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EXPERIENCE ESSENTIAL CINEMA
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LOST HIGHWAY
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OCT 2017
1131 Howe Street | Vancouver | theCinematheque.ca
THE FILMS OF LINA WERTMÜLLER CONTEMPORARY IRANIAN CINEMA ERIC ROHMER’S TALES OF THE FOUR SEASONS DAMN SCARY! CANADA ON SCREEN DOXA + THE CINEMATHEQUE CHAN CENTRE CONNECTS
Seven Beauties The Films of Lina Wertmüller y SEPTEMBER + OCTOBER 2017
Seven Beauties The Films of Lina Wertmüller Seven New Restorations + The New Documentary Behind the White Glasses
PRESENTING PARTNER
“Lina Wertmüller, the brilliant Italian director . . . has become one of the major film talents of our day.” Vincent Canby, New York Times , 1976
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nown for her bawdy, boisterous satirical forays into the minefields of sex, politics, and social class, Lina Wertmüller (b. 1928 in Rome) was an art-house sensation, and just about the world’s most prominent female director, in the 1970s. Her films, provocative, parodic, and often decidedly un-PC – or, at least, too savage in their irony and iconoclasm to fit easily into simple political boxes – were often highly contentious; Swept Away (1974), later remade by Guy Ritchie and Madonna, and Seven Beauties (1975), typically cited as Wertmüller’s masterpiece, in particular – and particularly for feminists.
Wertmüller was the first woman to be nominated for the Academy Award Oscar for best director (there have only been three others since – Jane Campion, Sofia Coppola, and Kathryn Bigelow). Her exuberantly entertaining, visually rich films have a tragicomic sensibility that has been likened to Chaplin’s; a flair for the carnivalesque reminiscent of Fellini’s (Wertmüller apprenticed on Fellini's 8½); and an abiding interest in the politics of power and its complicated tangle with sex. In the neorealist tradition, her protagonists tend to be ordinary people struggling against those in authority or against larger systemic forces. These ordinary souls are frequently disadvantaged individuals from Italy’s southern regions; Wertmüller’s films often dramatize the conflict between the country’s less affluent south and its more affluent north. Giancarlo Giannini, a sad-eyed actor with a decidedly Chaplinesque mien, was Wertmüller’s favourite leading man, and is the performer most associated with her cinema (along with Mariangela Melato, Giannini’s female foil in several films). The film historian Peter Bondanella, in his seminal Italian Cinema: From Neorealism to the Present, argued that that the controversy aroused by Wertmüller’s unruly films, the “crucial confusion” over their intentions, was due to “an ignorance” of their cultural background - that the director was combining her political concerns with “the conventions of traditional Italian grotesque comedy, with its vulgarity, its stock characters, and its frontal attack upon accepted values and mores.” Wertmüller’s films enjoyed such popularity in the ’70s (of Italy’s directors, only Fellini and Bertolucci received comparable acclaim, Bondanella notes) that it is hard to credit that they are so little-known today. The restoration and re-release of seven of her films, including five key works from her peak period, may begin to remedy that neglect – and may perhaps ignite more debate about the methods and motives of this radically polemical, resolutely independent artist. Our retrospective also includes a new documentary about the filmmaker and her work.
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SWEPT AWAY
New Restoration!
Seven Beauties
(Pasqualino Settebellezze) Italy 1975. Dir: Lina Wertmüller. 116 min. DCP
Lina Wertmüller’s magnum opus, an audacious, still-shocking tragicomedy about survival at all costs during WWII, capped an extraordinary global ascent in the mid-1970s for the controversial Italian auteur, and saw her become the first woman ever nominated for the Best Director Oscar. (There have only been three since, tsk-tsk!) Giancarlo Giannini, in his fourth Wertmüller outing, is petty thief Pasqualino, a Neapolitan dandy with seven sisters. Pompous pride and grisly conduct lead to his institutionalization; forced into service with, and then deserting, the Italian army, he is captured by the Nazis and sent to a concentration camp, where, to save his miserable skin, he performs sexual favours for the grotesque, sadistic female commandant. Told via flashback by the debased anti-hero – a role that earned Giannini his own (much-deserved) Oscar nod – Seven Beauties is a Holocaust film replete with outrage and brutality, but also ironic humour and contrarian beauty. FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 8 – 6:30 PM SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 9 – 8:40 PM SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 10 – 6:30 PM MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 11 – 8:30 PM
New Restoration!
The Seduction of Mimi
(Mimì metallurgico ferito nell’onore) Italy 1972. Dir: Lina Wertmüller. 112 min. DCP
Lina Wertmüller's fifth feature, a raunchy, bittersweet sex-and-politics comedy, brought the writer-director to international attention and was the first of three hits pairing Giancarlo Giannini and Mariangela Melato in the leads. Giannini is Mimi, a would-be Communist in Sicily who loses his labouring job after failing to support the Mafia’s candidate in an election. Leaving beleaguered wife Rosalia (Agostina Belli) behind, Mimi travels to Turin to look for work, and falls into a torrid affair with Fiore (Melato), a sexually-liberated anarchist. When he returns to Sicily, Mimi proves less than tolerant of Rosalia’s own liberation. “A brainy, rowdy comedy of bad manners and low politics. It moves fast” (Jay Cocks, Time). “Inventive farce comedy . . . Melato is particularly outstanding, Giannini is bravissimo, and Turi Ferro is memorable in six different Mafia roles” (Variety). FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 8 – 8:45 PM SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 9 – 6:30 PM SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 10 – 8:45 PM
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Vancouver Premiere!
Behind the White Glasses (Dietro gli occhiali bianchi) Italy 2015. Dir: Valerio Ruiz. 104 min. DCP
Polarizing Italian auteur and eyewear icon Lina Wertmüller is the subject of this affectionate, easygoing documentary profile, “must-viewing for film buffs” (Frank Scheck, Hollywood Reporter) and for those navigating our essential seven-film retrospective! Valerio Ruiz, onetime assistant director to Wertmüller, wisely puts the effervescent filmmaker front and centre to chronicle her own tumultuous, decades-spanning career, which reached staggering heights in the mid-1970s with a string of international hits and a landmark Oscar nod for Best Director, the first for a female filmmaker. Interspersed with Wertmüller’s vivid recollections, off-the-cuff advice, and home-studio walkabouts – as well as some broaching of her films’ problematic sexual politics, an affront to the era’s feminist film critics – are insightful talking-head contributions from Martin Scorsese, critic John Simon (an early devotee of Wertmüller), and former collaborators Giancarlo Giannini, Mariangela Melato, Sophia Loren, Nastassja Kinski, and Harvey Keitel, among others. SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 9 – 4:30 PM MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 11 – 6:30 PM
New Restoration!
Swept Away . . . By an Unusual Destiny in the Blue Sea of August
(Travolti da un insolito destino nell’azzurro mare d’Agosto) Italy 1974. Dir: Lina Wertmüller. 116 min. DCP
Approach with caution! Class warfare becomes a wild battle of the sexes in Lina Wertmüller’s much-argued-about Swept Away, a sun-soaked, satirical comedydrama that helped establish the filmmaker as an art-house favourite in 1970s but also ignited a maelstrom of critical outrage. Wertmüller regular Giancarlo Giannini plays Gennarino, a Sicilian Communist working as a lowly deckhand on a luxury yacht-forhire; Mariangela Melato is Raffaella, the rich snob from the North who taunts and abuses him. When circumstances leave Gennarino and Raffaella marooned on a desert island, their social roles quickly reverse themselves – and just as quickly, the film enters a feminist minefield. Wertmüller’s savage sense of irony was none-too-subtle and none-too-politically-correct for some; Swept Away drew condemnation for its reactionary take on gender relations. The disastrous Guy Ritchie-Madonna remake, from 2002, had Adriano Giannini, Giancarlo’s son, in the male lead opposite Madge. FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 15 – 6:30 PM SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 16 – 9:00 PM MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 18 – 6:30 PM TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 19 – 8:40 PM
New Restoration!
Love and Anarchy
(Film d’amore e d’anarchia, ovvero: stamattina alle 10 in via dei Fiori nella nota casa di tolleranza…) Italy 1973. Dir: Lina Wertmüller. 129 min. DCP
Writer-director Lina Wertmüller’s first art-house hit on North American soil was this boisterous, biting, bosoms-a-plenty tale of political espionage and punch-drunk amore set in pre-WWII Fascist Italy. Wertmüller staple Giancarlo Giannini stars as Tunin, a wide-eyed, freckle-faced farm boy determined to kill Mussolini after the murder of a friend. Mariangela Melato is icy blonde Salomè, an anarchist undercover in a Roman brothel whose high-ranking clientele are Mussolini associates. When the wouldbe assassin falls hard for a young, sweet-natured prostitute, the grim reality of his (almost assuredly) one-way mission starts to gnaw at his political resolve – and his sanity. Giannini, conveying a host of fragile emotions through Wertmüller’s signature close-ups, received Best Actor honours at Cannes. The film’s bawdy humour and wild dramatic pitches stand in ironic counterpoise to the tragic desperation at its core. FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 15 – 8:45 PM SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 16 – 6:30 PM MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 18 – 8:45 PM
“Lina Wertmüller is the most important director since Ingmar Bergman! ” John Simon, New York Magazine
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New Restoration!
All Screwed Up
(Tutto a posto e niente in ordine) Italy 1974. Dir: Lina Wertmüller. 108 min. DCP
The immediate predecessor of big-splash, big-scandal Swept Away in provocateur Lina Wertmüller’s filmography is the director’s only movie of the period not to star favourite leading man Giancarlo Giannini. All Screwed Up is a sprawling, satirical tragicomedy set in the Northern industrial city of Milan, where a group of young migrants from Italy’s rural South has come looking for work, love, and a better life. What they find is mostly economic exploitation and sexual degradation, as they endure dreadful deadend jobs and the vicissitudes of modern romance à la Wertmüller. The film’s flamboyant mélange of sex and politics includes a slummy workers’ commune run by an overbearing prostitute; a bad-taste ballet in a slaughterhouse; and a comic, caustic view of modern industry reminiscent of Chaplin’s Modern Times. “Exuberantly funny . . . Watching All Screwed Up is to be witness to a giant talent” (Vincent Canby, New York Times). TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 19 – 6:30 PM FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 22 – 6:30 PM SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 23 – 8:40 PM
New Restoration!
Summer Night
(Notte d’estate con profilo greco, occhi a mandorla e odore di basilico) Italy 1986. Dir: Lina Wertmüller. 98 min. DCP
Wertmüller returned to form in the mid-1980s with this bawdy, completely-brazen battleof-the-sexes comedy, which revisits, in high-camp fashion, the same contentious terrain as her 1974 smash Swept Away. As in that steamy two-hander, the politics of class and gender are explored – and exploded! – by way of a rich, capitalist blonde (Mariangela Melato, reuniting with Wertmüller for the first time since Swept Away) and a hunky, bearded proletarian (Michele Placido) cut off from society on an exotic Mediterranean isle.This time round, Melato is a bronzed business tycoon who, with the help of a cycloptic secret agent, kidnaps and holds captive a notorious Sicilian extortionist. When the libidinous, leather-strapped prisoner demands sexual services – less he be denied his basic male needs – she hires prostitutes, then offers herself. “It’s terrific to see Wertmüller back in control . . . The heat is on!” (Kevin Thomas, Los Angeles Times). FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 22 – 8:40 PM MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 25 – 6:30 PM
New Restoration!
Ferdinando and Carolina (Ferdinando e Carolina) Italy 1999. Dir: Lina Wertmüller. 108 min. DCP
Sex, politics, and 18th-century Italian history commingle in writer-director Lina Wertmüller’s lavish (and lecherous) late-career costume comedy. Told in flashbacks from the deathbed of the flatulent King Ferdinando of Naples, the film tracks the King’s escapades as a young, pampered, coitus-crazed brat (Sergio Assisi), forced to marry the fiery, 16-year-old Archduchess of Austria (Gabriella Pession) after her two older sisters succumb to smallpox. To the royal newlyweds’ surprise, they share a common interest in between-the-sheets salaciousness! The film’s spectacular rendering of the era’s gilded décor and opulent couture is a bona fide showcase for production designer Enrico Job, Wertmüller’s husband and longtime creative collaborator. “One of Wertmüller’s handsomest productions” (Quad Cinema, New York). SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 23 – 6:30 PM MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 25 – 8:30 PM
“Together, Wertmüller’s 1970s films are a sustained bravura work of cinema that engages the senses and organically addresses ideology.” Nicolas Rapold, Film Comment
BEHIND THE WHITE GLASSES
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A VERY ORDINARY CITIZEN
Malaria Iran 2016. Dir: Parviz Shahbazi. 90 min. DCP
Modernity and tradition clash in writer-director Parviz Shahbazi’s exuberant Malaria, a love letter to Tehran that makes smart use of cell-phone footage to frame its tale of rebellious young lovers. Informed that Hanna (Saghar Ghanaat) has been kidnapped for ransom, her panicked father and brothers race to Tehran to find her – unaware that, in reality, Hanna has run off with boyfriend Mori (Saed Soheili) and taken up with a band of bohemian street musicians. Azarakhsh Farahani co-stars as Beatles-loving slacker Azi. The film debuted at Venice and won the Grand Prize at the Warsaw fest. "Engrossing . . . A high-velocity lovers-on-the-lam thriller . . . The story has complicated sympathies, a killer ending, and a handful of peripheral characters who could easily anchor their own films” (Nick Davis, Film Comment). THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 14 – 6:30 PM SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 17 – 6:30 PM
I’m Not Angry! (Asabani nistam!)
Iran 2014. Dir: Reza Dormishian. 110 min. DCP
“The title of director Reza Dormishian’s second feature echoes the prescribed mantra given to Navid (Navid Mohammadzadeh) by his psychiatrist (along with antidepressants) to recite when events feel overwhelming. For Navid, a university student expelled for political activity, however, his explosive rage has deeper sources. Jarring in tone and visually arresting, I’m Not Angry! captures the seething frustrations of a generation with a blunt frankness that led to its being pulled from competition at the Fajr Film Festival” (UCLA Film & Television Archive). “Stunning, heartbreaking . . . With raw performances by Mohammadzadeh and Baran Kosari as a star-crossed engaged couple . . . Filmmaking this electrifying is rare and shows a talented director able to control image, performance, and editing for maximum effect” (Deborah Young, Hollywood Reporter). THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 14 – 8:15 PM SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 17 – 4:15 PM
PREMIERE SCREENING The Indie Filmmakers Lab is a digital media production program for youths ages 14-19 offered by The Cinematheque in partnership with the Simon Fraser University School for the Contemporary Arts. This summer’s program, generously supported by TELUS Optik Local, Creative BC, The City of Vancouver, Employment and Social Development Canada, The City of North Vancouver, The District of North Vancouver, and IATSE Local 891, saw young artists from across the Lower Mainland working in teams to create their own short films. Inspiring and exciting, these projects will debut at our Premiere Screening! Please note: This free-admission presentation is an RSVP event. If you are not an Indie Filmmakers Lab participant or an invited guest and are interested in attending, email us at indielab@theCinematheque.ca THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 7 – 7:00 PM
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Contemporary Iranian Cinema Acclaimed and accomplished new films from Iran are in the spotlight in this new monthly showcase presented by The Cinematheque in partnership with CineIran, an annual festival of Iranian cinema held in Toronto, and Pacific United Productions, a Vancouver-based motion picture production and distribution company
My Brother Khosrow (Baradaram khosro)
Iran 2016. Dir: Ehsan Biglari. 90 min. DCP
Shahab Hosseini, named Best Actor at Cannes in 2016 for his role in Asghar Farhadi’s The Salesman, stars in this psychological drama, the directorial debut of Ehsan Biglari. Hosseini plays titular Khosrow, a man with bipolar disorder whose older brother Naser (Naser Hashemi) is a successful dentist in Tehran. When Khosrow is forced to move in with Naser and his family for a few weeks, it opens old wounds and awakens Naser’s own demons. Prominent Iranian actresses Bita Farahi and Hengameh Ghaziani co-star. The film was a major box-office hit at home. SUNDAY, OCTOBER 22 – 6:30 PM THURSDAY, OCTOBER 26 – 8:30 PM
A Very Ordinary Citizen (Yek shahrvand-e kamelan maamouli) Iran 2015. Dir: Majid Barzegar. 100 min. DCP
Director Majid Barzegar’s sly, slow-burning comedy/drama/romance/thriller, co-written by Iranian cinema luminary Jafar Panahi (Taxi), is shot in long takes and treats the subject of dementia in seniors in no very ordinary manner. “The title character is a solitary and taciturn old man in Tehran whose days revolve around napping and buying bread. His son, exiled to Canada, wants his father to visit, so he hires a young female travel agent to help the old man make arrangements; the father takes a shine to her, though his means of showing affection make her increasingly uncomfortable. Souren Mnatsakanian gives a wonderful, poker-faced lead performance and director Barzegar (Parviz) fashions a deadpan visual style to match . . . The unexpected plot twists provide some genuine shocks” (Ben Sachs, Chicago Reader). SUNDAY, OCTOBER 22 – 8:15 PM THURSDAY, OCTOBER 26 – 6:30 PM
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AT ALE
OF SPRINGTI
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A TA LE OF WINTER
ERIC ROHMER’S
Tales of the Four Seasons
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erhaps no other filmmaker has mined the interior moral life with more success – and more wit, irony, and intelligence – than Eric Rohmer (1920-2010). His sublime cinema navigates the gaps that exist between our thoughts, our feelings, and our actions – the differences between what we think and what we feel, between what we say and what we do. It is an intimate, literate, and remarkably nuanced cinema, revealing an artist with the deftness and depth of a great novelist, an artist more than worthy of the impressive literary comparisons (Stendhal, Balzac, Pascal, Jane Austen, Henry James et al.) so often invoked to describe his work. Between 1990 and 1998, a still-prolific Rohmer demonstrated the vitality of his exquisite, exceedingly-refined talents by producing a quartet of seasonally-set comedies that rivals his finest work – no small feat for a vintage cineaste in his 70s! Entitled Tales of the Four Seasons (Contes des quatre saisons), the cycle finds the inimitable auteur at perhaps his most engaging and exploratory, spinning delicately-crafted tales of chance encounters and romantic roundelays that, unlike some of his earlier offerings, sidestep any clear-cut moral positioning. Elegantly shot in the director’s soft, signature style, with each film attuned to the distinct visual palette of its season, this final thematic series from late Rohmer features enchanting turns by returning actresses Marie Rivière, Béatrice Romand, and Amanda Langlet. .
A Tale of Springtime (Conte de printemps)
France 1990. Dir: Eric Rohmer. 108 min. DCP
Eric Rohmer inaugurated Tales of the Four Seasons, a new cycle of his sophisticated moral parables, with this delightful, elegant comedy of manners. A Tale of Springtime is set to the music of Beethoven and Schumann, and unfolds in chic Paris apartments and a Fontainebleau country house. Natasha, an 18-year-old music student, meets Jeanne, a pretty young philosophy teacher, at a party, and decides to manoeuvre her new friend into the arms of her divorced father, whose current mistress Natasha can’t stand. As always in Rohmer, gestures, intonations, and seemingly causal dialogue become the stuff of a remarkably nuanced, novelistic analysis of motives, meaning, and interior moral life. And, à la earlier Rohmer films such as My Night at Maud’s and Claire’s Knee, there’s plenty of delicious philosophizing going on as well. “Radiantly alive . . . An essential work from a director who, magically, keeps his vision fresh” (Michael Wilmington, Los Angeles Times). SATURDAY, OCTOBER 14 – 6:30 PM SATURDAY, OCTOBER 21 – 8:40 PM
A Tale of Winter (Conte d’hiver)
France 1992. Dir: Eric Rohmer. 114 min. DCP
“A nearly perfect work, in performance as well as execution” (Jonathan Rosenbaum, Chicago Reader), Eric Rohmer’s late-career triumph is among the writer-director’s most articulate, affecting, and earnest explorations of love and faith, in an oeuvre replete with variations on those themes. Either a Christian parable or an ode to cosmic coincidence – or some medley of both – Rohmer’s wintry romance centres on Félicie (Charlotte Véry), a single mother and Parisian coiffeuse who, five years earlier, had a passionate affaire de cœur while on vacation that ended with a botched exchange of addresses and a baby en route. Now Félicie finds she’s unable to choose between two committed suitors – her burly, no-nonsense boss and an intellectual librarian – believing, against reason, that her lost love will return. Shakespeare’s The Winter's Tale factors in, as do the sublime, heart-lifting pleasures of Rohmer’s The Green Ray, the film’s closest cousin. “This is Rohmer at his very best” (Geoff Andrew, Time Out). SATURDAY, OCTOBER 14 – 8:40 PM FRIDAY, OCTOBER 20 – 6:30 PM
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A SU MMER'S TALE
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ROHMER IN RETROSPECT! This exhibition of Eric Rohmer’s Tales of the Four Seasons is part of an ongoing Rohmer retrospective being presented at The Cinematheque in 2017. Rohmer’s Six Moral Tales screened in our March/April program and his Comedies and Proverbs screened in June.
A Summer’s Tale (Conte d’été)
France 1996. Dir: Eric Rohmer. 113 min. DCP
The third film in Rohmer’s sublime Four Seasons cycle reunites the veteran auteur with Amanda Langlet, the sun-kissed teen heroine of Pauline at the Beach, for another beguiling, beachside tale of jeune amour. Gaspard (Melvil Poupaud), one of the few male protagonists in late Rohmer, is a young, handsome, completely self-absorbed musician holidaying in Brittany for the summer.Awaiting the arrival of his not-quite girlfriend Léna – more a “habit of coincidence,” he clarifies – Gaspard begins courting the affections of sweet, smart, ethnology student Margot (a never-better Langlet), and then Margot's smitten friend. Léna, of course, shows up, pushing the moppy-haired romancer to choose between his three surprise suitresses. Repartee, per usual in Rohmer, only deflects from the emotional honesty so needed of the snowballing situation. “A masterpiece . . . One of Rohmer’s very best films, and also one of the ’90s very best films” (David Ehrlich, A.V. Club). SUNDAY, OCTOBER 15 – 6:30 PM FRIDAY, OCTOBER 20 – 8:40 PM
A Tale of Autumn (Conte d’automne)
France 1998. Dir: Eric Rohmer. 111 min. DCP
A twilight hit for the French master, then in his late-70s, Rohmer's A Tale of Autumn is the fetching final entry in his Tales of the Four Seasons quartet. Winner of the Best Screenplay prize at Venice – the delectable dialogue is, as ever, something to savour – it features the return of seasoned regulars Béatrice Romand (A Good Marriage, Claire’s Knee) and Marie Rivière (The Aviator’s Wife, The Green Ray), two of the director’s most trusted, talented actresses. Romand, absolutely radiant, is Magali, a middle-aged widow and winemaker in the Rhone valley of southern France; Rivière is her best friend Isabelle, happily wed and eager to play matchmaker when Magali admits to feeling lonely. A personal ad is placed, but a competing cupid already has a prospective beau in the wings. Romantic confusion ensues, bien sûr. “At once complex and gentle . . . One of the best films of Rohmer’s career” (Jonathan Rosenbaum, Chicago Reader). SUNDAY, OCTOBER 15 – 8:40 PM SATURDAY, OCTOBER 21 – 6:30 PM
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Few (if any) filmmakers can deep-dive the darkness like Mr. David Lynch. In an oeuvre with no shortage of blood-curdling moments (think Bob behind the bed in Twin Peaks; think the derelict behind the diner in Mulholland Drive), our money’s on Lost Highway, Lynch’s 1997 acid trip to Hell, as the director’s most all-out terrifying picture. This Halloween, break out the black nail polish and join The Cinematheque for a 35mm revival of that freak-out film, along with screenings of two seminal ‘60s art-house horrors that helped shape Lynch’s surreal and oh-so-scary cinema: Ingmar Bergman’s haunting Hour of the Wolf, and Herk Harvey’s B-movie creeper Carnival of Souls.
Halloween Part Tuesday, October 31
Cash Bar, The Dark Eighties DJ Set + Lynch’s Lost Highway 7:00 pm – Goth, Industrial, Cult ‘80s Dance Party 8:30 pm – Lost Highway Get your goth on at our Damn Scary! Halloween party, featuring a cash bar, a 90-minute DJ set by the Astoria’s über-popular Dark Eighties night, and a 35mm screening of David Lynch’s darkest nightmare, Lost Highway. Torn fishnets, caked faces, and blackest black apparel encouraged. 19+ Tickets: $15 in advance; $20 at the door No membership required No passes will be accepted for this event
35mm Print!
Lost Highwa USA/France 1997. Dir: David Lynch. 134 min. 35mm
“Dick Laurent is dead.” Untangling the mystery behind that cryptic message is just one of the deranged delights of Lost Highway, David Lynch’s terrifying, polarizing, Möbius-strip of a horror flick. Its bifurcated story, co-written by Barry Gifford (who penned the source material for Lynch’s Palme d’Or-winning Wild at Heart), begins straightforwardly enough: Fred (Bill Pullman), a jazz saxophonist who suspects his wife (Patricia Arquette) of infidelity, starts receiving ominous VHS tapes shot from inside the couple’s LA home. The mindfuckery commences when Lynch flips the lid and transforms Fred into a young, ‘50s-style greaser (Balthazar Getty) in deep with the mob and the mob-boss’s wife (Arquette again). Sandwiched between the unfairly-derided Twin Peaks prequel and the much-exalted Mulholland Drive, the director’s seventh – and scariest – film feels like a fever-dream of Lynchian extremes: part Black Lodge horror, part neo-noir puzzle box. Trent Reznor produced the Industrial-heavy soundtrack, de rigueur in ’90s CD collections. “A true horror film . . . Absolutely terrifying for reasons that you understand and don’t” (Dennis Lim). FRIDAY, OCTOBER 27 – 6:30 PM SATURDAY, OCTOBER 28 – 6:30 PM SUNDAY, OCTOBER 29 – 8:10 PM TUESDAY, OCTOBER 31
Damn Scary! Halloween Party 7:00 pm - The Dark Eighties DJ Set 8:30 pm - Lost Highway 19 + only. Special ticket prices in effect.
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New Restoration!
Hour of the Wolf (Vargtimmen)
Sweden 1968. Dir: Ingmar Bergman. 93 min. DCP
A hallucinatory descent into the depths of madness, Swedish master Ingmar Bergman’s dark, disturbing horror film – his only full-blown entry in the genre – had a palpable influence on the celluloid nightmares of David Lynch, an avowed admirer. Shot on the island of Fårö (as with so many of the Swede’s finest), it stars Bergman stand-in Max von Sydow as Johan, a tortured artist haunted by demons of the past, made ostensibly flesh at his eerily-isolated, coastal hermitage. Liv Ullmann, Bergman’s perennial muse and then-lover, is Johan’s scared, pregnant wife, on the brink of unravelling herself. The film’s Gothic tenor, owed largely to Sven Nykvist’s moody B&W cinematography, was inspired by Tod Browning’s Dracula; the island’s otherworldly apparitions are the forebears of Lynch’s. “Brilliant . . . A dazzling flow of surrealism, expressionism, and full-blooded Gothic horror” (Tom Milne, Time Out). FRIDAY, OCTOBER 27 – 9:00 PM SATURDAY, OCTOBER 28 – 4:30 PM MONDAY, OCTOBER 30 – 6:30 PM
Carnival of Souls USA 1962. Dir: Herk Harvey. 78 min. DCP
Who knew Utah could be so . . . macabre! The only theatrical film from Kansas-based industrial-moviemaker Herk Harvey is a delectably creepy, B-horror masterwork that, thanks to decades of late-night television reruns, has amassed a considerable cult following! Cheating death in a car crash, a young, faithless woman relocates to Salt Lake City for a job as a church organist, and is soon tormented by a chilling, chalk-faced apparition (an un-credited Harvey) with strange ties to an abandoned carnival pavilion outside town. Masking its near-nil budget with technical ingenuity and oodles of European-inspired ambiance – the acknowledged influence of Bergman and Cocteau writ large – Carnival of Souls pioneered the indie horror film years before George A. Romero’s Night of the Living Dead proved they could turn a profit (RIP George). David Lynch’s white-faced, blackattired bogeymen originate here! “Chill-up-the-spine cinema . . . An existential horror cheapie” (Joe Brown, Washington Post). SATURDAY, OCTOBER 28 – 9:00 PM SUNDAY, OCTOBER 29 – 6:30 PM MONDAY, OCTOBER 30 – 8:30 PM
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SUN TICKETS
3
MON
4
Vancouver Latin American Film Festival
Canada on Screen
La bête lumineuse + Very Nice, Very Nice – 7:00 pm
August 25-September 3
TUES
5
WED
6
Day–of tickets go on sale at the Box Office 30 minutes before the first show of the evening. Advance tickets are available for credit card purchase at theCinematheque.ca ($1 service charge applies). Events, times, and prices are subject to change without notice.
The Cinematheque is recognized as an exempt non–profit film society under the B.C. Motion Picture Act, and as such is able to screen films that have not been reviewed by the B.C. Film Classification Office. Under the act, all persons attending cinematheque screenings must be members of the Pacific Cinémathèque Pacifique Society and be 18 years of age or older, unless otherwise indicated.
SEPTEMBER
10
11
Lina Wertmüller
Seven Beauties – 6:30 pm
Lina Wertmüller
Behind the White Glasses – 6:30 pm
The Seduction of Mimi – 8:45 pm
Water – 6:30 pm
17
18
Scott Pilgrim vs. the World – 1:00 pm
Lina Wertmüller
Swept Away – 6:30 pm
8
SAT
9
Lina Wertmüller
Seven Beauties – 6:30 pm The Seduction of Mimi – 8:45 pm
Lina Wertmüller
Behind the White Glasses – 4:30 pm The Seduction of Mimi – 6:30 pm Seven Beauties – 8:40 pm
12
13
Canada on Screen
The Decline of the American Empire – 6:30 pm
14
Contemporary Iranian Cinema
Malaria – 6:30 pm
15
16
Lina Wertmüller Swept Away – 6:30 pm
Love and Anarchy – 8:45 pm
I’m Not Angry! – 8:15 pm
Lina Wertmüller Love and Anarchy – 6:30 pm
Swept Away – 9:00 pm
À tout prendre – 8:30 pm
19
Lina Wertmüller
All Screwed Up – 6:30 pm
GUEST
20
Frames of Mind
Juanicas – 7:30 pm
21
DOXA + The Cinematheque
Ada for Mayor – 7:00 pm
22
23
Lina Wertmüller
All Screwed Up – 6:30 pm
Swept Away – 8:40 pm
Love and Anarchy – 8:45 pm
Contemporary Iranian Cinema
The Indie Filmmakers Lab 2017
FRI
Premiere Screening – 7:00 pm
A Married Couple – 8:40 pm
Seven Beauties – 8:30 pm
Cinema Sunday
7
Canada on Screen
vlaff.org
HOW TO BUY TICKETS
THURS
Summer Night – 8:40 pm
Lina Wertmüller
Ferdinando and Carolina – 6:30 pm All Screwed Up – 8:40 pm
I’m Not Angry! – 4:15 pm Malaria – 6:30 pm
ALL SCREENINGS ARE RESTRICTED TO 18+ UNLESS OTHERWISE INDICATED $3 ANNUAL MEMBERSHIP REQUIRED FOR THOSE 18+
24
theCinematheque.ca IN THIS ISSUE
25
Canada on Screen
La vraie nature de Bernadette – 4:30 pm
Lina Wertmüller
Summer Night – 6:30 pm
26
Ferdinando and Carolina – 8:30 pm
Life Classes – 7:00 pm
1
Canada on Screen
J.A. Martin photographe – 6:30 pm
Studio – 7:30 pm
Vancouver International Film Festival
4
Vancouver International Film Festival
5
6
7
13
14
September 28–October 13 viff.org
8
11
10
9
ERIC ROHMER 8–9
Vancouver International Film Festival
DAMN SCARY! 10–11
September 28–October 13
12
viff.org
CANADA ON SCREEN 14–20
CHAN CENTRE CONNECTS 21
30 viff.org
CONTEMPORARY IRANIAN CINEMA 6–7
DOXA + THE CINEMATHEQUE 21
29 September 28–October 13
LINA WERTMÜLLER 2–5
THE INDIE FILMMAKERS LAB 2017 6-7
28
DIM Cinema
Pour la suite du monde – 8:30 pm
3
2
27
15
Cinema Sunday
GUEST
The Whale – 1:00 pm
16
Canada on Screen
Men for Sale – 7:00 pm
Canada on Screen
FRAMES OF MIND 22
17
18
GUEST
Frames of Mind
Constance on the Edge – 7:30 pm
19
OCTOBER Chan Centre Connects
Katyar Kaljat Ghusali – 7:00 pm
20
A Tale of Winter – 6:30 pm
21
A Tale of Autumn – 8:40 pm
Contemporary Iranian Cinema
23
My Brother Khosrow – 6:30 pm Rated G
Canada on Screen
Warrendale – 6:30 pm
24
25
DIM Cinema
Lives of Performers – 7:30 pm
The Things I Cannot Change + Hunger – 8:30 pm
A Very Ordinary Citizen – 8:15 pm
Rated PG
26
Contemporary Iranian Cinema
A Very Ordinary Citizen – 6:30 pm My Brother Khosrow – 8:30 pm
27
Damn Scary!
28
SEVEN BEAUTIES
29
Canada on Screen
Little Aurore’s Tragedy – 4:00 pm Damn Scary!
Carnival of Souls – 6:30 pm Lost Highway – 8:10 pm
30
Damn Scary!
Hour of the Wolf – 6:30 pm Carnival of Souls – 8:30 pm
31
Damn Scary! Halloween Party
The Dark Eighties DJ Set – 7:00 pm Lost Highway – 8:30 pm
19+ | $15 in advance; $20 at the door
1
Hour of the Wolf – 4:30 pm
Hour of the Wolf – 9:00 pm
Lost Highway – 6:30 pm
Canada on Screen
Le vieux pays où Rimbaud est mort – 6:30 pm Elvis Gratton + Very Nice, Very Nice + La lutte – 8:40 pm
Damn Scary!
Lost Highway – 6:30 pm
Rated 14A
BACKGROUND IMAGE:
A Tale of Autumn – 6:30 pm
A Summer’s Tale – 6:30 pm
22
Rated R
Eric Rohmer
A Tale of Springtime – 8:40 pm
Eric Rohmer
CINEMA SUNDAY 23
Rated 18A
A Tale of Springtime – 6:30 pm A Tale of Winter – 8:40 pm
A Summer’s Tale – 8:40 pm
Tit-Coq – 4:30 pm
DIM CINEMA 22
Eric Rohmer
Eric Rohmer
NOVEMBER
Carnival of Souls – 9:00 pm
SUN TICKETS
3
MON
4
Vancouver Latin American Film Festival
Canada on Screen
La bête lumineuse + Very Nice, Very Nice – 7:00 pm
August 25-September 3
TUES
5
WED
6
Day–of tickets go on sale at the Box Office 30 minutes before the first show of the evening. Advance tickets are available for credit card purchase at theCinematheque.ca ($1 service charge applies). Events, times, and prices are subject to change without notice.
The Cinematheque is recognized as an exempt non–profit film society under the B.C. Motion Picture Act, and as such is able to screen films that have not been reviewed by the B.C. Film Classification Office. Under the act, all persons attending cinematheque screenings must be members of the Pacific Cinémathèque Pacifique Society and be 18 years of age or older, unless otherwise indicated.
SEPTEMBER
10
11
Lina Wertmüller
Seven Beauties – 6:30 pm
Lina Wertmüller
Behind the White Glasses – 6:30 pm
The Seduction of Mimi – 8:45 pm
Water – 6:30 pm
17
18
Scott Pilgrim vs. the World – 1:00 pm
Lina Wertmüller
Swept Away – 6:30 pm
8
SAT
9
Lina Wertmüller
Seven Beauties – 6:30 pm The Seduction of Mimi – 8:45 pm
Lina Wertmüller
Behind the White Glasses – 4:30 pm The Seduction of Mimi – 6:30 pm Seven Beauties – 8:40 pm
12
13
Canada on Screen
The Decline of the American Empire – 6:30 pm
14
Contemporary Iranian Cinema
Malaria – 6:30 pm
15
16
Lina Wertmüller Swept Away – 6:30 pm
Love and Anarchy – 8:45 pm
I’m Not Angry! – 8:15 pm
Lina Wertmüller Love and Anarchy – 6:30 pm
Swept Away – 9:00 pm
À tout prendre – 8:30 pm
19
Lina Wertmüller
All Screwed Up – 6:30 pm
GUEST
20
Frames of Mind
Juanicas – 7:30 pm
21
DOXA + The Cinematheque
Ada for Mayor – 7:00 pm
22
23
Lina Wertmüller
All Screwed Up – 6:30 pm
Swept Away – 8:40 pm
Love and Anarchy – 8:45 pm
Contemporary Iranian Cinema
The Indie Filmmakers Lab 2017
FRI
Premiere Screening – 7:00 pm
A Married Couple – 8:40 pm
Seven Beauties – 8:30 pm
Cinema Sunday
7
Canada on Screen
vlaff.org
HOW TO BUY TICKETS
THURS
Summer Night – 8:40 pm
Lina Wertmüller
Ferdinando and Carolina – 6:30 pm All Screwed Up – 8:40 pm
I’m Not Angry! – 4:15 pm Malaria – 6:30 pm
ALL SCREENINGS ARE RESTRICTED TO 18+ UNLESS OTHERWISE INDICATED $3 ANNUAL MEMBERSHIP REQUIRED FOR THOSE 18+
24
theCinematheque.ca IN THIS ISSUE
25
Canada on Screen
La vraie nature de Bernadette – 4:30 pm
Lina Wertmüller
Summer Night – 6:30 pm
26
Ferdinando and Carolina – 8:30 pm
Life Classes – 7:00 pm
1
Canada on Screen
J.A. Martin photographe – 6:30 pm
Studio – 7:30 pm
Vancouver International Film Festival
4
Vancouver International Film Festival
5
6
7
13
14
September 28–October 13 viff.org
8
11
10
9
ERIC ROHMER 8–9
Vancouver International Film Festival
DAMN SCARY! 10–11
September 28–October 13
12
viff.org
CANADA ON SCREEN 14–20
CHAN CENTRE CONNECTS 21
30 viff.org
CONTEMPORARY IRANIAN CINEMA 6–7
DOXA + THE CINEMATHEQUE 21
29 September 28–October 13
LINA WERTMÜLLER 2–5
THE INDIE FILMMAKERS LAB 2017 6-7
28
DIM Cinema
Pour la suite du monde – 8:30 pm
3
2
27
15
Cinema Sunday
GUEST
The Whale – 1:00 pm
16
Canada on Screen
Men for Sale – 7:00 pm
Canada on Screen
FRAMES OF MIND 22
17
18
GUEST
Frames of Mind
Constance on the Edge – 7:30 pm
19
OCTOBER Chan Centre Connects
Katyar Kaljat Ghusali – 7:00 pm
20
A Tale of Winter – 6:30 pm
21
A Tale of Autumn – 8:40 pm
Contemporary Iranian Cinema
23
My Brother Khosrow – 6:30 pm Rated G
Canada on Screen
Warrendale – 6:30 pm
24
25
DIM Cinema
Lives of Performers – 7:30 pm
The Things I Cannot Change + Hunger – 8:30 pm
A Very Ordinary Citizen – 8:15 pm
Rated PG
26
Contemporary Iranian Cinema
A Very Ordinary Citizen – 6:30 pm My Brother Khosrow – 8:30 pm
27
Damn Scary!
28
SEVEN BEAUTIES
29
Canada on Screen
Little Aurore’s Tragedy – 4:00 pm Damn Scary!
Carnival of Souls – 6:30 pm Lost Highway – 8:10 pm
30
Damn Scary!
Hour of the Wolf – 6:30 pm Carnival of Souls – 8:30 pm
31
Damn Scary! Halloween Party
The Dark Eighties DJ Set – 7:00 pm Lost Highway – 8:30 pm
19+ | $15 in advance; $20 at the door
1
Hour of the Wolf – 4:30 pm
Hour of the Wolf – 9:00 pm
Lost Highway – 6:30 pm
Canada on Screen
Le vieux pays où Rimbaud est mort – 6:30 pm Elvis Gratton + Very Nice, Very Nice + La lutte – 8:40 pm
Damn Scary!
Lost Highway – 6:30 pm
Rated 14A
BACKGROUND IMAGE:
A Tale of Autumn – 6:30 pm
A Summer’s Tale – 6:30 pm
22
Rated R
Eric Rohmer
A Tale of Springtime – 8:40 pm
Eric Rohmer
CINEMA SUNDAY 23
Rated 18A
A Tale of Springtime – 6:30 pm A Tale of Winter – 8:40 pm
A Summer’s Tale – 8:40 pm
Tit-Coq – 4:30 pm
DIM CINEMA 22
Eric Rohmer
Eric Rohmer
NOVEMBER
Carnival of Souls – 9:00 pm
Canada on Screen
Canada à l’écran
A year-long program celebrating Canada’s 150th birthday and its rich cinematic heritage
Une année complète de programmation célébrant le 150e anniversaire du Canada et la richesse de son patrimoine cinématographique
The Cinematheque is proud to celebrate Canada’s 2017 sesquicentennial with Canada on Screen, an exciting national initiative co-produced by TIFF, The Cinematheque, Library and Archives Canada, and the Cinémathèque québécoise. Canada on Screen is the most ambitious retrospective of Canada’s moving-image heritage ever mounted. In honour of Canada’s 150th birthday, a list of Canada’s 150 essential moving-image works, based on a countrywide poll of critics, scholars, and industry professionals, has been compiled across nine categories: feature films, documentaries, shorts, animation, experimental film and video, moving-image installations, music videos, commercials, and television shows. These 150 masterworks, many of them newly restored, will be made available to Canadians everywhere in 2017. A full list of the essential 150 is available at tiff.net/canadaonscreen Throughout the year, The Cinematheque will be presenting special free screenings showcasing many of these 150 works. Please join us and discover – or rediscover – the breadth, boldness, and wealth of Canada’s cinema history, a remarkable cultural legacy.
The Cinematheque est fière de célébrer en 2017 les 150 ans du Canada avec Canada à l’écran, une initiative nationale stimulante coproduite par le TIFF, The Cinématheque, Bibliothèque et Archives Canada et la Cinémathèque québécoise. Canada à l’écran est la rétrospective consacrée au patrimoine cinématographique et vidéographique canadien la plus ambitieuse jamais organisée. En l’honneur du 150e anniversaire du pays, une liste de 150 œuvres canadiennes essentielles a été établie selon un groupe pancanadien de critiques, de chercheurs et de membres de l’industrie. Elles sont présentées en neuf catégories : longs métrages de fiction, documentaires, courts métrages, films et vidéos expérimentaux, installations vidéo, vidéoclips, films publicitaires et émissions de télévision. Ces 150 œuvres, dont plusieurs ont fait l’objet d’une restauration récente, seront présentées aux Canadiens partout au pays en 2017. Une liste complète des 150 œuvres essentielles est disponible ici : tiff.net/canadaonscreen. Tout au long de l’année, The Cinematheque présentera gratuitement des séances de projection spéciales mettant en vedette plusieurs de ces 150 œuvres. Venez découvrir – ou redécouvrir – avec nous la portée, l’audace et la richesse de l’histoire cinématographique canadienne et de son héritage culturel.
Acknowledgment As we commemorate Canada 150, The Cinematheque acknowledges that Vancouver is located on the unceded lands of the Coast Salish peoples, including the traditional territories of the Musqueam, Squamish, and Tsleil-Waututh First Nations. Reconnaissance Tandis que nous soulignons le 150e anniversaire du Canada, The Cinematheque reconnaît que Vancouver est située sur les terres ancestrales des Salish du littoral, y compris les territoires traditionnels des nationsdes nations Musqueam, Squamish, et Tsleil-Waututh.
14
Free Admission!
Entrée gratuite!
La bête lumineuse
La bête lumineuse
(The Shimmering Beast)
(The Shimmering Beast)
Canada 1982. Dir: Pierre Perrault. 127 min. DCP
Canada 1982. Réal. : Pierre Perrault. 127 min. DCP
“An all-male hunting trip becomes the occasion for a portrait of male savagery in this documentary by legendary Québécois poet, filmmaker, and anthropologist Pierre Perrault. Perrault follows nine men on a week-long trip in rural Quebec, charting the social dynamics of this diverse group and how the men relate to each other. One among them — an earnest, philosophical teacher and poet — is so out of place that he soon becomes an even more pathetic victim of testosteronedriven persecution than the moose the men have come to kill. La bête lumineuse marked a decisive left turn from the lyrical films (including Pour la suite du monde) that brought Perrault international acclaim, but the director defended this raw, unsparing work as his most beautiful” (TIFF/Canada on Screen).
« Signé par le légendaire poète, cinéaste et anthropologue québécois Pierre Perrault, ce documentaire sur un voyage de chasse rempli de testostérone devient un portrait saisissant de la barbarie au masculin. Perrault suit neuf hommes pendant un week-end passé dans le Québec rural, captant la dynamique sociale de ce groupe diversifié et les rapports interpersonnels. L’un d’entre eux – un poète et professeur de philosophie – n’est particulièrement pas à sa place, si bien qu’il devient une victime de persécution encore plus pathétique que l’orignal qu’ils sont tous venus chasser. La bête lumineuse a marqué un tournant décisif dans le corpus de Perrault, rompant avec les œuvres plus lyriques (comme Pour la suite du monde) qui ont entraîné sa renommée internationale. Mais ce film brut et sans compromis était considéré par le réalisateur comme sa plus belle œuvre. » (TIFF/Canada à l’écran)
preceded by précédé de
Very Nice, Very Nice
Very Nice, Very Nice
The Oscar-nominated first film by Arthur Lipsett, a member of the NFB’s animation unit, is a pioneering work of experimental collage, fashioning found images and sound outtakes into a suggestive, satirical critique of contemporary society. Stanley Kubrick was a fan.
Nommé aux Oscars, le premier film d’Arthur Lipsett, membre du studio d’animation de l’ONF, est une œuvre phare du cinéma expérimental qui fait appel au collage d’images et de sons trouvés pour former une critique satirique de notre société contemporaine. Stanley Kubrick était un admirateur.
Canada 1961. Dir: Arthur Lipsett. 7 min. DCP
Canada 1961. Réal. : Arthur Lipsett. 7 min. DCP
MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 4 – 7:00 PM LUNDI 4 SEPTEMBRE – 19 H
Free Admission!
Entrée gratuite!
Water
Water
Toronto director Deepa Mehta’s Oscar-nominated Hindi-language feature had to be shot in secrecy in Sri Lanka after angry Hindu fundamentalists burned down the sets of her original production in India. Set in Varanasi in the 1930s, against the backdrop of Gandhi’s rise to prominence, the film takes place in an ashram where widows young and old, including an eightyear-old girl, are forced to live out their lives as impoverished outcasts. Canadian actress Lisa Ray plays an exploited young widow who rebels against such an unhappy fate. “Water combines a humanist message, political courage, and visual poetry in a way not seen since the death of Satyajit Ray” (The Economist). “A magnificent film” (Salman Rushdie).
Après que des fondamentalistes hindous aient incendié ses plateaux de tournage en Inde, la réalisatrice torontoise Deepa Mehta a dû tourner son long métrage en langue hindi au Sri Lanka, dans le plus grand secret. Se déroulant dans un ashram à Varanasi dans les années 1930, avec pour toile de fond l’ascension de Gandhi, ce film mis en nomination aux Oscars suit des veuves de tous les âges, y compris une jeune fille de huit ans, qui sont forcées de vivre en exil dans la misère. L’actrice canadienne Lisa Ray incarne une jeune veuve exploitée qui se rebelle contre son malheureux sort. « Water combine un message humaniste, un courage politique et une poésie visuelle d’une manière jamais vue depuis le décès de Satyajit Ray. » (The Economist) « Un film magnifique. » (Salman Rushdie)
WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 6 – 6:30 PM
MERCREDI 6 SEPTEMBRE – 18 H 30
Canada/India 2005. Dir: Deepa Mehta. 114 min. 35mm
Canada/Inde 2005. Réal. : Deepa Mehta. 114 min. 35 mm
Entrée gratuite!
Free Admission!
A Married Couple
A Married Couple
Canada 1969. Réal. : Alan King. 96 min. DVD
Canada 1969. Dir: Alan King. 96 min. DVD
Allan King’s classic (and controversial) fly-on-the-wall portrait of a marriage in crisis is a landmark of direct-cinema documentary. It captures the troubled relationship of Toronto couple Billy and Antoinette Edwards, upwardly-mobile former bohemians who – apparently uninhibited by the presence of King’s film crew – squabble about everything: sex, money, the car, their son Bogart, even how to use a vacuum. How much of this conflict is being “acted out” for the benefit of the camera is an issue raised by all of King’s ground-breaking, boundary-bending “actuality dramas.” The film was shot by noted cinematographer Richard Leiterman – like King, an alumnus of CBC Vancouver. “Makes John Cassavetes’s Faces look like early Doris Day” (Time).
Réalisé par Allan King, ce portrait classique (et controversé) d’un mariage en crise est devenu une œuvre clé du cinéma direct. Il capte la relation houleuse de Billy et Antoinette Edwards, un couple torontois qui, après un passé bohémien, s’est hissé dans la haute société. Manifestement peu dérangés par la présence de l’équipe de King, ils se disputent à propos de tout : la sexualité, l’argent, la voiture, leur fils Bogart et même l’usage de l’aspirateur. Dans quelles proportions ce conflit estil « joué » pour la caméra? Voilà une question qui est suscitée par tous les « drames d’actualité » avant-gardistes avec lesquels King a joué avec les frontières des genres filmiques. A Married Couple fait appel au directeur photo Richard Leiterman qui, comme King, est issu de la CBC à Vancouver. « Ce film fait passer Faces de Cassavetes pour les débuts de Doris Day. » (Time)
WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 6 – 8:40 PM MERCREDI 6 SEPTEMBRE – 20 H 40
LA BETE LUMINEUSE
VERY NICE, VERY NICE
A MARRIED COUPLE WATER
15
THE DECLINE OF THE AMERICAN EMPIRE
À TOUT PRENDRE
LA VRAIE NATURE DE BERNADETTE
Free Admission!
Entrée gratuite!
The Decline of the American Empire
Le déclin de l’empire américain
(Le déclin de l’empire américain) Canada 1986. Dir: Denys Arcand. 101 min. Blu-ray Disc
Denys Arcand’s marvellous comedy-drama was the most celebrated Canadian film of the 1980s – at least until Jesus of Montreal, Arcand’s follow-up, three years later! A group of Montreal intellectuals gather for a pleasant evening of fine dining and lively conversation – mostly about sex and sexual politics. As confessions pour forth, façades fall and feelings get bruised. The title refers to a theory, espoused by one character, that inordinate emphasis on individual happiness is symptomatic of a society in decline. Made from a sparkling satirical script and a featuring a superb ensemble cast, Arcand’s ironic portrait of hedonistic baby boomers (and apolitical post-referendum Quebec society) was Oscar nominated, won eight Genies, and received the FIPRESCI prize at Cannes. WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 13 – 6:30 PM
(The Decline of the American Empire) Canada 1986. Réal. : Denys Arcand. 101 min. Blu-ray Disc
Cette géniale comédie dramatique de Denys Arcand a été le film canadien le plus célèbre des années 1980… jusqu’à la sortie, trois ans plus tard, de Jésus de Montréal, son film suivant! Réunis autour d’un bon repas, des intellectuels montréalais entretiennent de vives conversations qui portent principalement sur la sexualité et les politiques sexuelles. Le titre du film renvoie à la théorie soutenue par l’un d’entre eux, qui suggère qu’une société qui met l’emphase sur le bonheur individuel en est une en déclin. Réalisé à partir d’un brillant scénario satirique et mettant en scène une distribution remarquable, le portrait ironique que brosse Arcand de l’hédonisme des baby-boomers (et de la génération apolitique du Québec post-référendaire) a été mis en nomination aux Oscars. Il a aussi reçu huit prix Génie et le Prix de la FIPRESCI à Cannes. MERCREDI 13 SEPTEMBRE – 18 H 30
Free Admission! New Restoration!
Entrée gratuite! Nouvelle copie restaurée!
À tout prendre
À tout prendre
(All Things Considered / Take It All)
(All Things Considered / Take It All)
Canada 1963. Dir: Claude Jutra. 99 min. DCP
Canada 1963. Réal. : Claude Jutra. 99 min. DCP
The free-spirited first feature of Quebec master Claude Jutra (Mon oncle Antoine) is an autobiographical tale made in the improvisational mode of the French New Wave. Jutra himself plays a restless young Montreal man confronting his homosexuality while ending his relationship with a beautiful Haitian-Canadian woman (Johanne Harrelle, Jutra’s ex). The work, impressive for its freshness and spontaneity, and daring for its treatment of several then-forbidden topics, won the 1964 Canadian Film Award for Best Feature. François Truffaut has a cameo. “A landmark film. It brought together a direct style, a personal voice, independent production, and an intellectualism that was poles apart from the popular culture and commercial cinema of the day” (David Clandfield, Canadian Film).
Ce premier film du maître québécois Claude Jutra (Mon oncle Antoine) est un récit autobiographique faisant appel à l’improvisation, à la manière de la Nouvelle Vague française. Jutra lui-même incarne un jeune Montréalais qui est confronté à son homosexualité après avoir mis fin à sa relation avec une magnifique femme canado-haïtienne (Johanne Harrelle, l’ex de Jutra). Impressionnante de par sa fraîcheur, sa spontanéité et l’audace avec laquelle elle aborde des tabous de l’époque, l’œuvre a remporté le Prix du meilleur film au Palmarès du film canadien en 1964. « Un film pionnier. Il adoptait un style direct, une voix personnelle, un mode de production indépendant et un intellectualisme qui étaient si éloignés de la culture populaire et du cinéma commercial de l’époque. » (David Clandfield, Canadian Film).
WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 13 – 8:30 PM
MERCREDI 13 SEPTEMBRE – 20 H 30
Free Admission! New Restoration!
Entrée gratuite! Nouvelle copie restaurée!
La vraie nature de Bernadette
La vraie nature de Bernadette
(The True Nature of Bernadette)
(The True Nature of Bernadette)
Canada 1972. Dir: Gilles Carle. 115 min. DCP
Canada 1972. Réal. : Gilles Carle. 115 min. DCP
“Gilles Carle’s absurd, trenchant allegory is recognized as one of the greatest Québécois films of the 1970s. Acidly commenting on the hippie-derived back-to-the-land movement, it opens as the title character, a disgruntled housewife (legendary actress and filmmaker Micheline Lanctôt), leaves her husband and the city behind and, with her child in tow, heads out to experience the simpler, purer pleasures of country life. In short order, she winds up prostituting herself to old men in order to live, all the while arguing that the country is naturally pure and that she’s made the right decision. Nearly 50 years after its premiere, Bernadette retains its capacity to shock, disturb, and amuse” (TIFF/Canada on Screen).
« Cette allégorie absurde et tranchante créée par Gilles Carle figure parmi les plus grands films québécois des années 1970. Avec un commentaire acerbe sur le mouvement de retour à la terre dérivant de la période hippie, le film s’ouvre sur le départ de son personnage principal, une femme au foyer mécontente incarnée par l’actrice et cinéaste légendaire Micheline Lanctôt. Avec son enfant, celle-ci quitte son mari et la ville pour aller goûter aux plaisirs plus purs et plus simples de la vie de campagne. Mais elle finit par devoir se prostituer auprès d’hommes plus âgés afin de survivre, tout en continuant de soutenir la pureté de la campagne et son choix d’y vivre. Près de 50 ans après sa première, le film est toujours aussi surprenant, dérangeant et amusant. » (TIFF/Canada à l’écran)
SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 24 – 4:30 PM DIMANCHE 24 SEPTEMBRE – 16 H 30
16
Free Admission!
Entrée gratuite!
Life Classes
Life Classes
The winning second feature from Newfoundland-born, Halifaxbased William MacGillivray, one of Atlantic Canada’s most important filmmakers, is a humorous, engaging, and insightful celebration of the life-affirming qualities of art. Mary, a young single mother from Cape Breton, moves to Halifax, where she struggles to support herself and her child. Taking a job as a nude model at the local art college, she discovers, as she gradually comes into her own, that her true vocation is on the other side of the canvas, as a painter. Newfoundland native Jacinta Cormier gives a wonderfully authentic performance in the lead. MacGillivray’s memorable film is full of marvellous sequences, including some sardonic fun at the expense of the art world.
Originaire de Terre-Neuve, mais désormais basé à Halifax, William MacGillivray figure parmi les plus importants réalisateurs des Maritimes. Son second film, qui a reçu plusieurs prix, est une célébration humoristique, stimulante et révélatrice du pouvoir de réalisation de soi que peut procurer l’art. Mary, une jeune mère célibataire du Cap-Breton, s’installe à Halifax, où elle éprouve de la difficulté à subvenir à ses besoins et à ceux de son enfant. Embauchée pour poser nue dans les cours d’art du collège local, elle découvre graduellement sa propre fibre artistique et sa place de l’autre côté du canevas, en tant que peintre. L’actrice Jacinta Cormier, née à Terre-Neuve, livre une performance d’une magnifique authenticité dans le rôle principal. Le mémorable film de MacGillivray est rempli de superbes séquences, dont certaines contiennent des plaisanteries sardoniques sur le monde artistique.
Canada 1987. Dir: William D. MacGillivray. 117 min. DCP
SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 24 – 7:00 PM
Canada 1987. Réal. : William D. MacGillivray. 117 min. DCP
DIMANCHE 24 SEPTEMBRE – 19 H
Free Admission!
J.A. Martin photographe (J.A. Martin Photographer)
Entrée gratuite!
J.A. Martin photographe
Canada 1976. Dir: Jean Beaudin. 101 min. DCP
(J.A. Martin Photographer)
Canadian actress Monique Mercure (Naked Lunch, The Red Violin) was named Best Actress at Cannes in 1977 for her performance in Jean Beaudin’s much-honoured J.A. Martin photographe, an evocative, nostalgic, painterly work recounting the journeys of a travelling photographer (Marcel Sabourin) and his strong-willed, proto-feminist wife through the backwoods of turn-of-the-20thcentury Quebec. The work also won seven Canadian Film Awards in 1977 and was named one of the ten best Canadian films of all time in a 1984 poll. Robert Altman, impressed by Pierre Mignot’s beautiful images, engaged the Montreal cinematographer on nine films. “An extraordinarily convincing portrait . . . One of the best films ever produced by the NFB” (Peter Morris, The Film Companion).
Canada 1976. Réal. : Jean Beaudin. 101 min. DCP
TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 26 – 6:30 PM
La Canadienne Monique Mercure (Le festin nu, Le violon rouge) a reçu en 1977 le Prix de la meilleure actrice à Cannes pour sa performance dans J.A. Martin photographe, de Jean Beaudin. Dans ce film évocateur, nostalgique et pictural se déroulant en région éloignée du Québec, au tournant du 20e siècle, elle joue le rôle de l’épouse déterminée et préféministe d’un photographe en déplacement (Marcel Sabourin). Lauréate de sept prix du Palmarès du film canadien en 1977, l’œuvre a aussi été sélectionnée parmi les 10 meilleurs films canadiens de tous les temps lors d’un sondage mené en 1984. Impressionné par les magnifiques images de Pierre Mignot, Robert Altman a recruté ce directeur photo montréalais pour neuf de ses films. « Un portrait extraordinairement convaincant… L’un des meilleurs films jamais produits par l’ONF. » (Peter Morris, The Film Companion) MARDI, 26 SEPTEMBRE – 18 H 30
Free Admission!
Entrée gratuite!
Pour la suite du monde
Pour la suite du monde
(For Those Who Will Follow)
(For Those Who Will Follow)
Canada 1963. Dirs: Pierre Perrault, Michel Brault. 105 min. DCP
Canada 1963. Réal. : Pierre Perrault, Michel Brault. 105 min. DCP
Pierre Perrault and Michel Brault’s direct-cinema masterpiece, the first Canadian film invited to compete at Cannes, records the inhabitants of Île-aux-Coudres, Quebec, as they revive (with the filmmakers’ encouragement) their traditional practice of beluga whale hunting. The lyrical portrait of time-honoured ways proved enormously popular with Quebecers; the work was named “Film of the Year” and received a Special Award – “in recognition of its visual qualities, perceptions, and artistry”– at the 1964 Canadian Film Awards. In 1984, it was voted one of the ten best Canadian films of all time. “A major development in direct cinema away from simple observation to more immediate participation and a greater emphasis on the words of the people portrayed” (Peter Morris, The Film Companion).
Signé Pierre Perrault et Michel Brault, ce chef-d’œuvre du cinéma direct – et le tout premier film canadien présenté en compétition à Cannes – suit les habitants de l’Île-aux-Coudres (Québec) tandis qu’ils revisitent la tradition de la chasse aux marsouins. Ce portrait lyrique des pratiques d’autrefois a été très populaire auprès des Québécois : il a été nommé « Film de l’année » et a reçu une mention spéciale « pour ses qualités visuelles, son regard et sa qualité artistique » au Palmarès du film canadien en 1964. En 1984, il a aussi été voté parmi les 10 meilleurs films canadiens de tous les temps. « Un pas majeur dans l’évolution du cinéma direct, de l’observation simple à une participation plus immédiate et à une plus grande emphase sur les paroles des personnes présentées. » (Peter Morris, The Film Companion)
TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 26 – 8:30 PM
MARDI 26 SEPTEMBRE – 20 H 30
POUR LA SUITE DU MONDE
J.A. MARTIN PHOTOGRAPHE LIFE CLASSES PHOTO CREDIT: DAVID MIDDLETON
17
WARRENDALE
MEN FOR SALE
TIT-COQ
Free Admission! New Restoration!
Entrée gratuite! Nouvelle copie restaurée!
Tit-Coq
Tit-Coq
Adapted from a hugely popular 1948 play by Gratien Gélinas, the godfather of French-Canadian theatre, this beloved Québécois classic was the first feature to win Best Film honours at the Canadian Film Awards. Gélinas himself co-directs and stars in the heartrending tale of an awkward, irreverent soldier ashamed of his “illegitimate” birth. Longing for companionship, Tit-Coq falls for Marie-Ange (Monique Miller), sister of an army buddy, but war intervenes to separate the lovers. Made and set in a Quebec of repressive social and religious mores, Tit-Coq was ground-breaking for its use of the vernacular and its championing of common folk and social outcasts, paving the way for later Québécois social realists such as Michel Tremblay.
Cette adaptation d’une populaire pièce créée en 1948 par Gratien Gélinas, le parrain du théâtre québécois, est devenue un grand classique au Québec et le premier long métrage à remporter le Prix du meilleur film au Palmarès du film canadien. Coréalisateur, Gélinas incarne aussi le personnage principal de cette bouleversante histoire, un soldat irrévérencieux, malhabile et honteux de son statut d’enfant « illégitime ». En quête de compagnie, Tit-Coq s’éprend de Marie-Ange (Monique Miller), la sœur d’un ami soldat, mais la guerre finit par les séparer. Tourné et campé au Québec, à une époque où régnaient la répression sociale et la religion, Tit-Coq a marqué un tournant important dans l’histoire du cinéma : son usage de la langue vernaculaire et sa manière de dépeindre les gens ordinaires ou les marginaux ont pavé la voie pour d’autres artistes réalistes du Québec, dont Michel Tremblay.
Canada 1953. Dir: René Delacroix, Gratien Gélinas. 101 min. DCP
SUNDAY, OCTOBER 15 – 4:30 PM
Canada 1953. Réal. : René Delacroix, Gratien Gélinas. 101 min. DCP
DIMANCHE 15 OCTOBRE – 16 H 30
Free Admission!
Men for Sale (Hommes à louer) Canada 2009. Dir: Rodrigue Jean. 144 min. DCP
“When it was released in 2009, Rodrigue Jean’s powerful and uncompromising documentary about Montreal’s male prostitution industry sent shock waves through the media, as well as the Quebec documentary establishment. The director and his crew, which included social workers, set up a small studio in the CentreSud neighbourhood, where young male prostitutes (many of whom were drug addicts) visited at their leisure to tell their harrowing stories about life on the streets. Filled with painful testimonies, Men for Sale forces viewers to confront an aspect of the human condition from which many would wish to turn away” (Guillaume Lafleur, Canada on Screen digital catalogue). MONDAY, OCTOBER 16 – 7:00 PM
Entrée gratuite!
Hommes à louer (Men for Sale) Canada 2009. Réal. : Rodrigue Jean. 144 min. DCP
« Réalisé en 2009 par Rodigue Jean, ce documentaire puissant et sans compromis portant sur l’industrie de la prostitution masculine à Montréal a créé une onde de choc à la fois dans les médias et dans le monde du documentaire québécois. Le réalisateur et son équipe, qui comprenait des travailleurs sociaux, ont mis en place un petit studio dans le quartier Centre-Sud, où de jeunes prostitués (dont plusieurs toxicomanes) pouvaient venir au moment voulu pour raconter leurs histoires déchirantes sur la vie dans la rue. Rempli de témoignages douloureux, Hommes à louer nous confronte à un aspect de la condition humaine qui inciterait plusieurs à détourner le regard. (Guillaume Lafleur, catalogue numérique de Canada à l’écran) LUNDI 16 OCTOBRE – 19 H
Free Admission!
Warrendale
Canada 1967. Dir: Allan King. 100 min. DVD
Allan King’s explosive “actuality drama,” shot at a Toronto home for emotionally disturbed children, is an essential work of modern documentary, and established the Vancouver-born director’s international reputation; French master Jean Renoir called King “a great artist.” The film follows 12 youths as they receive a controversial experimental treatment that involves raging while being tightly held. CBC commissioned the project but opted not to show it, due to its highly-charged content and profane language. Warrendale found success at Cannes and won three major Canadian Film Awards. “A remarkable demonstration of how close the ‘flyon-the-wall’ approach can bring viewers to the interior worlds of a film’s subjects” (Seth Feldman, Canada on Screen digital catalogue). MONDAY, OCTOBER 23 – 6:30 PM
Entrée gratuite!
Warrendale
Canada 1967. Réal. : Allan King. 100 min. DVD
Tourné dans une résidence torontoise destinée aux enfants présentant des troubles affectifs, ce « drame d’actualité » explosif d’Allan King est un jalon essentiel du cinéma documentaire moderne. Responsable de la renommée internationale du réalisateur de Vancouver, que Jean Renoir a qualité de « grand artiste », ce film suit 12 jeunes recevant un traitement expérimental controversé, qui consiste notamment à laisser libre cours à leur rage tout en étant étroitement retenus. La CBC a commandé ce documentaire, mais a décidé de ne pas le diffuser en raison de son contenu très sensible et de la vulgarité du langage employé. Warrendale a toutefois connu du succès à Cannes et a remporté trois prix majeurs au Palmarès du film canadien. « Une démonstration remarquable de la manière dont l’observation sans intervention peut rapprocher les spectateurs du monde intérieur des sujets du film. » (Seth Feldman, catalogue numérique de Canada à l’écran) LUNDI 23 OCTOBRE – 18 H 30
18
THE THINGS I CANNOT CHANGE
LITTLE AURORE'S TRAGEDY
HUNGER
Free Admission!
Entrée gratuite!
The Things I Cannot Change
The Things I Cannot Change
Canada 1967. Dir: Tanya Ballantyne Tree. 55 min. DCP
Young Montreal filmmaker Tanya Ballantyne Tree’s observational documentary, a powerful account of urban poverty, proved a flashpoint for debates around documentary ethics. Commissioned by the NFB, and inspired by the U.S.’s “War on Poverty,” the film records the tribulations of the Baileys, an 11-member family contending with cramped quarters, an empty fridge, social workers, police visits, and the imminent birth of another child. Kenneth, the troubled patriarch, is voluble and not camera shy; the family complained, after the film aired on CBC, that the notoriety harmed them. This forerunner of the NFB’s Challenge for Change program inspired the Board to explore new, more “democratic” methods of documentary participation, particularly with subjects from deprived or marginalized communities. preceded by
Canada 1967. Réal. : Tanya Ballantyne Tree. 55 min. DCP
Regard-choc sur la pauvreté en milieu urbain, ce documentaire d’observation de Tanya Ballantyne Tree, une jeune cinéaste montréalaise, a été au centre de débats sur l’éthique documentaire. Commandé par l’ONF et inspiré de la « War on Poverty » américaine, le film suit les tribulations de la famille Bailey, dont les 11 membres entassés dans un petit logis sont aux prises avec un réfrigérateur vide, des travailleurs sociaux, des visites de policiers et la naissance imminente d’un nouvel enfant. Kenneth, le patriarche instable, est volubile et extraverti, et la famille s’est plainte de la notoriété acquise après la diffusion par la CBC. L’œuvre pionnière de Société Nouvelle, un programme de l’ONF, a incité l’Office à adopter de nouvelles méthodes de participation documentaire plus « démocratiques », en particulier lorsque les films portent sur des sujets issus de communautés marginalisées ou dans le besoin. précédé de
Hunger (La faim) Canada 1974. Dir: Peter Foldès. 11 min. DCP
A pioneering work of computer animation, Hungarian-born Peter Foldès’s wordless tale of gluttony in a world of widespread hunger was produced by the National Film Board of Canada and made with technology developed at the National Research Council. The film won a Jury Prize at Cannes and was nominated for an Oscar. MONDAY, OCTOBER 23 – 8:30 PM
La faim (Hunger) Canada 1974. Réal. : Peter Foldès. 11 min. DCP
Le cinéaste d’origine hongroise Peter Foldès, un pionnier de l’animation par ordinateur, a réalisé cette fable sans paroles sur la gourmandise dans un contexte de famine généralisée. Produit par l’Office national du film, le court métrage a été créé avec une technologie développée par le Conseil national de recherches du Canada. Il a remporté le Prix du jury du Festival de Cannes et été mis en nomination pour un Oscar. LUNDI 23 OCTOBRE – 20 H 30
Free Admission! New Restoration!
Little Aurore’s Tragedy (La petite Aurore, l’enfant martyre) Canada 1952. Dir: Jean-Yves Bigras. 102 min. DCP
A harrowing melodrama about a young girl’s suffering at the hands of her monstrous stepmother, this notorious film was a pop phenomenon in Quebec and helped establish the province’s nascent film industry. The tale was based on a real-life case from 1920 (the Aurore Gagnon affair) that fascinated Quebecers for decades, becoming the subject of a hit stage play and several novels. The film’s sensationalistic treatment of the subject treads into the territory of exploitation cinema. Cultural critics in Quebec have often pondered why Aurore’s story – its backdrop the repressed, hide-bound, Church-dominated, rural society of Quebec pre-Quiet Revolution– had such a hold on the collective imagination. Directed by NFB veteran Jean-Yves Bigras. SUNDAY, OCTOBER 29 – 4:00 PM
Entrée gratuite! Nouvelle copie restaurée!
La petite Aurore, l’enfant martyre (Little Aurore's Tragedy) Canada 1952. Réal. : Jean-Yves Bigras. 102 min. DCP
Ce mélodrame déchirant portant sur les souffrances infligées à une jeune fille par sa monstrueuse belle-mère a acquis une notoriété phénoménale au Québec et a participé à la naissance de l’industrie cinématographique de la province. Basé sur des faits réels survenus en 1920 (l’affaire Aurore Gagnon), le récit a fasciné les Québécois pendant plusieurs décennies, donnant lieu à une populaire pièce de théâtre et à plusieurs romans. Le traitement sensationnaliste du sujet se rapproche du cinéma d’exploitation, et les critiques ont souvent abordé l’immense impact qu’ont eu l’histoire d’Aurore et son contexte – la répression et la mainmise de l’Église dans la campagne québécoise avant la Révolution tranquille – sur l’imaginaire collectif. Réalisé par Jean-Yves Bigras, un vétéran de l’ONF. DIMANCHE 29 OCTOBRE – 16 H
19
ELVIS GRATTON
VERY NICE, VERY NICE
LA LUTTE
LE VIEUX PAYS OÙ RIMBAUD EST MORT
Free Admission! New Restoration!
Entrée gratuite! Nouvelle copie restaurée!
Le vieux pays où Rimbaud est mort
Le vieux pays où Rimbaud est mort
(The Old Country Where Rimbaud Died)
(The Old Country Where Rimbaud Died)
Canada/France 1977. Dir: Jean-Pierre Lefebvre. 114 min. DCP
Canada/France 1977. Réal. : Jean Pierre Lefebvre. 114 min. DCP
An eccentric Montrealer makes a pilgrimage to France, the land of his ancestors – “The Old Country Where Rimbaud Died” – in this contemplative, poetic, visually-assured work by Jean Pierre Lefebvre, one of the greats independent talents of Québécois cinema in the 1960s and 70s. Abel (Marcel Sabourin) is on a quest “to see if there were still Frenchmen in France, to see if they resembled me.” Travelling from Paris to Charleville (Rimbaud’s birthplace) to Marseille (Rimbaud’s place of death), he has off-beat encounters with a cab driver, a haute bourgeoisie family, and two lonely women, and learns that the France he seeks no longer exists. This was the second of three acclaimed films Lefebvre made with Sabourin as Abel.
Dans cette œuvre poétique, contemplative et visuellement maîtrisée, un Montréalais excentrique effectue un pèlerinage en France, la terre de ses ancêtres. Jean Pierre Lefebvre, l’un des grands cinéastes indépendants québécois des années 1960 et 1970, met en scène la quête d’Abel (Marcel Sabourin) « pour voir s’il y a encore des Français en France et s’ils me ressemblent ». Voyageant de Paris à Charleville (lieu de naissance de Rimbaud), puis à Marseille (son lieu de décès), Abel fait des rencontres décalées avec un chauffeur de taxi, une famille de la haute bourgeoisie et deux femmes esseulées, tout en découvrant que la France qu’il cherche n’existe plus. Il s’agit du deuxième des trois films à succès de Lefebvre où Sabourin incarne Abel.
WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 1 – 6:30 PM
MERCREDI 1ER NOVEMBRE – 18 H 30
Elvis Gratton
Elvis Gratton
Political provocateur Pierre Falardeau and collaborator Julien Poulin’s gleefully vulgar satirical short spawned several sequels and a TV sitcom. Made in the aftermath of Quebec’s 1980 independence referendum, it features Poulin as a suburban Montreal businessman with reactionary, pro-American political views and a passion for impersonating Vegas-era Elvis.
Créé après le Référendum de 1980 par Pierre Falardeau, un cinéaste politique provocateur, et son collaborateur Julien Poulin, ce court métrage satirique et joyeusement vulgaire a donné lieu à diverses suites au cinéma ainsi qu’à une comédie de situation à la télévision. Poulin y joue un homme d’affaires banlieusard aux opinions politiques réactionnaires et pro-américaines qui se passionne pour l’imitation d’Elvis dans sa période à Las Vegas.
Canada 1981. Dirs: Pierre Falardeau, Julien Poulin. 31 min. DCP
Canada 1981. Réal. : Pierre Falardeau, Julien Poulin. 31 min. DCP
preceded by précédé de
Very Nice, Very Nice Canada 1961. Dir: Arthur Lipsett. 7 min. DCP
The Oscar-nominated first film by Arthur Lipsett, a member of the NFB’s animation unit, is a pioneering work of experimental collage, fashioning found images and sound outtakes into a suggestive, satirical critique of contemporary society. Stanley Kubrick was a fan.
+ La lutte (Wrestling) Canada 1961. Dirs: Michel Brault, Marcel Carrière, Claude Fournier, Claude Jutra. 28 min. DCP
This wry, revealing look at the rituals of pro wrestling in Montreal was made collectively by some of our country’s finest filmmaking talents, and stands with Gilles Groulx and Marcel Brault’s Les raquetteurs as a foundational work of direct cinema in Canada. Screening order: Very Nice, Very Nice, La lutte, Elvis Gratton
Very Nice, Very Nice Canada 1961. Réal. : Arthur Lipsett. 7 min. DCP
Nommé aux Oscars, le premier film d’Arthur Lipsett, membre du studio d’animation de l’ONF, est une œuvre phare du cinéma expérimental qui fait appel au collage d’images et de sons trouvés pour former une critique satirique de notre société contemporaine. Stanley Kubrick était un admirateur.
+ La lutte (Wrestling) Canada 1961. Réal. : Michel Brault, Marcel Carrière, Claude Fournier, Claude Jutra. 28 min. DCP
Ce regard ironique et révélateur sur les rituels de la lutte professionnelle à Montréal est une création collective signée par plusieurs des meilleurs cinéastes du pays. Aux côtés du film Les raquetteurs de Gilles Groulx et Michel Brault, il s’agit de l’une des plus grandes œuvres du cinéma direct canadien.
WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 1 – 8:40 PM
Ordre de présentation : Very Nice, Very Nice, La lutte, Elvis Gratton MERCREDI 1ER NOVEMBRE – 20 H 40
20
DOXA AND THE CINEMATHEQUE “Of great importance and timeliness . . . Ada for Mayor’s arrival could not be more fitting.” – Alejandro Veciana, MUBI Notebook “An essential film.” – Adrian Mack, The Georgia Straight DOXA Documentary Film Festival and The Cinematheque present
Ada for Mayor (Alcaldessa)
Spain 2016. Dir: Pau Faus. 86 min. DCP
When the 2012 economic crisis struck Europe, one of the most deeply affected countries was Spain. The collapse of the housing market and mass foreclosures left almost 1.4 million people in danger of losing their homes. In Barcelona, housing-rights activists were on the frontlines of the battle, and at their helm was Ada Colau, a fiery and passionate social justice advocate, who, three years later, would become the mayor of Barcelona. Ada for Mayor is the incredible story of Colau’s journey from radical grassroots activist to principled politician. As Ada attempts to mould herself into a new role without compromising her values, we witness what is possible when passion, conviction, and dedication converge. The implications for Vancouver, caught in its own housing crisis, could not be more relevant and timely. – DOXA THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 21 – 7:00 PM
This screening of Ada for Mayor is part of an ongoing series of new documentaries co-presented by DOXA Documentary Film Festival and The Cinematheque. doxafestival.ca
CHAN CENTRE CONNECTS Katyar Kaljat Ghusali (A Dagger Through the Heart) India 2015. Dir: Subodh Bhave. 162 min.
Based on a popular Indian play of the same name, this musical drama, set during the British Raj, tells of a longstanding rivalry between two renowned Hindustani classical singers in competition for the status of “royal singer”— a prestigious title that comes with a special dagger and a promise from the Maharaja of a pardon for a single murder! The film, a work of contemporary Marathi cinema, features musical numbers from the original 1967 play as well as newly composed music, and stars Mumbai-based singer Shankar Mahadevan. Mr. Mahadevan performs at the Chan Centre for the Performing Arts on October 28 as part of “Zakir Hussain and Dave Holland: Crosscurrents.” THURSDAY, OCTOBER 19 – 7:00 PM
This special screening of Katyar Kaljat Ghusali is presented in conjunction with the concert performance “Zakir Hussain and Dave Holland: Crosscurrents,” at the Chan Centre for the Performing Arts on Saturday, October 28, at 8:00 pm. 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. For more information on these events, please visit chancentre.com/connects www.chancentre.com
21
THE WHALE
Cinema Sunday An Afternoon Film Program for Children and Their Families
$6 Children & Youths (under 18) $9 Adults (Cinematheque membership not required) In celebration of Canada’s big 150 (or sesquicentennial), Cinema Sunday patriotically presents “Made in Canada,” a yearlong engagement with family films hailing from the True North! Each month, we’ll screen an all-ages movie that showcases Canada’s extraordinary, diverse talents – both in front of and behind the camera – as well as the cities, landscapes, and cultures that make this country our home. Films will be introduced by Vancouver film history teacher and critic Michael van den Bos.
Scott Pilgrim vs. the World USA 2010. Dir: Edgar Wright. 112 min. DCP
Genre-flipping English filmmaker Edgar Wright’s fun, frenetic, full-tilt comic-book movie is not technically a card-carrying Canadian film, but it might as well be! Set and shot all over Toronto, based on a series of cult graphic novels by London, Ontario’s Bryan Lee O’Malley, and featuring Brampton-born man-boy Michael Cera in the title role – to say nothing of its Metric and Broken Social Scene songs! – Scott Pilgrim is the rare American production that parades its Canadian connections. The movie, a pyrotechnic mash-up of goldenage Nintendo aesthetics, anime action, and arcade-style level upping, pits slacker band-bassist Scott Pilgrim against a legion of his new girlfriend’s ticked-off ex-boyfriends. (Jason Schwartzman is especially slimy as the final boss, a corporate record exec.) Rounding out the cast are pre-breakout stars Anna Kendrick, Aubrey Plaza, and Chris Evans. “A delightful package of cinematic Pop Rocks” (Dana Stevens, Slate). SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 17 – 1:00 PM
Filmmakers in Attendance!
The Whale
Canada 2011. Dirs: Suzanne Chisholm, Michael Parfit. 85 min. HDCAM
A family-oriented animal documentary that doesn’t skimp on the big, philosophical issues posed by its subject, The Whale traces the remarkable, real-life tale of an orphaned orca who befriends a small, seaside community off the west coast of Vancouver Island. Narrated and co-produced by B.C.’s own Ryan Reynolds, the film – a reworking of the earlier doc, Saving Luna – offers a compassionate, even-handed look at the thorny situation that arose in Nootka Sound when a two-year-old “killer whale,” nicknamed Luna, sought human companionship after being separated from his pod. All want what’s best for Luna, but what is best for Luna? Disagreement over that central question becomes a cause célèbre when the feds enact a relocation plan, objected to by the Mowachaht/ Muchalaht First Nation of Nootka Sound, who believe Luna is a reincarnated band chief. “Thoughtful and moving . . . An engaging contribution to our evolving understanding of other species’ emotional lives” (Sheri Linden, Los Angeles Times). Suzanne Chisholm and Michael Parfit, co-directors of The Whale, will join us in person to introduce the film and answer audience questions after the screening. SUNDAY, OCTOBER 15 – 1:00 PM
22
SCOTT PILGRIM VS. THE WORLD
CONSTANCE ON THE EDGE
A Monthly Mental Health Film Series Presented by The Cinematheque and the Institute of Mental Health, UBC Department of Psychiatry
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, accompanied by presentations and audience discussions, are held on the third Wednesday of each month. Series directed by Dr. Harry Karlinsky, Director of Public Education, Department of Psychiatry, University of British Columbia. Programmed by Caroline Coutts, film curator, filmmaker, and programmer of “Frames of Mind” since its inception in September 2002.
Vancouver Premiere!
Vancouver Premiere!
Juanicas
Constance on the Edge
“On the day that her brother Juan returns to his family home in Montréal from a trip to Mexico, Karina Garcia Casanova begins filming. But this is no incidental home movie. Like his mother, Juan (affectionately known as Juanicas) has a history of mental illness that has occasionally tilted into violence. The real-life drama that unfolds turns out to be a singularly heartbreaking and riveting account of living with bipolar disorder as a family disease. Complicating matters further is Casanova’s own unsettled history as a Spanish-speaking child who grew up in Montreal with a difficult single mother. Her extraordinary first film is at once an unflinching testament to that legacy and a moving document of surviving it” (Geoff Pevere, Rendezvous with Madness). “Deeply affecting, offering a unique and bracingly intimate look at the ravages and collateral damage of mental illness” (T’Cha Dunlevy, Montreal Gazette).
Fleeing their home in war-torn Sudan, Constance Okot and her six children endured ten years in the Kakuma Refugee Camp in Kenya before being granted humanitarian visas to Australia. Resettled in rural Wagga Wagga, Constance met director Belinda Mason. What followed was a ten-year quest for acceptance and healing documented by Mason and her all-female crew, resulting in an authentic and intimate portrait of one family’s efforts to feel at home in an unfamiliar place. Dealing with the consequences of trauma and displacement, Constance struggles to adapt and to overcome a crippling depression. While one of her children is accepted into university, another wrestles with drug addiction. Although pushed to “the edge,” Constance remains an indomitable force – a charismatic and resilient woman determined to do whatever it takes to ensure a better life for her children.
Post-screening discussion with Margaret Drewlo and Keturah Wong.
Post-screening discussion with Kirby Huminuik and Frank Kohn.
Canada/Mexico 2014. Dir: Karina Garcia Casanova. 78 min. Blu-ray disc
Australia 2016. Dir: Belinda Mason. 80 min. DCP
Kirby Huminuik, a Registered Clinical Counsellor, holds a Certificate in Global Mental Health from the Harvard Program in Refugee Trauma and has long worked with refugees and survivors of torture and political violence.
Margaret Drewlo has a doctorate in Clinical Psychology and is a Clinical Counsellor in the field of suicide intervention and suicide bereavement with the SAFER programme, Vancouver Coastal Health Authority.
Frank Kohn has a Master of Science in Social Work from Columbia University and is the Executive Director of the Vancouver Association for Survivors of Torture (VAST), B.C.’s largest centre for refugee mental health.
Keturah Wong, a Clinical Counsellor with a Master of Science in Mental Health Counselling, has worked in the area of suicide prevention with adults, children, new immigrants and refugees, and sexual assault survivors.
Moderated by Dr. Harry Karlinsky, Clinical Professor, Department of Psychiatry, University of British Columbia.
Moderated by Dr. Harry Karlinsky, Clinical Professor, Department of Psychiatry, University of British Columbia.
Co-sponsored by the University of British Columbia and the Vancouver Immigration Partnership, City of Vancouver.
Co-presented by the Rendezvous with Madness Film Festival with support from the Canada Council for the Arts. Rendezvous, the world’s first and largest mental health film festival, has been produced annually in Toronto since 1993.
WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 18 – 7:30 PM
Co-sponsored by SAFER - Suicide Attempt Follow-Up Education & Research. ANN TRUITT, WORKING.
WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 20 – 7:30 PM
Image copyright of the artist, courtesy of Video Data Bank, www.vdb.org, School of the Art Institute of Chicago.
Moving-image art in dialogue with cinema www.dimcinema.ca Programmed by Michèle Smith, co-editor of Drawing Room Confessions.
Studio This month DIM Cinema arranges a series of studio visits, beginning with Jem Cohen’s short portrait of the sculptor Ann Truitt (1921-2004) and ending with the ceremonial liberation of Jay DeFeo’s painting The White Rose, weighing over 2,300 pounds, from her second-floor studio in San Francisco. In between, and in their respective studios, Sarah Pucill plays with the blinds, Bruce Nauman walks in an exaggerated manner, and Ken Jacobs goes psychological-psychedelic. The story of two artists and one studio is told in Babette Mangolte’s Edward Krasiński’s Studio. In the 1960s, Krasiński was invited by Henryk Stażewski to share space in Warsaw; after Stażewski’s death, Krasiński created an installation in situ as a shrine to his friend. Ann Truitt, Working | Jem Cohen/USA 2009. 13 min. Blind Light | Sarah Pucill/Great Britain 2007. 22 min. A Loft | Ken Jacobs/USA 2010. Silent. 17 min. Walking in an Exaggerated Manner Around the Perimeter of a Square | Bruce Nauman/USA 1968. Silent. 10 min. Edward Krasiński’s Studio | Babette Mangolte/Poland-USA 2012. 30 min. The White Rose | Bruce Conner/USA 1967. 7 min. WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 27 – 7:30 PM
Lives of Performers USA 1972. Dir: Yvonne Rainer. 90 min. 16mm
The first feature by legendary choreographer Yvonne Rainer, soon to become a prominent independent filmmaker, observes a love triangle between three dancers from various points of view. This genre-defying but now classic experimental film was shot by Babette Mangolte (whose work is featured in September's DIM Cinema program) and uses various stylistic devices – rehearsal vs performance, fiction vs nonfiction, dialogue vs intertitles, objective vs subjective descriptions, diegetic vs non-diegetic sound – to document, in the director’s words, “the spectacle of a group of people intensely involved in a kind of work, in the task of performing.” Watch for the final sequence, which recapitulates the Louise Brooks vehicle Pandora’s Box (1929) in a series of tableaux vivants. WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 25 – 7:30 PM
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DAYMÉ AROCENA
The Blind Boys of Alabama with Ben Heppner I SEP 23 The Gloaming I OCT 15 Zakir Hussain and Dave Holland: Crosscurrents I OCT 28 Ruthie Foster, Jimmie Dale Gilmore, and Carrie Rodriguez I NOV 8 The Jazz Epistles: Abdullah Ibrahim and Hugh Masekela I FEB 18
ALL PERFORMANCES ON SALE NOW! SUBSCRIBE AND SAVE UP TO 25%
Lila Downs I MAR 10 Daymé Arocena and Roberto Fonseca I APR 15 Circa: Opus I APR 28
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Program Notes: Jim Sinclair, additional program notes by Shaun Inouye Advertising: Lizzie Brotherston Proofreading: Lizzie Brotherston Design: Marc Junker
STAFF Executive + Artistic Director: Jim Sinclair Acting Managing Director: Lindsey Wasserman Managing Director: Kate Ladyshewsky (on leave) Operations + Programming Associate: Shaun Inouye Communications + Marketing Manager: Lizzie Brotherston Education Manager: Liz Schulze Education + Outreach Coordinator: Tash King Venue Operations Manager: Linton Murphy Assistant Theatre Managers: Sarah Bakke, Gabi Dao, Aryo Khakpour, Emma Pollard, Paige Smith Head Projectionist: Al Reid Relief Projectionists: Ryan Ermacora Tim Fernandes, Jessica Johnson, Ron Lacheur, Cassidy Penner, Helen Reed, Film Archive Resident: Olivia Babler
Distribution: Hazel Ackner, Horacio Bach, Michael Demers, Gail Franko, Jeff Halladay, Alan Kollins, Martin Lohmann, Lynn Martin, Vincent Tao, Matthew Shields, Lora Tanaka, Vanessa Turner, Harry Wong, Sungpil Yoon Office: Jo B., Betty-Lou Phillips Education: Michael van den Bos
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BOARD OF DIRECTORS Chair: Jim Bindon Vice Chair: David Legault Members: Moshe Mastai, Erin Mussolum, Wynford Owen, Tim Reeve, Eric Wyness Front Cover Image: Lina Wertmüller MEDIA SPONSOR
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