PRESS RELEASES – PAGE 11

CANADIAN IMAGES HIGHLIGHTS
Wednesday, September 5, 2001

This year’s Canadian Images program, the largest public exhibition of Canadian film in the world, contains 35 features and 59 shorts. Included in the features are three World Premieres, one North American Premiere and five English-Canadian Premieres. The first screening showcases two key works from CBC Vancouver – the witty, courageous THE EDUCATION OF PHYLLISTINE (1964), directed by Philip Keatley. and the internationally recognized cinéma vérité classic, SKID ROW (1956), directed by Allan King. This year’s program also includes an archival screening of Laurence Kent’s THE BITTER ASH (1963), a compelling document of the Beat generation and the sexual revolution, and, arguably, the first modern Canadian feature.

Canadian Images includes two special presentations. In David Weaver’s elegant debut feature CENTURY HOTEL, a single hotel room sees every kind of human drama unfold over 100 years, and on December 31, 1999, a young girl begins unlocking its secrets. This is a thrilling journey through the 20th century, as experienced in one extraordinary room. In Jeff Macpherson’s charming first feature, COME TOGETHER, Ewan (Tygh Runyan) returns home for the wedding of his recent ex-girlfriend, Charlotte (Laura Harris). As he struggles to decide between winning her back and letting her go, Amy (Eryn Collins) adds a new point to the triangle. "Although the lush historical grandeur of Weaver’s CENTURY HOTEL may seem to be at odds with the more intimate comedic focus of Macpherson’s COME TOGETHER, both of these accomplished first features are about coming to terms with the past and finding a way to face the future," Burgess proclaimed.

There are an extraordinary number of first features in this year’s Canadian Images program – 15 of the 23 Canadian fiction features are directorial debuts. Highlights include Robin Schlaht’s SOLITUDE, a lyrical tale about three retreatants at a rural monastery; Asghar Massombagi’s KHALED, a moving portrait of a determined boy in extraordinary circumstances; Dwayne Beaver’s THE RHINO BROTHERS, a subtly subversive look at a troubled hockey family; and Laurie Maria Baranyay’s WALK BACKWARDS, a searingly intimate study of one woman’s journey towards adulthood.

In addition to CENTURY HOTEL and ATANARJUAT (THE FAST RUNNER), there are also several historical dramas from Quebecois directors. These include Catherine Martin’s stunning and poetic MARIAGES, which focuses on the sexual awakening of a lower middle-class woman in the late Victorian era, and Francis Leclerc’s charming UNE JEUNE FILLE À LA FENÊTRE, which takes an intoxicating look at the insouicance of the 1920s. On a serious historical note, Pierre Falardeau’s provocative FEBRUARY 15, 1839 recreates a formative moment in our troubled national history.

The two solitudes approach to nationalism is enriched by a range of complex depictions of what it means to be Canadian. Denis Chouinard’s powerful and suspenseful L’ANGE DE GOUDRON is a compelling commentary on immigrant experience, while Helen Lee’s delightful THE ART OF WOO layers race and class into a sly romantic comedy. In documentary, Linda Ohama delves into her Japanese-Canadian heritage in the elegant OBAACHAN’S GARDEN, while Korean-Canadian director Eunhee Cha explores the colonial roots of the tensions between the Japanese and Korean peoples. Globalized corporate culture takes a sharp hit in Jill Sharpe’s smart and witty CULTUREJAM: HIJACKING COMMERCIAL CULTURE, while the contested boundaries between private and public space are observed from the perspective of a cyborg in Peter Lynch’s CYBERMAN. Not to be forgotten as a Canadian co-production is Vancouver producer Scott Kennedy’s classic Irish feel-good comedy ON THE NOSE, an irresistible fantasy about an ex-gambler who finds a preserved head that can pick winning horses, directed by David Caffrey. Caffrey and star Brenda Blethyn will be on hand for our World Premiere.

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