Canadian Premiere
Veteran filmmaker James Ivory takes a look back at his life in this warm, engrossing documentary. Co-directed with Giles Gardner, A Cooler Climate recalls Ivory’s unfinished film about Afghanistan; those reminiscences are paired with a wider biographical summary, which takes us from his childhood in Klamath, Oregon through his beginnings as a director and his partnerships with producer Ismail Merchant and screenwriter Ruth Prawer Jhabvala. Shot in and around Kabul, the Afghanistan footage is notable for its air of mystery as much as for its beauty. Ivory had planned to make a documentary that followed the city’s long, winding river, and there are beautiful shots of sun reflecting off its waters mixed in with what is now a fascinating time capsule. No less engrossing are the reminiscences of small-town life, Hollywood dreams, and beginnings as a documentarian of Venice and India. Ever discreet and tasteful, Ivory discusses his sexuality honestly but without salaciousness. Ultimately, the film is a record of triumph—a moving valediction to a great career.
Series Media Partner
James Ivory
France
2022
Portraits
English
Book Tickets
Indigenous & Community Access
Indigenous Access Tickets Community Access Tickets Ticket Donation Requests
Credits
Producer
Bertrand Faivre
Screenwriter
James Ivory
Editor
Giles Gardner
Original Music
Alexandre Desplat
Directors
James Ivory
James Francis Ivory (born June 7, 1928) is an American film director, producer, and screenwriter. For many years, he worked extensively with film producer Ismail Merchant, his domestic as well as professional partner, and with screenwriter Ruth Prawer Jhabvala. All three were principals in Merchant Ivory Productions. Ivory won awards for Best Adapted Screenplay from the Academy Awards, British Academy of Film and Television Arts, and many others. Upon winning the Oscar and BAFTA for Best Adapted Screenplay for Call Me By Your Name at the age of 89, Ivory became the oldest-ever winner in any category for both awards.
Filmography: Shakespeare Wallah (1965); A Room with A View (1985); Howard’s End (1992); The Remains of the Day (1993); The White Countess (2005)
Giles Gardner
Giles Gardner has been working with James Ivory for over twenty years. He lives in Paris where he has edited numerous award winning documentaries that regularly appear on the International Festival Circuit.
Missing VIFF? Check Out What's Playing at the VIFF Centre
The History of Concrete
After attending a workshop on pitching saccharine Hallmark movies, John Wilson tries to apply all the same best practices to his documentary about concrete. Frequently absurd and endlessly entertaining detours, asides, and digressions ensue.
La Bola Negra
A big, old-school historical melodrama gets a thrillingly modern, queer makeover from Spanish duo Javier Calvo and Javier Ambrossi, who artfully juggle three gay protagonists across stories set in 1932, 1937, and 2017. Winner: Best Director, Cannes. Screening on 35mm.
NAZA
NAZA is a codeword euphemistically used by Israeli intelligence to indicate the number of civilians it expects will be killed in an airstrike. This chilling documentary exposes the policy and process of state-sanctioned mass killings.
The Mad Dog of Europe
The story of an unmade screenplay from the writer of Citizen Kane. In 1932, Herman Mankiewicz wrote a film that foretold the persecution of the Jews and the war in Europe. But Hollywood wouldn't take the risk and The Mad Dog of Europe was never made.
The Mortal Storm
In this explicitly anti-Nazi melodrama directed by Frank Borzage (Three Comrades) a year before the US entered the war, Margaret Sullavan and James Stewart fall in love as their friends and family fall prey to the rise of Hitler's Nazi party in Germany.
Three Comrades
Scripted by F Scott Fitzgerald, Three Comrades (1938) was the first US studio film to chronicle the rise of European fascism in the 30s. Three German veterans open up a repair shop and try to regain a normal life, but political extremists have other ideas.