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