t h e a t r e w a k e f i e l d p r e s e n t s Wakefield’s 8th annual documentary film festival

WAKEFIELDDOCFEST.CA FEBRUARY 4 to 26, 2017 4 weekends • 12 feature-length films

A selection of the very best current Canadian and international documentary films, with events, panel discussions and filmmaker visits

Culture Culture et Communications et Communications Welcome to Wakefield Doc Fest 2017 Feb 4 Feb 5 Feb 11 Feb 12 Feb 18 Feb 19 Feb 25 Feb 26 In this, our 8th season, we’re doing a bit of fancy footwork. First, we’ve renamed SATURDAY SATURDAY SATURDAY SATURDAY ourselves. We’re now the Wakefield Doc Fest (formerly WIFF), a name which MATINEE 1 pm MATINEE 1 pm SERIES MATINEE MATINEE SERIES 1 pm SERIES SERIES Québec reflects more closely who we are and what we’re doing – and perhaps is a little So That 1 pm 1 pm 1 pm A Plastic 1 pm My catchier. Then, along with our Core Program of eight current, notable and You Can KONELINE: Fire at Sea The Eagle Ocean 1 pm Unlocking Country Stand our land award-winning documentary feature films, we’re trying a new themed program Huntress Prison Dogs the Cage Mon Pays of feature documentary films, the Saturday Matinee Series. This year, the beautiful theme is Human/Nature and the films in the series are all concerned in some 4 pm 4 pm 4 pm 4 pm The The 4 pm 4 pm 4 pm 4 pm manner with our relationship with other creatures and with the land. Putuparri Putuparri Islands Islands Spaceship Spaceship Dark Dark

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and the and the Earth Earth Horse Horse For the Core Program, we are excited to bring you a remarkable assortment Rainmakers Rainmakers t of eight films from many corners of the world: Australia, the South Pacific, Whales Whales t the Faroe Islands, a tiny Italian island just north of the shore of Tunisia in the 7:30 pm Mediterranean, Wales, as well as back here at home in Quebec and Canada. So That You 7:30 pm Closing Québec We, the crew of Spaceship Earth (February 18 and 19) have a lot of work to Can Stand 7:30 pm 7:30 pm Gala My A Plastic Fire at Sea & Best do. Many of these films highlight our strengths and possibilities, while some Ocean Country Opening of Fest weave extraordinary stories. Be inspired. Be provoked. Be challenged. Gala Mon Pays Enjoy the festival! Weekend Gourmet – Bouffe-4-Buffs Pass* Thank you to our festival supporters Each weekend pass includes: • Entry to any 2 screenings of the Core Series per weekend. (Does not include Saturday Matinee Series). • Coupon for popcorn at the Centre Wakefield La Pêche. • $10 off at local participating restaurants: Bistro Rutherford (819-459-2100); Chez Eric (819-459-3747); Kaffe 1870 (819-459-3943); M.J.M.D Pizza de Culture Culture Luigi Pizza (Chelsea: 819-827-2882 / Wakefield: 819-420-1845 or 819-420-1850); et Communications et Communications The Village House (819-459-1445); Wakefield Mill (819-459-1838). Minimum $25 purchase. Valid anytime from February 4 to 26, 2017. Reservations recommended for dinner. Other restrictions may apply, check with restaurant. * Passes must be presented at the box office prior to entry, to receive your tickets for the screening. Please arrive at least 15 minutes prior to showtime.

TICKETS – CORE PROGRAM: Single $15. BOUFFE-4-BUFFS WEEKEND PASS: $34 (see details above). SATURDAY MATINEE SERIES: Single $15, children under 12 years $7.50. Centre de photocopies Available at Centre Wakefield La Pêche, online at WakefieldDocFest.ca or at the door. All prices include taxes. DATES: Saturday and Sunday from February 4 to 26. SCREENING TIMES: Core Series: Two showings of each film, once on Saturday and once on Sunday (see schedule above). Saturday Matinee Series: ONE SHOWING ONLY, Saturday at 1 pm. More information: WakefieldDocFest.ca LOCATION: Centre Wakefield La Pêche, 38 chemin de la Vallée-de-Wakefield, Quebec. 715 Riverside Drive, Wakefield 819-459-3943 www.kaffe1870.com Core Program: February 4 & 5 Core Program: February 11 & 12

Putuparri and The Islands and the Rainmakers the Whales Director: Nicole Ma • 2016 • Australia • Director: Mike Day • 2016 • UK/Denmark • 97 minutes • Languages: English, 82 minutes • Languages: Faorese, Danish Wangkajunga (with English subtitles) (with English subtitles) Saturday, February 4 at 4 pm and Saturday, February 11 at 4 pm and Sunday, February 12 at 4 pm Sunday, February 5 at 4 pm In the remote Faroe Islands, inhabitants have hunted seabirds and pilot Tom “Putuparri” Lawford navigates the deep chasm between the deeply whales for millennia. Soaring aerial cinematography shows an isolated spiritual universe of his people’s traditional culture and his life in modern community, historically dependent upon and devoted to nature, losing society where he struggles with alcoholism and domestic violence. connection with the natural world. Native sea birds are disappearing During a trip back to his grandparents’ country in the desert, Putuparri and a local doctor discovers something horrifying: the whales, being at is shocked to learn that the dreamtime myths are not just stories, but the top of the ocean’s food chain, are packed with toxins. The Islands that there really is a country called Kurtal and a snake spirit that is the and the Whales takes a stimulating sideways approach to a complex subject of an elaborate rainmaking ritual. Set against the backdrop of the debate involving health, identity, community, and human and animal long fight to reclaim their traditional lands,Putuparri and the Rainmakers welfare issues. is an emotional, visually breathtaking story of love, hope and the survival Emerging International Filmmaker Award, Hot Docs 2016 of Aboriginal law and culture against all odds. A Plastic Ocean So That You Can Stand Director: Craig Leeson • 2016 • UK/Hong Kong/ PANEL Director: Ole Gjerstad • 2015 • CAN • USA/CAN • 102 minutes • Language: English AFTER FILM* 83 minutes • Languages: English, French, Saturday, February 11 at 7:30 pm* and Inuktitut (with English subtitles) Sunday, February 12 at 1 pm Saturday, February 4 at 7:30 pm* and Sunday, February 5 at 1 pm Sponsored by Life Without Plastic Q&AFILM* AFTER Sunday matinee: LWP School Art Contest In early 1970s, young Inuit and Cree stood up against the Quebec and awards presentation government while an army of workers and equipment was tearing apart their land for the enormous James Bay Project development. With no Journalist Craig Leeson, searching for the elusive blue whale, constitutional recognition of aboriginal rights and no land claim yet discovers enormous tracts of plastic waste in what should be pristine negotiated with Canada, young Innu leaders fought to create a modern ocean. Thus begins a four year adventure which sees Leeson and Nunavik. Their extraordinary accomplishment: the very first treaty of producer Jo Ruxton teaming up with free diver Tanya Streeter and its kind and a new era of recognition for their people. working alongside an international team of scientists and researchers, to explore the fragile state of our oceans. In so doing, they uncover We’re pleased to welcome for this, our Opening Night Gala, one of the alarming truths about plastic pollution and reveal working solutions chief Inuit negotiators of the agreement, Senator Charlie Watt, and the that need to be put into immediate effect. film’s director, Ole Gjerstad, for a Q&A after the show on Sat, Feb. 4. Core Program: February 18 & 19 Core Program: February 25 & 26

Spaceship Earth Dark Horse Director: Kevin McMahon • 2016 • CAN • Director: Louise Osmond • 2015 • UK • 122 minutes • Languages: English, Japanese, 85 minutes • Language: English German (with English subtitles) Saturday, February 25 at 4 pm and Saturday, February 18 at 4 pm and Sunday, February 26 at 4 pm Sunday, February 19 at 4 pm Sponsored by Wakefield General Store Prizes donated by Bean Fair Coffee Set in a former mining village in Wales, Dark Horse is the inspirational Marshall McLuhan famously said, “There are no passengers on true story of a group of friends from a working men’s club who decide Spaceship Earth. We are all crew.” Award-winning Canadian filmmaker to take on the elite ‘sport of kings’ and breed themselves a racehorse. Kevin McMahon takes this as a point of departure in this poetic film, Raised on a slagheap allotment, their foal grows into an unlikely which explores what 50 years of research into understanding humanity’s champion, beating the finest thoroughbreds in the land, before suffering daily influence on our planet’s life forces have revealed, and where our a near fatal accident. Nursed back to health by the love of his owners responsibility lies in steering the only ship in the universe known to – for whom he’s become a source of inspiration and hope – he makes carry life. Narrated by Sarah Polley. a remarkable recovery, returning to the track for a heart-stopping Grand Prix, International Science Film Festival, St Petersburg comeback. Fire at Sea Québec: My Country Director: Gianfranco Rosi • 2015 • Mon Pays Italy/France • 108 minutes • Director: John Walker • 2016 • Language: Italian (with English subtitles) CAN • 90 minutes • Languages: Saturday, February 18 at 7:30 pm and English, French (with English subtitles) Sunday, February 19 at 1 pm Saturday, February 25 at 7:30 pm and Sunday, February 26 at 1 pm Lampedusa is a small Italian island closer to Africa than it is to the rest Part history, part personal story, part lament, award-winning director of Italy. Fire at Sea follows the residents of Lampedusa through their John Walker’s film is a heartfelt narrative from an Anglo who left, but day-to-day activity. A boy makes a slingshot and fires it at a bird. Women has never stopped loving, Quebec. Walker himself narrates and is very cook and slowly make beds. Men fish. The rounds of life go on. What present on camera, making the story like a visual personal notebook makes this island remarkable? The thousands and thousands of people as he speaks with a who’s who of Québécois artists – filmmakers, who strike out from Africa, paying far too much to desperately sail for journalists and actresses – as well as his own friends and family, about Lampedusa and a new life. And Lampedusians engage uncomplaining in what has happened and the distance between the French and the the endless task of bringing them ashore, alive or dead. A quiet, slowly English in Quebec. There is a delicate poignancy here, though, not paced, absolutely devastating film which does not offer comment, anger, as the filmmaker balances his desire to return against his Fire at Sea is a masterly work of documentary filmmaking. understanding that he’ll never fit the new reality. “HHHHH Gianfranco Rosi’s beautiful, mysterious and moving film is a documentary “HHHH…deeply moving…” –Greg Klymkiw, The Film Corner that looks like a neorealist classic.” –Peter Bradshaw, The Guardian OPENING GALA Saturday Matinee Series Saturday, February 4 Tickets: $15 adults / $7.50 under 12 years For this year’s Gala, we have the honour of having The Eagle Huntress Senator Charlie Watt and Ole Gjerstad (the director Director: Otto Bell • 2016 • UK/Mongolia/USA of So That You Can Stand) in attendance. • 87 minutes • Language: Kazakh (with English There will be music and refreshments served. subtitles) Saturday, February 4 at 1 pm Wakefield Doc Fest Team Rating: G (suitable for all ages) Managing Director: Brenda Rooney Thirteen-year-old Aisholpan trains to become the first female in twelve Programming/Publicity Director: Melanie Willis generations of her Kazakh family to become an eagle hunter, and rises Translator: Joel Ladouceur to the pinnacle of a tradition that has been handed down from father Web Designer: Dan Imbrogno to son for centuries. Set against the breathtaking expanse of the Graphic Designer: Zoé Lindsay Mongolian steppe and featuring awe-inspiring cinematography, this Front-of-House/Box Office: Alison Scott intimate tale of a young girl’s quest has the dramatic force of an epic Technical Director: Rink de Lange narrative film. Narrated by Daisy Riley. Videographers: Calem Anderson-Barwin, Caleb Gales, Jake Hayduk, “In form and content, this is a movie that expands your sense of what is possible. Taz Scott-Talib, Jyoti Singh-Plamondon A girl can hunt with an eagle. A camera can fly.” –A.O.Scott,The New York Times Projectionists: Zach Lauzon, Taz Scott-Talib – KONELINE: I Our Land Beautiful Closing Gala + Best of Fest Award Director: Nettie Wild • 2016 • CAN • 96 minutes • I Sunday, February 26 at 6 pm I Language: English Saturday, February 11 at 1 pm Rating: PG (parental guidance is advised) This latest film from one of Canada’s leading WATCH FOR IT! documentarians, Nettie Wild, is a sensual, Wakefield Doc Fest Weekend returns! cinematic celebration of northwestern British Columbia, and all the dreamers who move across that stunning landscape. Some hunt on the After the great success of our weekend fest in 2016, land. Some mine it. They all love it. Set deep in the traditional territory - Wakefield Doc Fest will be back in September 2017 of the Tahltan First Nation, KONELINE captures beauty and complexity to present its second themed weekend of as one of Canada’s vast wildernesses undergoes irrevocable change. current, notable feature-length An exploration of different ways of seeing – and being – this documentary films. extraordinarily beautiful film (shot in 4K) simply presents, it doesn’t offer opinion. “HHHH" –Susan G Cole, Now Magazine Winner, Best Canadian Feature, HotDocs 2016; Winner, Best Canadian Documentary, Available Light Film Festival; CSC Robert Brooks Award for Best Cinematography Saturday Matinee Series Tickets: $15 adults / $7.50 under 12 years Prison Dogs Directors: Perri Peltz and Geeta Gandbhir • Q&A 2016 • USA • 72 minutes • Language: English AFTER FILM Saturday, February 18 at 1 pm Rating: Not rated A beacon of light in the dark nightmare that is the American prison system, Puppies Behind Bars, featuring feisty dog trainer 2017 BEST OF FEST Gloria Gilbert Stoga, is a remarkable program that sees New York Pick up a ballot, and vote. You decide the BEST film inmates incarcerated for violent crime raise and train service dogs. of the Festival. The Leacross Foundation is Living with the puppies 24/7 over two or more years, the inmates teach the dogs 90+ commands, after which the canines go on to help other sponsoring a cash prize of $500 to the director of people needing a second chance: war veterans with PTSD. Not all men, the winning film, determined by YOUR vote. nor all dogs, are successful – and this humane film doesn’t gloss that over. Prison Dogs is a story of love, loss, redemption, strength, fear and dedication.

Unlocking the Cage Directors: and D.A. Pennebaker • 2016 • USA • 92 minutes • Language: English Saturday, February 25 at 1 pm Rating: Not rated From the respected award-winning documentary team of Hegedus and Pennebaker (Don’t Look Back; ), Unlocking the Cage follows lawyer Steven Wise in his unprecedented challenge to break down the legal wall that separates animals from humans. Steve and his legal team, the (NhRP), are making history by filing the first lawsuits that seek to transform an animal from a thing with no rights to a person with legal protections. The team maintains that cognitively complex animals such as chimpanzees, whales, dolphins, and elephants have the capacity for limited personhood rights (such as bodily liberty) that would protect Roslyn Bern of the Leacross Foundation awarding them from physical abuse. If a corporation is seen as a person before director Elisa Paloschi (at right) with Selvi – the subject the law, why not a chimpanzee? of the 2016 Best of Fest filmDriving with Selvi.

“There are giants in the sky!”

On your way to WI F, or on your way back, why not drop in to Les Fougères for a snack or a meal? En route pour le FDW ou à son retour, pourquoi ne pas arrêter pour une bouchée ou un repas?

10% off food in Restaurant for kindred WDF lovers, during WDF! Rabais de 10% sur la nourriture au restaurant Giants, witches, wolves, princes, fear, love, betrayal pour les amateurs du FDW durant le Festival! and death. There was more to those childhood (1 coupon per/par table) fairy tales than you realized. Restaurant: 819-827-8942 /www.fougeres.com / 783 Route 105 Chelsea, Qc Come Into the Woods with Theatre Wakefield. Spring 2017. Fiers de faire partie d’une communauté engagée et bien informée et donc fiers d’être commanditaires du Festival Docu de Wakefield CÉLÉBRONS Proud to be part of 150 ANS DE JOIE DE VIVRE! such an informed and Cirque du Soleil / VOLTA engaged community LET’S CELEBRATE and proud sponsors 150 YEARS OF of Wakefield Doc Fest. JOIE DE VIVRE!

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27 chemin de la Vallée-de-Wakefield, Tél. : 819-459-1123 • Téléc. : 819-459-3166