Kathryn Bigelow and the Hurt Locker

Name five female directors.

Not an easy task. Nevertheless, Kathryn Bigelow will become a well known female director this year because of her film THE HURT LOCKER. She has been a highly respected independent film director for a number of years but has made few films as the process of making an indy film where you have to arrange financing is a long process. Her films are not what studios would expect from a female director and so she ensures that she has control over the making of her films. Bigelow's passion is evident in this quote of hers: "If there's specific resistance to women making movies, I just choose to ignore that as an obstacle for two reasons: I can't change my gender, and I refuse to stop making movies. It's irrelevant who or what directed a movie, the important thing is that you either respond to it or you don't. There should be more women directing; I think there's just not the awareness that it's really possible. It is."

THE HURT LOCKER (its title implies a place of ultimate pain) won four awards at the 2008 Venice Film Festival and received a 10 minute standing ovation at its conclusion. It was written by free-lance journalist turned screenwriter Mark Boal who was embedded in a Bomb squad in Iraq. There, he accumulated the material to tell this action-filled gripping tale of three men finishing off their stint in a U.S. Army Explosive Ordnance Disposal Unit in Iraq. It was one of the top films at the Toronto International Film Festival and after a very positive worldwide festival run will open, hopefully fairly wide, in July.

Bigelow was adamant that it had to be filmed in the Middle East with local actors rather than in an American desert. Although well known actors like Guy Pearce and Rafe Fiennes are in the film, the three main male roles are played by lesser known but excellent actors: Jeremy Renner (Dahmer), Anthony Mackie (Half Nelson), Brian Geraghty (Jarhead).

Here's an excellent audio interview with film critic James Rocchi and a good text interview at AV Club and a video interview at the Dallas Film Festival.

Visit the official site and click on video to see the trailer.

With the increase to 10 of the number of Best Picture Oscar Nominations, my guess is that this will easily receive one of those nominations. With ratings of 90+ on both Metacritic.com and Rottentomatoes.com it will be one of this year's highest rated films.

Julian D.

Gervais and The Invention of Lying

Brilliant Ricky Gervais may have another hit with his latest film project "The Invention of Lying". Originally titled "This Side of the Truth", which I prefer, it was written and directed by Ricky Gervais and Matthew Robinson. Containing a huge cast including Jennifer Garner, Rob Lowe, Tina Fey, Jonah Hill, Christopher Guest, Jason Bateman, Jeffrey Tambor and Patrick Stewart, it was made for a surprisingly low budget of $4 000 000. Is this just a case of people wanting to work with Gervais?

The premise is classic Gervais territory. Set at a time where the world is a place where no one lies, regardless of how caustic or negative the truth may be, a writer (Gervais) is able to lie and realizes that this new found ability will bring him fame, popularity and fortune. Needless to say things get out of hand.

Filled with dark and subtle humour complete with much social commentary it may well bring Gervais numerous screenwriting award nominations.

Here is a comment from Gervais in his own blog.

J.J. Abrams (Star Trek Director) watched The Invention of Lying and said it was one of his favourite films. I know I shouldn't care what people think - some people will like it, some will hate it, and some won't care either way. But the reason I'm so excited in this instance is that I think J.J. is one of the most exciting directors out there at the moment. He's like the new Spielberg, and well, I was honestly blown away. He also said... "

Ricky Gervais proves, once again, that he is the master. Not only of comedy, but social commentary. 'The Invention of Lying' is as funny as it is biting, wholly original, and surprisingly moving. Is there such thing as an important comedy? Turns out there is, and this is it. If you're still reading this, you should stop immediately and go see 'The Invention of Lying!'"

This is better than meeting Elmo. Well as good anyway.

Here's the U.S. trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sgOtGpW2qrc

Check out his blog to see a different trailer and read his posts. http://www.rickygervais.com/

Gervais is now working on a new film "Cemetery Junction" and his great TV series 'The Office" is going into its eighth reincarnation, this time in India. He'll likely executive produce it.

Julian D.

Burns and Coyne Sparkle at AFF

Martha Burns (left) and Susan Coyne (right) visited the Ancaster Film Fest to present their brilliant short film HOW ARE YOU? Despite being only 18 minutes long, the short was a multi-layered, unique, poignant and often humourous look at dealing with the grief that follows a separation. They added a very interesting and insightful introduction and commentary and provided a wonderful Q&A following each screening. We were delighted and fortunate to have these outstanding award-winning actresses and now screenwriters/directors/producers to our venue. We will anxiously be awaiting their next project LITTLE FILMS ABOUT BIG MOMENTS which grew indirectly out of their experiences in making HOW ARE YOU?

HOW ARE YOU? was co-written and co-directed by Martha and Susan.

Martha Burns is an award-winning Canadian actress known for her stage work and youth outreach in Ontario and her leading role in the TV drama SLINGS AND ARROWS, a TV series about a Canadian theatre company. She has garnered a Genie for Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role for LONG DAY'S JOURNEY INTO NIGHT and two Gemini awards for her performance as Shakespearean diva Ellen Fanshaw in SLINGS AND ARROWS.

Susan Coyne is an acclaimed actor, author and playwright and one of the co-creators and co-stars of the award-winning SLINGS AND ARROWS. In 2006, she won two Gemini Awards for her work on the show, one for best performance in a supporting role and one for best writing for a dramatic series (shared with her fellow co-creators). In 2007, she again won for writing with co-star Martha Burns winning in the acting category. She also won two Writers Guild of Canada awards, in 2006 and 2007. Martha and Susan are founding members of Toronto's Soulpepper Theatre Company, a company that includes a number of theatre veterans from the Stratford Theatre Festival. Martha has performed leading roles at Stratford, the Shaw Festival, the National Arts Centre and the Tarragon Theatre, to name just a few. She has been nominated five times for a Dora Mavor Moore Award, winning twice: in 1986 for The Miracle Worker and in 1984 for Trafford Tanzi. As associate artistic director at Soulpepper, Burns headed up its extensive youth outreach program. Earlier in her career, she founded the Toronto Arts for Youth Association and was a co-founder of another youth theatre project in Toronto, Masterclass Theatre. She has worked as an instructor for the theatre programs at George Brown College and Ryerson University. In 2005 she was honoured for her career in the theatre with the Barbara Hamilton Award.

Susan is currently a playwrite-in-residence at the Tarragon Theatre. Her two best-known plays are KINGFISHER DAYS, an adaptation of her critically-acclaimed memoir of the same name, and ALICE'S AFFAIR. The edition of this memoir that was published in America was titled IN THE KINGDOM OF FAIRIES. It recounts her experiences in the summer of 1963 at her family's summer cottage on Lake of the Woods. She is also known for her translations of Anton Chekhov.

Their latest project, LITTLE FILMS ABOUT BIG MOMENTS, contains ten short films from ten emerging filmmakers from a concept they created with producer Sonya Di Rienzo.

A dutiful daughter makes an impulsive decision about her aging father. A teenage girl confides in her sister and is unnerved by her reaction. A man is handed a pregnancy test and sees his world turned upside down. A woman looks at her dog waiting to go out and has a surprising revelation…. LITTLE FILMS ABOUT BIG MOMENTS is about epiphanies. It’s about the instant when the penny drops, the mind opens, the heart contracts, and something suddenly becomes clear - perhaps a little too clear.

The LITTLE FILMS filmmakers are not writers or directors, but rather people in the film industry who have a story to tell, and a willingness to take a risk. They are working under the guidance of experienced mentors who are encouraging them to engage in new ways of thinking and seeing. The whole experience is being documented for an hour-long companion piece documentary.

Each film was being shot in one day over a period of two weeks with the same production team. Semi Chellas (THE ELEVENTH HOUR) and Susan Coyne are the Story Mentors, Rudi Blahacek (SLINGS AND ARROWS) is the Director of Photography, Adam Wilson is the Production Designer, under the mentorship of Phillip Barker (ADORATION) and Tamara Deverall (BREAKFAST WITH SCOT), Shelley Mansell (NEMESIS GAME) is the Costume Designer, and Paul Day (DEAD LIKE ME) is the Editor. Dominika Dittwald (THIS BEAUTIFUL CITY) is the Director of the LITTLE FILMS Documentary.

LITTLE FILMS ABOUT BIG MOMENTS will be presented as a one-hour special on Movie Central and TMN in the fall of 2009. The ten short films will also be shown individually on both networks.

Julian D.

Helen Mirren is Phèdre!

See Helen Mirren on stage in London in Jean Racine's Phèdre at your local theatre. This is an experiment in presenting the best of theatre on the screen and will be the first of four plays from the National Theatre in London. It is being screened worldwide, via a satellite feed in HD, on Thursday June 25.
Racine's play, first performed in 1677, has been re-translated by Brit Poet Laureate Ted Hughes. Here is an article on the play with various British reviews.
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/culturemonster/2009/06/helen-mirren-in-ph%C3%A8dre-what-did-the-critics-think.html
Here's Helen promoting the event
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tc6umkTLcao
Canadian tickets can be bought online or at the theatre. Visit www.cineplex.com/events
Julian D.

Our HOME is in Peril

We are living in exceptional times. Scientists tell us that we have 10 years to change the way we live, avert the depletion of natural resources and the catastrophic evolution of the Earth's climate.

The stakes are high for us and our children. Everyone should take part in the effort, and HOME has been conceived to take a message of mobilization out to every human being.

For this purpose, HOME needs to be free. A patron, the PPR Group, made this possible. EuropaCorp, the distributor, also pledged not to make any profit because Home is a non-profit film.

HOME has been made for you : share it! And act for the planet.

Yann Arthus-Bertrand (co-writer/director)

This feature length documentary has been made available free because of its importance. It tells of our planet's current state with stunning cinematography, phenomenal images, haunting music and compelling narrative. You must put aside one and a half hours to watch it. It is being made available for only a short period of time. Here is a link to watch it now.

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

Here are two articles.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/cameron-sinclair/home-a-truly-global-event_b_212112.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Home_(documentary)

And the official site: http://www.youtube.com/homeproject

It is too late to be a pessimist. Everyone plays a part in the solution. Everyone is a link in the chain.

Julian D.