TheFestivalDaily

THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 16, 2004 PUBLISHED BY THE TORONTO INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL® WWW.BELL.CA/FILMFEST DAY Akerman Italian goes cinema’s slapstick, new day, 8 page 3 page 2 Festival Frames

BY CAITLIN STAROWICZ ith never a dull mo- ment, the past week Whas been a whirlwind of events for actors, filmmakers and producers from all corners of the world. PHOTO BY KATIA TAYLOR Sunday’s Directors Dinner at Bistro 990 played host to (above, left to right) writer-pro- ducer J.W. Galuchovsky and John Waters, director of the hi- lariously lewd A Dirty Shame. PHOTO BY SEAN JACQUEMAIN Director Velcrow Ripper fields questions during the Q & A following the world premiere of his film ScaredSacred at the ROM Theatre on Tuesday. The film, which received production assistance from the National Film Board and Vision TV, has already attracted attention from several distributors and sales agents. ScaredSacred will also screen at the Vancouver International Film Festival at the end of September, where it will be the first feature documentary to open the Canadian Images programme. PHOTO BY KATIA TAYLOR Monday saw (above, left to Dasgupta’s everyday people dream big right) Jacques Bensimon, com- missioner and chairman of the Meanwhile, Paresh’s driver Chapal (Ra- “Instead, he has an elliptical, poetic ap- National Film Board, Festival Di- BY ALLAN TONG jesh Sharma) dreams of making it rich in proach to film which is rare and beautiful.” rector Piers Handling, Pierre Per- fter shooting in India’s poor hinter- Dubai. In the course of their journeys, they The film’s overall atmosphere and rault’s widow Yolande Perrault lands, legendary director Bud- pick up Ameena (Rimi Sen), a pregnant evocative visuals, courtesy of cinematog- and David Clandfield, author of Adhadeb Dasgupta could have Muslim girl fleeing Gujarat in northwest- rapher Venu, are surreal and painterly. “Pierre Perrault and the Poetic changed the title of his latest film from ern India, where her husband was killed “Ninety percent of the film was shot at 26 Documentary,” at the book’s Chased by Dreams to “Chased by in Hindu-Muslim clashes. Ameena is to 28 frames [per second] instead of 24 launch at the NFB Mediatheque. Crowds.” “All the time, we were chased trying to return to her homeland of frames,” explains Dasgupta. “For the first by mobs of thousands,” he recalls. “We Bangladesh to give birth to her child. time, I [shot] a film entirely outdoors, de- were not spared even while shooting se- “Paresh, Chapal and Ameena are three pending on the available source light.” quences that needed absolute silence.” of the commoners we meet every day in The beauty of Dasgupta’s cinema is to Dasgupta’s experience parallels that of India, who carry their dreams under their dig beneath the surface of story and char- his characters, who journey across wings,” Dasgupta explains. “The theme of acter and discover hidden truths. Based on wartorn India in pursuit of their dreams the film is what happens to these three dif- everyday Indian people, the director’s Buddhadeb Dasgupta but are robbed and chased by strangers. ferent dreams.” characters lead harsh, difficult lives. Das- Dasgupta himself was dogged by two body these concerns. Paresh (Prosenjit) is Chased by Dreams is rich in Dasgupta’s gupta lends voice to their aspirations. “In forces in conceptualizing his film. “The re- a government employee who goes from trademark allegory and poetry. These the periphery of this reality, I have seen ality [of] my country has failed to meet the one village to another showing 16mm come easily to Dasgupta, a celebrated poet eyes ready to make a journey beyond it,” PHOTO BY KATIA TAYLOR dreams and aspirations of its people,” he films about birth control. The rural folk and novelist who is considered by many to he says. “It has always been an inspiration Just around the corner at the explains from India. “The country is still despise him for this, and he is often run be India’s greatest living director. for my poetry and cinema.” ChumCity building on Friday, marred by ethnic and religious violence, out of town with his projector. However, “His films don’t play by genre codes, fol- the Citytv party hosted a wealth and a social system which has failed to en- he falls in love with the image of a girl in low boy-meets-girl scenarios or include CHASED BY DREAMS of Canadian talent, including lighten the marginalized people.” one of these films and dreams of finding musical numbers,” explains Festival inter- Sept. 16, 9:45pm, Isabel Bader Theatre (above, left to right) actor-produc- Dasgupta’s three main characters em- her one day. national programmer Steve Gravestock. Sept. 18, 7:15pm, Cumberland 2 er Ingrid Verninger, actor Charles Officer, director Anais Granofsky and actor Julian Richings of The Toronto stands tall with art over commerce Limb Salesman. tant artistic films still get made (the Festi- Rwanda. Or Oliver Hirschbiegel, whose BY RONALD OCKHUYSEN val’s programme book can drive one mad IN FOCUS Downfall gives us an insightful look inside ne of the highlights of the Toronto with its bevy of interesting titles), but op- the head of Adolf Hitler. International Film Festival is stand- portunities to screen these films are be- in the picture. But this does not mean that This brings me back to the lineups Oing in line. No, I’m not joking. Of coming ever fewer. The emphasis on fi- filmmakers and policymakers should not Toronto. Why do I feel so comfortable in course, I also feel privileged to walk in and nancial success too often pushes better loudly protest against politicians who these queues? The answer is clear: waiting out of theatres with ease, my press badge films into a small corner where they are think that art films can do without any sup- for a film in Toronto is about experiencing around my neck. But when I am back in left to wallow in anonymity. port, that films for small audiences make art. This is a place where people talk about Amsterdam, I always long for the moments Meanwhile, the power of the big studios no sense because it’s difficult for them to movies without mentioning box-office fig- PHOTO BY KATIA TAYLOR in line at public screenings in Toronto. grows and grows. They know better than recoup their costs, or that making a film is ures. In this happy community, we em- On Monday night, the Planet This strange melancholy has a simple anyone how to market a product. Each like making butter or shoes. brace Goran Paskaljevic’s Midwinter Africa party saw the likes of reason: the people. Festivalgoers in Toron- blockbuster is presented as a unique event Every minute, we are overloaded with Night’s Dream because the acting and cin- (above, left to right) actor Ellie to are unbelievable. Do you know another which you simply must experience. Sell- images. It is becoming increasingly vital in ematography are at such an exceptionally Downs, Crash director Paul Hag- place on earth where complete strangers ing films is all about a mood, a style, a con- our society to question the stream of mean- high level. Did the filmmaker make it on gis and costume designer An- start talking about the newest Godard, the stant search for kicks; it is not about con- ings communicated by these images. A virtually no money? The people in the toinette Messan get together at work of Pablo Trapero, or about a Dutch tent or taste. In the arts (the phrase itself filmmaker can do that. Film does not aim lines don’t care. They’re here to see the the Courthouse. film they like (and which I have not seen)? has a stodgy air), as in the rest of the world, to copy reality, as television does. We all many great films they can’t see anywhere Do you know any other place where peo- hype is king. know what reality looks like. What we else, and for that I applaud them. ple ask you to watch their bag while they It seems hopeless to resist this develop- don’t know, and what we look for in art, is buy you a cup of coffee? ment. We film buffs have to accept the diffi- insight on how to deal with it. A good film- Film critic Ronald Ockhuysen is a member of the edito- The huge success and importance of the culties faced by an independent exhibitor maker helps us get a grip on reality, as does rial staff of the Dutch daily newspaper “De Volk- Festival has a lot to do with the position of who would like to book a small film for an Terry George when he portrays a brave skrant.” He also hosts a film programme on the Dutch the art film in our society. So many impor- extended run simply because he believes man’s stand against genocide in Hotel public broadcaster VPRO.

Today’s STAGE BEAUTY VENTO DI TERRA THE YEAR OF THE YAO TWO GREAT SHEEP 9:30AM 1PM 6PM 9PM available tickets RYERSON PARAMOUNT 4 RYERSON VARSITY 5 PHOTO BY SEAN JACQUEMAIN The following night was the as of 4pm Wednesday, September 15th PLANET AFRICA SHORTS LES VOITURES D’EAU CINEVARDAPHOTO BRODEUSES 12 NOON 2:30PM 6PM 9:30PM Icelandic Directors party at Bistro ROM JACKMAN HALL VARSITY 8 VARSITY 6 990 with (above, left to right) Gu- morning screenings A GOOD WOMAN SCAREDSACRED ACAPULCO GOLD CHASED BY DREAMS drun Thorhannesdottir, actor 8:45am to 11:59am 12:30PM 3PM 9PM 9:45PM Róbert Douglas and Erlendur afternoon screenings RYERSON ROM ROM ISABEL BADER THEATRE Eiriksson, director of the quirky 12:00pm to 5:01pm THE BROOD DEAD MAN’S SHOES INNOCENT VOICES ZEBRAMAN documentary Small Mall. With 1PM 5PM 9PM 11:59PM so many exciting films, events evening screenings CUMBERLAND 2 VARSITY 3 RYERSON RYERSON 5:02pm to 11:59pm and talent in town, who has time for sleep anymore? 2

THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 16, 2004 THE FESTIVAL DAILY PUBLISHED BY THE TORONTO INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL® Today’s Festival highlights Innocent Voices BY RAY CONLOGUE AND ALLAN TONG vised by the actors. The resulting sense ized by the factory’s fake flowers. AT in times of war of documentary realism, enhanced by Ade’s use of a hand-held digital video Walking a camera, carves her a place in German tightrope cinema distinct from the stylized work of influential filmmaker Tom Tykwer. KINGS OF THE SKY Ade clearly believes that the cool, Sept. 16, 9:45pm, Varsity 7 technocratic society captured by her Sept. 18, 1:45pm, Varsity 7 camera is cruel enough to be filmed straight-on, with no need of stylistic dil Hoxur remembers walking on devices. And that suits the character of Aclouds – literally. Melanie, who is also without devices. In Kings of the Sky, Hoxur, a tight- She has been given fewer inner re- rope walker, recalls tiptoeing in a foggy sources than most of us. Nonetheless, rain along a rope suspended high be- she struggles with everything she has, tween two mountains. Spectators lost and no viewer will remain unmoved by sight of him in the rolling mist and he her bravery. RC felt gripped by fear. He prayed to Allah. Our Own Suddenly, he felt someone guiding him Acclaimed that mixes jealousy and love with the Skewering across. “Angels,” he believes. horrors of war. AT China’s Deborah Stratman’s experimental Russian documentary captures Hoxur and his Innocent Voices depiction of war The cruelty of newfound troupe as they tour remote villages in the Taklamakan Desert in northwest- to an underground station, and cool technocracy materialism BY ALLAN TONG OUR OWN ern China. This is the land of the its protest songs increasingly for- Sept. 16, 10pm, Paramount 4 THE FOREST FOR THE TREES PLASTIC FLOWERS Uighurs, a Muslim people seeking reli- exico’s Luis Mandoki re- tify Chava against the despair Sept. 18, 12:30pm, Varsity 4 or 5 Sept. 16, 7pm, Cumberland 2 Sept. 17, 2:30pm, Cumberland 1 gious and political autonomy from the turns to his roots as a po- that surrounds him. Sept. 18, 5pm, Cumberland 1 ruling Chinese, who censor, repress Mlitical filmmaker with The success of Mandoki’s Ga- male-bonding epic unafraid to por- hinese director Liu Bingjian returns and imprison them. The internationally Innocent Voices, a gritty portrait of by – A True Story (which played Atray the moral uncertainty, blood- right-eyed and hopeful, 27-year-old Cto the Festival (after 2001’s celebrat- famous Hoxur, a five-time Guinness children growing up in wartorn at the Festival in 1987) started shed and brutality of war, Our Own may BMelanie (Eva Löbau) has moved ed Cry Woman) with the accomplished world record holder, has become a hero Central America. Mandoki’s latest Mandoki on a successful career revive the Russian war film, dormant from a small town to the city of Karl- Plastic Flowers. This intimate and ex- to his people. However, he sees himself is a coming-of-age tale about a boy in Hollywood, directing such since the days of Soviet propaganda. sruhe to be a teacher. But she’s not pertly realized drama offers a disquiet- as merely the latest in a long line of who endures the ravaging of his films as White Palace and When Drawing comparisons to Saving Pri- ready for the insolent city students, ing yet compassionate portrayal of the tightrope walkers. country to emerge with a renewed a Man Loves a Woman. Telling vate Ryan, Dmitry Meskhiyev’s grip- forced facades of China’s rapidly evolv- Stratman takes a candid look at her sense of hope and spirit. the story of Innocent Voices from ping World War II picture swept the ing value system. subjects as they wind through the desert Tellingly, the film opens with a child’s perspective, he imbues awards at this summer’s Moscow In- Nouveau riche Chunhua (Liu Xiao- and pitch their tent to adoring, impover- shots of soldiers’ boots marching the film not only with his signa- ternational Film Festival. qing) inherits her late husband’s ished crowds. The footage is raw and through mud as rain beats down ture glossy touch but also a As the Nazis advance in August share of a plastic flower factory, but mesmerizing. She captures jokes and hard on helpless civilians. El Sal- strong symbolism that buttresses 1941, three Russian soldiers escape doesn’t have the head or heart to ad- birthday parties, but juxtaposes them vador is so crippled after two the film’s potent themes. Inno- while on a forced march to a POW dress its many financial woes. In- with police beatings and falls from the years of fighting that the army has cent Voices illustrates that in the camp. Security officer Tolya (Sergei stead, she pays her employees with high wire. Compelling and insightful, been reduced to kidnapping face of war, small acts of resis- Garmash) flees with sniper Mitya useless plastic flowers and seduces Kings of the Sky presents an oppressed young boys to sustain its ranks. tance, like the voices from the ra- (Mikhail Evlanov) and Politburo man young factory workers. She sets her nation walking the delicate line between Eleven-year-old Chava has dio, can keep hope alive in even Lifshits (Konstantin Khabensky). Al- sights on a shy, stuttering flute play- defiance and submission. AT witnessed many of his friends be- the most vulnerable of souls. The Forest for the Trees though he is collaborating with the er named Qiusheng (Min Xiding), ing taken away. One day, his Un- Germans, Mitya’s father Ivan (Bogdan and her professional confidence is who gets entangled in a friendship cle Beto provides Chava with a INNOCENT VOICES Stupka) offers them shelter in his barn. shaken. Worse, she can’t make friends. with the less-than-honest Mr. Wang means to escape his helpless- Sept. 16, 9pm, Ryerson However, the local police captain un- Her neighbour Tina (Daniela Holtz) (Yin Zhi), a flower designer. As each ness: a radio. He begins listening Sept. 18, 9:30am, Isabel Bader Theatre covers Ivan’s secret, and arrests Ivan’s seems nice, but she and her hip, club- relationship grows more intimate, daughters and Mitya’s fiancée Katya going friends are appalled by Melanie’s the trio’s emotions build to a devas- (Anna Mikhalkova). Meanwhile, Tolya neediness and cruelly rebuff her. Lone- tating resolution. lusts after Ivan’s girlfriend and plots re- ly as she is, though, Melanie avoids the Liu’s assured direction captures his Funny and venge on the Germans. advances of fellow teacher Thorsten characters’ insecurities with sensitivity The film’s horrifying battle scenes (Jan Neumann), who is even more and maturity, particularly the subplot have drawn much attention, even awkward than she. concerning the men’s increasingly sour though the film was shot in desaturat- This first feature film, made while di- friendship. Liu takes an ironic look at so- low-key Sheep ed colour. With superb performances rector Maren Ade was still a student at cial mores in today’s rapidly changing Chi- from a mix of veteran actors and new- the Munich Academy for Television and na, skewering the country’s newfound tor Liu Hao reprises the acutely in- Kings of the Sky BY SHELLY KRAICER comers, Our Own is a rousing drama Film, features dialogue mostly impro- materialism and artificial values, symbol- timate gaze of his earlier work in ur- hen a faraway philan- ban underground cinema. And yet, thropist unexpectedly in its repeated evocation of the vast, Wbestows two expensive empty northwestern Chinese prize sheep on a poor rural village plains that threaten to absorb the Italian renaissance in China, honest farmer Deshan sheep and their new keepers, Two (Sun Yunkun) is selected to take Great Sheep is vaguely reminiscent The House Keys and Vento di terra help care of them. But Deshan and his of the work of Abbas Kiarostami. wife are getting on in years; more- While questioning the de- revive Italian cinema over, their farm can barely sup- mands a fast-developing society HOW TO port them, let alone finicky, high- is willing to impose on its weak- maintenance livestock. est members, the film relies on BY RAY CONLOGUE FESTIVAL Chosen by the district governor Liu’s compassionate eye and for- ollowing a crisis in the for his frankness more than his mer Beijing opera performer Sun BOX OFFICE LOCATIONS nineties when Italian audi- competence, Deshan quickly finds Yunkun’s fine central perfor- + HOURS Fences seemed to lose inter- the sheep’s demands for food and mance (he is the only profession- est in their own movies and shelter far beyond his means. Even al in the fine cast) to keep De- New year-round Box Office: young filmmakers preferred to Deshan and his wife’s frisky love- shan’s humanity at the centre. Manulife Centre work in television, there has been making has to give way to the 55 Bloor Street W a recent resurgence in serious sheep’s need for a warm place to Based in Toronto and Beijing, Shelly (main floor, north entrance) Italian film. The proof is in two sleep. With the village’s reputation Kraicer is editor of the “Chinese Cinema Hours: beautifully restrained films in on the line, Deshan’s efforts to dis- Digest.” Sept. 8 to Sept. 17: 7am to 7pm this year’s Festival. guise his failure become more and TWO GREAT SHEEP Sept. 18: 7am to 5pm The House Keys is from veter- more desperate. an director Gianni Amelio, a Keenly observant, this dark, Sept. 16, 9pm, Varsity 4 or 5 Festival Box Office: product of Italian cinema’s gold- low-key comedy by Beijing direc- Sept. 18, 11:45am, Cumberland 1 College Park en era. Vento di terra, the second 444 Yonge Street feature by director Vincenzo (Market level) Marra, has all the elegance and The House Keys gravity of classic Italian cinema. Hours: Vento di terra follows an im- handsome young man, Gianni tably A Blow to the Heart, are Sept. 8 to Sept. 17: 9am to 7pm provisational young Neapolitan (Kim Rossi Stuart), brings an about tormented father-son rela- Sept. 18: 9am to 5pm named Vincenzo (Vincenzo Pa- autistic but intensely charming tionships. The House Keys is a HOW TO BUY TICKETS cili), who joins the army after his young boy named Paolo to a Ger- deeply touching return to this father’s death because there are man hospital for special treat- theme. Both films take place in a NEW THIS YEAR: Online no other jobs available. We see ment. Neither understands a matter-of-fact Italy devoid of ro- Ordering his life in what appear to be snap- word of German, which lends a mantic references. In Vento di Visit the Official website at shots – his mother’s attempted Bergmanesque intensity to their terra, Marra’s camera often pans www.bell.ca/filmfest to suicide, his sister’s desire to live isolation. When he is befriended across the endless sunbaked purchase advance online on her own. Vincenzo drifts aim- by an Italian woman (Charlotte tenements of Naples where the tickets. Online tickets are lessly through life, catering only Rampling) who is caring for her only sounds are the various to the needs of others. Then, just own disabled daughter, Gianni styles of music (some North available for the next day’s as his life seems secure, his unit claims he is not the boy’s father. African) emanating from differ- screenings up to 7pm the is sent to serve in Kosovo, where The woman immediately sees ent buildings. night before. a sudden accident sends his life through the lie, but comforts him Marra clearly owes a creative In person: in a tragic new direction. and helps him face his own fears debt to the Neo-realists of an earli- Visit our new year-round Box Amelio’s The House Keys em- about raising a disabled child. er generation, while Amelio’s Office or Festival Box Office. ploys a mysterious narrative. A Many of Amelio’s films, no- more stylized film offers a study On the day of the screening in of people confronted by extraor- person tickets may also be dinary challenges. But both direc- purchased at the theatre at tors capture the fine texture of which the film you wish to their own society, and their suc- see is playing (subject to cess in reaching Italian audiences availability). has helped engineer a turnaround in Italian cinema. Accoding to Rush tickets: Cinecittà’s Cristiana Paternò, they If rush tickets become are part of a new wave of film- available, tickets will be makers that also includes Pri- issued at the theatre vate’s Saverio Costanzo. “They approximately five minutes are giving something new and before the screening. fresh,” she says, “and speaking to NO REFUNDS. audiences about their problems ALL SALES ARE FINAL. and feelings.” For more information, visit: THE HOUSE KEYS Sept. 16, 6pm, Paramount 2 Sept. 18, 12 noon, Paramount 2

VENTO DI TERRA Vento di terra Two Great Sheep Sept. 16, 1pm, Paramount 4 3

THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 16, 2004 THE FESTIVAL DAILY PUBLISHED BY THE TORONTO INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL®

The Festival Daily Akerman Managing Editor Whisky has a gentle, droll flavour Andrew McIntosh amcintosh@torfilmfest.ca experiments Manager, Publications and Print Production BY MICHAEL LEO Nicholas Davies ndavies@torfilmfest.ca nderstatement is everything in with Production Manager Whisky, a comedy with a grim facade Justin Stayshyn Uand gentle, droll undercurrents. romance jstayshyn@torfilmfest.ca The hero and heroine of this Uruguayan- Photo Editor Argentine-German feature are an unlikely BY RAY CONLOGUE Dave Kemp duo: Jacobo (Andrès Pazos) is the sour, sixty- dkemp@torfilmfest.ca something owner of a rundown sock factory, hantal Akerman says De- Writers and Marta (Mirella Pascual) is the silent, put- main on déménage is “a Ray Conlogue rconlogue@torfilmfest.ca upon manager. Their relationship is a para- Cfilm that tells the story of Allan Tong dox; they are emotionally reliant upon one who I am.” atong@torfilmfest.ca another and have an innate understanding, The avant-garde French film- Copy Editor but are too awkward to engage in anything re- maker has, of course, been mak- Alex Bozikovic sembling conversation. ing films about who she is ever abozikovic@torfilmfest.ca Everything begins to change when Jacobo since Je tu il elle, where she Editorial Assistant gets word that his brother Herman (Jorge filmed herself naked in a series Caitlin Starowicz Bolani) is coming to visit. Dreading the en- of sexual encounters. But there cstarowicz@torfilmfest.ca counter, Jacobo asks Marta to masquerade as has always been something fun- Production Coordinator his wife and act as a filter between himself ny and self-deprecating in her Davida Nemeroff dnemeroff@torfilmfest.ca and his unwelcome sibling. But once Herman appearances, and Demain on arrives, the visit stretches out, and soon this déménage pushes the self-por- Photographers Katia Taylor dowdy “married” couple begin to live their trait genre straight into slapstick. Sean Jacquemain roles, taking tiny steps out of their routine “I’ve always thought I was Char- 2 Carlton Street, Suite 1600 and braving a few emotional risks. lie Chaplin-ish,” she recently Toron to, On t ar io Co-directed by Juan Pablo Rebella and told a French newspaper. “When M5B 1J3 Pablo Stoll, who collaborated on the screen- I eat, the food falls on the floor, Whisky Copyright ©2004 Toronto International Film play with Gonzalo Delgado Galiana, Whisky and when I walk, my shoelaces Festival Group. All rights reserved. is deliberately austere in technique. Its sta- flair for gambling. Marta, likewise, unveils and lasting. Whisky makes a quiet but persua- are undone.” Printing and distribution by The Delta Group. tionary camera setups and simple framing hidden sides of her personality; her scenes sive case for the little things in life. Akerman’s alter ego in the film “The Festival Daily” would like to thank emphasize the plainness of Jacobo’s and Mar- are like a low-key variation on Vittorio De is Charlotte (Sylvie Testud), who Olympus for its support. ta’s existence. But once their bizarre little ruse Sica’s 1973 drama A Brief Vacation. WHISKY ineptly tries to write an erotic begins, things grow livelier. In spite of him- The emotional revelations are quiet but Sept. 16, 10pm, Varsity 2 novel while her glamorous, up- Toronto International self, Jacobo relaxes a little and finds he has a aptly timed and the victories are small, sweet, Sept. 18, 3:45pm, Varsity 2 or 3 tight mother shows their apart- Film Festival Group ment to a series of prospective Information buyers. Charlotte’s glasses fall off, Cinema’s mad scientist she bumps into the furniture, and The Toronto International Film Festival Group nobody can find anything sexy consists of several divisions that educate and In Zebraman, Takashi Miike gives us an unlikely superhero about her novel. Of course, the entertain audiences ages four and up. clumsiest of the prospective buy- Cinematheque Ontario is a year-round with a young disabled stu- ers falls in love with her. BY THOM ERNST screening programme that celebrates dent who shares his fascina- Watching Demain on démé- the history and achievements of cinema. hen murderous aliens infiltrate our tion with “Zebraman,” a nage, it’s hard to believe that Ak- The Film Reference Library is a collection ranks, when supervillains in giant television show he watched erman specializes in abstract, which documents, conserves and catalogues crab outfits terrorize the public, as a child. cerebral films inspired by film- information on cinema and makes it available W to the public. when psychotic killers begin brandishing scis- Shinichi becomes so ob- makers like Michael Snow. Short- sors against the innocent citizens of the earth, sessed with this fallen hero ly after moving to New York in Film Circuit is a national film exhibition programme designed to bring films to it’s time to call on a higher power: Zebraman. that he builds a makeshift 1972, she was introduced to the communities across Canada. The one thing to expect from Takashi Mi- Zebraman costume and be- Canadian artist’s work; three Toronto International Film Festival is an ike, whom Midnight Madness programmer gins patrolling the neigh- years later, she made Jeanne Diel- annual ten-day public film festival of Colin Geddes has appropriately dubbed “a bourhood searching for man, 23 quai du commerce, 1080 international and Canadian films with an mad scientist of celluloid,” is that each film evildoers. It’s not long be- Bruxelles, a film that tracks the industry component. he makes will be different from the others. fore Shinichi comes across daily routine of a repressed Brus- Sprockets: Toronto International Film Festival Zebraman – which, rest assured, is not with- a psychotic supervillain sels woman with particular atten- for Children is an annual film festival out the occasional twisted and brutalized who mistakes Shinichi for tion to what Akerman called “a programmed for families with children ages 4 body – marks a departure from earlier films the real thing. But woman’s daily gestures” – move- to 14, designed Zebraman to foster and like Ichi the Killer and Gozu, and is Miike’s Shinichi, through his own ments and activities that are typi- encourage most accessible and disarming film to date. determination, discovers that he is the real on society’s tendency to divide people into cally undervalued and ignored by understanding With Shinichi (Sho Aikawa), a meek and thing. Soon, the enemies of all that is good those we admire and those we persecute. commercial moviemakers. of global culture ineffective schoolteacher, Miike has found a in this world are left cowering (or beaten to But Akerman is never abstract through protagonist primed for persecution. His stu- a pulp) when they hear the mighty battle A freelance film writer and reviewer, Thom Ernst conducts simply for the sake of abstraction. cinema. dents despise him, his daughter has taken cry, “Zebra Back-Kick!” interviews for TVOntario’s “Saturday Night at the Movies.” There is always a narrative Other promiscuity to new levels, his wife openly Zebraman recalls Japanese television su- programmes, including Talk Cinema, Canada’s shows her contempt and his son has become perheroes of the sixties, but there is more go- ZEBRAMAN Top Ten and Industry Programming and the favoured target of every schoolyard bully. ing on here than a spoof or even nostalgic Sept. 16, 11:59pm, Ryerson Services, bring film-related activities to the community. The only connection he is able to make is homage. In fact, Zebraman is a commentary Sept. 18, 9:30pm, Varsity 2 or 3

Wim Wenders’s VOLUNTEER SPOTLIGHT: L.A. story Stephen Landry German auteur explores post- 9/11 America in Land of Plenty

Jimmywork causes Lana and Paul to reunite BY CHRIS KENNEDY in order to learn about his past, a A documentary he heart of Wim Wenders’s process that helps resolve their gone off the œuvre has always been his own personal traumas. Tearly love affair with the Like all of Wenders’s films, rails United States. American movies, Land of Plenty has a profound rock’n’roll and the frontiers of the sense of place. The director is Demain on déménage JIMMYWORK open road allowed the director to particularly adept at depicting Sept. 15, 9pm, Cumberland 3 imagine a new culture for the di- Los Angeles, the setting for many thread somewhere, often related Sept. 17, 9:30am, Cumberland 3 vided post-war Germany. of his films. (The namesake of his to her own body and history: her Indeed, love of American cul- last L.A. film, The Million Dollar Jewishness, her mother’s refusal immyworkis a genuinely intriguing ture is so inseparable from Wen- Hotel, appears here, looming to tell her about the concentra- Jand compelling film. It began as film- ders’s filmmaking that it is no over the mission’s rooftop.) This tion camp where she was impris- maker Simon Sauvé’s documentary surprise he needed to respond to time, Wenders captures the de- oned, her own sexuality. about his neighbour Jimmy Weber, but as the tragedies and aftermath of spair of inner-city Los Angeles, One mode of address Aker- Sauvé followed Jimmy through four September 11. Informed by both the “hunger capital of America,” man favours is dance or dance- years of increasingly far-fetched behav- the romance of America and the with deft use of location shoot- like movement. In Chantal Aker- iour, the film that was taking shape began reality that the country now ing. The tents and makeshift man par Chantal Akerman, she to push the boundaries of documentary. faces, Land of Plenty is a deeply shelters that line the sidewalks juxtaposes similar dance scenes Jimmy is a chubby, whiskery, charis- personal response from a master for blocks create a harrowing set- from two of her movies to show matic fellow whose dreams never of personal cinema. ting for the unfolding drama. the range of emotion similar ges- seem to come true. At the age of 50, he Wenders’s characters are lon- Written in less than a month tures can evoke. In Demain on ers and outsiders, always rest- and shot in 16 days, Land of déménage, Charlotte’s awkward- CANADIAN HIGHLIGHT lessly searching for their home. Plenty has a fast and furious feel. ness is conveyed with this same In Land of Plenty, Lana (Michelle Diehl, in particular, chews up his concern for movement and what survives by making cat food in his Williams) is a young peace ac- lines, lending both humour and it communicates about a per- kitchen and selling it to a cat lovers’ so- tivist returning from Israel to her poignancy to Paul’s shell- son’s character. ciety. Occasionally, he searches his ec- hometown of Los Angeles in or- shocked righteousness. The char- Akerman’s unconventional centric father’s house for spare cash, ri- der to reunite with her estranged acters’ worldviews are coloured mixture of cerebral filmmaking fling through the phantasmagoric uncle, Paul (John Diehl). A by their particular ideologies, but PHOTO BY KATIA TAYLOR with sex, comedy and even mur- mountains of teacups and pottery that strangely twisted version of an- there always seems to be the pos- der is disconcerting for some fill every room. other Wenders trope, the observ- sibility of reconciliation. ’m just walking to the Ryerson The Uptown Theatre, where he had filmgoers. But she has a large and One day, Jimmy decides to pose as a ing guardian angel, Paul is no Thanks to its committed per- “ITheatre,” says Stephen Landry volunteered for four years, col- loyal following, and a reputation producer of TV commercials with a heavenly being out of the Wen- formances and chilling back- over his cellphone. “It’s my job to go lapsed, resulting in the death of a as one of world cinema’s most in- great idea for Quebec’s St-Tite rodeo to ders classic Wings of Desire – drop, Land of Plenty has a strong to every venue every day, see what language student in a neighbouring novative woman filmmakers. promote itself in the United States. The rather, he is a vigilante who dri- sense of urgency. As an old lady they need, what the problems are.” office. This was well after the Festi- Critic Janet Bergstrom reminds canny rodeo manager, however, quickly ves around in a surveillance van, complains in one of the film’s Landry seems happy with that val had finished, but “it was bad us that Akerman has always in- sees through Jimmy, and his dream monitoring downtown Los Ange- funniest scenes, the television arrangement. As a liaison captain, when we heard about it,” he recalls. sisted “that her films’ modes of collapses. Now it’s time for Jimmy’s re- les for signs of terrorist activity. has been stuck on the same chan- he’s the physical embodiment of the “There’s a lot of camaraderie in each address rather than their stories venge on the rodeo. This obsessive patrolling final- nel for a long time now. Land of Festival to every beleaguered volun- theatre, and especially at the Up- alone are the locus of their femi- At this point, the viewer is taken ly brings the two together. Lana Plenty is perhaps Wenders’s at- teer. If somebody is in trouble, and town. We’d say, ‘We’re the Uptown nist perspective.” on an increasingly wild ride on which volunteers at a street mission run tempt to do something about fix- they don’t know who to call, it’s com- people.’ A lot of us were very sad Akerman’s deep compassion Jimmy’s story starts to blur reality by an old family friend (Wendell ing the remote control. forting to know that Landry or anoth- about what happened.” softens her sense of the absurd, and fiction. As the landscape broad- Pierce) and tries to get Paul to er liaison captain will show up regu- Like many people in relationships, creating wonderful portraits of the ens to include burning cars and police meet with her. Coincidentally, a Chris Kennedy is a programmer for The larly and know exactly what to do. he and his partner Diana volunteer to- human condition. cruisers, Jimmy Weber becomes homeless Pakistani man whom Images Festival in Toronto. Last year, however, Landry was gether for the Festival. “We have to,” more and more lovable – the emblem Paul suspects of being a terrorist confronted with a situation where he laughs, “Otherwise, we wouldn’t DEMAIN ON DÉMÉNAGE of the hapless clown who lurks in shows up at the mission. This LAND OF PLENTY even he wasn’t sure how to react. see each other for 10 days!” RC Sept. 17, 6pm, ROM every one of us. RC man’s sudden, mysterious death Sept. 17, 4:15pm, Varsity 8 Sept. 18, 9pm, Isabel Bader Theatre