The Cinematheque JAN+FEB 2013 | Crazy Horse

JAN + FE B 2013

1131 Howe Street . Vancouver . theCinematheque.ca

303 East 8th Avenue Vancouver, British Columbia V5T 1S1 Canada

Tuesday to Saturday Noon to 5:00 pm PST

1 604 876 9343 front.bc.ca

EXHIBITION

EVENT

Edible Glasses

40th Anniversary Gala Dinner and Auction Mar 9 @ 6pm Auction Preview Mar 6 @ 7pm Visit front.bc.ca for tickets and more information.

EVENT Still from the Performance

by Ieva Miseviciute

Project Rainbow Past is Prologue Screening and Talk Febr 21 @ 7pm Visit front.bc.ca for tickets and more information.

Jan 18 → Feb 23, 2013 Opening Jan 17 @ 7pm Performance by Ieva Miseviciute on Feb 23 @ 8pm The title of this exhibition comes from a script by Ieva Miseviciute (LT) in which edible glasses are brought to life as part of a joke. The exhibition Edible Glasses also involves objects coming to life. In artworks by Feiko Beckers (NL), Tamara Henderson (CA) and Eun Kyung Kim (KR/CA) things become performers- actors rather than just props.

Edible Glasses will close with a performance by Miseviciute, which will premiere in the Western Front’s Luxe Hall on the last day of the exhibition.

Project Rainbow (Heidi Nutley, Sydney Vermont, Jesse Birch and Jade Boyd) will present research and work-inprogress produced during their recent Past is Prologue residency. Past is Prologue is an ongoing project by Western Front Media Arts that invites artists, writers, curators and critics to produce a new work using the Western Front Media Archive as a critical point of departure. Project Rainbow will screen a selection of past work, workin-progress and a selection of tapes from the Western Front Media Archive, including Steve Paxton and Paul Wong’s Asteroid (1978).

AD M I N I ST RAT IVE O F F I C E 200 – 1131 Howe Street Vancouver, BC V6Z 2L7 tel 604.688.8202 • fax 604.688.8204 Email: info@theCinematheque.ca Web: theCinematheque.ca

NT IA L CI NE M A EX PE RI EN CE ES SE

STAF F Executive and Artistic Director: Jim Sinclair Managing Director: Amber Orchard Communications Manager: steve chow Education Manager: Liz Schulze Operations & Marketing: Kate Wilkins Media Production Coordinator: Mitch Stookey Venue Operations Manager: Heather Johnston Assistant Theatre Managers: Shaun Inouye, Kathryn Kirkpatrick, Jackie Hoffart, Amanda Thomson Head Projectionist: Al Reid Relief Projectionists: Peter Boyle, Stuart Carl, Ron Lacheur, Cassidy Penner, Amanda Thomson BOARD OF DIRECTO RS President: Mark Ostry Vice-President: Eleni Kassaris Secretary: Mark Tomek Treasurer: Wynford Owen Members: Jim Bindon, Luca Citton, Kim Guise, Moshe Mastai V O LUNTEERS Theatre Volunteers: Mike Archibald, Mark Beley, Eileen Brosnan, Jeremy Buhler, Laura Bzowy, Andrew Clark, Dylan Clark, Adam Cook, Rob Danielson, Anh Dao, Ben Daswani, Steve Devereux, Bill Dovhey, Emily Eastwood, Ryan Ermacora, Kevin Frew, Ari Grant, Paul Griffiths, Joe Haigh, Dora Ho, Jessica Johnson, Beng Khoo, Yoko Kitamura, Michael Kling, Ray Lai, Shannon Lentz, Claudette Lovencin, Vit Mlcoch, Florin Moldovan, Claudette Lovencin, Kelley Montgomery, Linton Murphy, Danuta Musial, Gavin Oliver, Julia Patey, Yuriy Plisenko, Pouya, Kailash Ragupathy, Duncan Ranslem, Chahram Riazi, Hisayo Saito, Babak Tabarraee, Derek Thomas, Stephen Tweedale, Diane Wood.

THE CIN EMA THE QUE PRO GRA M GUI DE, V36 .3

CONTENTS JAN+FEB 2013

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JOHN SMITH + JÓZEF ROBAKOWSKI

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THE BEST OF OTTAWA 2012 THE ILLUSIONIST

Distribution: Harry Wong, Scott Babakaiff, Michael Demers, Martin Lohmann, Michael Edillor, Hazel Ackner, John William, Lynn Martin, Sheila Adams, Anna Xijing, Devin Wells, Allan Kollins, Horacio Bach, Jeff Halladay, Roman Goldman Office: Jo Bergstrand, Betty-Lou Phillips, Zac Cocciolo, Ratna Dhaliwal Education: Zac Cocciolo, Ben Maciorowski, Yalda Modarres-Sadeghi, George Reagh, Marc Ronnie, Michael van den Bos And a special thanks to all our spares!

PA C I F I C C I N É MAT H È Q U E P R O G RAM G U I D E Art Direction + Graphic Design: steve chow Program Notes: Jim Sinclair Advertising: Kate Wilkins Proofreading: Amber Orchard, Kate Wilkins Published six times a year with a bi-monthly circulation of 15,000.

Printed by Van Press Printers.

AD VE RT I S I N G To advertise in this Program Guide or in our theatre before screenings, please call 604.688.8202.

Pacific Cinémathèque is a not-for-profit arts society. We rely on financial support from public and private sources. Donations are gratefully accepted — a tax receipt will be issued for all donations of $30 or more. To make a donation or for more information, please call our administration office at 604.688.8202.

Pacific Cinémathèque gratefully acknowledges the financial support of the following agencies:

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PRESENTED WITH CAG AND PUSH

DIM CINEMA Tracking Changes: Voyeurism and Surveillance in Video DIM DOUBLE BILL: You Are Not I + Cat Swallows Parakeet and Speaks

NO ONE CAN DEFINE ME:

The Films of Winston Washington Moxam CINEMA SUNDAY Return to Oz The Peanut Butter Solution 24hr MOVIE MARATHON CHAN CENTRE CONNECTS 12 Tangos: Adios Buenos Aires EXPERIENCE ESSENTIAL CINEMA Bicycle Thieves 8 1/2 NEW DOCUMENTARY Crazy Horse Detropia NOW PLAYING CALENDAR CANADA’S TOP TEN 2012 EMISSARY INTO TIME AND MEMORY: A TRIBUTE TO CHRIS MARKER FRAMES OF MIND Kauwboy A Sister’s Call

Presented by The Contemporary Art Gallery in association with the PuSh International Performing Arts Festival and The Cinematheque

John Smith VANCOUVER INTERNATIONAL MOUNTAIN FILM FESTIVAL

Józef Robakowski These screenings of work by John Smith and Józef Robakowski bring together two filmmakers who interrogate the language and mechanics of film itself. They share an interest in the world unfolding around them and in front of the camera, examining occasions and incidents with a humour that undercuts the rigorous nature of their work. Both reveal the narrative potential within the everyday while simultaneously making us aware of the constructed nature of the images we are viewing.

As such, their films present a foil to the live performance Sometimes I Think, I Can See You by Argentinean artist Mariano Pensotti, a free presentation at this year’s PuSh International Performing Arts Festival. Staged over three consecutive weekends, and happening simultaneously in the atrium of the Vancouver Public Library Central Branch and the lobby of the Vancouver Art Gallery, Pensotti’s ingeniously voyeuristic work will feature a team of Vancouver writers, equipped with laptops connected to projection screens, writing a live account of whatever it is they see — or imagine they see — in these urban surroundings. Through their eyes and minds, the anonymous individuals around us become implicated in a series of beautifully spontaneous fictions.

Sometimes I Think, I Can See You is presented by PuSh International Performing Arts Festival in association with the Contemporary Art Gallery, The Playwrights Theatre Centre, and Vancouver Art Gallery. Free Event. January 18-20, 25-27, and February 1-3, 12:00 pm to 4:00 pm, in the atrium of the Vancouver Public Library’s Central Library (350 West Georgia Street) and the lobby of the Vancouver Art Gallery (750 Hornby Street). pushfestival.ca

John Smith - Shorts British filmmaker Smith’s work is associated with “structural film,” an experimental and analytical approach focused on the illusionary nature of the media itself, specifically looking at its “material” qualities, such as the projected light, the film strip, and the projection apparatus. The series of films shown here from the 1970s and 1980s, including his iconic The Girl Chewing Gum (1975), demonstrate how Smith expands on the concerns of structuralist practice through new means, including the use of narrative structure, the relationship between sound and image, humour, and a close engagement with popular culture. Total running time: approx. 90 mins.

WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 23 – 7:00 PM

Film screenings of work by John Smith and Józef Robakowski presented by the Contemporary Art Gallery in association with PuSh International Performing Arts Festival and The Cinematheque.

FEBRUARY 8 - 17, 2013 www.vimff.org

Józef Robakowski My Very Own Cinema Józef Robakowski is a pioneer of independent Polish film.

From the early 1970s he interrogated the language, material, and mechanics of film, combined with a long-standing interest in conceptualist avant-garde traditions filtered through an insistence on authenticity and personal identity. Presented are a series of pieces produced between 1970 and 2000, including From My Window, 1978–1999 (2000), shot from Robakowski’s apartment. By filming the world around him and narrating everyday events in his own, often wryly humorous, voice, Robakowski deployed a kind of personal resistance to the political situation imposed upon him. Total running time: approx. 60 mins.

MONDAY, JANUARY 28 – 7:00 PM

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A MONTHLY EVENING OF MOVING-IMAGE ART AND CINEMATIC EXPERIMENTS DIM presents Canadian and international artists and their moving-image practices in dialogue with cinema. DIM is curated by Amy Lynn Kazymerchyk, a Vancouver filmmaker, writer, and curator.

WWW.DIMCINEMA.CA DIM DOUBLE BILL!

TrackingChanges: VOYEURISM AND

SURVEILLANCE IN

VIDEO

Silent Movie with Live Music

by Alicia Svigals and Marilyn Lerner

YOU ARE

Not

I

USA 1981. Director: Sara Driver Cast: Suzanne Fletcher, Melody Schneider, Luc Sante, Nan Goldin

We perform our daily routines in environments, virtual or real, that record and use our images, information, and biographic details in diverse ways. Aware that surveillance cameras and tracking systems are pervasive, we habitually filter out their presence.

Our ability to tolerate and even flaunt this omnidirectional, surveillant gaze relies on assumptions about the frequency and banality of surveillance activity. As society moves towards a structure that is fully regulated, tracked, and documented, the volumes of image-data required are furiously expanding, filling up ever-accumulating archives that paradoxically function to erase as much as to preserve.

The artists in this program find ways to make this seemingly inadequate data speak, to locate the extraordinary within the trivial. In Christina Battle’s short video, the CIA’s legacy of spying and the mysterious secrecy of its archive visually erupts, only to reveal a paucity of information and the mundane labour of filing. John Smith likewise offers minimal yet pointed visual imagery while producing a personal narrative that navigates the increasing pressures of state surveillance accumulating outside the frame. And in her experimental documentary, Rebecca Baron explores historical precedents for public surveillance through the twinned developments of lens-based camera technology and the mass observation movement. In each of the works, the technologies of surveillance reveal themselves at once as personally subjective, authoritatively powerful, and determined by multiple, unknowable agents.

STEPHEN WICHUK AND JAYNE WILKINSON

Wandering Through Secret Storms Christina Battle/Canada 2009. DV, 6 mins.

Frozen War | John Smith/Great Britain 2002, DV, 13 mins.

Dirty Pictures | John Smith/Great Britain 2002. DV, 14 mins.

How Little We Know of Our Neighbours Rebecca Baron/USA 2005. DV 49 mins.

Total running time: approx. 83 mins.

This program was curated by graduate students at the University of British Columbia in a seminar, led by John O’Brian of the Department of Art History, Visual Art, and Theory, titled “Surveillance, Voyeurism, Criminality, and Photography.”

Participants included Vikki Addona, Kate Henderson, Jeremy Jaud, Kyoung Yong Lee, Dana Loughlin, Vanessa Parent, Robin Simpson, Sofia Stalner, Shalini Vanan, Stephen Wichuk, and Jayne Wilkinson.

Presented with the support of UBC Art History and Visual Art Department and the Video Data Bank.

“One of the most impressive works to emerge from New York’s post-punk downtown scene” (Film Society of Lincoln Center), Sara Driver’s “lost” debut film, co-written and shot by Jim Jarmusch, is based on a 1948 short story of the same name by Paul Bowles (published in his Collected Stories, 1939-1976). It is a haunting tale caught in the moment between waking and dreaming, told

by Ethel, who escapes from an asylum in the aftermath of a train wreck. Ethel proclaims to an emergency responder that her sister is one of the dead; as she is transported to her sister’s home, time fractures and the narrative “I” disassociates. Did the train wreck precipitate Ethel’s commitment to the asylum or her escape? Did Ethel’s sister die in the wreck, or is it a symbolic killing of the sister who committed her? Jarmusch and camera assistant Tom DiCillo soon after collaborated on Stranger Than Paradise, another black-and-white NY indie touchstone. Driver’s film was touted by Cahiers du cinéma as one of the best films of the decade, but its negative was destroyed in a fire shortly after its release and the film was unseen for 30 years. In 2008, a print was discovered in Tangiers amongst Bowles’s belongings, and the film was restored. B&W, 16mm transferred to HD. 50 mins.

MONDAY, FEBRUARY 18 – 7:30 PM

Cat Swallows PARAKEET

and Speaks

Canada 1996. Director: Ileana Pietrobruno Cast: Tara Frederick, Rebecca Godin, Alex Ferguson, Christine Taylor, Rachel Cronin

Vancouver filmmaker Ileana Pietrobruno’s Cat Swallows Parakeet follows the progress of Scheherazade and Kore, two hospitalized young women who take up storytelling as a means of survival.

Inspired by headlines in tabloid magazines, the young women enact an endless narrative, reminiscent of One Thousand and One Nights (aka Arabian Nights), to fend off death: for Scheherazade, at the hands of the doctor’s knife, and for Kore, the selfannihilation of an eating disorder. Pietrobruno depended heavily on the art direction of Bo Myers and Athena Wong to bring this visually-stunning film — about life in death and death in life — to vivid life in the abandoned Riverview Hospital in Coquitlam. The film, says Pietrobruno, is “about celebrating entropy, decay, and death, and gaining strength through problems and ugliness.”

“One of the most drop-dead gorgeous movies ever made in Vancouver ... A dizzyingly ambitious experimental drama ... The apocalyptic production design is breathtaking ... Pietrobruno is a talented filmmaker of decidedly distinctive vision” (Jim Sinclair, The Cinematheque). Colour and B&W, 16mm. 75 mins.

MONDAY, JANUARY 21 – 7:30 PM

MONDAY, FEBRUARY 18 – 8:45 PM

The Yellow Ticket (1918) starring Pola Negri

Sunday February 17

@ 2pm

Provocative, cutting edge dance

Sidra Bell Dance New York + LEVYdance Saturday February 16 Sunday February 17 Monday February 18

@ 8pm @ 7pm @ 8pm

Norman & Annette Rothstein Theatre at the JCC 950 West 41st Avenue TICKETS chutzpahfestival.com 604.257.5145 Adult $27 | Senior $23 | Student $18 +HST and nominal service charge Chutzpah!

Presenting Sponsor

Premier Media Sponsor

Premier Corporate Dance Sponsor

Comedy & Film Sponsor

ba g e l r y

“Movie images are dim reflections of the beauty and ferocity in mankind.”

JAMES BROUGHTON

www.chutzpahfestival.com 5

THE BEST OF OTTAWA 2012 AWARD-WINNING FILMS FROM THE

2012 OTTAWA INTERNATIONAL

Every September, the Ottawa International Animation Festival presents the world’s most cutting-edge, quirky, and important works of animation — and transforms our nation’s capital into the centre of the animation universe.

Founded by the Canadian Film Institute and first held in 1976, the festival is the largest of its kind in North America and one of the most respected animation festivals on the planet.

The Best of Ottawa program showcases 11 of the most outstanding films from the 2012 festival, held September 19-23. Featuring audience favourites and award winners from the official competition, this collection of short animated works offers a little something for everyone. Highlights include Carlo Vogele’s tragicomic Una Furtiva Lagrima, Hisko Hulsing’s stunning grand-prize winner Junkyard, and the hilarious crowd-favourite I Am Tom Moody.

Lay Bare • “It is only shallow people who do not judge by appearances,” wrote Oscar Wilde. Animated photographs provide a composite and intimate portrait of the human body. Paul Bush/Great Britain 2012. 6 mins.

Ballpit • Best Graduate Animation – Life struggles to assert and organize itself within a harsh and shifting environment in this short

by Sheridan College grad Mowat. Kyle Mowat/ Canada 2012. 2 mins.

ANIMATION FESTIVAL Primus: “Lee Van Cleef” • Grand Prize for Best Commissioned Animation – Westerns would have been more fun if the bad guy won! A music video for San Francisco rockers Primus. Chris Smith/USA 2012. 3 mins.

A Morning Stroll • Best Narrative Short – Nominated for an Oscar last year, the tale of a New Yorker who walks past a chicken on his morning stroll. Grant Orchard/Great Britain 2011. 7 mins.

Sunny Afternoon • Various animation techniques are used in a self-portrait, the end of a 20-year film project, in which a “kind of” avant-garde film confronts a “kind of’ music video. Thomas Renoldner/Austria 2012. 7 mins.

Nightingales in December (Rossignols en Décembre) • Best Canadian Animation – This metaphoric, painterly, haunting beautiful surrealist tale, made from acrylic on paper, is an allusion. There are no nightingales in December. But what if they no longer flew south? Theodore Ushev/Canada 2011. 3 mins.

ON THE SAME ANIMATED EVENINGS AS THE BEST OF OTTAWA ...

Thunder River (Rivière au Tonnerre) • Best Experimental / Abstract Animation – Line drawings on photo images of a rock face near the Rivière au Tonnerre waterfalls in the Gulf of St. Lawrence offer a meditation on opacity, fissures, and meaning. Pierre Hébert/Canada 2011. 8 mins.

Junkyard • Grand Prize for Best Independent Short Animation – 2D and 3D computer animation and oil paint on canvas render a dark tale of drugs, poverty, and youthful friendship — a dying man’s final memories.

Hisko Hulsing/Netherlands-Belgium 2012. 18 mins.

I Am Tom Moody • Grand Prize for Best Student Animation – Edinburgh animator Henderson uses puppets to craft a surreal trip through subconscious of a stifled singer.

Ainslie Henderson/Great Britain 2012. 7 mins.

Una Furtiva Lagrima • Pixilation, and Donizetti’s Una Furtiva Lagrima, animates the sad final journey of a fish from his sale at the fish market to his finale in the frying pan. Carlo Vogele/Luxembourg-USA 2011. 3 mins.

Total running time: approx. 65 mins.

Gum • Best Canadian Student Animation – Your mother warned you about swallowing your gum. Now see what happens, courtesy the twisted mind of Sheridan College grad Sussman. Noam Sussman/Canada 2012. 1 mins.

Intended for Mature Audiences WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 27 – 7:00 PM THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 28 – 7:00 PM

THE ILLUSIONIST

(L’illusionniste)

Great Britain/France 2010. Director: Sylvain Chomet Voices: Jean-Claude Donda, Eilidh Rankin, Duncan MacNeil, Raymond Mearns, James T. Muir

WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 27 – 8:20 PM THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 28 – 8:20 PM

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French comic-book artist/animator Sylvain Chomet’s first feature, the irresistible Triplets of Bellevue, was a worldwide sensation, and received two Oscar nominations, including one for Best Animated Feature. His follow-up, The Illusionist, was Oscar-nominated in that category also, and is another triumph of glorious hand-draw animation. Based on an unproduced script by French comic legend Jacques Tati (who intended it as a live-action movie), and starring an animated version of Tati himself, the film is set in Scotland in the late 1950s, where forlorn, down-on-his-luck French magician Tatischeff (Tati’s real surname) lands a modest gig in a pub. There, he meets innocent domestic Alice, a naïve lass who believes Tatischeff’s tricks are genuine magic. The aging conjurer doesn’t have the heart to tell Alice the truth, and a tender father-daughter-like relationship develops between them. À la Triplets, The Illusionist is poignant, gorgeously drawn, and employs (à la Tati also) an ingenious aural design using next-to-no dialogue. “Old-school magic ... A very happy marriage of Tati’s and Chomet’s distinctive artistic sensibilities ... A thrilling exercise in retro aesthetics, from the pencil-and-watercolour look to the 2D animation that harks back to mid-1960s Disney” (Leslie Felperin, Variety). Colour, 35mm. 80 mins.

BLACK HISTORY MONTH

NO MAN CAN DEFINE ME: THE FILMS OF WINSTON WASHINGTON MOXAM IN PERSON: CURATOR SCOTT BIRDWISE Organized by the Winnipeg Film Group, this retrospective is the first to be devoted to the late Canadian filmmaker Winston Washington Moxam (1963-2011), a unique figure amongst the mavericks, eccentrics, and prairie postmodernists (Guy Maddin prominent among them) associated with the WFG and Winnipeg’s acclaimed independent film scene. Moxam is, to date, the most significant black filmmaker to emerge from Manitoba. His body of work spans almost two decades, from 1992 to 2010, and includes short fiction, documentary, and two features. All of these films address issues of race, racism, and social justice, and significantly reflect the experience of living in Winnipeg and Manitoba. “Questions of race have rarely been tackled by Winnipeg filmmakers,” writes filmmaker Matthew Rankin in his essay “From the Outside Looking In: The Films of Winston Washington Moxam.” “Through the sensationalist 1990s Moxam was the lone cinematic voice to speak for racial understanding in Manitoba. In this respect, Moxam must be seen as a pioneer. Only very recently has he been joined by a younger generation of filmmakers — notably Divya Mehra and Darryl Nepinak — who, like Moxam before them, ask provocative questions of mainstream white audiences.”

The retrospective is comprised of two programs. The first showcases three of Moxam’s shorter films; the second presents Moxam’s final feature-length work, Billy (2009), a compelling historical drama based on the real-life story of Billy Bieyoal, a black settler who came to Manitoba from the U.S. in the early 20th century. Starring co-writer and co-producer Ernesto Griffith in the lead, Billy provides, in its concern with race and social justice, naturalist style, and historically-based narrative, an excellent example of Moxam’s cinema INTRODUCTION BY SCOTT BIRDWISE Scott Birdwise is a PhD student in Cinema and Media Studies at York University (Toronto) and a programming consultant at the Canadian Film Institute (Ottawa). His essay on elements of horror in Canadian avant-garde cinema will be published in the forthcoming collection Terror of the Soul: Essays on the Canadian Horror Film (University of Toronto Press, 2014). He has also written about the Canadian filmmakers Michel Brault, Denis Côté, Philip Hoffman, and Gariné Torossian.

I. SHORT FILMS BY WINSTON WASHINGTON MOXAM

From the Other Side • An insightful documentary portrait of a number of ethnically and culturally diverse homeless people in Toronto. 1992. 30 mins.

II. BILLY

Canada 2010. Director: Winston Washington Moxam Cast: Ernesto Griffith, Sarah Constible, Robert Huculak

The Barbecue • A drama about a young black woman’s bizarre encounter with her white boyfriend’s strange family.

1993. 48 mins.

In 1967, a young journalist arrives at a retirement home in The Pas, Manitoba, to interview Billy, a 94-year-old black man. Billy recounts for him the story of his eventful life: his migration as a young man from the U.S. to Manitoba; his struggles as a homesteader; the racism he endured; his love of a woman; and his gift of photography. Winnipeg actor Ernesto Griffith, who also co-wrote and co-produced, plays Billy. “The film is based on the true story of Billy Bieyoal, a lone AfricanAmerican photographer who moved to northern Manitoba in 1907. There, Bieyoal encounters the comradeship as well as the bigoted violence of the other settlers as he embarks on a passionate romance with a white woman. Shot in glorious 35mm by Claude Savard, this sensitive portrait of one man’s search for acceptance in the earliest days of Manitoba also promises to be a major contribution to our collective understanding of the African-Canadian experience” (Matthew Rankin). 85 mins.

WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 6 – 8:30 PM .............

Tickets for the Evening (one or both screenings): $11 Regular / $9 Seniors & Students Cinematheque membership required

Sand • In this short historical drama, two African-Canadian soldiers are stranded on a deserted island during WWII with only one canteen of fresh water between them. In order to survive, they must overcome not only heat and thirst, but also their own doubts and fears. 1999. 16 mins.

WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 6 – 6:30 PM

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The Cinematheque’s Education Department PRESENTS

FAMILY FRIGHTS CHILDREN YOUTHS

& (under 18)

ADULTS

CINEMATHEQUE MEMBERSHIP NOT REQUIRED

Many of us share childhood movie memories of a moment when the safe world of a family film transformed and started to seem dangerous! An image or a soundscape created an impressionistic, hazy sense of a character or a scene that viscerally reminded us that life has its perils. These moments and memories have inspired Cinema Sunday 2013: Family Frights. We’ve assembled a year of family films sure to resurrect those childhood movie moments that haunt you still — films that walk the line between the happy universe of the kids’ movie and the nerve-wracking memories of childhood nightmares past. In the manner of Old World fairy tales, these stories prepare children for the hazardous transition into adolescence and grown-up life. They’re not for the faintest of heart, but these creative, masterful stories give new meaning to the idea of the family film and family fun. We invite you and your kids to enjoy the artistry and magic of the some of the edgiest children’s films of the past.

Films will be introduced by Vancouver film history teacher, critic, and children’s movie enthusiast Michael van den Bos.

USA 1985. Director: Walter Murch Cast: Fairuza Balk, Nicol Williamson, Jean Marsh, Piper Laurie, Matt Clark

PLEASE NOTE: Frightening scenes may scare younger viewers.

Cinema Sunday’s year of frightfully entertaining family films opens with the movie that inspired our series: Return to Oz, Walter Murch’s 1985 cult classic. Veering sharply away from the well-known 1939 musical fantasy with Judy Garland, this take on L. Frank Baum’s Land of Oz is unsettling and occasionally terrifying. It’s six months after the famous tornado, and Dorothy (a young Fairuza Balk) is still muttering about ruby slippers and a fantastical land of talking animals and magical witches. Aunt Em, convinced that her niece is deranged, sends Dorothy for some new-fangled “electric healing.” Dorothy escapes and is mysteriously returned to Oz, where the yellow brick road is in ruins, an evil Gnome King has taken over Emerald City — and Dorothy must try to save Oz all over again! In his sole directorial effort to date, Murch’s Oscar-winning talents as a sound designer and film editor (Apocalypse Now, The English Patient) are put to good use. Those who saw the film as children still vividly recall its wildly imaginative (and creepy) sights and sounds — including the weird Wheelers and sinister Princess Mombi and her hall of interchangeable heads! Return to Oz frightened us, but it also expanded our notion of what a movie could be. Colour, DVD. 110 mins.

SUNDAY, JANUARY 20 – 1:00 PM

Canada 1985. Director: Michael Rubbo Cast: Mathew Mackay, Siluck Saysanasy, Alison Darcy, Michael Hogan, Michel Maillot

The hair-raising Canadian comedy that creeped out a generation, The Peanut Butter Solution enjoys almost legendary status among those who saw it growing up — largely owing to its wonderfully nutty story. Convinced that a burned-down mansion is haunted, 11-year-old Michael peeks inside on a dare, and comes face-toface with ghosts! Terrified, he goes bald on the spot, the result of a ghastly illness known as “The Fright.” Michael’s doomed to be bare-headed, it seems, until friendly ghosts visit him with a remedy: a magic formula made of peanut butter! Their words come with a warning, though: Don’t use too much, or there will be dreadful consequences! When Michael, heedless, mixes extra PB into the concoction, not only does his hair grow back rapidly as promised — it won’t stop! Growing ever-longer by the moment, Michael’s flourishing follicles take over his life, causing trouble at school and at home. The Peanut Butter Solution’s wildly odd and original tale is the stuff of fond memories for many across Canada. Taking things familiar and safe — peanut butter, teachers, the very hair on our heads — the film transforms them into elements ominous and unknown. Colour, 35mm. 94 mins.

SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 17 – 1:00 PM 8

May frighten young children.

Let’s take our relationship to the next level.

Spend the night with The Cinematheque.

The Cinematheque’s

SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 16 - SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 17 10:00AM-10:00AM We think we’re both ready for the next step, and we promise we’ll still be here the next morning. Pack your jammies and toothbrush, baby, because we want you to spend the night with us.

To keep things spicy, we’re keeping our line-up mysterious. We’ve been screening Essential Cinema for 40 years, and we’re celebrating with 24 hours of great film. From noir to samurais, Hollywood to horror, comedy to docs, we’re breaking out all our best moves for you. Blankets and pillows are encouraged. Snuggling is optional. Let’s make it a night we won’t forget.

Special guest hosts including CityTV’s Thor Diakow!

Prizes! And movie marathon survival kits for all!

TICKETS

40

$

Secure your spot online.

Seating is limited.

SPONSORED BY

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EXPERIENCE ESSENTIAL CINEMA The Chan Centre Connects Series presents outreach activities related to visiting artists performing in the annual concert season at the Chan Centre for the Performing Arts at UBC. www.chancentre.com

TH E CH AN CEN T R E C O N N E C T S S E R I E S AND T HE CI N E M A T H E Q UE P R E S E N T

12 TaAdiosngos Buenos Aires

(Ladri di biciclette) Italy 1948. Director: Vittorio De Sica Cast: Lamberto Maggiorani, Enzo Staiola, Lianella Carell, Vittorio Antonucci, Gino Saltamerenda

Vittorio De Sica’s beloved masterpiece is i perhaps the most nitive work of Italian famous of Italian films and the definit most universally praised neorealism. It’s been called “surely the mo Earth during the first movie produced anywhere on planet Ea decade after WWII” (J. Hoberman, Village Voice). Antonio, a long-unemployed worker, lands a much-needed job as a municipal bill poster, only to have the bicycle he requires for the position abruptly stolen. He sets out with young son Bruno to look for the missing bike. Their desperate search through the poverty-stricken streets of Rome becomes a modern-day Odyssey in which the best and worst aspects of human nature are revealed. The script is by frequent De Sica collaborator Cesare Zavattini (Shoeshine, Umberto D), the neorealism movement’s founder and chief theorist. The film was shot on location using non-professional performers; the protagonist is marvellously played by a factory worker carefully coached by De Sica. (The director had earlier declined an offer from David O. Selznick to finance the production if Cary Grant were to be cast be in lead!) Bicycle Thieves was a huge international success; its honours included a special 1949 Oscar as “Most Outstanding Foreign Film.” “Simple, powerful ... So well entrenched as an official masterpiece that it is a little startling to visit it again after many years and realize that it is still alive and has strength and freshness” (Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times). B&W, 35mm, in Italian with English subtitles. 93 mins.

FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 8 – 6:30 PM SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 9 – 4:30 PM & 9:05 PM

Germany/Argentina 2005. Director: Arne Birkenstock With: Juan José Libertella, Jorge Sobral, Luis Borda, Lidia Borda, Pablo Mainetti, Julio Pane, Juan Cruz de Urquiza, Maria de la Fuente

In La Catedral, a 200-year-old granary in Buenos Aires, some of the city’s best dancers gather for the weekly tango ball. German filmmaker Arne Birkenstock’s documentary narrates the history of these dancers and their ancestors via 12 popular tangos, telling stories of hope, crisis, immigration, and emigration. Their stories also reflect the history of the tango itself, and provide a portrait of present-day Buenos Aires. Birkenstock and his musical director Luis Borda have assembled an orchestra of true Argentine Tango all-stars, featuring Juan José Libertella, Jorge Sobral, Julio Pane, Lidia Borda, and many other stars. “12 Tangos tells the story of several tangueros in crisis-ridden Buenos Aires. When the tango was created, their grandparents, who had come from Italy and Spain, were among the millions of immigrants stranded at the Rio de la Plata. Today, their grandchildren are heading in the opposite direction: back to Europe ... Recorded live in the hottest tango hall in town and performed by some of Argentina’s finest musicians, the film connects the sentiments of its protagonists with the music, the lyrics, and the dance steps of the tango” (International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam). 86 mins.

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 7 – 7:00 PM This special screening of 12 Tangos: Adios Buenos Aires has been organized in conjunction with the Chan Centre’s presentation of New Tango luminary and Latin Grammy Award-winner Pablo Ziegler, who was tango Grand Maestro Ástor Piazzolla’s collaborator and pianist for more than a decade. Pablo Ziegler performs with his Quartet and the violinist Regina Carter in “Tango Meets Jazz” at the Chan Centre on Saturday, February 16, at 8:00 pm.

10

(Otto e mezzo) Italy 1963. Director: Federico Fellini Cast: Marcello Mastroianni, Anouk Aimée, Sandra Milo, Claudia Cardinale, Barbara Steele

Fellini’s Oscar-winning “eighth-and-a-half” feature is often cited as his masterpiece, and is one of cinema’s most influential works. The film was made in response to the enormous acclaim and attention heaped upon the director for La Dolce Vita. Marcello Mastroianni stars as Guido, a famous filmmaker suffering from creative block as he is about to begin his latest project, a big-budget sci-fi epic. Harried at every turn by fans, friends, the press, his producer, his screenwriter, his wife, and his mistress, Guido retreats into fantasy and memory, and gradually comes to the realization that artistic inspiration is rooted in personal experience. Surreal, selfreflexive, and undeniably self-indulgent, this comic fantasia offers a virtual compendium of Fellini’s work, and is one of the definitive films about the process of filmmaking. 8 ½ was named one of the top ten films of all time in Sight and Sound’s 1972, 1982, 2002, and 2012 surveys of international critics, and has been called “an inspired testimony to Fellini’s originality and inventiveness” (Ephraim Katz). The sum in the self-referential title, by the way, was arrived at by adding up Fellini’s seven solo features and his three “half” films: the co-directed Variety Lights, and the short omnibus episodes “A Matrimonial Agency” and “The Temptation of Dr. Antonio.” And while we’re counting: Nine — the Broadway hit that begat a 2009 movie — was a musical remake. B&W, 35mm, in Italian with English subtitles. 138 mins.

FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 8 – 8:20 PM SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 9 – 6:30 PM

NEW DOCUMENTARY • EXCLUSIVE FIRST RUNS

“Frederick Wiseman remains at the top of his game… A typically first-rate vérité look at the famous Parisian cabaret club. The Crazy Horse, with its undulating bodies and gleaming fluorescent lights, offers a dazzling cinema experience.”

“Spellbinding ... Wiseman’s exceptional artistry restores the faith of those wearied by the glut of cruddy-looking and poorly structured documentaries from the past decade ... He demands, but amply rewards, our close attention.”

“Crazy Horse is a study of artistic process that is itself a work of art, and, as such, a reminder of what a documentary can be. Wiseman has planted his camera at the intersection of the cerebral and the sensual ...

He pays equal attention to the movement of bodies and the function of an institution.”

MELISSA ANDERSON, VILLAGE VOICE

A. O. SCOTT, NEW YORK TIMES

ERIC KOHN, INDIEWIRE

“Spellbinding ... Imagine if Frederick Wiseman and David Lynch had a bastard child, and you’ll get a sense of the movie’s off-kilter aesthetic, a potent and pointed mix of firsthand observation and surreal flights of fancy.”

“An important, heartbreaking, and yet still occasionally hilarious documentary... Detroit has always been the city of the future...

But, as the film shows, things went terribly wrong.” TIM WU, SLATE “A dreamy documentary ...

Disintegration has never looked so gorgeous ... In a setting like this, the images seem to say, blame and nostalgia are equally futile.”

JEANNETTE CATSOULIS, NEW YORK TIMES

KEITH UHLICH, TIME OUT NEW YORK

OSCAR SHORTLISTED! At press time, Detropia was announced as one of the 15 films shortlisted for this year’s Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature.

DETROPIA V

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France/USA 2011. Director: Frederick Wiseman

USA 2012. Directors: Heidi Ewing, Rachel Grady

The “Direct Cinema” documentaries of filmmaking legend Frederick Wiseman (Titicut Follies) are renowned for probing deeply into various social and political institutions: the courts, a mental hospital, a high school, the military, a monastery, and so on. The surprising subject of his latest is the Crazy Horse cabaret, the flashy Parisian fleshpot celebrated for its elaborate erotic revues. The Crazy Horse, opened in 1951, bills itself as “the most famous nude show in the world”; it is said to be one of Paris’s top tourist attractions. Wiseman — shooting on HD video after decades working primarily on 16mm film — spent 11 weeks at the nightclub, capturing its choreographer, Philippe Decouflé, hard at work on a new show (the Crazy Horse prides itself on the quality of its dance and production design), and rendering a dazzling, deluxe portrait of a unique and eccentric Paris institution. “Wonderful ... The most entertaining film of Wiseman’s 40-plus-year career ... The eye-popping numbers at the Crazy Horse are drop-dead cinematic, at times approaching kaleidoscopic pop art. Wiseman wisely lets scenes play out in long takes and the viewer’s astonishment sinks in ... It’s a hell of a lot of fun” (Vancouver I.F.F.). Colour, HDCAM, in English and French with English subtitles.

134 mins.

“Detropia, a lyrical film about the destruction of a great American city, is the most moving documentary I’ve seen in years. The city is Detroit and the film, made by Rachel Grady and Heidi Ewing (who is a native), is both an ardent love letter to past vitality and a grateful salute to those who remain in place — the survivors, utterly without illusions, who refuse to leave. Detropia has its share of forlorn images: office buildings with empty eye sockets for windows; idle, rotting factories, with fantastic networks of chutes, pipes, and stacks. Yet the filmmakers are so attuned to colour and to shape that I was amazed by the handsomeness of what I was seeing. I’m not being perverse: this is a beautiful film. Ruins, of course, often strike us as magnificent. In Detropia, we’re looking at American ruins, and we feel awe, but here it’s mixed with disbelief and shock. This city didn’t fall victim to warfare or weather. It was abandoned ... In 2006, Ewing and Grady made Jesus Camp, a documentary portrait of evangelic youth that was more cautionary than celebratory. This time, they are looking for the spiritual element in economic life... . By the end of movie, the filmmakers’ aestheticism turns into an explicit promise of renewal” (David Denby, The New Yorker). Colour, HDCAM. 90 mins.

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 21 – 6:30 PM FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 22 – 8:15 PM SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 23 – 6:30 PM SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 24 – 8:15 PM MONDAY, FEBRUARY 25 – 6:30 PM

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 21 – 9:00 PM FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 22 – 6:30 PM SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 23 – 9:00 PM SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 24 – 6:30 PM MONDAY, FEBRUARY 25 – 9:00 PM 11

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21

My Awkward Sexual

6:30pm

Józef Robakowski My Very Own Cinema (p 4)

A Chris Marker Mixtape: Four Short Works (p 20)

CANADA’S TOP TEN

7:00pm

8:00pm

4

28

Tracking Changes: Voyeurism and Surveillance in Video (p 5)

7:30pm

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A.K. (p 20)

3

27

14

7

The Case of the Grinning Cat + Chris Marker’s Bestiary: Five Short Films about Animals (p 19)

8:00pm

La Jetée (p 19) + Remembrance of Things to Come (p 20)

6:30pm

CHRIS MARKER

La Jetée + Sans Soleil (p 19)

7:00pm

CHRIS MARKER

JÓZEF ROBAKOWSKI WITH CAG AND PUSH

6:30pm

CHRIS MARKER

Shorts Program II (p 15)

7:45pm

Shorts Program I (p 15)

6:30pm

CANADA’S TOP TEN

Return to Oz (p 8)

1:00pm

CINEMA SUNDAY

13

20

A Grin Without a Cat (p 20)

6:30pm

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Le Grand Amour + Happy Anniversary

8:20pm

The Suitor + Rupture

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PIERRE ÉTAIX

6

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For film descriptions, please consult the previous Program Guide magazine or visit our website: theCinematheque.ca

JAN 2-6 SCREENINGS

TUESDAY

10

Short Films by Winston

6:30pm

6

30

WINSTON WASHINGTON MOXAM

The Last Bolshevik (p 21)

7:45pm

One Day In The Life of Andrei Arsenevich (p 21)

6:30pm

CHRIS MARKER

John Smith – Shorts (p 4)

7:00pm

JOHN SMITH WITH CAG AND PUSH

THE CHAN CENTRE CONNECTS SERIES

One Day In The Life of Andrei Arsenevich (p 21)

8:45pm

The Last Bolshevik (p 21)

6:30pm

CHRIS MARKER

A.K. (p 20)

7 6:30pm

BICYCLE THIEVES

(p 10)

(p 10)

6:30pm

8½

4:30pm

Cosmopolis (p 16)

(p 10)

8:40pm Goon (p 17)

BICYCLE THIEVES

The End of Time (p 17)

6:30pm

CANADA’S TOP TEN

Midnight’s Children (p 16)

8:15pm

9

2

26

19

The World Before Her (p 16)

6:30pm

CANADA’S TOP TEN

Stories We Tell (p 15)

8:15pm

Rebelle (p 15)

6:30pm

CANADA’S TOP TEN

5

12

(p 21)

(p 21)

8:35pm

8

1

25

18

9:00pm

FAHRENHEIT 451

6:30pm

(p 21)

TWELVE MONKEYS

4:15pm

FAHRENHEIT 451

Yo Yo

8:25pm

Le Grand Amour + Happy Anniversary

6:30pm

PIERRE ÉTAIX

SATURDAY

Cosmopolis (p 16)

6:30pm

CANADA’S TOP TEN

31 FEBRUARY

Still (p 16)

9:15pm

Midnight’s Children (p 16)

8:45pm

CANADA’S TOP TEN A Chris Marker Mixtape: Four Short Works (p 20)

6:30pm

Rebelle (p 15)

8:35pm

Stories We Tell (p 15)

6:30pm

4

11

(p 21)

CANADA’S TOP TEN

8:40pm

(p 21)

TWELVE MONKEYS

6:30pm

FAHRENHEIT 451

6:30pm

CHRIS MARKER

24

A Grin Without a Cat (p 20)

Kauwboy (p 22)

6:30pm

17

CHRIS MARKER

23

16

La Jetée (p 19) + Remembrance of Things to Come (p 20)

8:30pm

Sans Soleil (p 19)

6:30pm

FRAMES OF MIND

7:30pm

Sans Soleil (p 19)

8:05pm

The Case of the Grinning Cat + Chris Marker’s Bestiary: Five Short Films about Animals (p 19)

6:30pm

CHRIS MARKER CHRIS MARKER

As Long as You’re Healthy + Feeling Good

My Neighbours the Yamadas

Porco Rosso

8:30pm

8:25pm

8:45pm

6:30pm

PIERRE ÉTAIX Yo Yo

6:30pm

STUDIO GHIBLI

3

FRIDAY

Only Yesterday

9

2

THURSDAY

My Neighbours the Yamadas

6:30pm

STUDIO GHIBLI

JANUARY

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1131 HOWE STREET

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U P D AT E S & A D V A N C E T I C K E T S

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(p 11)

24

17

10

9:00pm

DETROPIA(p 11)

6:30pm

CRAZY HORSE (p 11)

Cat Swallows Parakeet and Speaks (p 5)

8:45pm

11

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18

(p 6)

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8:20pm

THE ILLUSIONIST

7:00pm

THE BEST OF OTTAWA (p 6)

A Sister’s Call (p 22)

7:30pm

FRAMES OF MIND

www.vimff.org

27

20

8:20pm

THE ILLUSIONIST

7:00pm

(p 11)

THE BEST OF OTTAWA(p 6)

9:00pm

DETROPIA

6:30pm

CRAZY HORSE

(p 6)

(p 11)

12 Tangos: Adios Buenos Aires (p 10)

Billy (p 7)

13

7:00pm

8:30pm

Washington Moxam (p 7)

VANCOUVER INTERNATIONAL MOUNTAIN FILM FESTIVAL

You Are Not I (p 5)

7:30pm

DIM CINEMA

Goon (p 17)

8:25pm

Adventure (p 17)

ALL THE CINEMATHEQUE YOU WANT

8:15pm

CRAZY HORSE

6:30pm

DETROPIA

The Peanut Butter Solution (p 8)

1:00pm

CINEMA SUNDAY

Laurence Anyways (p 17)

6:30pm

CANADA’S TOP TEN

28

21

14

9:00pm

DETROPIA

6:30pm

(p 11)

(p 10)

(p 11)

(p 9)

CRAZY HORSE

10:00am

24hr MOVIE MARATHON

KEEP IN TOUCH!

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22

15

9:05pm

BICYCLE THIEVES

23

16

//

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TA X I N C L U D E D

279

t h e Ci n e m a t h e q u e . t u m b l r. c o m

www. t wi t t e r. c o m / t h e Ci n e m a t h e q u e

www. f a c e b o o k. c o m / t h e Ci n e m a t h e q u e

8:15pm

(p 11)

CRAZY HORSE

6:30pm

DETROPIA

(p 10)

8:20pm

8½

The year’s best Canadian films are in the spotlight in The Cinematheque’s annual presentation of Canada’s Top Ten. Established in 2001 by the Toronto International Film Festival, this celebration of excellence in our national cinema showcases the year’s ten best Canadian feature-length films and ten best Canadian short films as chosen by two separate independent panels of filmmakers, festival programmers, journalists, academics, and industry professionals drawn from across the country. The Cinematheque is pleased to present the panels’ distinguished selections for 2012.

“Canada’s population is tiny by global standards, yet Canadian filmmakers continue to take a prominent place on the world stage. In the past two years alone, Canadian films have been nominated for Academy Awards and selected into Competition at the world’s major film festivals, including Cannes, Berlin, Venice, and Busan. Our own Toronto International Film Festival highlights select Canadian fiction, documentary, and experimental films each September, but it is TIFF’s Canada’s Top Ten programme that truly gives audiences the opportunity to see the best Canadian cinema of the year. No role is more important to us than presenting outstanding Canadian achievements in filmmaking to Canadians, and to the world.”

“Now in its twelfth year, Canada’s Top Ten returns with its highly anticipated selection of Canadian features and shorts. As varied a pair of lists as any since Canada’s Top Ten began, this selection wouldn’t have been possible without the assistance of our partners in distribution, as well as numerous Canadian festivals that fed into the process.

Special thanks must go to our panellists for all of their hard work and, of course, to our filmmakers, who consistently challenge and provoke audiences not only at home but around the globe. Every year, our Canada’s Top Ten panellists rave about the quality of the films and how difficult it is to winnow their individual lists down to ten. This year was no exception.”

Members of this year’s feature panel were: Toronto documentary filmmaker Barri Cohen; Kerri Craddock, Senior Manager of Festival Programming at TIFF; Now magazine film critic and Toronto programmer Paul Ennis; Matt Galloway, host of CBC Radio One’s Metro Morning in Toronto; Judy Gladstone, for 15 years the director of the Bravo!FACT production grant program for Canadian short films and videos; Montreal actor-writer-director Jacob Tierney (The Trotsky); and Elizabeth Yake, president of B.C.-based True West Films.

STEVE GRAVESTOCK

Panellists for this year’s selection of short films were: Eileen Arandiga, former director of the Worldwide Short Film Festival in Toronto; Laura Good, Programming Coordinator and short film programmer for TIFF’s Film Circuit; Matthew Hays, Montreal-based journalist, author, and Concordia University instructor; Jennifer Jonas, president of Toronto-based New Real Films; and Greg Klymkiw, film producer and Senior Creative Consultant and Producer-in Residence at the Canadian Film Centre.

Senior Programmer Toronto International Film Festival

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

CAMERON BAILEY Artistic Director Toronto International Film Festival

For their very kind assistance in making the Vancouver presentation of Canada’s Top Ten possible, The Cinematheque is grateful to Steve Gravestock, Senior Programmer; Meaghan Brander, Manager, Film Circuit; Alex Rogalski and Magali Simard, Short Cuts Canada Programmers; and Lisa Goldberg, Coordinator, Festival Programming, of the Toronto International Film Festival.

Program notes adapted from texts provided

by TIFF.

SPECIAL GUEST FRIDAY, JANUARY 18 Cameron Bailey will introduce screenings of Stories We Tell and Rebelle.

14

Canada’s Top Ten Shorts 2o12

SARAH POLLEY

Short film notes adapted from texts by Alex Rogalski, Steve Gravestock, and Magali Simard of TIFF.

PROGRAM 1

Canada 2012. Director: Sarah Polley With: Michael Polley, Harry Gulkin, Susy Buchan, John Buchan, Mark Polley

Stories We Tell

In her first two features, Away from Her and Take This Waltz (both Canada’s Top Ten selections), Sarah Polley rendered the complexities of intimacy and desire with an eloquence and control that suggests experience far beyond her years. Away from Her, in particular, asked questions about how we can know ourselves or assess our lives if we can’t agree on the events of the past. Stories We Tell, Polley’s first documentary, is a personal essay on the intractable subjects of truth and memory. Using a captivating combination of archival footage, faux Super-8 reconstructions, still photos, and testimonials, Polley examines the disagreements and varying narratives of her own family as they look back on decades-old events. The result is a lively and richly textured documentary which seamlessly blends past and present, the real and the imagined — one filled with tender and powerful moments. - AGATA SMOLUCH DEL SORBO, TIFF. Colour. 108 mins.

FRIDAY, JANUARY 18 – 6:30 PM SATURDAY, JANUARY 19 – 8:15 PM

Lingo • Cultural obstacles in Canada are explored in UBC grad Noorizadeh’s poignant short, the story of an Afghan immigrant whose son accidentally starts a fire. Bahar Noorizadeh/13 mins.

Reflexions • A graveside funeral service sets the scene for a disturbing and fascinating piece of storytelling in Montrealer Thibaudeau’s carefully composed, sharply structured short. Martin Thibaudeau/5 mins.

Paparmane / Wintergreen • Reminiscent of Aki Kaurismäki’s deadpan comedies, the forlornly funny tale of a lonely parking-lot attendant, a depressed cat, and an eccentric telegram singer.

Joëlle Desjardins Paquette/19 mins.

Malody • An ailing young woman sitting in a diner finds her surroundings becoming increasingly unstable in this unsettling, sophisticated short by Toronto filmmaker Barker, also a noted production designer. Phillip Barker/12 mins.

Total running time: 57 mins.

SUNDAY, JANUARY 20 – 6:30 PM

PROGRAM 2

Kim Nguyen

Canada 2012. Director: Kim Nguyen Cast: Rachel Mwanza, Alain Bastien, Serge Kanyinda, Mizinga Mwinga, Ralph Prosper

Rebelle

Kaspar • Montreal-based animator Obomsawin’s affecting fable is based on the tale of Kaspar Hauser, the 19th century’s most famous feral child.

Diane Obomsawin/8 mins.

(War Witch)

Montreal director Kim Nguyen’s harrowing Rebelle is Canada’s official Foreign Language Film submission to this year’s Academy Awards. Its young lead, Rachel Mwanza, won the Best Actress prize at Berlin in 2012.

Shot entirely on location in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Rebelle begins with 14-year-old Komona (Mwanza) recounting the past two years of her life to her unborn child. Abducted by a rebel army, Komona is forced to commit unspeakable acts until she catches the attention of a warlord, who enlists her as his advisor because he believes her to be a witch who can sense danger. The performances from the mostly nonprofessional cast are vivid and authentic, particularly the extraordinary Mwanza as Komona. Heartfelt and helplessly moving, Rebelle guides us through the harsh world of a young girl whose circumstances are tragic, yet whose story is one of formidable courage and unquenchable hope. - AGATA SMOLUCH DEL SORBO, TIFF. Colour, in French and Lingala with English subtitles. 90 mins.

FRIDAY, JANUARY 18 – 8:35 PM SATURDAY, JANUARY 19 – 6:30 PM

Ne Crâne pas sois modeste / Keep a Modest Head • Distinctive Winnipeg experimenter Dawson crafts a striking, fantastical eulogy to Jean Benoît, the last official member of the French Surrealists, and to Benoît’s formative (and highly sexual) childhood memories. Deco Dawson/19 mins.

Old Growth • An elegy for nature’s sacrifices to fuel humanity’s existence, Toronto documentarian Girard’s patient, observant film finds an elderly man hewing wood in frigid winter. Tess Girard/5 mins.

Bydlo • Inspired by Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition, Chicoutimi animator Bouchard’s visually arresting, technically complex work in stop-motion plastiline evokes the cycles of life and the beauty and horror of labour. Patrick Bouchard/9 mins.

Chef de meute / Herd Leader • Clara’s solitary life is turned upside down when she inherits a disobedient pug in Montreal filmmaker Robichaud’s charming and sincere comedy. Chloe Robichaud/13 mins.

Crackin’ Down Hard • Pimpin’ ain’t easy, especially in the middle of the desert. An irreverent comedy from Trailer Park Boys creator Clattenburg. Mike Clattenburg/10 mins.

Total running time: 56 mins.

SUNDAY, JANUARY 20 – 7:45 PM

15

D e e pa M e h ta

Canada/Great Britain 2012. Director: Deepa Mehta Cast: Satya Bhabha, Shahana Goswami, Rajat Kapoor, Seema Biswas, Shabana Azmi, Siddharth

Spanning decades and generations, Deepa Mehta’s highly-anticipated collaboration with Salman Rushdie on the screen adaptation of Rushdie’s Booker Prize-winning magic realist novel is an inspired allegorical fantasy that follows the destinies of two children born at the stroke of midnight on August 15, 1947 — the moment India claimed its independence from Britain. “Handcuffed to history” and switched at birth by a nurse in a Bombay hospital, Saleem Sinai (Satya Bhabha), the son of a poor single mother, and Shiva (Siddharth), scion of a wealthy family, find their lives intertwined through mysterious telepathic powers, and inextricably linked to their country’s journey through the 20th century. An irreverent epic of Shakespearean proportions, shot through with moments of arresting intimacy, Midnight’s Children is a production of truly impressive scope from one of Canada’s most gifted and fearless filmmakers. - TIFF. Colour. 148 mins.

midnight’s Children M i c h a e l M cG o w a n

FRIDAY, JANUARY 25 – 6:30 PM SATURDAY, JANUARY 26 – 8:15 PM

Dav i d C r o n e n b e r g NISHA PAHUJA

StILL Canada 2012. Director: Michael McGowan Cast: James Cromwell, Geneviève Bujold, Chuck Shamata, Jonathan Potts, Campbell Scott

James Cromwell and Geneviève Bujold are nothing short of magnificent in Still, the latest feature from writer-director Michael McGowan (Saint Ralph, Score: A Hockey Musical) — and the opening film of the recent 2012 Whistler Film Festival. Sometimes cantankerous and always stubborn, Craig (Cromwell) owes the survival of his New Brunswick family farm to his relationship with his wife, Irene (Bujold), who’s as tough and determined as he is. But when Irene’s health begins to fail, Craig is faced with the choice of either building a new, more suitable home for her, or leaving the farm they have lived on for decades. A skilled carpenter, he figures the only obstacles he faces are time and weather. That is, until he meets a government inspector (Jonathan Potts) who makes it his personal mission to halt construction of the new house. Based on a true story, Still is, in part, about the battle between tradition and modernity. It’s also an exquisitely mounted and deeply affecting love story about a couple in their twilight years, brought vividly to life by Cromwell and Bujold. - STEVE GRAVESTOCK, TIFF. Colour. 102 mins.

FRIDAY, JANUARY 25 – 9:15 PM

Cosmopolis Canada/France 2012. Director: David Cronenberg With: Robert Pattinson, Juliette Binoche, Sarah Gadon, Paul Giamatti, Jay Baruchel

THE WORLD BEFORE HER Canada 2012. Director: Nisha Pahuja With: Pooja Chopra, Marc Robinson, Ankita Shorey, Ruhi Singh, Prachi Trivedi

Named Best Documentary at Tribeca in New York and Best Canadian Documentary at Hot Docs in Toronto, Nisha Pahuja’s searing film The World Before Her contrasts two radically different Indias — on the surface at least.

On one side, there’s a large faction of ultra-right fundamentalist Hindu women, known as the Durga Vahini, determined to adhere to time-honoured traditions no matter the cost. On the other, there are the women who embrace the “new” by entering the Miss India beauty pageant. Crosscutting between these two worlds, Pahuja creates a dark, often chilling portrait of a contemporary cultural schism, while establishing herself as a keen-eyed documentarian in the vein of fellow Canadian Yung Chang (Up the Yangtze, China Heavyweight). Like Chang, she is adept at finding situations that perfectly encapsulate the tides of change, while locating the ironies and contradictions running through them.

- STEVE GRAVESTOCK, TIFF. Colour, in English and Hindi with English subtitles.

90 mins.

SATURDAY, JANUARY 26 – 6:30 PM

16

Reigning Canadian master and Canada’s Top Ten regular David Cronenberg directs a chilling, stylish adaptation of Don DeLillo’s apocalyptic satire about Eric Packer (Robert Pattinson), a Manhattan billionaire financier whose life of absurd luxury is about to come crashing down around him.

Cosmopolis is extraordinarily timely, given the ongoing economic crisis wrought by the wild speculation, greed, and chicanery of financial elites and woefully inadequate regulation of the markets. DeLillo’s novel seems almost expressly tailored for Cronenberg’s unique gifts and sensibility. The film plays like Videodrome — or, as The New Yorker argued, Cronenberg’s J. G. Ballard adaptation Crash — transplanted to the increasingly endangered world of the “one percent.”

As billionaire Packers frets about a market gamble he’s made, he fails to notice that the world around him is sliding into anarchy, and foolishly insists on driving across town to get a haircut. Cosmopolis boasts one of the hippest casts to appear in a Canadian film in an eon. - STEVE GRAVESTOCK, TIFF. Colour.

109 mins.

FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 1 – 6:30 PM SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 2 – 8:40 PM

P e t e r M e ttle r

Michael Dowse

Canada 2012. Director: Michael Dowse Cast: Seann William Scott, Jay Baruchel, Alison Pill, Liev Schreiber, Eugene Levy

GOON X av i e r D o l a n

Goon, the latest from acclaimed maverick Mike Dowse (FUBAR, It’s I All Gone Pete Tong), is a raucous, hilarious take on Canada’s one true national obsession. CoC written by b Evan Goldberg (Pineapple Express) and Jay Baruchel (The Trotsky), Goon deals with an issue Baruc every hoc hockey fan — and every Canadian — has an opinion on: o violence on the ice. The hero is Doug Glatt (Sean (Sea William Scott), a gentle giant who’s lethal with his fists. When Doug attends a hockey game and flattens a player who charges into the stands spouting homophobic slurs, he suddenly finds himself soughthomopho after by the local minor-pro team. It doesn’t matter t that Doug can barely skate — he’s needed for other functions! Featuring a great cast that includes Eugene Levy, Nicholas Campbell, Scott Pilgrim’s Alison Pill, C.R.A.Z.Y.’s Marc-André Grondin, and co-writer Baruchel, Goon is the Canadian comedy counterpart to Jimi Hendrix’s version of “The Star-Spangled Banner”: sacrilegious, twisted, and yet somehow perversely patriotic. - STEVE GRAVESTOCK, TIFF. Colour.

92 mins.

FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 1 – 8:35 PM MONDAY, FEBRUARY 4 – 8:25 PM

The End of Time Canada/Switzerland 2012. Director: Peter Mettler With: George Mikenberg, Jack Thompson, Richie Hawtin, Rajeev Agrawal, Julia Mettler

Peter Mettler memorably filmed the Northern Lights in Picture of Light and a post-apocalyptic Alberta in Petropolis: Aerial Perspectives on the Alberta Tar Sands. The End of Time, Mettler’s first feature-length documentary since 2002’s Geniewinning Gambling, Gods and LSD, is another visually stunning tour de force, as one might expect from one of Canada’s greatest cinematographers.

It’s also a rich, rigorous meditation on the nature of time. Travelling the globe, Mettler explores a dizzying range of perspectives: scientists working in a particle accelerator; disciples visiting the tree where Buddha was enlightened; an electronic musician who locates a new frontier in his work with machines; the lone remaining resident in an area being consumed by lava from an active volcano.

Oscillating between rumination and trance, Mettler pushes at the limits of our understanding of time, and the ultimate fragility of the structures we construct atop it. The End of Time is both mindexpanding and oddly familiar, as if reminding us of truths we forgot long ago. - STEVE GRAVESTOCK, TIFF. Colour. 114 mins.

SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 2 – 6:30 PM

Sean Garrity

Laurence Anyways Canada/France 2012. Director: Xavier Dolan Cast: Melvil Poupaud, Suzanne Clément, Nathalie Baye, Monia Chokri, Sophie Faucher

All three of wunderkind director Xavier Dolan’s super-stylish features — I Killed My Mother (2009), Heartbeats (2010), and now Laurence Always — have found their way on to Canada’s Top Ten; all three debuted at Cannes. Shot in a kind of hyper-florid style to capture the vicissitudes of an untenable love affair, the epic romance Laurence Anyways — winner of the Best Canadian Feature prize at TIFF last fall — feels like Wuthering Heights relocated to the streets of Montreal, with a transgendered Heathcliff and a punky Catherine. The crux of the film: can this storm-tossed couple stay together when both biology and society are arrayed against them?

Can they live apart? Driven by gutsy performances, particularly by leads Melvil Poupaud and Suzanne Clément, Laurence Anyways, Dolan’s most stylish and mature work to date, may be the most audacious and searing meditation on love and sexuality ever made in this country. - STEVE GRAVESTOCK, TIFF. Colour, in French with English subtitles. 161 mins.

SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 3 – 6:30 PM

My Awkward Sexual Adventure Canada 2012. Director: Sean Garrity Cast: Jonas Chernick, Sarah Manninen, Emily Hampshire, Vik Sahay, Melissa Marie Elias

My Awkward Sexual Adventure is a funny, frenetic, and sexy comedy, sharply directed by Winnipeg filmmaker Sean Garrity, whose debut Inertia — also a relationship comedy with some smarts, style, and spice — won Best Canadian First Feature honours at TIFF in 2001. The film follows accountant Jordan (Jonas Chernick) as he fights to win back love-of-his life Rachel (Sarah Manninen), who’s dumped him unceremoniously because of his lack of prowess in the bedroom. Jordan befriends exotic dancer Julia (Emily Hampshire), who agrees to help him beef up his skills in exchange for his financial advice. Things move from there straight into a comedic perfect storm, complete with castrating mothers, ultra-sensitive nudist neighbours, and decidedly inconsiderate repo men. Leading an excellent cast, star Chernick, who also wrote the script, races from one catastrophe to the next looking like his hair’s about to catch fire. And, perhaps unusually for a sex comedy, My Awkward Sexual Adventure is surprisingly educational. - STEVE GRAVESTOCK, TIFF. Colour. 98 mins.

MONDAY, FEBRUARY 4 – 6:30 PM

17

“This was the aim of the experiments: to send emissaries into Time, to summon the Past and the Future to the aid of the Present.“ CHRIS MARKER, LA JETÉE

A singular — and enigmatic — figure in world cinema, the French filmmaker Chris Marker died in Paris last summer. Routinely cited as cinema’s greatest essayist, Marker was master of a personal, poetic, highly distinctive, uncommonly expressive, and almost unclassifiable form of hybridized filmmaking that combined elements of documentary, travelogue, diary film, and, not infrequently, fiction.

Marker’s most celebrated film was La Jetée (1962), a time-warping half-hour short composed almost entirely of still photos; it holds a prominent place amongst cinema’s greatest-ever works of science fiction. The ne plus ultra of Marker’s art, however, may have come twenty years later with Sans Soleil (1982), a boundary-warping “documentary” of truly mind-expanding scope.

The date of Marker’s death in 2012 was July 29 — precisely the same date he had born 91 year earlier, in Neuilly-sur-Seine, a Paris suburb. But Marker may have been born, as he sometimes claimed, in Ulan Bator, Mongolia. And his birthday date may have been, as one important source — an early edition of Marker’s own 1949 novel Le coeur net — gives it, July 22. His birth name, everyone agrees, was Christian François BoucheVilleneuve. He adapted Chris Marker as a pen name while working as a writer and journalist in the 1940s. As he explained decades later, “I chose a pseudonym, Chris Marker, pronounceable in most languages, because I was very intent on traveling. No need to delve further.” In the 1950s, when he began filmmaking, Marker was associated with the so-called Left Bank Group of artists that included such luminaries as Alain Resnais, Agnès Varda, Alain Robbe-Grillet, and Marguerite Duras.

That Marker preferred anonymity, rarely granted interviews, and was almost never photographed, no doubt contributed to a certain aura of mystery and mystique that would come to surround him.

Marker’s signature themes were memory and time. His favoured topics were history, politics, and culture — including, often, cinema and great cineastes. He was a wry, irreverent, insightful, nimble, and playful thinker.

He experimented with (multi-)media and technologies. He was a marvel at montage, collage, assemblage; at unexpected juxtapositions. He loved paradox. He loved globetrotting. He loved cats.

La Jetée was explicitly about time travel; it was also explicitly a work of fiction, as few subsequent Marker films were. Yet, as Dennis Lim’s obituary of Marker in the New York Times noted, “there was also a science-fiction strangeness to many of his travelogues ... Most of his films involve a kind of time travel.” Or, as the critic J. Hoberman put it, “Marker’s unclassifiable documentaries treat memory as the stuff of science fiction.” Marker’s friend and early collaborator Alain Resnais described him as “the prototype of the 21st century man.”

Resnais was speaking of Marker’s wide-ranging intellect and protean mind, his remarkable ability to synthesize and illuminate disparate ideas and images, but Resnais also added, mischievously, “A theory is making the rounds, and not without some grounds, that Marker could be an extraterrestrial. He looks like a human, but perhaps he comes from the future or from another planet.”

The Cinematheque is pleased to devote an extensive retrospective tribute to one of the cinema’s truly visionary artists, the 21st century man Chris Marker.

18

A NOTE ON LANGUAGE

La Jetée and Sans Soleil Chris Marker prepared both English and French versions of La Jetée and Sans Soleil.

In each case, there are slight differences between the two versions. Marker’s stated preference was that audiences watch the film in the language they are most familiar with.

'

La Jetee France 1962. Director: Chris Marker Cast: Jean Négroni, Hélène Chatelain, Davos Hanich, Jacques Ledoux

On January 7, Sans Soleil and La Jetée and Chris Marker’s most celebrated work is this will screen in their French-language versions legendary “photo roman,” a moody, moving, with English subtitles. utterly marvellous tale of time travel set in a postapocalyptic Paris. Paul Kael called it “very possibly Our other screenings of Sans Soleil (January the greatest science fiction movie yet made”; 9 & 10) and La Jetée (January 10 & 14) will be Terry Gilliam remade it as 12 Monkeys. A man with in their English-language versions. unusually vivid memories, forced by scientists to participate in time-travel experiments, comes to solve the riddle of a mysterious recurring memory that has obsessed him since childhood: an enigmatic incident involving a woman and a man on an observation jetty at Orly airport. La Jetée is a MONDAY, JANUARY 7 – 7:00 PM brilliant, haunting work; with the exception of one fleeting image, (with Sans Soleil) it is entirely composed of still photographs. In the 2012 edition of Sight and Sound’s once-a-decade poll of international critics, THURSDAY, JANUARY 10 – 8:30 PM (with Remembrance of Things to Come) La Jetée was the only short film to be voted amongst the top-50 MONDAY, JANUARY 14 – 6:30 PM movies of all time. B&W, Blu-ray Disc. 28 mins. (with Remembrance of Things to Come)

Sans Soleil (Sunless)

France 1982. Director: Chris Marker

The great Chris Marker’s finest achievement may be this aesthetically, emotionally, and intellectually stirring film.

Marker is one of cinema’s true visionary talents, and a master of the film essay as an uncommonly engrossing, expressive, and intricate form. Sans Soleil — “a work of genius” (Cahiers du cinéma); “a mind-bending free-form travelogue” (The Criterion Collection) — has astonishing sweep. It takes in the future of our civilization, the significance of Hitchcock’s Vertigo, the spiritual orientation of Japan, events in the Third World, cultural dislocation, and — signature Marker themes — the nature of time, memory, and representation. Marker’s mode is the personal, experimental, boundary-breaking documentary; he invents a fictional cinematographer, who provides the film’s amazing images, and has this unseen character’s letters from around the globe read by an unseen woman, providing the film’s narration. “It shows how rich the potential is for filmmaking ... Marker is a master of discovery” (David Thomson). “Marker’s 1982 masterpiece is one of the key nonfiction films of our time ... Sans Soleil registers like a poem one might find in a time capsule” (Jonathan Rosenbaum, Chicago Reader). “An incandescent film that teaches you how to think” (Robert Daudelin, 24 Images). Colour, Blu-ray Disc. 100 mins.

MONDAY, JANUARY 7 – 7:00 PM (preceded by La Jetée) WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 9 – 8:05 PM THURSDAY, JANUARY 10 – 6:30 PM

“The most poetic and original of documentarists.“ DEREK MALCOLM, THE GUARDIAN

preceded by

The Case of the Grinning Cat (Chats perchés)

France 2004. Director: Chris Marker

Chris Marker’s last long-form work, made when he was already an octogenarian, is a playful and perceptive filmessay that explores post-9/11 politics while investigating a beguiling Parisian mystery: the strange appearance in 2001, on walls and surfaces all over the French capital, of Monsieur Chat, a grinning, yellow cartoon cat. Marker’s peregrinations through Paris’s streets and his method of free-association montage take in strikes, political demonstrations, election campaigns, and celebrity scandals; running through it all is the erudition, irreverence, and poetic whimsy that so distinguishes the director’s singular work. “Quintessential Marker ... A digressive, serendipitous city portrait ... Approaching 85, Marker remains as lively, engaged, and provocative as ever” (J. Hoberman, Village Voice). “I can’t think of a better portrait of contemporary Paris or the zeitgeist of 2001-’04 than Marker’s wise and whimsical 2004 video ... No one can film people in the street better than Marker or combine images with more grace and finesse” (Jonathan Rosenbaum, Chicago Reader). “Further evidence of Marker’s exhilarating wit ... The director’s wisdom remains robust” (Wesley Morris, Boston Globe). Colour, Digibeta video, English voice-over. 58 mins.

, CHRIS MARKER S BESTIARY:

Five Short Films about Animals “Chris Marker’s films always reflect his deep and abiding love for animals. Indeed, virtually all of his work is suffused with images of animals, real ones as well as fine-art and pop-culture representations — especially cats, owls, wolves, horses, and elephants. Chris Marker’s Bestiary collects for the first time his short films devoted exclusively to animals. Animals in Marker’s films often function as cultural or political metaphors (“A cat is never on the side of power,” Marker once explained). In this anthology, however, Marker avoids the commercial cinema’s tendency to anthropomorphize animals in favour of a simple celebration of their exotic beauty, primal nature, and mystery” (Icarus Films).

Cat Listening to Music (1990, 3 mins.) • An Owl is an Owl is an Owl (1990, 3 mins.)

• Zoo Piece (1990, 3 mins.) • Bullfight in Okinawa (1994, 4 mins.) • Slon Tango (1993, 14 mins.). • All titles Digibeta video. No dialogue. Total running time: 17 mins.

WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 9 – 6:30 PM MONDAY, JANUARY 14 – 8:00 PM 19

Remembrance of Things to Come

A Chris Marker Mixtape: Four Short Works

(Le souvenir d’un avenir)

France 2001. Directors: Chris Marker, Yannick Bellon

“Genius. Chris Marker’s 2001 ‘cine-essay’ is a splendid reminder that his nimble, capacious mind has lost none of its agility, poetry, and power. Ostensibly a portrait of photographer Denise Bellon, the film leaps and backtracks, Marker-style, from subject to subject, from a family portrait of Bellon and her two daughters, Loleh and Yannick (the latter co-directed the film), to a wideranging history of surrealism, Paris, French cinema and the birth of the cinémathèque, Europe, the National Front, the Second World War and Spanish Civil War, and postwar politics and culture. Full of Marker jokes, word play, filmic homages, peculiar art history, a consideration of the 1952 Olympics, and astounding segues, the film traverses in its short time a world of thought, feeling, and history. A small masterpiece of montage, Remembrance of Things to Come is from moment to moment reminiscent of Resnais, Ivens, even Kubrick, but in its deployment of still photographs (as in La Jetée), its theme of history and memory, its subject-skipping and rapid shuttle of wit and philosophy, it is pure, marvellous Marker” (James Quandt, TIFF Cinematheque). “The most unforgettable film of any length you’ll see this year” (Elvis Mitchell, New York Times). B&W, Digibeta video, English voice-over. 42 mins. p r e c e d e d b y La Jetée THURSDAY, JANUARY 10 – 8:30 PM MONDAY, JANUARY 14 – 6:30 PM

Three Cheers for the Whale (Viva la baleine) • Marker’s meditative montage history of humanity’s relationship with the whale, co-directed with Italian ethnologist and painter Mario Ruspoli, is also a bracing exposé of the cruelty of the whaling industry.

France 1972. Co-director: Mario Ruspoli. Digibeta video, English voice-over. 17 mins.

The Sixth Side of the Pentagon (La sixième face du Pentagone) • Still photos, moving images, and wry commentary mix in Marker’s highly-charged record of the October 21, 1967 March on the Pentagon, a landmark anti-war protest that was also the subject of Norman Mailer’s The Armies of the Night.

France 1972. Co-director: Chris Marker, François Reichenbach. Digibeta video, English voice-over. 26 mins.

– 10-minute intermission – The Embassy (L’ambassade) • One of Marker’s rare fiction films, this potent docudrama, made in response to Pinochet’s 1973 coup d’état in Chile, purports to be raw Super-8 footage of political refugees holed up in a foreign embassy after a military coup in an unnamed country. France 1973.

Digibeta video, English voice-over. 21 mins.

Be Seeing You (À bientôt, j’espère) • The tumultuous events of May 1968 are prefigured by an unusual 1967 strike at a textile plant in Besançon, France, in which the workers demand not just better wages and working conditions but larger social-political changes. France 1968.

Co-director: Mario Marret. Digibeta video, in French with English subtitles. 39 mins.

THURSDAY, JANUARY 24 – 6:30 PM SUNDAY, JANUARY 27 – 8:00 PM

“Marker is the Janus of world cinema — as open to the future as he is fixated on the past.

Marker’s unclassifiable documentaries treat memory as the stuff of science fiction.“ J. HOBERMAN, VILLAGE VOICE

A Grin Without a Cat (Le fond de l’air est rouge)

France 1977/1993. Director: Chris Marker

Not to be confused with The Case of the Grinning Cat, another film (also in this series) by cat-loving master essayist Chris Marker, A Grin Without a Cat is a mammoth, magisterial montage documentary tracing a history of the Left from 1967 to 1977, a defining decade of the late 20th century. Part One (“Fragile Hands”) investigates the influence of the Vietnam War on progressive movements around the world and in France, where it was instrumental in the explosive events of May 1968. Part Two (“Severed Hands”) treats Czechoslovakia’s Prague Spring and the Soviet-led invasion that quashed it. Marker’s epic film-essay is ingeniously assembled from all manner of archival footage; it begins with a dissection of the famed Odessa Steps sequence from Eisenstein’s Potemkin. The original French title, Le fond de l’air est rouge, is an idiomatic expression suggesting that revolution is in the air but not on the ground; the film’s subtitle was “Scenes from the Third World War.” Fifteen years after its original release, following the Soviet Union’s collapse, Marker “re-actualized” his film into this 180-minute version. Grin is a stimulating pleasure in the best Marker mode, distinguished by the evocative, incantatory mix of analysis and philosophical report, the great wit and intelligence, we know from Marker masterworks such as La Jetée and Sans Soleil. “The ultimate achievement of an utterly unique cinematic figure ... One of the releases of the year, if not the decade” (Andrew O’Hehir, Salon).

Colour and B&W, 35mm, English voice-over and subtitles. 180 mins.

There will be a 10-minute intermission between Parts One and Two. SUNDAY, JANUARY 13 – 6:30 PM THURSDAY, JANUARY 17 – 6:30 PM

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A.K.

France/Japan 1985. Director: Chris Marker With: Akira Kurosawa

Akira Kurosawa is the subject of Chris Marker’s A.K. Serge Silberman, the French producer of Kurosawa’s Ran, commissioned Marker to make this behind-the-scenes portrait of the great Japanese director on set and on location during the production of that magnificent 1985 epic. “Making-of” documentaries were not routine at the time; one would hardly expect the routine from Marker. A.K. is, characteristically, a thoughtful, poetic, and strikingly beautiful work of cinema from an artist whose cinephilia and Japanophilia (the loving tributes to filmmakers Andrei Tarkovsky and Alexander Medvedkin; the love of Japanese culture — and of Hitchcock’s Vertigo — evident in Sans Soleil) are much on display throughout this retrospective. The score is by noted composer Toru Takemitsu. “A work of art about the making of another work of art... Marker is a documentarian worthy of Kurosawa ... A.K. is a beautiful tribute to Kurosawa” (Kevin Thomas, Los Angeles Times). “A work of art in its own right ... It is the minutiae that really attract Marker’s eye: a squad of extras adjusting the fastenings of their samurai armour can expand into large speculations on the nature of filmmaking” (Chris Peachment, Time Out). Colour, Blu-ray Disc, in Japanese and French with English subtitles. 75 mins.

THURSDAY, JANUARY 24 – 8:45 PM SUNDAY, JANUARY 27 – 6:30 PM

One Day In The Life of Andrei Arsenevich (Une journée d’Andrei Arsenevitch) France 2000. Director: Chris Marker With Andrei Tarkovsky

Chris Marker, one of cinema’s great visionary essayists, takes on Andrei Tarkovsky, one of cinema’s great mystic visionaries, in this elegant and absorbing memorial.

Combining extensive clips from Tarkovsky’s films with behind-the-scenes documentary footage (Tarkovsky directing The Sacrifice) and intimate home video (Tarkovsky on his deathbed in Paris), One Day In The Life of Andrei Arsenevich explores the major themes of the Russian master’s work; analyzes Tarkovsky’s renowned visual style; links Tarkovsky’s art to his life; and argues for the overall unity of his work. Marker’s own trademark poetics are everywhere in evidence.

The film’s title is a nod to Solzhenitsyn. “The most sustained and heartfelt tribute one filmmaker has paid another ... No less then Godard or Scorsese, Marker is an original and perceptive exegete of other filmmakers” (J. Hoberman, Village Voice).

“A masterpiece ... The best single piece of Tarkovsky criticism I know of, clarifying the overall coherence of his oeuvre while leaving all the mysteries of his films intact” (Jonathan Rosenbaum, Chicago Reader). Colour, Beta SP video, English voice-over and subtitles. 55 mins.

WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 30 – 6:30 PM THURSDAY, JANUARY 31 – 8:45 PM

“The cinema’s greatest essayist.“ TONY RAYNS, TIME OUT

CHRIS MARKER SIDEBAR Former Monty Python member Terry Gilliam monkeys around with Chris Marker in Twelve Monkeys, a flamboyant post-apocalyptic fantasia “inspired by” Marker’s famed 1962 short La Jetée.

USA 1995. Director: Terry Gilliam (La Jetée screens at The Cinematheque Cast: Bruce Willis, Madeleine Stowe, Brad Pitt, January 7, 10, and 14.) Appearing between Christopher Plumm er, Jon Seda The Fisher King and Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas in the gonzo Gilliam filmography, the movie casts Bruce Willis, Brad Pitt, and Madeleine Stowe in the trippy dystopian tale of a convict from 2035 who is sent back in time to learn more about a mysterious virus, perhaps unleashed by the terrorist Army of the Twelve Monkeys, that killed most of humanity in 1996. The script is by Janet and David Peoples; the latter also penned Clint Eastwood’s Oscar-winning Unforgiven and co-wrote Ridley Scott’s Blade Runner. Like Marker’s poetic original, Gilliam’s delirious film offers its homage to Hitchcock’s dreamlike masterpiece Vertigo. “An instant cult classic ... It was an act of sheer hubris to remake Marker’s futuristic meditation on temps perdu — told almost entirely in still images — as a big-budget, mainstream picture staring Bruce Willis. That Gilliam managed to make Twelve Monkeys into a clever, complex, and poignant success is as astonishing as it is satisfying” (James Monaco, The Movie Guide). Colour, 35mm. 129 mins.

FRIDAY, JANUARY 11 – 8:40 PM SATURDAY, JANUARY 12 – 6:30 PM

IN MEMORIAM:

RAY BRADBURY (1920-2012)

FAHRENHEIT

The Last Bolshevik (Le dernier Bolchevik, ou le tombeau d’Alexandre)

451 Great Britain 1966. Director: François Truffaut Cast: Oskar Werner, Julie Christie, Cyril Cusack, Anton Diffring, Jeremy Spenser

France 1993. Director: Chris Marker

“Chris Marker’s The Last Bolshevik is a great film that almost no one has seen” (Pauline Kael). Several years before paying tribute to Tarkovsky in One Day In The Life of Andrei Arsenevich, cinema’s greatest essayist fashioned this magnificent exploration of the life, times, and art of another Russian filmmaker, Alexander Medvedkin (1900-1989). “The Last Bolshevik is part memoir and autobiography, part history of the Soviet cinema and of Communism. The film is framed as the response to a challenge made by Medvedkin in an interview recorded in 1984: ‘Chris, you lazy bastard, why don’t you ever write?’

Some years after Medvedkin’s death, Marker made this series of affectionate missives to his old friend. Incorporating documents rescued from the Soviet film archives, Marker mediates on the limits of realism and the end of Communism” (TIFF Cinematheque).

“One of the major essays of Chris Marker — which automatically makes this one of the key works of our time ... Eloquent and mordantly witty in its poetic writing, beautiful and often painterly in its images, this is as moving and as provocative in many respects as Marker’s Sans Soleil, which places it very high indeed” (Jonathan Rosenbaum, Chicago Reader). Colour, Beta SP video, in French and Russian with English subtitles. 116 mins.

WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 30 – 7:45 PM THURSDAY, JANUARY 31 – 6:30 PM

François Truffaut’s first film in colour — and his only in English — was this adaptation of Ray Bradbury’s well-known dystopian novel. It may be the great French director’s most undervalued film! The title refers to the temperature at which paper ignites and burns (there’s debate about whether Bradbury got that right). The movie is set in a near-future fascist state where books — all books — have been banned, and where “firemen” burn books. Oskar Werner is Montag, a fireman who begins reading the forbidden; Julie Christie, in a dual role, is Montag’s tranquilized, TV-addicted wife and the young dissident who piques his interest in literature. Fahrenheit 451 was not well-received, but its flat tone and Truffaut’s awkwardness directing in English actually work to advantage in a film about a benumbed society denied the written language. Apt too are the ingenious spoken credits. The impressive cinematography — dig those nifty reds! — is by future director Nicolas Roeg. As befits a New Wave stalwart, Truffaut includes in-joke references (a burning copy of Cahiers du cinéma, a bit character who “becomes” Bradbury’s The Martian Chronicles) and acts of hommage (Hitchcock devotee Truffaut had Bernard Herrmann compose the score). “Its portrait of a near-future society of emotionless, hedonistic people mindlessly tripped out on big-screen colour television seems chillingly prophetic today” (David Cook). Colour, 35mm. 112 mins.

FRIDAY, JANUARY 11 – 6:30 PM SATURDAY, JANUARY 12– 4:15 PM & 9:00 PM

21

The Cinematheque is pleased to join with the Institute of Mental Health, UBC Department of Psychiatry in presenting “Frames of Mind,” a monthly event utilizing film and video to promote professional and community education on issues pertaining to mental health and illness. Screenings,

A MONTHLY MENTAL HEALTH FILM SERIES

accompanied by presentations and audience discussions, are held on the third Wednesday of each month.

presented by THE CINEMATHEQUE and the

Series directed by DR. HARRY KARLINSKY,

INSTITUTE OF MENTAL HEALTH, UBC DEPARTMENT

Director of Public Education, Department of Psychiatry,

OF PSYCHIATRY

University of British Columbia.

FRAMESOFMIND.CA

Programmed by CAROLINE COUTTS, film curator, filmmaker, and programmer of “Frames of Mind” since its inception in September 2002.

K AU W B OY (Little Bird) The Netherlands 2012. Director: Boudewijn Koole Cast: Rick Lens, Loek Peters, Cahit Ölmez, Susan Radder, Ricky Koole

The Netherlands’ official submission to the upcoming Oscars is this bittersweet tale of Jojo (Rick Lens), a lively 10-year-old boy who escapes the difficulties of his home life through a friendship with a baby jackdaw. Jojo’s father Ronald (Loek Peters), a night watchman, is depressed, uncommunicative, and given to drinking and fits of anger. Jojo’s mother, strangely absent, is said to be touring the U.S. as a country singer. Jojo, left mostly to his own devices, finds the abandoned bird on one of his many solitary wanderings through the surrounding countryside. He determines to raise it at home as a birthday gift for his mother, while trying to keep it hidden from his volatile father. Difficult events will challenge Jojo’s grasp on what is truly real and what he only wishes were true. Beautifully cinematic and anchored by fine naturalistic performances (especially young Lens in the lead), Kauwboy premiered at the 2012 Berlin Film Festival, where it won the award for Best First Feature; it has since earned several other honours in Europe. “[It] exposes the gulf between how kids and adults cope with trauma (Sophie Monks Kaufman, Time Out London). Colour, Digibeta video, in Dutch with English subtitles. 80 mins.

Post-screening discussion with Dr. Carolyn Steinberg, an Infant/Preschool Child Psychiatrist who has been working at Richmond Hospital in the Early Childhood Mental Health Program for the past seven years. Trained at the Universities of Toronto, Western Ontario, and Alberta, she is now a Clinical Associate Professor at the University of British Columbia.

Moderated by Dr. Harry Karlinsky, Clinical Professor, Department of Psychiatry, University of British Columbia.

WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 16 – 7:30 PM

A SISTER’S CALL USA 2012. Directors: Rebecca Schaper, Kyle Tekiela

In 1977, Call Richmond, in his early twenties and only a few months from college graduation, disappeared from the life of his upper-middle-class Atlanta family. Over the next 20 years, only the occasional phone call convinced the family that he was still alive. And then, suddenly, Call reappeared — homeless, unkempt, and plagued by paranoid schizophrenia. A Sister’s Call, filmed over the next 14 years, is the story of Call and of his younger sister Rebecca’s struggle to “bring him back to life.” The film chronicles the trials and tribulations — conflicting diagnoses, fluctuating medication levels, accessing housing and community services — Rebecca faces in getting Call the treatment he desperately needs. Even with proper care and his sister’s dedication, Call goes off his meds and occasionally lands in a psychiatric hospital. As Call’s recovery progresses in fits and starts, and as his history is revealed, long-buried secrets of this seemingly perfect family are uncovered. What begins as one woman’s journey to save her brother evolves into a much larger tale of familial healing, determination, and resilience. “A haunting exploration of the meaning of family. It unpacks its secrets slowly and to devastating effect. The characters will stay with you long after you leave the theatre” (Michael Dunaway, PASTE Magazine). Colour, HDCAM. 77 mins.

Post-screening discussion with Dr. Randall F. White, a psychiatrist and the medical director of the B.C. Psychosis Program at UBC Hospital. Dr. White is a Clinical Associate Professor of psychiatry at UBC and a medical writer who contributes to Medscape.com.

He also maintains a blog related to psychosis at bcpsychosis.org.

Moderated by Dr. Harry Karlinsky, Clinical Professor, Department of Psychiatry, University of British Columbia.

WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 20 – 7:30 PM

22

belkin.ubc.ca

A Sound Experience.

SATURDAY FEBRUARY 16 AT 8PM: PABLO ZIEGLER QUARTET with REGINA CARTER in “TANGO MEETS JAZZ” SUNDAY APRIL 21 AT 7PM: LILA DOWNS SATURDAY APRIL 27 AT 8PM: SIMON SHAHEEN in THE CALL: SONGS OF LIBERATION THREE CONCERT SUBSCRIPTION PACKAGES STILL AVAILABLE – UP TO 15% OFF SINGLE TICKET PRICES Subscriptions not available online.

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Tribute to the Tragic and Sinister 01.15

02.19

Hitchcock’s original suspense classic, starring Peter Lorre, Finally Restored!

Marlon Brando gives the performance of his career in this masterpiece of urban poetry.

The Th h M Man W Who Wh h K Knew T Too M Much h

O On n The Th Waterfront W t f t

01.08

Two_Lane Blacktop

01.15

The Tin Drum

The Ballad Of Narayama

02.26

Chronicle Of A Summer

02.05

02.26

Sansho S h Th The B Bailiff iliff

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