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.