Cité is hitting the screens.

La Cité (2010) takes place in 1885, in an ancient city of mountains and deserts, where a homesick doctor spends years away from home, looking after wounds and casualties of North African battlefields, will find himself stuck due to tensions between nations, and eventually a drastic plague outbreak.

For those of you who may not be familiar with Kim Nguyen, he is arguably the most remarkable and cinematically gifted directors working in Quebec.  Some of his earlier works include Le Marais (2002) and Truffe (2008).

Here’s a little preview for those interested:
La Cité (2010)

I will save my comments until after you go and see the movie. (Or am I just bluffing because I have not seen the movie yet? Suspense.)

Greed (1924)

A woman wins $5,000 (in 1924 currency, which is like…way more today) from lottery, which leads to a series of greed-related activities, eventually ruining the lives of three people involved.  If that’s enough to get the story through to you, fine, stay at home this sunday.  Otherwise…

A 4-hour version of Erich von Strohim’s 1924 silent classic ‘Greed‘ called ‘Greed, a Reconstruction’, will be screened at The Cinémathèque Québécoise tonight (Sunday, April 25) at 5PM.

Rick Schmidlin will introduce the film.

The Cinémathèque Québécoise is located at 335 de Maisonneuve Blvd. E., right by the Berri-UQAM metro.  See you silent era lovers there!

The Last Stop (2010)

Today in Facebook, I stumbled upon a trailer which reminded me of Woody Allen’s mockery takes on death accompanied by mischievous music (see his 2006 movie Scoop if you have no clue what I’m talking about).

It immediately got my attention, so I contacted the young, multi-talented director, co-writer, and co-producer of the movie, Tyler Cowan.  He is a fellow Canadian from Ontario, currently attending Ryerson University’s School of Image Arts.

The drama slash comedy story is based on two guys who wind up stuck in purgatory.  It stars Toronto’s Randy Thomas, Victor A. Young, and Peter Deiwick.  Cowan says “the logistics of shooting in a subway station were far too much to handle” until his father pointed him to an abandoned Lower Bay Subway Station in Toronto, along with a word of encouragement.  It appears the words were rather effective and fortunate.  We are looking forward to the May release of the film following its premiere in Ryerson University Film Festival (RUFF) 2010.

In the mean time, check out the trailer on its Facebook Fan Page.

26th Annual Vues D'Afrique Festival

26th annual Vues D’Afrique Festival de Cinema PanAfrica International is to start this weekend in Montreal.  It will be an interesting event to follow, as we will certainly be glued to Africa quite constantly this summer, with the World Cup 2010 taking place in South Africa.

Among the many fictions and documentaries, one film to look forward to is the opening screening: Steve Jacobs’ ‘Disgrace’ (2010).  John Malkovich plays a professor in South Africa, pushed to resign after a sex scandal.  The film depicts the social tension in a rather bold fashion.

Yes, the upcoming days Montreal will be blessed with lots of sunshine, but don’t assume people will prefer outdoors rather than going into theaters.  Reserve your tickets before they are sold out.

For more information and tickets, visit:
http://www.festivalpanafrica.com/