Empties

Director Jan Sverák and his father (screenwriter/lead actor) Zdenek Sverák have completed an excellent trilogy about life, love and happiness. They began with the Oscar nominated The Elementary School in 1992, a film set in a suburb of Prague just as the second world war ended. It's a coming of age tale about story telling, lost childhood and lost innocence. They followed this with the Oscar winning film Kolya in 1996. It is a work of love, beautifully photographed in rich deep reds and browns. This lovely story with wonderful acting offers a fresh variation on a curmudgeon finding himself 'saddled' with an unwanted young charge. Recently they completed the loose trilogy with the highly popular Czech film Empties, which was a resounding success for us with two full screenings and a total audience of 671. Director Jan and father/screenwriter/lead actor Zdenek served up a lovely bittersweet comedy. Beginning with a quote from a famous Czech author "For a little love I would go to the end of the world bareheaded and barefooted" the film is ultimately about one man's search for love/happiness for himself, his wife, his daughter/grandson and the characters who surround him at work. Containing very believable dialogue and acting, Empties, the highest grossing film in Czech history, seemed to leave our audience smiling as they left the theatre.

It is rumoured that Jan and father Zdenek had quite a few battles regarding the script and the development of the character arc for the lead character. You'll have to watch the film to guess what the arguments may have entailed.

Besides Kolya, the other Oscar winning Czech film was Closely Watched Trains (1966), directed by Jirí Menzel. In 2006, Jirí also directed, I Served the King of England, which was supplanted as the highest grossing Czech film ever by Empties.

Julian D.

Food Inc.

Our final film of the 2009 season was the quite disconcerting but excellent and very important documentary Food Inc. It certainly provided much 'food for thought' on how corporations are negatively effecting our National Food Industry and challenges us to become more aware of the multi-layered impact of what we purchase to eat. We thank Karen Burson for visiting and providing our audience with information, literature and maps on the Eat Local program and providing an excellent Q&A after the first screening and intro to the second. 533 were in attendance at our two screenings and the proceeds were divided as follows: $500 to Hamilton Food Share, $500 to Juvenile Diabetes Foundation and $200 to Environment Hamilton as a thank you for Karen's visit. We intend to keep Environment Hamilton in mind for future donations as well to help in their very important conmmunity service. If you missed Food Inc. it has just been released to video and should now be available in your local video stores. With these donations we have just passed the $60 000 mark in donations in our six years of screening the best in Canadian and international films. Thank you very much for your support of the Ancaster Film Fest.

Information from Karen Burson (Eat Local Project Manager at Environment Hamilton, 1130 Barton Street East, Suite 207 Hamilton, ON L8H 7P9 (905) 549-0900)

Look Karen up on Facebook: ("friend" her if you like -- She's got lots of information to share about local food, local art, community events and more, with an emphasis on Downtown Hamilton and the James Street North area).

Groups to check out and perhaps join:

Hamilton Eat Local
Planning to Eat (news and links to more articles, documentaries and such)
Slow Food Hamilton
The Food We Need Now Margaret Webb
Friends of the Toronto Food Policy Council

LINKS

Hamilton Community Food Security Stakeholder Committee: an intro and Terms of Reference

Environment Hamilton, with link to Hamilton Eat Local Home Page

The No Nonsense Guide to World Food by Dr. Wayne Roberts of the Toronto Food Policy Council

Toronto Food Policy Council Home Page and links to studies and reports

Food activist and writer Margaret Webb, author of Apples to Oysters. Check out her amazing series of articles now appearing in The Toronto Star. I sent to her the link to A Farm for the Future and she liked it enough to post it on her home page ... high praise, indeed!

Slow Food Canada (promoting food that is good, clean and fair) find a page for Slow Food Hamilton, our local convivium.

London Food Strategy, what's being done abroad

VIDEO

An interview with Michael Pollan, author of The Omnivore's Dilemma and In Defense of Food: An Eater's Manifesto, both highly recommended reading

Learn about the Transition Town Movement and its approach to food security, while on their home page you'll find a link to the BBC Documentary by farmer/filmmaker Rebecca Hosking called A Farm for The Future


A quick video clip to share - only about 2 minutes long. Add this to your e-mail signature to share this brief but important look at our dependence on fossil fuels for our current food system


Julian D.

The Damned United

Michael Sheen as lead actor and Peter Morgan as screenwriter. A winning combination. Consider these films they collaborated on: The Deal, The Queen, Frost/Nixon and now The Damned United. Some fine pedigree.

The Damned United was originally a fiction based on fact novel written by David Peace. In it, the author captured the life of famed Brit football manager Brian Clough during his successes which led to his confrontation 44 day tenure as manager of top Brit football team Leeds United. He did so by imagining Clough's thoughts during this time period, something which obviously he had to create based on facts that he knew. Read by the fine director Stephen Frears it was passed on to Peter Morgan as a prospective joint project. When Stephen was unable to direct, Tom Hooper (John Adams, Elizabeth 1) took over that role. Morgan loved it believed that he and Pearce used similar approaches in developing stories based on fact – fictionalize the characters and events somewhat but retain the integrity and heart of the individuals and the events. Michael Sheen was also brought into the picture and agreed it was a role he'd love to do. Unlike most sports movies which follow a predictable track, the unlucky club or individual who struggles to find its/his heart and unltimately wins the big one, this tale had the makings of a Shakespearean tragedy. The novel was much harsher and darker and Morgan was able to blend the tragic aspects with lighter moments and dialogue.

The script sparkles and the performances by four of the finest male actors, Sheen, Timothy Spall, Colm Meaney and Jim Broadbent are perfect.

In Hooper's words "Anyone interested in football will be fascinated by Brian Clough. Anyone not interested in football will be fascinated by this great and complex man. I think it's a moving story of friendship, jealousy and betrayal. Films exploring professional rivalry and professional jealousy are rare. But rivalry and jealousy are what everyone has to deal with in almost every job - it's a universal story.

Part 1 of a fine Brian Clough retrospective

Part 2

Julian D.

Ruba Nadda's Cairo Time is Stunning

A director as ‘auteur’ makes the film that she feels in her heart/soul not the film that people may want to see or that distributors think will draw an audience. Such is the dilemma that good independent filmmakers face: Stay true to your vision or compromise to make a sale. Ruba Nadda is a director that believes you must be passionate about your film and stay true to your vision. Two weeks before she was to go to Cairo to film Cairo Time her funding fell apart. Working with her producer, Daniel Iron (Away From Her), they managed somehow to find the money, partially by foregoing their up-front salaries, and Ruba was off to Cairo 48 hours later.

She had gotten uber-actress Patricia Clarkson to accept the lead role. Patricia’s agent had given her the script with the comment “You’ve got to do this”. Patricia read the script and knew she was destined to play this part. Ruba flew to New York to meet Patricia and after a three hour lunch meeting the kindred spirits were ready to go. Ruba had written the male lead for Brit actor Alexander Siddig (Deep Space Nine, Syriana) and he quickly came on board as well.

Daniel Iron has stated that Ruba knows everyone which helped in obtaining funding. She has made sixteen films, all but two (Sabah and Cairo Time) were short films and Sabah had done very well both domestically and internationally. Her international sensibilities resulted in incredible exposure to both her films and her short stories though she remains much lesser known in Canada. Cairo Time will deservedly change this, especially after winning the best Canadian feature at TIFF 2009.

Juliette (Patrcia Clarkson) is a Canadian magazine editor who arrives in Cairo for a vacation with her long-time husband, a UN official working in Gaza. Delayed, her husband asks his friend—a handsome Egyptian named Tareq (Alexander Siddig)—to watch over Juliette. Juliette finds herself being affected not only by this exotic city but also by Tareq.

The cinematography by long-time Nadda collaborator Luc Montpellier is stunning capturing scenes in the streets of Cairo and in the surrounding regions with grace and majesty. The music by Irish composer Niall Byrne combines beautiful piano melodies and lively Arab songs to accentuate both the simple and active moments in the film.

Cairo Time opened in Canada on October 9th. We were fortunate to screen it in Ancaster Ontario, just before this opening, to an audience of 672. Ruba attended with her sister (actress and assistant director Fadia) and Wendy Blushke from the TIFF film circuit. Ruba provided both screenings with informative q&a’s and by the end the audience was thrilled to have seen a masterful film and listened to such a passionate, accomplished director. Do watch the clips that follow and I'm sure you'll agree.

Exclusive link to behind the scenes footage on the making of Cairo Time.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MK8uueeqqMI

Wonderful interview with Ruba, Patricia and Alexander in three parts

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gT36gawbrdo
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jrGX95mjAyY&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EDM7yweED7Q&feature=related

as well as superb individual interviews at the Toronto International Film Festival.

www.tribute.ca/interviews/Ruba+Nadda+(Cairo+Time)/director/19101
www.tribute.ca/interviews/Patricia+Clarkson+(Cairo+Time)/star/36923
www.tribute.ca/interviews/Alexander+Siddig+(Cairo+Time)/star/36924

Official Website and Trailer
http://www.cairotime.ca/html/trailer/

Julian D.

Foreign Language Oscar - Departures

Departures is one of the most revered films ever shown at the Ancaster Film Fest. Departures was the first Japanese film to win Best Foreign Language film in 50 years. It also won ten of the major awards at Japan's version of the Oscars.

Combining amazing cinematography with exceptional performances and haunting music, the film explores how life and death are inevitably connected.

Lead actor Masahiro Motoki came up with the idea while on a trip to India where he saw that life and death co-existed in an harmonious way. Daigo, a cellist in an orchestra finds himself out of work when the orchestra is disbanded. In search for new work he goes to an interview after reading a job advertisment entitled 'Departures'. Thinking it may be involved with a travel agency he applies to find it is something quite different and something that neither he nor his wife would be proud of.

The somewhat forgotten ritual of 'encoffinment' which plays an important part in the film shows tremendous respect for human life even in death and is definitely lost in today's modern society on a treadmill. The cello was selected as Daigo's instrument because of its resemblance to the human body, it ability to produce sounds that mimic the human voice range and because the manner in which a cellist plays resembles the encoffinment process.

This extremely moving film has many scenes of significant grace and the climax scene is especially poignant.

Julian D.

Duncan Jones' Moon is Out of This World

Duncan Jones' Moon was a huge hit at Sundance and deservedly so. It also won Best Brit Feature at the Edinburg International Film Festival and the Best Actor Prize for Sam Rockwell at the Seattle International Film Festival. It harkens back to a time when the story and not the effects made for great Sci Fi. On a small budget, Jones developed the main story and passed on the screenplay to Nathan Parker. Jones accomplished the amazing feat of creating a visually excellent Sci Fi film surrounding a modern story. Sam Rockwell is exceptional in the lead role displaying a myriad of emotions. Kevin Spacey is excellent as 2001 HAL's modern counterpart Gerty.

Duncan Jones, Zowie Bowie, in an earlier incarnation, has a real future as a filmmaker and we look anxiously forward to his next film. It was also wonderful to see Rockwell given a role that displays his gifts as one of the top young actors working today.

Excellent interview with Director Jones (includes trailer and minor spoilers).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EmoAsU2J9mw







Julian D.

Is Anybody There?

Is Anybody There? is Irish Director John Crowley's third film after the impressive "Intermission" and "Boy A". Our screenings of Is Anybody There? attracted a total audience of 565 and the proceeds of $1200 went to the Hamilton Out of the Cold Program. The consensus of the audience was extremely positive.

The casting was superb and was led by the incomparable veteran Michael Caine and newcomer Bill Milner whose only previous film was the wonderful indy "Son of Rambow". Written by Peter Harness, Is Anybody There? is loosely based on Peter's experiences as a youth in his parents' home for the elderly. It is an extremely humourous, yet insightful and poignant look at death and life from disparate viewpoints. Edward is a 10 year-old boy who has not experienced life because he is more curious about death and the afterlife, and Clarence is an elderly retired magician who has turned his back on life ready to depart this world.

Michael Caine stated in a Q&A following a screening at TIFF that this was one of his favourite roles and he accepted it upon reading the script which made him both laugh and cry. He went on to say that his wife (of 36 years) was moved to tears watching the film as this was one of the few times that he had played a character who was clearly his age and approaching, not at all in very good shape, the last years of his life. Bill Milner is perfect as Clarence's foil and is in every respect Caine's equal with his outstanding performance. The supporting cast contains a "Who's Who" of Britain's finest veteran actors who were as delighted to work with Crowley, a respected director of theatre as he was to work with these grand actors of film and theatre. Edward's mom and dad are played perfectly by Anne-Marie Duff (a marvelous actress of film and stage and also James McAvoy's wife) and David Morrissey.

Though the themes are quite dark the interspersed humour lightens up the story leaving audiences with a emotionally satisfying look at life and death from both ends of the spectrum.

Julian D.