15th Annual Kamloops Canadian and International Film Festival G af f
er
03/03/11
Festival Guidebook
Thursday March 3 to Thursday March 10, 2011 Paramount Theatre (503 Victoria St.)
G
af
fe
r
Film Commission
Advance tickets at Moviemart, downtown at 5th and Seymour, and Bookland on the North Shore at Fortune Shopping Centre
Ticket Information
Festival Events
Advance tickets will be on sale on the South Shore at Moviemart (5th and Seymour) and on the North Shore at Bookland (750 Fortune Drive) from Friday February 11th until Thursday March 10th.
Opening Reception
During the festival, single tickets may also be purchased at the Paramount Theatre. Tickets to the Festival Closing Party will be available at Moviemart and Bookland prior to the festival and in the theatre lobby during the festival. $8 per ticket:
Single admission
$7 per ticket: When you purchase 5 to 9 different tickets at the same time $6 per ticket: When you purchase 10 or more different tickets at the same time $10 per ticket:
Festival Party (Advance), $15 at the door
A $2 Kamloops Film Society membership is required (available at the door). Under the Motion Pictures Act of British Columbia and Canada Customs Regulations, only members of the Kamloops Film Society are permitted to attend films. An annual membership fee of $2 allows all members to purchase tickets for all films sponsored by the Society and entitles members to all rights and privileges of the Society in accordance with and subject to the Constitution and Bylaws.
Contests & Prizes People’s Choice Award and Festival Draw Enter our draw to win two free passes to next year’s film festival and to vote for your favourite film of the festival. The most popular film, and the annual draw winner, will be announced at the Festival Closing Party. Film Trivia Prizes Win great prizes! A short trivia contest will be held at the beginning of each film.
2
Celebrate the opening of the festival on March 3rd, immediately following the screening of Incendies at The Plaza Heritage Hotel, located just a few blocks west of the theatre at 405 Victoria. Sponsored by the Kamloops Central Business Improvement Association, the event will shine a light on you, our absolutely fabulous Kamloops Film Festival patrons and Film Society members. Come sample a selection of hors d’oeuvres prepared by the Rocksalt Restaurant, and served to you by TRU School of Tourism hospitality students. There is no charge for this event, so please come join our “Reel Community” in celebrating all that is film, cinema and the movies!
a rocking after-party featuring a boogie-friendly band, complimentary Rocksalt Restaurant appetizers and glass of wine, and all sorts of appropriate fanfare. Tickets are $10 in advance (Moviemart & Bookland) and $15 at the door. We have printed more tickets this year, but they are likely to sell out again, so don’t delay – buy early! This event is generously sponsored by TRU Open Learning. Woop woop!
Special Guests We’re pleased to announce several special guests who will join us throughout the festival: Jennifer Jonas and Don McKellar
Jennifer Jonas and Don McKellar will be in attendance at the screening of the film Trigger on Sunday, March 6th at 7 pm.
An Afternoon with Knowledge: Films, Filmmakers & Filmmaking – Sunday March 6, 2-5 pm, TRU Clock Tower Theatre Calling all aspiring filmmakes of all ages to come out and rub shoulders with Rudy Buttignol (Knowledge Network President & CEO) and special guest John Bolton (Opus 59 Films) who will talk about the joys of filmmaking. Admission and refreshments are free but the experience will be priceless!
Jennifer Jonas is the producer of Trigger and other films including Last Night, The Life Before This, The Perfect Son, Childstar, and Toronto Stories.
Festival Closing Party Do not miss our soon-to-be legendary closing event! Right after the ‘feel-good’ closing film of the festival on March 10th (yes, we do consider these things), skip over to the Blackwell Hall at The Plaza Heritage Hotel (address above) for
Jeff Chiba Stearns Jeff Chiba Stearns, director of One Big Hapa Family, will be in attendance at his film on Tuesday, March 8th at 7 pm.
Actor, writer, director Don McKellar has stared in such films as The Adjuster, Exotica, Cooking With Stella, and our featured film Trigger. He also has directed the recent hit Scott Pilgrim vs. The World and wrote such films as Highway 61, Thirty Two Short Films About Glenn Gould, Dance Me Outside, Childstar, and Blindness.
Jeff Chiba Stearns is a prolific animator, writer and director who has made such films as Yellow Sticky Notes, What Are You Anyway and the upcoming Emerson: Pictures of an Exhibitionist.
Discounts During the Festival
Schedule and Contents
Plaza Heritage Hotel—Room Discount Simply mention that you are in town for the festival and receive a special room rate of $79 plus taxes (single or double occupancy). Parking is free. Call toll free 1-877-977-5292.
Film for a Cause Our charity film this year will be the documentary One Big Hapa Family, which features the Kamloops Japanese Canadian Cultural Association. KCIFF will contribute 100% of the net revenue from the showing of the film to the Kamloops Japanese Canadian Cultural Centre to help with its recovery from a devestating fire in February, 2008. Please come out and hear an introduction by the filmmaker Jeff Chiba Stearns and a performance by the Raiden Taiko drummers.
t hurs day M a rch 3
PAG E
7:00 pm Cole
6:45 pm Opening remarks
t u es day ma r c h 8
7:00 pm Incendies
5
9:00 pm Opening Reception
2
f ri day M a rch 4
7:00 pm Lovers in a Dangerous Time
6
9:00 pm Lebanon
7
www.facebook.com/KamloopsFilmFestival
s at urday M a rch 5
www.twitter.com/KamloopsFilm
1:00 pm The Secret of Kells
8
3:00 pm Waste Land
9
For the most up-to-date information, contest give-aways and interesting film trivia, join us on twitter and facebook or visit our website: www.kamloopsfilmsociety.org/festival.htm
mo n day ma r c h 7
6:00 pm Doors open
7:00 pm One Big Happa Family
10
9:00 pm Oliver Sherman
11
15 16
with special guests, director Jeff Chiba Stearns in attendance W ed n es day ma r c h 9
7:00 pm Small Town Murder Songs
17
t h u r s day ma r c h 1 0
7:00 pm Made In Dagenham
7:00 pm The House of Branching Love
PAG E
18
9:00 pm Festival Closing Party
2
2
Draw to win two passes for next year’s festival
front cover
from Oliver Sherman page s 3
from The Illusionist page 4
from Trigger back cover
from Incendies
s un day m a rch 6
1:00 pm How to Boil a Frog
12
3:00 pm The illusionist
13
7:00 pm Trigger with special guests, producer,
14
Jennifer Jonas and actor, Don McKellar in attendance 3
From the Festival Committee In working to select and secure the films for the fifteenth annual Kamloops Canadian and International Film Festival, we came to realize that something exciting was happening: opportunity to present not only our usual slate of exciting features from Canada and around the World, but to showcase our own, homegrown talent and community. We therefore made the effort to make this year “The Year of the Local Filmmaker” in every way we could. In addition to the three local films in our lineup (Lovers in a Dangerous Time, Cole, One Big Hapa Family) we’ve partnered with Knowledge Network to host a salon on Sunday from 2-5 at the TRU Clock Tower Theatre entitled An Afternoon with Knowledge: Films, Filmmakers & Filmmaking, designed to showcase the art and passion of making movies. Once again, we have organized the Opening Reception to give the festival the launch that it deserves. We will be holding the Opening and Closing events at the Plaza Hotel again this year. Be sure to purchase your tickets early for the closing event as only a very limited quantity are available and we sold out last year. We’re presenting 14 films this year, including three documentaries (two of which are from BC!), two animated films, our usual top-notch international fare, and some of the finest Canadian cinema we’ve ever had the opportunity to screen. We would love to hear your feedback on this venture, so be sure to let us know what you think by filling out this year’s questionnaire! Sponsorship plays a major part in any event of this size. Throughout this guide, on the tickets, on the screen prior to each film, and with verbal announcements, you will see or hear the names of our many sponsors and supporters. We are extremely grateful for the support that we receive from these businesses and encourage you to, whenever possible, thank them for their participation. The committee is very grateful to the Festival volunteers, whose many hours of committed time have made the Festival possible. As well, we value the participation and assistance of Jeff Harrison (Manager of the Paramount Theatre). Sincerely, The Kamloops Canadian and International Film Festival Committee: Billy Collins Chris Buchner Kevin Martin Randy Krichbaum Val MacKay
Rheannon Green Jennifer Poohachoff Mark Wallin Tom Friedman
Dušan Magdolen Wayne Egers Nathalie Wandler Sharon Simpson
Thursday March 3rd, 7:00 pm
Producer Sponsor for this film ASSOCIATION O FRANCOPHONE
“Blessed with the help of a strong cast, the country’s best cinematographer (Andre Turpin) and his own leaned-out screenplay, Villeneuve has crafted a work of searing intensity, terrible beauty and great emotional power. ” –J ason Anderson, Eye Weekly “It is impossible to avoid being affected by [Incendies] at least on some level.” – Katherine Brodsky, INTRIGUED
DE KAMLOOPS
Incendies Canada Directed by Denis Villeneuve In French & Arabic with English Subtitles Drama 130 minutes Rated PG: violence; coarse language
Adapted from Wajdi Mouawad’s acclaimed play, Incendies tells the powerful and moving tale of two young adults’ voyage to the core of deep-rooted hatred, never-ending wars and enduring love. When notary Lebel (Rémy Girard) sits down with Jeanne and Simon Marwan (Mélissa Désormeaux-Poulin, Maxim Gaudette) to read them their mother Nawal’s (Lubna Azabal) will, the twins are stunned to receive a pair of envelopes – one for the father they thought was dead and another for a brother they didn’t know existed. In this enigmatic inheritance, Jeanne sees the key to Nawal’s retreat into unexplained silence during the final weeks of her life. She immediately decides to go to the Middle East to dig into a family history of which she knows next to nothing. Simon is unmoved by the posthumous mind games of a mother who was always distant and cold. However, the love he has for his sister is strong, and he soon joins her in combing their ancestral homeland in search of a Nawal who is very different from the mother they knew. It’s a brutal journey on many levels, filled with confusion, barriers and road blocks on the search for answers. However, with Lebel’s help, the twins piece together the story of the woman who brought them into the world, discovering a tragic fate forever marked by war, hatred and ultimately… courage. Incendies is a deeply moving coming-of-age story that brings the horror of war to a starkly personal level, delivering a powerful and poetic testament to the indelible scars of the cycle of violence, and the uncanny power of the will to survive.
awards
2010 winner Best Canadian Feature Film Vancouver International Film Festival 2010 winner Best Canadian Feature Film Toronto International Film Festival 2011 winner as Canada’s official selection for Best Foreign Language Film Academy Awards 2010 winner Best Actress in a Canadian Film, Best Director of a Canadian Film & Best Canadian Film Vancouver Film Critics Circle 2010 winner Rogers Best Canadian Film Toronto Film Critics Association 2010 winner Best Film Giornate Degli Autori Venice Days 2011 Nominee Best Foreign Language Film Academy Awards
5
Producer Sponsor for this film
“Finally a date night movie EVERYONE on the date can enjoy! It has a rekindling love affair for the ladies, and enough hockey references to make Don Cherry blush... Love, hockey, beer, houseboat parties; need I say more? When it comes to Canadian cinema, this one’s a gem” – Erin F, Calgary International Film Festival “A spare but poetic tale of laconic emotions and calm western Canadian farmland, as childhood friends try to make it as lovers” – Rosemary Ponnekante, The News Tribune
6
Friday March 4th 7:00 pm
Jane & Russ Reid
Lovers in a Dangerous Time Canada Directed by May Charters & Mark Hug In English Drama 96 minutes Rated PG: coarse language
This film will be preceded by a short.
It’s a comedy about youthful regrets, a love story without consummation, a return to a home that was never forgotten. A story where boy meets girl, only they have known each other since they were two. It’s a romance, Canadian style. The film follows a pair of childhood friends reunited at their high school reunion. Todd Timmins (Mark Hug) and Allison Adamson (May Charters) shared a rather fond childhood as neighbors across an apple orchard from each other. They last saw each other on the final day of high school. Now ten years later, Todd remains a local could-have-been, while Allison returns from the city and wonders what might have been. Fueled by hope, longing, and nostalgia they embark on a romantic, if illusory, adventure to recapture lost love and happiness. Asking if it’s possible to go home again, the film explores the poignant moment between youth and adulthood that can overwhelm those unwilling to let go, yet unsure how to move ahead. Todd and Allison begin a childish romance fueled by the elusive desire to feel like a kid again. However, while the apple orchard they grew up on has hardly changed they soon discover they have. Life is a little messy and love and relationships are difficult and awkward. Beautiful moments are created in such times, things to be cherished and wistfully recalled. This film is built on those moments. Just as they think it might be possible to keep their little world to themselves, Todd’s younger brother Bobby returns home for a break from his high profile life as
a hockey star. The tension between the three of them boils over and as things begin to crumble around them, adulthood rears its unsympathetic head and they are forced to realize the painful reality of a disappearing youth. Ultimately, the fragile childhood friendship they have both found refuge in, becomes a testament of hope and a portrait of what it means to be a kid at heart. awards
2009 winner Best Lead Actor The Maverick Movie Awards 2009 winner Best Narrative Feature Film Lakedance Film Festival 2009 winner People’s Choice Award Calgary International Film Festival 2009 winner Best Feature Film Port Townsend Film Festival 2009 winner Best Canadian Feature Film Okanagan International Film Festival 2009 winner Maverick Film Award Method Film Festival
Friday March 4th 9:00 pm
Producer Sponsor for this film
“ [Samuel Maoz] has the ability to fuse the immediacy and authenticity of his wartime experience with images bold enough to bear the weight of their metaphors.” – Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times “I knew I had experienced something outstandingly discerning. This is certainly one of the very best war films I’ve ever witnessed” – Blake Griffin, Bitchin’ Film Reviews
Lebanon Israel/ France/ Lebanon/ Germany Directed by Samuel Maoz In English, and in Hebrew, Arabic & French with English Subtitles Drama/ War 94 minutes Rated 14A: disturbing bloody war violence; language, including sexual references; some nudity
This film will be preceded by a short.
The First Lebanon War – June, 1982. A lone tank is dispatched to search a hostile town that has already been bombarded by the Israeli Air Force. What seems to be a simple mission gradually spins out of control. Shmulik (Yoav Donat) the gunner, Assi (Itay Tiran) the commander, Herzel (Oshri Cohen) the loader and Yigal (Michael Moshonov) the driver are the tank’s crew– four 20-something boys who have never fought in a war and are now operating a killing machine. Motivated by fear and the survival instinct, they try to follow orders, even when they don’t understand them. Though trying to remain brave, the boys are pushed to their mental limits as they struggle to survive in a situation they cannot contain, and try not to lose their humanity in the chaos of war. As their vulnerability becomes clear, the vehicle comes to seem more like a prison than a weapon of war. The writer-director permits us no distance or breathing room, essentially making the viewer into the fifth crew member. Samuel Maoz’s raw and visceral film is based on his own experiences as a twenty year old novice soldier serving in the Israeli army during the 1982 Lebanon war. Using his own vivid recollections to bring us inside an Israeli tank during the first 24 hours of the invasion, Maoz restricts the film’s action entirely to the tank’s interior and shows us the outside world only—as the four young soldiers themselves see it—through the lens of a periscopic gun sight. The cathartic process of writing and directing Lebanon allowed Maoz to finally free himself of the events that he had experienced twenty-five years earlier.
awards
2010 winner Best Cinematographer European Film Awards 2009 winner Best Art Direction, Best Cinematography, Best Sound & Best Supporting Actor; nominee Best Actor, Best Director, Best Editing, Best Screenplay, Best Supporting Actress & Best Film Awards of the Israeli Film Academy 2009 winner Best Cinematography Camerimage 2009 winner Human Values Award Thessaloniki Film Festival 2009 winner Golden Lion, Nazareno Taddei Award & SIGNIS Award Venice Film Festival
7
Saturday March 5th 1:00 pm
Producer Sponsor for this film
“ Pure Delight! The exquisite art and fairy tale ambience will win over animation fans and children alike.” – Box Office Magazine
The Secret of Kells France/ Belgium/ Ireland Directed by Tomm Moore and Nora Twomey In English Animation/ Adventure/ Fantasy 75 Minutes Not Rated
“Critic’s Pick! Extraordinary! The Secret of Kells discloses strange new vistas that nonetheless seem to have existed since ancient times.” – A.O. Scott, New York Times “Fanciful and captivating! Gorgeous and uplifting!” - Claudia Puig, USA Today
8
This film will be preceded by a short.
Do not miss the highly anticipated new animated masterpiece from the producers of Kirikou and the Sorceress and Triplets of Belleville! Magic, fantasy and Celtic mythology come together in a riot of color and detail that dazzle the eyes in this sweeping story about the power of imagination and faith to carry humanity through dark times. Young Brendan lives in a remote medieval outpost under siege from barbarian raids. But a new life of adventure beckons when a celebrated master illuminator arrives from foreign lands carrying an ancient but unfinished book, brimming with secret wisdom and powers. To help complete the magical book, Brendan has to overcome his deepest fears on a dangerous quest that takes him into the enchanted forest where mythical creatures hide. It is here that he meets the fairy Aisling, a mysterious young wolf-girl, who helps him along the way. But with the barbarians closing in, will Brendan’s determination and artistic vision illuminate the darkness and show that enlightenment is the best fortification against evil? Although the characters, fantasy elements, and plot specifics of this movie are fictional, there is a real ‘Book of Kells’, an illuminated, heavily illustrated rendering of the Four Gospels of the Christian bible that dates from the Early Medieval period (probably the early Eighth Century) in Ireland. The best historical and archaeological evidence suggests that, starting shortly after it was finished, the book was moved several times (including, as depicted in the movie, during an Viking invasion) and lost for various periods. It has been housed at the library of Trinity College, Dublin, since the Seventeenth Century,
and is considered perhaps the single most valuable cultural artifact of Irish History that has ever been discovered. Some of the design concepts for the movie even echo aspects of the original ‘Book of Kells’. awards
2010 nominee Best Animated Feature Film Academy Awards 2010 nominee Best Animated Feature Annie Awards 2010 winner Best Animated Film Boulder International Film Festival 2010 winner Best Animation; nominee Best Film Irish Film and Television Awards 2009 winner Audience Award Best Film; nominee Grand Prix Best Film Annecy International Animated Film Festival 2009 winner Audience Award Best Irish Film Dublin International Film Festival 2009 winner Audience Award Edinburgh International Film Festival 2009 nominee Best Animated Film European Film Awards 2009 winner Special Recognition Zagreb World Festival of Animated Films 2008 winner Cartoon d’Or Producer of the Year Cartoon Forum, Europe 2008 winner Directors Finders Award Directors Finders Series, Ireland
Saturday March 5th 3:00 pm
Producer Sponsor for this film
“ Though the film is modest in manner and production values, it is nothing short of heroic in its presentation of the full grace of humanity, something that is made even more profound for the unlikely surroundings in which it is witnessed.” – Alex Roberts, filmsoundoff “Walker strikes the right balance of empathy and
Waste Land Brazil/ UK Directed by Lucy Walker In English and Portuguese with English Subtitles Documentary 98 minutes Rated G: coarse language
This film will be preceded by a short.
Waste Land is truly uplifting feature documentary highlighting the transformative power of art and the beauty of the human spirit. Filmed over nearly three years, it follows top-selling contemporary artist Vik Muniz as he journeys from his home base in Brooklyn to his native Brazil and the world’s largest garbage dump, Jardim Gramacho, located on the outskirts of Rio de Janeiro. There he photographs an eclectic band of “catadores” - self-designated pickers of recyclable materials. Muniz’s initial objective was to “paint” the catadores with garbage. However, his collaboration with these inspiring characters as they recreate photographic images of themselves out of garbage reveals both the dignity and despair of the catadores as they begin to re-imagine their lives. Director Lucy Walker (Devil’s Playground, Blindsight, Countdown to Zero) has great access to the entire process and, in the end, offers stirring evidence of the transformative power of art and the alchemy of the human spirit.
scrutiny in her portrayal
awards
of the complex dynamic
2010 winner Audience Award World Cinema – Doc.; nominee Grand Jury Prize World Cinema - Doc. Sundance Film Festival
that exists between any artist and the people who come to serve his or her vision.” – Jason Anderson, Eye Weekly
2010 winner Amnesty International Film Prize & Panorama Audience Award Berlin International Film Festival 2010 nominee Best Documentary British Independent Film Awards 2010 winner Roger’s People’s Choice Award Vancouver International Film Festival
2010 winner Best Documentary Seattle International Film Festival 2010 winner Audience Award Full Frame Documentary Film Festival 2010 winner Audience Award World Cinema Best Documentary Maui Film Festival 2010 winner HBO Audience Award Best Documentary Provincetown Film Festival 2010 winner Target Best Documentary Award Dallas Film Festival 2010 2010 winner Best Film Paulinia Film Festival 2010 2010 winner Best Doc., Audience Choice Best Film & Amnesty International Durban Human Rights Award Durban International Film Festival 2010 winner Human Spirit Award & Audience Award for Best Feature Film EcoFocus Film Festival 2010 winner Best Documentary Trinidad & Tobago Film Festival 2010 winner Jury Award Flagstaff Mountain Film Festival 2010 winner Best Documentary Feature São Paulo International Film Festival 2010 winner Special Jury Prize for Best Feature Amazonas Film Festival 2010 winner Silver Audience Award Stockholm International Film Festival 2011 Nominee - Documentary Academy Awards
9
Saturday March 5th 7:00 pm
Producer Sponsor for this film
that gets better and
The House of Branching Love
better.”
(Haarautuvan Rakkauden Talo)
“Pleasant enough comedy of errors
– The Hollywood Reporter “Wicked comedy” – The Cinequest Program
Finland Directed by Mika Kaurismaki In Finnish with English Subtitles Comedy/ Drama 102 minutes Not Rated
A sort of “Divorce Finnish Style,” Mika Kaurismäki’s rambunctious new comedy, The House of Branching Love, recounts the breakup of a thirty-something professional couple. Juhani is a family therapist, and his wife, Tuula, a successful business trainer. They’re determined to keep things amicable until they sell their house, but when Juhani brings home a girl he picks up in a club, Tuula flips. The very next day, she brings home her own conquest in retaliation. Emotions long thought dead reappear, and the war escalates precipitously when Juhani begins searching for someone to make Tuula equally jealous. Juhani calls up his half-brother, Wolffi, a pimp who wants to hide one of his prostitutes, Nina, from his employers and his wife. (A rather substantial sum of money has gone missing.) Over the course of the film, they all wind up at Juhani and Tuula’s house, along with the couple’s best friends, the permanently embittered Marjut and the womanizing imp Pekka (who’s fond of floridly quoting Shakespearean comedies, an obvious influence on the film); two cops who are having their own marital problems; and, eventually, assorted gangsters. Running underneath all the commotion is our tendency to pay lip service to social changes and our inability to truly internalize them. Liberal and understanding when he’s counselling his clients, Juhani can’t cope with his wife’s success. (He blames his doughy physique on Tuula’s “mannishness.”) Tuula considers Juhani sexually inadequate and remote, and isn’t afraid to tell him and everyone else so. Then there are the characters’
10
increasingly complicated and absurd pasts, hanging over their current relationships. When night falls, all hell breaks loose: the couples exchange partners at a frantic pace and the gangsters finally arrive looking for Nina. Kaurismäki smartly uses this underworld subplot as a metaphor not only for how our past haunts us, but for what happens when people are suddenly presented with unaccustomed autonomy. Ultimately, Tuula and Juhani find out that freedom is much more dangerous than they thought. awards
2010 nominee Best Actor, Best Actress & Best Editing Jussi Awards
Producer Sponsor for this film
“ This is independent filmmaking that punches way above its weight, and it earns every ounce of its very considerable suspense.” – Andrew Long, Twitch
Oliver Sherman Canada Directed by Ryan Redford In English Drama/ Thriller/ War 82 minutes Rated PG: course language
This film will be preceded by a short.
“[Oliver Sherman] shows a new talent in the Canadian filmmaking scene, being one of the more assured debuts to come from Englishspeaking Canada in quite some time.” – Robert Bell, Exclaim! Magazine
Saturday March 5th 9:00 pm
David J. Marr, Q.C. Barrister and Solicitor
A first feature for award-winning writer/director Ryan Redford, Oliver Sherman assembles an impressive cast including Garret Dillahunt (Winter’s Bone, No Country For Old Men, Deadwood), Molly Parker (Deadwood, The Center of the World, Kissed) and Donal Logue (The Tao of Steve, Blade, Zodiac).
acceptable solution to everyday problems. And, perhaps above all else, it is the story of two former battalion mates who, for all their apparent differences, are bound inextricably by a single act – a single, shared experience that, even these many years later, cannot be shaken.
Based on the short story ‘Veterans’ by Rachel Ingalls, Oliver Sherman tells the story of Sherman Oliver (Dillahunt), a lost and disconnected veteran with no family of his own, who sets out to the countryside in search of the soldier who saved him back in the war. That man, Franklin Page (Logue), has long since moved on - to a wife (Parker), two children, and a reliable job in a reliably safe and quiet rural town. Upon arriving, Sherman seems at first a harmless if awkward shell of a man. But as he inserts himself further into the Pages’ life, he reveals himself to be an angry, unstable individual prone to great jealousy and deep resentment. The stability Franklin worked so hard to establish is soon threatened, and the violence he believed he’d left behind in the war begins to re-emerge and cloud over both the household and the town itself. A contained, quietly powerful ensemble drama, Oliver Sherman is, at its simplest, the story of two men who’ve taken utterly different paths after the war. It’s the story of a man who’s managed to integrate himself back into society, and a man who has refused to relinquish the past and is baffled by societal norms. It’s the story of a man who believes violence only has its place on the battlefield, and a man who believes it to be a perfectly 11
Sunday March 6th 1:00 pm
Producer Sponsor for this film
“This Documentary is a MUST SEE for everyone interested in saving the Human Race! ” – imdb.com “The film is quirky, cheeky, and well narrated.” – Robert Aitken, moviecentral.ca “[A] feisty little film.” – Barbara Yaffe, The Vancouver Sun
12
How to Boil a Frog Canada Directed by Jon Cooksey In English Documentary 88 minutes Rated PG: course language
This film will be preceded by a short.
How to Boil a Frog is an eco-comedy promoting activism via video that is in itself a sophisticated example of the medium. It chronicles Jon Cooksey’s personal, three-year adventure as a filmmaker, activist and, above all, a father driven to make sure his twelveyear-old daughter would have a future beyond living on a raft with the last polar bear. It is a rapid fire account of five problems that are bringing the human race to the brink of disaster due to ecological deterioration of the planet. Using available low budget props high in visual humor, Cooksey outlines the impacts of population overshoot, habitat destruction of the natural world, increasing human wealth causing disastrous consumption and further destruction, peak oil and global warming. How to Boil a Frog mixes humor, facts and a sprinkling of experts (in tiny doses) to show how climate change is just one symptom of an even messier problem: overshoot. “Overshoot means too many people using up too little planet,” says Cooksey, “so in the end, we either need fewer people, more planets, or we’re going to have to use less stuff. Or all three. I dib Mars.” With its Everyman approach in the style of Supersize Me, interviews with scientists, journalists and energy experts across North America, How to Boil a Frog takes the kind of material that makes people jump off bridges, puts it in a blender, and churns out a Smoothie o’ Fun that gives you the Big Picture of what the hell is going on with our so-called civilization, and tells you what you can do about it that will not only make a difference, but also make your life better right
now! Convinced of this David and Goliath approach using nothing more than a digital camera, Cooksey delivers his main message “make friends, make fun, make trouble”. And he is infectious in this energy. awards
2010 winner Best Environmental Film Filmshift Festival 2010 winner Best Green Film Mammoth Film Festival 2010 winner Best Documentary Feature, Best Concept, Best Director & Best Visual Effects Los Angeles Movie Awards
Producer Sponsor for this film
“ For “ a remarkable those willing movie to enter int has never Edinburgh
The Illusionist
looked more fairy-tale gorgeous” –A my Biancolli, San Francisco Chronicle “surely one of the finest films of the year. The Illusionist is both a beautiful tale of realisation and acceptance, and a quietly affecting eulogy to the era of music hall entertainment.” – Gavin Midgley, The Digital Fix
Sunday March 6th 3:00 pm
Ben & Lorene Anders
UK/ France Directed by Sylvain Chomet In English, French & Gaelic Animation 80 minutes Rated G: thematic elements; smoking
This film will be preceded by a short.
The Illusionist is one of a dying breed of stage entertainers. With emerging rock stars stealing his thunder in the late 1950s, he is forced to accept increasingly obscure assignments in fringe theatres, at garden parties and in bars and cafés. Then, while performing in a village pub off the west coast of Scotland, he encounters an innocent young girl, who will change his life forever. Alice is a teenage girl with all her capacity for childish wonder still intact. Watching The Illusionist’s performance for the excited villagers who are celebrating the arrival of electricity on their remote island, she is awestruck by his show and believes his tricks are real magic. Though they don’t speak the same language, the two lonely strangers quickly bond through small kindnesses. Alice stows away on his departing ship and follows him to Edinburgh. There, they quickly fall into a father – daughter relationship, with Alice keeping their home at a boarding house for vaudevillians, while he goes to work in a small local theatre.
as a love letter from a father to his daughter, but never produced. Sylvain Chomet, the Oscar-nominated and critically acclaimed creator of The Triplets of Belleville, adapted the script and brought it to life in his distinctive hand-drawn animated style. awards
2011 Nominee Best Animated Film Golden Globes 2010 nominee Best Technical Achievement British Independent Film Awards 2010 winner Best Animated Film European Film Awards 2010 winner Spotlight Award National Board of Review 2010 nominee Best Motion Picture, Animated or Mixed Media Satellite Awards
Enchanted by her enthusiasm for his act, The Illusionist rewards Alice with increasingly lavish gifts he has ‘conjured’ into existence. Desperate not to disappoint her, he cannot bring himself to reveal that magic does not exist and that he’s driving himself to ruin working all night jobs to buy her gifts. Their destinies collide, but nothing – not even magic or the power of illusion – can stop the voyage of discovery.
2010 winner Best Animated Film New York Film Critics Circle
A script for The Illusionist was originally written by French comedy genius and cinema legend Jacques Tati
2010 Nominee Best Animated Film Academy Awards
2010 nominee Best Animated Feature Critics’ Choice Awards 2010 nominee Best Picture, Best Directing, Best Writing, Best Music & Best Character Design Annie Awards
13
Sunday March 6th 7:00 pm
Producer Sponsor for this film
“ Trigger is decidedly not some solemn rumination on the past, but a party built upon making lemonade out of lemons. Make that hard lemonade.” –S tephen Saito, IFC.com “Trigger’s success comes overwhelmingly from the chemistry between Parker and Wright — the latter of whom deserves every ovation her performance is bound to receive” – Chris Bilton, Eye Weekly “a love letter to the Toronto music scene – Ken Eisner, Georgia Straight 14
Trigger Canada Directed by Bruce McDonald In English Drama 78 minutes Rated PG: coarse language; drug use This film will be preceded by a short.
Don McKellar and Jennifer Jonas will introduce their film Trigger on Sunday, March 6th at 7 pm and be availabe fora Q & A following the film.
at The Mod Club, break into Allan Gardens and later go to an after-party in the suburbs; finally finishing back downtown again as the sun comes up.
Trigger is the story of a friendship between two female rockers who almost “made it”. We follow them over the course of one night as they reunite, reignite and walk down memory lane together against a backdrop of Toronto. Victoria “Vic” Sawchyn (the late Tracy Wright) and Kathryn “Kat” Lake (Molly Parker) are friends from childhood who started a neighbourhood band together — sort of like the Go-Go’s meet Patti Smith with a little Siouxsie and the Banshees thrown in. Sticking to their rock ‘n’ roll dream, they continued to trade up bands until they formed the titular Trigger and began to have real success with a hit single and a European tour. On the tour, things went to hell and, due to egos, drugs, alcohol, sex, and self-loathing, the band imploded.
Having survived alcohol and drug addiction and financial ruin, the two girls come together in an evening that deals with mortality and resentment; rage and blame; apology and remorse; and finally examines, tears apart, and confirms the thing that has in many ways kept them alive… their friendship.
Now it’s ten years later and a local record label is having a benefit concert to honor women in rock; Vic and Kat are expected to attend. One is ready to play, the other is not so sure and, over the course of the evening, age-old conflicts come to life again. They meet for dinner at Canoe, high atop the TD Centre, a great metaphor for starting on top of the world, and it is clear that, although there is a desire to make amends, it’s unclear to each of the women who really needs to apologize. They then go back to the streets on which they used to be hipsters — the Queen Street stroll down the boulevard of broken dreams. They perform
Co-star Tracy Wright, a truly bright light of Canadian theatre, television, and film died this summer of cancer. She was only 50. Trigger rushed into production as her health declined and is really a love letter to her from many of the people who held her dear. Her performance is her letter back: to her husband (our special guest and co-star in the film Don McKellar); to her friends; to her professional community; perhaps most of all to her art. It’s a letter delivered personally, so to speak.
Monday March 7th 7:00 pm
Producer Sponsor for this film
“ Bessai’s own camera work makes Lytton, B.C., look like a place you’d never want to leave.” – Ken Eisner, Georgia Straight “Bessai manages to add his personal touch to the story bringing an intimacy to the film few directors manage to successfully achieve.” – Marina Antunes, Row Three “Veteran helmer Bessai has a good eye for the day-to-day detail of low-rent Canadian life.” – John Anderson, Variety.com
Cole
Ambition and forbidden love collide with the expectations of a small town in this coming of age story.
Canada Directed by Carl Bessai In English Drama 95 minutes Rated PG: coarse language; violence; drug use
Shot on location in Lytton, BC and directed by award winning Canadian filmmaker Carl Bessai (Mothers & Daughters, Fathers & Sons), Cole tells the story of 22 year old Cole Chambers (Richard de Klerk) as he attempts to transcend his dead-end existence by enrolling in a university class.
This film will be preceded by a short.
Cole is a handsome, magnetic, talented young writer with dreams too big for his small town. Frustrated and trapped, Cole has spent his entire life picking up the pieces of his shattered family and using them as the basis for his writing. He lives with his Alzheimer’sstricken mother (Rebecca Jenkins), runs the family gas station with his sister (Sonja Bennett) and her useless, temperamental, redneck husband Bobby (Chad Willett), and surrounds himself with friends who are drinkers and slackers. Making an initiative to break out into the bigger world, he signs up for a short story class at UBC.
family forces him to re-evaluate his choice and leaves him to make some difficult decisions. Does he abandon his family in pursuit of his dreams or does he forget life in the outside world for a lifetime of pumping gas and small town living? awards
2010 winner Best Supporting Performance by a Male in a Feature Length Drama Leo Awards
This opportunity allows him to see his potential for the first time. He impresses his teacher and falls in love with fellow student Serafina (Kandyse McClure), a beautiful black girl from a privileged background with secrets of her own. While Cole spends increasing amounts of time away from home, his sister finds herself trapped within an increasingly perilous situation as her husband becomes more and more abusive. Though this may be Cole’s only opportunity to make an escape from small town life, his allegiance to his 15
Producer Sponsor for this film
“The Hapa generation have been thirsting for something like this for a long time!” – Joy Kogawa “...a unique film that captures both serious issues of racism and integration, while at the same time providing a lot of laughs through the wonderful family stories that are shared. While the main focus may be on JapaneseCanadian identity, it is through the mirror of the Koga family that viewers will see the complexity of their own family and national histories in a new light.” – Nishikata Film 16
Tuesday March 8th 7:00 pm
Dr. S. Carl Enns, Dentist
One Big Hapa Family Canada Directed by Jeff Chiba Stearns In English Documentary/ Animation/ Family 85 minutes Not Rated
This film will be preceded by a short.
Jeff Chiba Stearns will introduce his film One Big Hapa Family on Tuesday, March 8th at 7 pm and be availabe for a Q & A following the film. After a realization at a family reunion, half JapaneseCanadian filmmaker, Jeff Chiba Stearns, embarks on a journey of self-discovery to find out why everyone in his Japanese-Canadian family married interracially after his grandparents’ generation. This feature live action and animated documentary explores why almost 100% of all Japanese-Canadians are marrying interracially, the highest out of any other ethnicity in Canada, and how their mixed children perceive their unique multiracial identities. The stories from four generations of a Japanese-Canadian family come to life through the use of innovative animation techniques created by some of Canada’s brightest independent animators. One Big Hapa Family is an important story because it looks at the changing landscape of Canadian multiculturalism and its fastest growing demographic, people of mixed decent. Now a minority in Canada, it is predicted that racially mixed Canadians will become the majority in the next three generations. With intermarriage on the rise and also becoming more widely accepted amongst cultural groups, One Big Hapa Family is a ground-breaking look at how Japanese-Canadians have had to adapt with becoming a culture where over 50% of their community is mixed. It sets out to discover if Japanese-Canadian culture
and heritage is fading away or actually getting stronger with the 95% intermarriage rate. Considering only 17% of Chinese-Canadians and 13% of South Asians are intermarried, One Big Hapa Family demonstrates what other ethnic minority groups can learn by embracing mixed relationships in their own communities. “Hapa” has become the buzzword used to describe people of mixed racial heritage with roots in Asian or Pacific Islander ancestry. Derived from the derogatory Hawaiian term “Hapa Haole”, meaning half white foreigner, Asians of mixed-race have started using “Hapa” as a pride word to describe their blended backgrounds. The mixed-race population is growing at impressive rates. With the rate of interracial marriages on the rise, Vancouver could soon find itself with a multiracial majority. Hapas are the future faces of multiculturalism in Canada and according to Times Asia; they are the poster children for 21st century globalization. This documentary explores the challenges faced by the multiracial children to forge a sense of identity in a time when the perceptions of race and purity are changing as fast as the definition of multiculturalism in Canada. awards
2010 winner Best Canadian Film or Video Award Toronto Reel Asian International Film Festival 2010 nominee Best Documentary Calgary International Film Festival
Producer Sponsor for this film
“ sweeps you off your feet from the opening credits. a great achievement” – Marina Antunes, Quiet Earth “in a category all on its own” – Brian McKechnie, City-TV News.ca “most admirable” – Robert Bell Exclaim! Magazine
Wednesday March 9th 7:00 pm
Ken B. MacKinlay Notary Corp. Small Town Murder Songs Canada Directed by Ed Gass-Donnelly In English Crime/ Thriller 75 minutes Rated PG: violence; coarse language; nudity; sexually suggestive scene
This film will be preceded by a short.
What evolved from Gass-Donnelly’s original concept was a minimalist crime drama in the thematic vein of No Country for Old Men or In Cold Blood. While reminiscent of films by the Coen Brothers or even Terrence Malick, Small Town Murder Songs strikes its own ground by subverting the expectations of the crime drama by focusing on the subtle transformation of its hero instead of on the mechanics of the crime and subsequent investigation. Small Town Murder Songs is a modern gothic tale of crime and redemption about Walter (Peter Stormare), an aging police officer from a small Ontario Mennonite town who hides a violent past until a local murder upsets the calm of his newly reformed life. When a young, unidentified woman is found dead by the lake – the victim of a brutal and violent crime – Walter and his partner Jim (Aaron Poole) are called to the scene of the town’s first murder investigation in decades. A senior OPP officer is called in to lead the investigation, relegating Walter and Jim to menial field work.
begins to unravel. As Walter tries to find the evidence to make an arrest before Rita is implicated, he struggles to maintain some measure of professional detachment, and the new life and new girlfriend (Martha Plimpton) he has worked so hard to preserve. The film takes the simple notion of the unsettling impact of a murder in a tiny, rural community as its starting point, and evolves into a nuanced examination of the insidious nature of violence, the unreliability of perception, and the battles that rage within every man. “The film is ultimately about a man who’s struggling against his own nature and is trying to convince his community that he is a changed man. However, his critical failure stems from the fact that he thinks he can become a different man by changing the external circumstances of his life without acknowledging that a beast still dwells within.” -- Ed Gass-Donnelly, Director
As the story unfolds, we learn that Walter’s violent history has created mistrust in the pacifist community in which he lives. And as he proceeds with investigating the details of the murder – consistently coming up against the ambivalent feelings the community has for him - we come to know a man of high morality, who believes so strongly in justice that its imperfect execution fills him with rage. Convinced that Rita (Jill Hennessey) his ex-lover may be lying to the OPP to protect her new boyfriend, Walter’s newly-reformed life 17
Thursday March 10th 7:00 pm
Producer Sponsor for this film
250-374-0350
“a spirited look - well written, beautifully acted, full of uplift - at lovably cheeky heroines on the march for a little respect. This is a modest, heartfelt film about a modest, heartfelt woman who found her voice - and helped make history.” – Amy Biancolli, San Francisco Chronicle “joyful and uplifting” – Mark Kermode, BBC Kermode Uncut
18
Made In Dagenham UK Directed by Nigel Cole In English Comedy/ Drama/ History 113 minutes Rated PG: sexually suggestive scene; coarse language
Based on a true story, Made in Dagenham portrays a decisive moment in history, when the fight for equal rights and pay was led – unexpectedly – by ordinary working-class women with one foot in the kitchen and one foot on the factory floor. It’s a vintage “girl power” tale. Rita O’Grady (Sally Hawkins of Happy-Go-Lucky) is one of 187 women who work for the Ford Motor Company. Unlike their male counterparts in the automaker’s gleaming new main facility, the women toil in a decrepit old 1920s plant with a leaky roof, pigeons flying overhead, and stifling sweatshop conditions in summer. Despite their highly specialized work sewing car seat upholstery, the women are classified as “unskilled” labor and paid a fraction of the men’s pay.
women after her own heart in the strikers – but she must balance their demands with Ford’s threats to take production out of the UK altogether. Throughout the campaign, the women of Dagenham rely on their humor, common sense and bravado to stand together, take on their bosses and face an increasingly belligerent local community. Daring to stand up and push boundaries, they changed the rules of the game not only for factory workers but also for the rights and expectations of women everywhere. Real Life: The strike by the Dagenham sewing machinists and Ford’s subsequent settlement led to the introduction of an Equal Pay Act. It became law in 1970. awards
When sympathetic union representative Albert (Bob Hoskins) encourages the women to bring their grievances to Ford management, Rita is coaxed into attending a meeting. What she expects to be simply a day out of work turns into much more; outraged by the lack of respect, Rita surprises the room and herself by speaking out sharply, saying the women refuse to be ignored, and will plan a job action if they are not reassigned “skilled” and given pay parity with the male workers.
2011 nominee Alexander Korda Award for Outstanding British Film of the Year, Best Costume Design, Best Make Up/Hair & Best Supporting Actress BAFTA Awards
As the women’s campaign for equal pay makes it all the way to Westminster, they secure the most influential ally of all: Barbara Castle (Miranda Richardson), Secretary of State for Employment and Productivity. Blunt, forceful, smart and progressive, Mrs. Castle sees
2010 nominee Best Actress in a Motion Picture, Comedy or Musical & Best Motion Picture, Comedy or Musical Satellite Awards
2010 nominee Best Actress, Best Screenplay, Best Supporting Actor & Best Supporting Actress British Independent Film Awards 2011 nominee Award British Supporting Actress of the Year London Critics Circle Film Awards
Special Thanks to Our Sponsors
Red Carpet Sponsors have provided $2,500 or more in cash. Starring Role Sponsors have provided $600 to $1,100 in cash.
R e d C arp e t S p o n s o rs
starri n g r o l e S p o n s o rs
film commission
pr o d u c e r S p o n s o rs
250-374-0350
Producer Sponsors have provided $175 to $250 in cash to sponsor a film.
ASSOCIATION O FRANCOPHONE
DE KAMLOOPS
In-kind Media Supporters have donated $4,000 or more in advertising.
David J. Marr, Q.C. Barrister and Solicitor
In-kind Supporters have donated $500 or more in goods and/or services.
Jane & Russ Reid
Ben & Lorene Anders
Ken B. MacKinlay Notary Corp.
Dr. S. Carl Enns, Dentist
i n - ki n d m e d ia S u pp o rt e rs
i n - ki n d S u pp o rt e rs
19
Film Circuit gratefully acknowledges the following supporters for their commitment to celebrating excellence in film: Bell, Telefilm Canada, Ontario Media Development Corporation, Ontario Arts Council, and Cineplex Entertainment. Special thanks to: The AudioVisual PreservationTrust of Canada, The Department of Canadian Heritage, The McLean Foundation and the Walter & Duncan Gordon Foundation.
The Kamloops Film Festival thanks Landmark Cinemas, Jeff Harrison and the Paramount Theatre staff for their extra effort on behalf of the Kamloops Film Society for both regular screenings and special events.