CONTEMPORARY CANADIAN CINEMA: A SAMPLER (11/19/09)

Submitted by: Clay Lowe, Emeritus faculty, The Ohio State University

Canadian Background Info:

Canadian Prime Minister: Stephen Harper, Conservative Party of Canada

Drive Time: Columbus to Windsor, Ontario: 3 hrs 44 mins, 196 miles

CBC. Canadian Broadcasting Radio & TV: http://www.cbc.ca/

Toronto International Film Festival: http://tiff.net/

Montreal World Film Festival: http://www.ffm-montreal.org/

Vancouver International Film Festival: http://www.viff.org/home.html

Stratford Shakespeare Festival: http://www.stratfordfestival.ca/

Shaw Theatre Festival: http://shawfest.com/Home/Playbill

Currency Exchange: $.95 US = $1.00 Canadian

Canadian Film Buzz Event 2009-2010:

James Cameron's "Avatar" (post-production) 2009

Trailer: http://www.imdb.com/video/imdb/vi531039513/

See: New Yorker http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2009/10/26/091026fa_fact_goodyear

SELECT CANADIAN FILM DIRECTORS/WRITERS:

DENYS ARCAND (Montreal): The Decline of the American Empire, 1986; Jesus of Montreal, 1989; Love and Human Remains, 1993; The Barbarian Invasions, 2003.

JAMES CAMERON (Kapuskasing, Ontario) The Terminator, 1984; Rambo: First Blood Part II, 1985 (screenplay); Aliens, 1986; True Lies, 1994; Titanic, 1997; Dark Angel, 2002 (TV: Fox).

DAVID CRONENBERG (Toronto) Videodrome, 1983; The Fly, 1986; Naked Lunch, 1991; Crash, 1996 (Not award winning "Crash" - see Haggis); Spider, 2002; A History of Violence, 2005 (Based on graphic novel, stars Viggo Mortensen); Eastern Promises, 2007 (Russian mafia, also with Viggo Mortensen).

ATOM EGOYAN (Canadian-Armenian) (Wife/actress: Arsinee Khanjian) Family Viewing, 1987; Speaking Parts, 1989; The Adjuster, 1991; Exotica, 1994; The Sweet Hereafter, 1997 (With novelist Russell Banks); Felicia's Journey, 1999; Adoration, 2008.

PAUL HAGGIS (London, Ontario)  Crash, 2004 ; Million Dollar Baby, 2004;  The Last Kiss, 2006;  Flags of Our Fathers, 2006;  Casino Royale, 2006;  Letters from Iwo Jima, 2005;  In the Valley of Elah, 2007.

DON MCKELLAR  (Toronto) Thirty Two Short Films About Glenn Gould, 1992  (Writer for director Francois Girard).

DEEPA MEHTA (Indian-Canadian)  Fire, 1996;  Earth, 1998 ; Bollywood Hollywood, 2002;  Republic of Love, 2003;  Water, 2005.

SARAH POLLEY (Toronto)  Actress - stage/screen (The Sweet Hereafter & The Adventures of Baron Munchausen). Director: Away From Her, 2006 (Featuring brilliant performance by Julie Christie; based on Alice Munro, Canadian short story: The Bear Came Over the Mountain).

PATRICIA ROZEMA (Sarnia, Ontario)

Mansfield Park, 1999; I've Heard the Mermaids Singing, 1987.

MICHAEL SNOW - experimental artist/filmmaker (Toronto)

Wavelength, 1966; Rameau's Nephew by Diderot, 1974; WYLNT (Wavelength for those who Don't have the time) 2003.

GUY MADDIN: Wexner Center Artist Residency: 2008-2009 http://www.wexarts.org/about/residencies

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CCAD Class Screening: November 19, 2009

"The Saddest Music in the World (2004)"

Directed by Guy Maddin, 100 minutes

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Guy Maddin (From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia)

Born February 28, 1956, is a Canadian screenwriter and director of both features and short films from Winnipeg, Manitoba. His most distinctive quality is his fondness for recreating the look and style of silent or early sound era films.

While Maddin strives to recreate the styles and moods of early film melodramas, Weimar Republic German silent films, and 1920s Soviet agit-prop, his own distinct personal style lies in his use of clichés, psychosexual situations, bizarre stories and humor. It is this self-conscious and surreal merging of early film-making techniques with a post-modern sensibility that give Maddin's films their distinct style.

His film education came not with any formal training at a trade school, but with endless weekends of watching films with close friends John Paizs and Steve Snyder. Soon realizing that Paizs was making films and Snyder was teaching production at the University of Manitoba, Maddin eventually decided that he needed to put his own knowledge to work and step behind the camera.

Maddin's first film was the 1986 short The Dead Father. His first feature film was Tales from the Gimli Hospital. His latest work Brand Upon the Brain was made in collaboration with The Film Company.

In 2007, Maddin became the first artist-curator of the UCLA Film Archives. In this position, he performs the programming for their new "Curated by..." series.[1]

As of fall 2007, Maddin is teaching film at the University of Manitoba. Also in 2007, Maddin's documentary My Winnipeg won the Best Canadian Feature award at the Toronto International Film Festival.

Guy Maddin feature films: Tales from the Gimli Hospital, 1988; Archangel, 1990; Careful, 1992; Twilight of the Ice Nymphs, 1997; Dracula, Pages From a Virgin's Diary Silent, 2002; Cowards Bend the Knee Silent, 2003; The Saddest Music in the World, 2003; Brand Upon the Brain! Silent, 2006; My Winnipeg, 2007; Death of the Reel (post-production) 2008; Invisiveis Os (post-production), 2008.

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Further Internet Resources

CANADIAN FILM TITLES:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category%3ACanadian_fil

DIRECTORS:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category%3AFilms_by_Canadian_directors

GUY MADDIN:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category%3AFilms_directed_by_Guy_Maddin

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Clay Lowe (former co-host "It's Movie Time" WCBE 90.5 FM)

New film reviews appear at various times at:

http://twitter.com/claytonklowe