When Did You Last See Your Father?

Our screening of When Did You Last See Your Father was coupled with our 2009 membership drive. We are delighted with our patrons' support as we sold out our memberships on that day. Thank you to all.

524 people attended the two screenings of When Did You Last See Your Father and they seemed extremely moved by the film. Marvelously directed by Anand Tucker (Hilary and Jackie, Shopgirl) and based on Blake Morrison's memoir, the film boasts exceptional performances by Jim Broadbent, Colin Firth, Juliet Stevenson and Matthew Beard. An interesting use of mirrors pervaded the film metaphorically highlighting the duality and double nature of personalities and situations. An extremely moving depiction of a son coming to grips with his feelings toward and memories of his father. $1100 from the proceeds was split between Hamilton Food Share and Neighbour to Neighbour Food Bank.

The following is an interview with director Anand Tucker.

www.cinemawithoutborders.com/news/127/ARTICLE/1603/2008-06-05.html

Let us know your thoughts about the film.

Julian D.

Up The Yangtze

A record 278 (for a matinee screening) were in attendance for the screening of director Yung Chang's Up the Yangtze, one of Canada's top ten films of 2007. Beautifully filmed, the viewing was a little spoiled by the fact that the 35 mm print did not arrive resulting in need to screen from a DVD, shipped at the last minute from the film distributor (it arrived one hour before the scheduled screening). The result was that the screen size was reduced and the sound quality was not consistent. We apologize for this. As a result of the substitution of DVD for 35 mm print, the distributor cost was reduced significantly, providing an additional donation of $500 to Hamilton Out of the Cold. We thank the attending audience for their patience and acceptance of the conditions.

Up the Yangtze has been acclaimed worldwide and has received astounding critical reviews (95% on Rotten Tomatoes and 84% on Metacritic). The Yangtze river, known simply as The River in China, is undergoing the largest hydro-electric project in history, The Three Gorges Dam. This project will provide economic significance to China but also result in the displacement of millions of inhabitants, many very poor, whose lives have revolved around the river. The film follows two youths working on a tourist tour boat, the shy and sensitive Yu Shui (Cindy), whose family lives on a houseboat and shack on the river's edge and the brash and arrogant Chen Bo Yu (Jerry), who comes from a well-to-do family. Cindy wants to pursue her education and help support her family but Jerry, a brash young man, sees the opening Chinese economy as a sense of entitlement and a stepping-stone to wealth and success.

With a simple but thought-provoking narrative, Chang lets the camera focus on the lives and thoughts of the two youths, the different groups of individuals on the tour boat and the awesomeness of the river and the construction about it to contrast the old and new China and analyze the impact of the Three Gorges Dam Project.

An interview with director Yung Chang:

http://www.indiewire.com/people/2008/01/park_city_08_in_12.html

Let us know your thoughts on the film.

Julian D.

Boy A

There were 208 in attendance at John Crowley's poignant, thought-provoking and significant film Boy A. The superb script is based on Jonathan Trigell's novel, and focuses on the post-incarceration period of Jack (Boy A), portrayed amazingly by Andrew Garfield (Lion for Lambs), after his 14 years in prison for a horrible crime he participated in at the age of 10. Shot grittily, in Manchester, in just five weeks and editted in six, this powerful film features pitch-perfect performances from the whole cast with exceptional lead performances from Garfield, acclaimed actor/director Peter Mullan (Magdalene Sisters) as his social worker and a lovely supporting performance from Katie Lyons as Jack's girlfriend Michelle. Raising issues of who is deserving of forgiveness, whether one can ever be truly accepted as rehabilitated, and the effects of the media's and society's labelling on an individual it is truly one of the finest films to deal with crime and punishment.

Here is an interview with the director John Crowley.

www.indiewire.com/people/2008/07/indiewire_inter_172.html

and one with Andrew Garfield.

www.comingsoon.net/news/movienews.php?id=46862

Let us know your thoughts on the film.

Julian D.

The Visitor

Tom McCarthy had a breakout hit as writer / director with his debut feature The Station Agent. He has followed up with another acclaimed film which is also garnering talk about a possible Oscar nomination for the wonderful character actor, Richard Jenkins, in his first leading role in over 50 films.

The Visitor, was a big hit with our audience of 470. The film thoughtfully deals with a variety of themes including how people from different cultures can positively impact one another, how music transcends boundaries and cultural divides, how one's judgement of others can be easily be clouded by political constraints, and how small arbitrary decisions can completely redirect one's life. McCarthy, an acclaimed character actor himself, obtains wonderful naturalistic performances from both of the experienced actors (Richard Jenkins and Hiam Abbass) as well as the two younger actors.

Here is an informative interview with the writer/director.

http://theeveningclass.blogspot.com/2008/04/visitor-evening-class-interview-with_18.html

Let us know your thoughts on the film.

Julian D.

Young@Heart

Our opening screening for the 2008 fall season, Young @ Heart, was a tremendous success before an appreciative audience of 460. This inspirational, entertaining and uplifting film was extremely well received by the audience. Watching this documentary became a very moving experience not only due to seeing a chorus of 70+ year olds learning and singing difficult songs from classic rock and punk rock but also due to experiencing how their lives and relationships unfolded throughout the six weeks of the film shoot. It was revealing to see how the lyrics of these songs became so much more meaningful in this setting. Young @ Heart was preceded by the Oscar nominated short, I Met The Walrus, in which John Lennon's words during an interview with a 14 year-old Toronto boy, are played over the backdrop of supporting computer animation and pen illustrations. A very thought-provoking short, still very pertinent despite the fact that the interview occurred 40 years ago. The short can be viewed at: www.youtube.com/watch?v=EA2luBCxZIw&feature=related.

What are your thoughts about the film or short?

Julian D.

The Blog is on...

Hi everyone.

The Ancaster Film Fest begins the second half of their fifth season with the following films: Young At Heart, The Visitor, Up the Yangtze and Boy A. In the first half of this year, we screened Lars and the Real Girl, Into the Wild, Before the Devil Knows You're Dead, Amal, The Savages, The Kite Runner, The Diving Bell and the Butterfly and The Band's Visit.

Please feel free to comment or discuss these films or any other films you've really enjoyed this year. For information on the Ancaster Film Fest films link to http://www.ancasterfilmfest.ca/. The site also contains comments and rating results on some of our past films as well as an archive of all of our films.

Our two most popular films in the first half of '08 were The Kite Runner and Amal. Amal has finally opened across Canada ... unfortunately only in Toronto, Vancouver and Montreal. Hopefully there will be the deserved support and it will open wider in the coming weeks. http://www.poormansproductions.com/amalfeature/ It is a horrible shame how Canadian films struggle to be seen across Canada. In our five years we've screened some great Canadian films including: The Corporation, Snow Walker, Wilby Wonderful, A Simple Curve, La Grande Seduction, C.R.A.Z.Y., Saint Ralph, Sabah, Journals of Knud Rasmussen, Away From Her and Shake Hands with the Devil. Try to see some of these if you've missed any. They're available at your video rental store and often at your local library.

Hope to read your thoughts on film on the blog.

Julian D.

When you want something in life, you just gotta reach out and grab it. Emile Hirsch as Christopher McCandless in Into the Wild