The Feature Films
Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai
Capitol 6:
Friday, February 4, 7:00 pm
Sunday, February 6, 12:30 pm
Western Canadian Premiere
116 minutes
Directed by Jim Jarmusch
USA
Forest Whitaker (The Crying Game) stars as Ghost Dog, a high tech assassin for the mafia. In addition to his arsenal of ultra modern weaponry, he keeps an ancient text of the Way of the Samurai as his bible. He has also pledged eternal allegiance to an aging Mafia hood who once saved his life. The Mafia family, filled with familiar faces from the 70's, is indeed showing the wear and tear of passing years. They're behind on their rent, and when they go to make a hit they huff and puff their way up the stairs. When the Mafia family crosses Ghost Dog, he reacts in true samurai style.
A comedic jaunt through the mind of Jim Jarmusch (Down by Law, Night on Earth), Ghost Dog: Way of the Samurai is full of quirky characters embroiled in a unique gangster movie that simultaneously maintains and breaks with tradition. An enjoyable twist to relationships comes from Ghost Dog's friend and ally Raymond, a French speaking ice-cream vendor whose conversations with Ghost Dog are unintelligible to each and understood by both. Film buffs will enjoy the liberally spread references to literature, politics and other cinematic works that have influenced Jarmusch. As bizarre as Ghost Dog gets, Jarmusch always maintains a respect for the integrity of his characters and the intelligence of his audience.
Quote: "The delightfully absurdist quality of Jarmusch's humor is evident in every frame". Peter Brunette, Cinema Scope
Stampede Eats Me Up Inside
4 minutes
Directed by Trevor Mahovsky
B.C.
Two boys ready for action head down to the Calgary Stampede, a cornucopia of rides, food and girls. "When I see the Stampede grounds through the spinning arms of the Ferris Wheel, flashing like the frames in a film, I think "This is my fountainhead."
Me Myself I
Capitol 6:
Saturday, February 5, 9:30 pm
Wednesday, February 9, 9:30 pm
Western Canadian Premiere
104 minutes
Directed by Pip Karmel
USA/France
As her birthday approaches thirty-something Pamela Drury (Rachel Griffiths) examines the life she has chosen as a single, career focused writer for a popular monthly magazine. Though she appears to have it all, she finds the loneliness unbearable, and can't help wondering if she made the right decision in not marrying her one true love when he proposed to her 13 years ago.
Things take a drastic turn when 'what could have been' literally runs her over. In a reality warp Pamela finds herself in the role of housewife to her high school sweetheart (David Roberts) and mother of two small boys and one adolescent teen girl. As she adjusts to her new role as Mom, so must her family adjust to Mom's new found assertiveness. What ensues is a comedic yet poignant look at the choices we make and the might-have beens that surround those choices.
In shooting Me Myself I, the cast and crew faced the unique challenge of creating the same characters in two different worlds. This was achieved through an exceptionally strong cast, inspired lighting, design and the cinematic style of veteran cinematographer Graeme Lind (Whiplash, Age of Consent). Rachel Griffith does a masterful job of Pamela One and Pamela Two that emphasizes both the gulf between their circumstances and their common self.
Me Myself I is a touching character driven story that will leave you feeling uplifted without the saccharine aftertaste of a "feel good" movie.
Quote: "Destiny always makes the right choice for you" producer Fabien Liron
The Rememberer
10 minutes
Directed by Coreen Mayrs
B.C.
The story of a young woman coping with the loss of her lover, whose melancholy view of our modern, "thought ridden" world leads to his mysterious physical transformation.
Judy Berlin
Capitol 6:
Friday, February 4, 9:30 pm
Saturday, February 5, 12:30 pm
Western Canadian Premiere
96 minutes
Directed by Eric Mendelsohn
USA
A young woman, Judy Berlin, (Edie Falco) prepares to embark on a journey to L.A. to pursue an acting career. On the day she is about to leave, Judy encounters a friend from high school, David, freshly returned from LA and embittered by his own experiences there. An unusually prolonged solar eclipse plunges them into an eerie twilight. Throughout the town relationships between people intensify and erupt, smolder and rekindle. David's father is teetering on the edge of an affair with a sad, lonely co-worker. His high maintenance wife (Madeline Kahn) sees the day/night of the eclipse as a magic new world and goes exploring the neighbourhood as though it were outer space.
The dialogue is purposely pedestrian and all the funnier for it, while offering a penetrating look at the banality of most people's lives but it's always respectful, never snotty or condescending. Full of wonder and wit, Judy Berlin transforms the familiar terrain of American suburbia into an eccentric landscape filled with a dark and unexpected beauty.
Quote: "Filled with an ironic sense of humour and a poetic feeling for life's little moments" KENNETH TURAN/ LOS ANGELES TIMES
Tidbit Box: Best Director 1999 Sundance Film Festival
Sergalio
World Premiere
13.5 minutes
Directed Gail Lerner and Colin Campbell
A charmer! A suburban housewife's day is disrupted by the discovery of a rather odd item in a cabbage patch.
Dropouts
The Vic Theatre: Friday, February 4, noon
Capitol 6: Saturday, February 5, 3:00 pm
Western Canadian Premiere
105 minutes
Directed by Will Wissink
Holland
Dennis, Stefan and Gina are homeless and on the run from the ghosts of their pasts. Individually they each try to survive the hardships of Amsterdam. As a counterpoint to the story the European Heads of State have gathered in Amsterdam to debate the future of European unity. Entire streets are blocked off for security reasons and the shelters are packed with Eastern European tourists pretending to be homeless. As Stefan, Dennis and Gina cross paths they cheat manipulate and curse on another yet somehow an undeniable intimacy blossoms and they negotiate their way to friendship.
Director Will Wissink and Scriptwriter Zebi Damen (also plays Gina) undertook intensive research to create this film including living as homeless people for a time. They succeeded in providing us with insight into the growing problem of homelessness, the diversity of the personal situations of street people and how eerily similar some of their problems might be to ours. Like Dennis, the 14 yr old homeless character says "I lie, I cheat I steal, the only difference with you is I've got nothing to eat." Dropout is shot entirely on location on the streets of Amsterdam.
Tidbit Box: Will Wissink and Zebi Damen founded Dropouts Film Productions Co. with the idea of creating contemporary features with socially committed characters. Dropouts is their first collaborative feature, Wissink has previously won many international awards including first prize 'Festival du Fantastique de Paris'.
Earl & Edna
Canadian Premiere
8 minutes
Directed by Sarah Shute
USA
"A subjective study of an object", is in fact the study of: a field, a forest, a young man, an old nattering couple, and a park bench to name a few. By montaging these elements one after the other, Sarah Shute creates a funny new object.
Freeway II: Confessions of a Trick Baby
Capitol 6:
Saturday, February 5, 11:30pm
Tuesday, February 8, 9:30 pm
Western Canadian Premiere
97 minutes
directed by Matthew Bright
USA
A caustic tale of two escapee's from a women's correctional institute. The two renegades Cyclona, (Maria Celedonio; Touch, How to Make an American Quilt)) a psychotic serial killer and Crystal,(Natasha Lyonne; American Pie, Detroit Rock City) a bulimic bandit break for the Mexican border in a cross country rampage that would send Thelma and Louise back to their manicurists. Once in Mexico the two search for Sister Gomez, Cyclona's childhood heroine, brilliantly played by Vincent Gallo (Buffalo 66, Palookaville).
Although this film was not necessarily made as social commentary, don't let the slick images and graphic content fool you: part of the beauty is its ability to communicate the roots of violence without being preachy. Creating the Characters of White Girl and Cyclona as bulimic and psychopathic brings a depth and surprising element of vulnerability to the two dissidents.
This is the second feature in a trilogy of revamped fairy tales by emerging writer/director Matthew Bright. Freeway II is an enjoyably abrasive version of Hansel and Gretel, at once brutal and alarming, comical and compassionate.
Quote: "A one-way ticket to baaad-girrl hell" - Hollywood Reporter
Tidbit Box: Due to the controversial nature of the script employment standards tried to shut down the production. Pressure was alleviated as soon as it became clear that no child actors were present during the filming of any graphic scenes.
Opening Day
World Premiere
13 minutes
Directed by Luke Shanahan
Australia
A tale of two competing real estate salesmen and how their different styles clash in a lively way as they try to sell the same house.
Fish Bowl (Animale Felici)
Capitol 6:
Sunday, February 6, 12:30 pm
Thursday, February 10, 9:30 pm
Canadian Premiere
83 minutes
Directed by Angelo Ruta
Italy
A tightly woven story of four people whose paths keep crossing and the coincidences that ultimately bring tragedy. A woman keeps vigil over a man in a coma who turns out not to be her missing son. Her missing son is meanwhile unknowingly trying to sell stolen electronics to her boss. Her bosses friend is unwittingly about to have is car stolen by the man that her boss ran over and they all end up entangled in a set of synchronicities that bring heartbreak and death.
Rituals and Resolution
B.C. Premiere
Awarded Jury Prize Winner, Newport International Film Festival
29 minutes
Directed by Michael Stein
USA
Murder, gambling debts and seduction create a challenging holiday season. Three vignettes intertwine in a quiet bar at Christmas time, as gamblers, an unfaithful spouse and a cocktail waitress are controlled by their rituals and excessive behaviours.
DayDrift
The Vic Theatre: Sunday, February 6, 2:15 pm
Capitol 6: Thursday, February 10, 7:00 pm
82 minutes
Directed by Ryan Bonder
British Columbia
DayDrift is the love child of a Jack Kerouac novel and a happy ending. Vic Harlow is a successful Vancouver photographer. His life begins to unravel when his film and equipment are stolen right before a big show at a prominent gallery. Blasting his way through his opening, Vic ends the evening pissing in a potted plant. Armed with ounces of cocaine and bottles of scotch, Vic becomes acquainted with self destruction. Then mysteriously three rolls of film appear from nowhere. He develops them and discovers they are photos from his past. An elusive and enigmatic young woman (Enuka Okuma) enters, after literally running him over, and Vic is on a road trip down memory lane.
With its beat sensibility and West Canadian references this film is easily entertaining. Ryan Bonders feature debut is succinctly executed, well cast and made in true independent style. Partially shot in Bonder's hometown, Kamloops B.C, using his mothers house, co-producer/wife Margot Dear's sister's house and a local hotel as locations. In addition to the fine acting and story, DayDrift features a remarkable soundtrack with Portishead, Stereolab & Lounge Lizards.
Tidbit Box: Enuka Okuma, Best Actress Award, DayDrift, Vancouver International Film Festival.
Sea Song/Chanson de Mer
B.C. Premiere
4.25 minutes
Directed by Richard Reeves
B.C.
Hand painted & scratched 35mm film looks into the sparkling ocean at night. The kinetic movement and colour brings alive an underwater world. Rich in depth of experience to this film method, Reeves has taken this technique beyond the pioneers of Lem Lye, Harry Smith & Norman McLaren.
Lost and Found
6 minutes
Directed by Gail Noonan
B.C.
A true story of a young boy and a girl who discover reality when they search for a lost mitten. As the credits open and characters are introduced, the audio track immediately brings one into a dream like state and compliments the visual story line. Vibrant colours of paint and pastel take us through a world of the homeless. A mix of line animation on paper and cel, create a unique movement by which the curious explorers search in this Ônew world'. We pan the zone where the street people live, peer into their cardboard shelters and find a little home, then step further in to discover nothing has permanence. This is the land of the uncertain, of people forgotten, and the land of the lost mitten. Two kids out for fun discover that for some, life is an unsettled existence. Gail Noonan makes meaningful films in an artful way, composer Robert Minden who performed with Carla Hallet is as in tune as one could ever hope. --- Scott Clark
The Cup
The Vic Theatre: Saturday, February 5, 2:15 pm
Capitol 6: Wednesday, February 9 ], 7:00 pm
93 minutes
Directed by Khyentse Norbu
Bhutan
A movie about monks, made by a monk, starring monks. It is the delightful story of a group of Tibetan boys living in an Indian Buddhist monastery. The boys are obsessed with soccer and as the World Cup approaches they scheme to be able to watch it. Football fever is running hot throughout the hallowed halls. Soccer slogans are everywhere and the chanting of the young monks is not always in a traditional vein, much to the distress of the monastery's disciplinarian.
Expulsion from the monastery is looming for the boys and a solution must be found as the Abbot tries to come to terms with the soccer-mad monks. The abbot is unconvinced,unable to understand the obsession of the western world battling over something as seemingly absurd as a cup.
Monastery life is taken out of its lofty and austere realm and given a more down to earth face. While warm, irreverent humour and Tibetan wisdom combine in The Cup.
The cast are all exiled Tibetan monks, one of them barely escaping with his life just two weeks before shooting. Dialogue was memorized during the shooting and most takes were done within three shots, a testament to the actors monastic discipline and concentration.
The production itself took on all the traditional marks of an important Tibetan undertaking, with consultations taken at every stage with respected oracles and diviners. Everything was decided using the ancient Tibetan divination system of Ômo'. from the choice of film stock, cast,film and sound editors, to the selection of an auspicious start day for production.
Tidbit Box: The Cup is written and directed by Khyentse Norbu, a pre-eminent lama who has studied filmmaking in New York and apprenticed with Bernardo Bertolucci. The Cup is the first feature length movie made in Bhutan.
Quote: "The Cup's charm, humanity and feel-good vibe make it a sure sleeper hit" Cinema Scope Magazine
The Offering
Awarded 1st prize & Kodak Cinematography award at New Haven Film Fest
Best Foreign Film, Hardacre Film Festival
10 minutes
Directed by Paul Lee
Ontario
A film with a Japanese sensibility. The Offering is a meditation about the passing of life, told through the story of love and friendship between a Japanese monk and his novice, from their initial encounter to their final parting.
The Offering is a film which spans a great deal of time, choosing its moments carefully, never rushing. Each action, shot and character is carefully craf ted and the vivid colours and deliberate three dimensional layering make this film a visual delight.
TOPS and bottoms
Capitol 6: Monday, February 7, 9:30 pm
Western Canadian Premiere
80 minutes
Directed by Christine Richey
Ontario
A rich documentary of sex, power and a good flogging. TOPS and bottoms is an exploration of todays sadomasochist sub-culture. The story of S/M couple Robert and Mary is intercut with historical parallels such as the Marquis de Sade and the Victorian era. Robert is the master, he has trained over 14 slaves, Mary, his wife gave up a research position at a children's hospital to publish her husbands S/M magazine "Boudoir Noir". Despite her husband's multiple slaves, Mary maintains she does not feel threatened.
Enter the next live-in slave, 24 year old Mercedes, a woman who drops out of university to take on a six month contract as Robert's chattel. Mercedes' odyssey into the lifestyle tests their abilities to control and submit.
Christine Richey has created a stimulating documentary that explores the issue of S/M in a non-judgmental manner. Participators of sadomasochism profess that it has very little to do with sex and absolutely nothing to do with abuse. It is rather a journey into personal boundaries and trust. Professor Mark Kingwell comments on the attraction of S/M in a capitalist society, where competition is fierce and we are drawn to roles of submission or domination. TOPS and bottoms avoids being a sensationalist documentary and instead focuses on being straightforward, educational and fascinatingly entertaining.
Tidbit: TOPS and bottoms is Richey's second documentary. She left CBC as a reporter in 1990 to film In the Gutter and Other Good Places.
Nobody's Nothing
B.C. Premiere
4 minutes
Directed by Bridget Farr
Quebec
Non relationships --ahh, the heart of a city.
Babette's Feet
Winner of the NSI drama prize
"Is a delicious little film with a delicious little title" Eye Magazine
17 minutes
Directed by Harry Killas
B.C.
Harold is a lawyer and a foot fetishist. A foot fetishist on the usual quest for the perfect pair of feet. One day he finds Babette, an artist who has an obsession of her own.
Wadd: The Life and Times of John C. Holmes
St. Ann's Academy Auditorium:
Saturday, February 5, 7:00 pm
Monday, February 7, 9:30 pm
Western Canadian Premiere
Directed by Cass Paley
USA
The King of Schwing. A documentary on the life of infamously well endowed porn star John Holmes. This expose shies away from exploitation and pieces together an intimate portrayal of the man attached to his 13 inch appendage. Relying on the people that lived, loved and worked with him, Wadd explores Holmes' life from childhood to marriage (his wife didn't know about his moonlighting until Holmes was an established porn star) and into his drug addiction and involvement in a high profile multi-murder case in the seventies. Known as Johnny Wadd, he was the private dick who used his large penis "to reward his allies and conquer his enemies" in porno-noir films such as Tell Them Johnny Wadd is Here, Liquid Lips, The Jade Pussycat, China Cat and Blonde Fire.
What sets Wadd apart from other biography documentaries (aside from the subject matter) is the diverse portrait painted by the people that knew him: agents, co-stars and wives. Each person reveals an aspect unknown by the others and each one of them is worthy of their own biography.
Several films in the last few years including Boogie Nights have focused on Holmes as public menace and pop icon. Wadd unearths a more personal picture, a look behind the mythology and exploits, at times hinting at a vulnerability often passed over.
Quote: "a fascinating portrait of a Hollywood giant." Cinema Scope Magazine
Tidbit: People wrote asking for locks of his pubic hair, men wanted him to autograph their wives' breasts and women asked him to deflower their daughters.
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