Special Events
CINEFRANCO Youth Program presents
LITTLE NICHOLAS (2009) (SOLD OUT) 11:30aM
Nicolas leads a peaceful existence. His parents love him, he’s got a gang of great friends with whom he has a lot of fun, and he has no desire that anything should change.
Dir: Laurent Tirard. 91 min. PG 11:30am Mar. 1
THE TWO WORLDS (2007)
In a parallel world, in the Bégamini village, an oppressed tribe is chanting for a savior to liberate them from their tyrannical ruler Zotan. Cast: Benoît Poelvoorde, Natacha Lindinger. Dir: Daniel Cohen. 105 min. 14A 11:30am. Mar.2
LITTLE GIANTS (2009)
Partheepan, Maxime, Pierre-Christophe, Jimmy and Eric come from underprivileged neighbourhoods. They are in grades 5 and 6 in an elementary school near Montreal.
Dir: Anaïs Barbeau-Lavalette, Émile Proulx-Cloutier. 76 min. PG 11:30am. Mar. 3
LITTLE NICHOLAS (2009) (SOLD OUT)
Nicolas leads a peaceful existence. His parents love him, he’s got a gang of great friends with whom he has a lot of fun, and he has no desire that anything should change.
Dir: Laurent Tirard, 91 min. PG 11:30am. Mar. 4
A CARGO TO AFRICA (2009)
Two destinies intersect. Norbert has only one goal: to be deported back to Africa where he lived and worked. Above all, not to be stuck in Canada, where he feels useless, And in danger. Dir: Roger Cantin. 90 min. PG 11:30am. Mar. 5
SCHOOL’S OUT (2008)
Surfing between laughter, romance, emotion and nostalgia, this refreshing, entertaining comedy with a beat brings back to mind happy memories from the 80s and 90s.
Dir: Frédéric Berthe. 73 min. 14A 11:30am. Mar. 8
BEAUTIES AT WAR (2008)
Charmoussey is a dingy back-alley of a small town located next door to Upper Charmoussey, which is home to an upscale ski resort. Upper Charmoussey is doing so well that the owners of the resort are considering buying their shabby neighbour lock, stock and barrel and expanding their business into the territory. Cast: Benoît Poelvoorde, Olivia Bonamy. Dir: Patrice Leconte. 89 min. PG 11:30am. Mar. 9
1981 (2009)
Ricardo Trogi remembers the year 1981 when he, his sister and his parents Benito and Claudette moved into a beautiful house in a new neighbourhood.
Dir: Ricardo Trogi. 102 min. 14A 11:30am. Mar. 10
CHRIS ALEXANDER’S FILM SCHOOL CONFIDENTIAL!
BURIAL GROUND
One of the more controversial Italian zombie films, Andrea Bianchi’s revolting, cheap and creepy gorefest BURIAL GROUND is a major work of exploitation horror. A group of oversexed tourists become stranded at an isolated countryside villa just when a particularily vicious living dead outbreak is unleashed, with legions of hooded, hungry, flesh eating monster rising from their graves to murder all foolish enough to cross their rotting paths. Full to the bursting point with blood, sleaze and shock, this is the notorious film in which a child zombie literally “nurses” from his mother. If you love trash and have a strong stomach, you won’t want to miss this one. Chris Alexander will provide a history of the zombie film before the screening. Mar. 11
DJANGO
Made to capitalize on the wave of success that followed Sergio Leone’s Clint Eastwood starring Spaghetti Westerns, this rough, violent and moody 1966 Italian western classic is as good as it gets. Directed by the “other Sergio”, Sergio Corbucci. DJANGO stars Franco Nero as a blue eyed, stubble faced gunslinger dragging a coffin across the desert, rolling into a town plagued by masked killers. Full of blazing gun battles, incredible music (by Luis Enríquez Bacalov) and tons of atmosphere, this is full throttle, vintage Western entertainment. Screening preceded by Chris Alexander’s crash course in the history of the International western. Mar. 25
ENCIRCLEMENT
NEO-LIBERALISM ENSNARES DEMOCRACY
A documentary by Richard Brouillette
Canada, 2008/160 min/ March 13 @ 2:00 pm
With: Noam Chomsky, Ignacio Ramonet, Normand Baillargeon, Susan George, Omar Aktouf, Oncle Bernard, Michel Chossudovsky, François Denord, François Brune, Martin Masse, Jean-Luc Migué, Filip Palda and Donald J. Boudreaux
“Encirclement may be the most important documentary you see this year if you want to understand the erosion of democracy and the current global economic disaster. With this elegantly structured analysis on the origins and devastating impact of neo-liberalism, Richard Brouillette has distilled 12 years’ worth of black-and-white 16mm film footage into a reinvigoration of the talking head doc.”–Lynne Fernie, HOT DOCS 2009.
Drawing upon the thinking and analyses of renowned intellectuals, ENCIRCLEMENT sketches a portrait of neo-liberal ideology and examines the various mechanisms used to impose its dictates throughout the world. After the screening, director Richard Brouillette will lead a discussion with a few invited prominent guests. The audience is encouraged to participate. $8 Members/ $11 Non-members. Mar. 13
DOC SOUP PRESENTS
GARBAGE DREAMS
Shortlisted for this year’s Best Documentary Feature Academy Award, and
called “an evocative examination of the clash between tradition and
modernism” by The Hollywood Reporter and “moving… hauntingly
familiar… a compelling case that modernization does not always equal
progress” by Al Gore, GARBAGE DREAMS follows three teenage boys born
into the trash trade and growing up in the world’s largest garbage
village, on the outskirts of Cairo. It is the home to 60,000 Zaballeen,
Arabic for “garbage people.” Far ahead of any modern “green”
initiatives, the Zaballeen survive by recycling 80 per cent of the
garbage they collect. When their community is suddenly faced with the
globalization of its trade, each boy is forced to make choices that will
impact his future and the survival of his community. Filmmaker Mai Iskander in attendance! Mar. 17
Rue Morgue Magazine presents
Ivan Reitman’s
CANNIBAL GIRLS
See it restored for the first time!
“A landmark effort that remains essential viewing.”
Canuxploitation.com
“These girls eat men!” The tagline for Ivan Reitman’s 1973 feature film debut Cannibal Girls delivers exactly what it promises, as newlyweds – played by a pre-SCTV Eugene Levy and Andrea Martin! – go for a doomed winter drive in the country. After experiencing car troubles, they end up at an inn inhabited by a deranged preacher and his trio of flesh-hungry babes. But don’t worry, whenever things are about to get squeamish, a warning buzzer sounds so you can look away! Surreal, purposely sleazy, shamelessly gimmicky and a ton ’o fun, the Ontario-shot Cannibal Girls is Canuxploitation at its best!
One Night Only! Classic Trailers! Ghastly Prizes! $10. Mar. 18
The Embassy of the Republic of Azerbaijan presents
FORTRESS
Azerbaijain, 2008 83 min. Dir: Shamil Najafzada
Art relects life. And, sometimes, life can imitate art. In a remote border village in the mountains of Azerbaijan, a film crew has come to shoot a historical movie about love and war using the ancient fortress in the area as their location. It isn’t long however, until the real daily dramas of the villagers, their joys and troubles, loves and jealousies overtake the ones in the film. Then a very frightening and very real war begins; the ancient fortress reacquires its original function . . . FREE SCREENING. Mar. 19
PURE PWNAGE EVENT
We are excited to bring the first public screening of the PURE PWNAGE television show, based on the global Internet hit of the same name available at www.purepwnage.com, to the Bloor Cinema. PURE PWNAGE is a new half-hour comedy series coming to Showcase. The show tells the story of Jeremy otherwise known as “teh_pwnerer”, the greatest video gamer in the world, whose life is documented by his brother Kyle, an aspiring film director. PURE PWNAGE brings the uncharted world of videogamers and an engaging cast of characters from the gaming world to television for the first time. The cast will be in attendance. Check out www.purepwnage.com for tickets and announcements. $10. Mar. 20
BANFF MOUNTAIN
FILM FESTIVAL
WORLD TOUR 2009/2010
For more information, photos and trailers, please go to http://TorontoBanffFilmFest.com/. Each program begins at 7:30 and includes an intermission. Tickets are $20, available in advance online, at Mountain Equipment Co-op or Rock Oasis (416-703-3434) or at the box office from 6:30PM on the night of the show. Mar. 24-26
FRIDAY PROGRAM
Revolution One
USA/2009/10 min. Revolution One takes a look into the history, people, and places that have defined the rapidly emerging sport of off-road unicycling. Follow world champion unicyclists Kris Holm and Dan Heaton as they display riding that has blown the minds of viewers worldwide.
Rowing the Atlantic
USA/2009/26 min. A few years ago, Roz Savage gave up what for many would be an ideal life (husband, great job, big house), picked up a few pairs of rowing oars and a boat to go with them and set off across the Atlantic Ocean – alone – in a rowboat.
Hunlen
Canada/2009/12 min. What happens if you show up to climb one of the biggest frozen waterfalls in Canada — but it isn’t completely frozen? Will Gadd and E.J. Plimley battle to do the first ascent of B.C.’s remote Hunlen Falls. Falling ice, crashing water, fear, big fun!
Mustang: Journey of Transformation
USA/2009/28 min. Lost in time, the Himalayan kingdom of Mustang is one of the last sanctuaries of authentic Tibetan Buddhist culture. However, long isolated by geography and politics, the people struggle to survive, and the centre of their culture — the 15th-century monasteries and the art within — is dangerously close to collapse.
Narrated by Richard Gere and featuring the Dalai Lama, the film tells the compelling story of the efforts to rescue this ancient place from the brink of extinction and to help spark a cultural renaissance.
Africa Revolutions Tour
USA, 2009, 20 minutes
Directed by Rush Sturges
Produced by Tyler Bradt From the crocodile-infested White Nile in Uganda to big-water first descents in Madagascar, a group of friends seek adventure on African rivers. Accompanying the team is Rita Riewerts, the founder of the Sun Catchers Project, a non-profit that installs solar cooking facilities in orphanages, hospitals and communities.
Committed 2: The Walk of Life
Alpine Club of Canada Award for Best Film on Climing.UK/2008/20 min.
The biggest and most difficult challenge of James Pearson’s life: a vast blank slab on the Devon sea cliffs. This beautiful but terrifying line takes over his life until finally, sick with nerves and fear, he is ready for this scary lead.
Pick-up Sticks
Canada/200/9 min. Take an aerial plunge off the edge of an Arctic coastal headland into the abyss of a seabird colony to find out how marine environmental change is affecting the delicate balance of life for a hardy creature of the northern seas. A visual and metaphorical cliffhanger for our times!
Signatures: Canvas of Snow
USA/2009/16 min. In Japan there is a cultural connection to the different signatures of our terrestrial home — a sense that the rhythm of fall, winter, spring and summer influences the rhythm of the person, their energy, their riding style and the lines they choose. This special edit features skiers, snowboarders, a photographer and a noboarder who are each in tune with this connection to winter and the environment they ride in.
Project Megawoosh
Germany/2009/4 min. Bruno Kammell, a German engineer, works to perfect the world’s tallest human water slide.
SATURDAY PROGRAM
Kranked — Revolve
[special edit for Banff Tour]
People’s Choice Award for Radical Reels. Canada/2009/11 min. The coolest human-powered adrenaline tool ever invented — the mountain bike? Revolve blasts in cinematic glory from the French Alps to the lush coast of B.C., incorporating dirt jump, trail, freeride, slopestyle and downhill.
Azazel
France/2007/22 min. Four friends set out to open a route up the Trango Pulpit, a mythic 6000-metre tower in Pakistan. Days and days of pleasure, quantities of testosterone expended, frozen fingers, and naps on the wall.
Take a Seat
UK/2009/46 min. Dominic Gill’s mission is to cycle the 32,000 kilometres from the northern coast of Alaska to the southern tip of South America, on a tandem bike, picking up random strangers on the way. A gripping tale of two years and two continents, full of extraordinary characters and incidents.
MedeoZ
France/2008/6 min.
Filmed in the Mont Blanc range, this short features six different mountain sports: climbing, skiing, snowboarding, speed riding, paragliding and BASE jumping.
A photographer wants to take one shot showing all the sports, instead of taking separate photos of each sport. It takes a lot of work!
Ten — A Cameraman’s Tale
Switzerland/2009/36 min. This snowboard/ski freeride documentary gives an insight into the world of freeriding through the lens of cameraman Guido Perrini. Featuring some of the world’s best freeriders, including Jeremy Jones, Jonas Emery, and Geraldine Fasnacht, in locations from Alaska and Canada to Chile and Russia, the film delves into the passion, joys, and dangers that are an everyday part of freeriding. From incredible lines to insane avalanches, Ten looks at the behind-the-scenes world of freeride filmmaking.
First Ascent: Alone on the Wall
USA/2009/24 min. After gaining international climbing renown for his landmark free-solo of Moonlight Buttress (V, 5 .12+, 9 pitches) in Zion National Park, Utah, in April 2008, 24-year-old Alex Honnold moves on to his next big challenge: the first free-solo of the Regular Northwest Face (VI, 5 .12a, 23 pitches) on Yosemite’s Half Dome.
SUNDAY PROGRAM
Mont-Blanc Speed Flying
Best Short Mountain Film. France/2008/10 min. Six speed riders fly from the upper slopes of Mont Blanc down to Chamonix in one continuous 10-minute shot, filmed in Cineflex.
The Ultimate Skiing Showdown
Canada/2009/4 min. The final sprint showdown between the fastest skiers on Earth in juxtaposition with a stunt performer showing some of the sickest moves on Nordic skis. A lot of fun!
Birdman of the Karakoram
UK/2009/64 min. Experience the world of extreme-altitude paragliding, which few humans will ever experience, when high-altitude paragliding pioneer John Silvester takes Alun Hughes on the tandem flight to end all tandem flights. Committed deep into a remote and hypoxic world of snow, ice, and previously unexplored terrain, they find that flying to survive becomes the name of the game. The film demolishes any ideas you may have had of paragliding being about serenely floating around the sky.
Uruca (5.12c R/X)
Brazil/2008/8 min. On a Sunday morning perfect for rock climbing, Hugo attempts one of the hardest and most sought-after climbing routes at the Sugar Loaf in Rio de Janeiro: Uruca. Extremely difficult and dangerous, it will demand all of his skill and concentration.
Shining Spirit
[special edit for Banff Tour]
Canada/2009/26 min. Filmed in Canada, India and Tibet, Shining Spirit documents a recording project that brings together the family of Jamyang Yeshi through music and multi-track recording technology. With the help of Western friends, Jamyang, in exile in Canada, and his brother Tsundue, in exile in the U.S., join voices with the family they left behind in Tibet. For the first time in over a decade, they sing together once again. The film is a testament to the power of music, the resilience of the Tibetan culture, and the enduring bond of a family separated by politics and geography.
Deep/Shinsetsu
Japan/2009/3 min. “Shinsetsu” means deep powder in Japanese. This short film expresses a typical day in the mountains in Japan.
First Ascent: The Impossible Climb
USA/2009/24 min. Star sport climber Chris Sharma takes on his greatest challenge yet: the unclimbed, 90-metre limestone cave on Mount Clark, California. He dangles from one finger, jumps between minuscule handholds and takes 30-metre free falls as he endeavours to make the first ascent of what will be the most difficult rock climb in the world.
The Canadian Centre for International Justice presents
THE RECKONING:
THE BATTLE FOR THE INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL COURT (2009)
Director: Pamela Yates (95 minutes)
Struggling to change the world, Prosecutor Luis Moreno Ocampo and his team travel across 4 continents as they work to take perpetrators of mass atrocities to trial while suffering victims wait for justice. Ocampo’s journey includes issuing arrest warrants for Lord’s Resistant Army leaders in Uganda, putting Congolese warlords on trial, shaking up the Colombian justice system, and charging Sudan’s President Omar al-Bashir with genocide in Darfur while challenging the UN Security Council to arrest him. The Reckoning is an epic nail-biting account of the International Criminal Court’s mandate to prosecute perpetrators of crimes against humanity, war crimes, and genocide. ** Brief Q & A session with members of the CCIJ following the screening. $5 minimum donation Mar, 31
