The Linda Joy Awards: The Joy Award – Connie Littlefield, Ann and Sasha The Helen Hill Animation Award – Colleen MacIssac, Collectables The Joy Post Award – Cory Bowles, Righteous The Newfoundland Joy – Jordan Canning, Not Over Easy The CBC Script Development Award – Jennifer Tilley, Freaks of Tatamagouche Craft Awards Art Direction – […]
Atlantic Film Festival
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Nearly There
We’re nearly there at the end of the AFF’09. I thought I would share with you some of the highlights and bore you with my observations and thank yous. Tomorrow will be a quick post from me with the winners and prizes from tomorrow’s award ceremony and then that’s it for another year. Film highlights: […]
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Saturday AFF Preview: Jacob Tierney’s The Trotsky
People headed to the Atlantic Film Festival closing night screening of a new film from Montreal writer/director Jacob Tierney are in for a treat. In this, only his second feature, the filmmaker has managed to accomplish what so many Hollywood efforts have failed to do: make an affecting (and funny) teen movie, with an added […]
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Short stuff
I love that there are nine programs of Atlantic Shorts. (I saw the eighth.) I love that there are so many people taking a shot at being filmmakers, even though it’s so difficult to make a living doing it. But I also love that new, affordable digital cameras are making it easier to make films […]
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Atlantic Shorts Gala repeat-screening tonight
Tonight, replacing the White Stripes doc, is an encore screening of the Atlantic Shorts Gala, always one of the festival’s highlights. Show starts at 9:30pm at the Oxford. Support a local filmmaker, make a mom proud.
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Hey Ricky Gervais, your pants are on fire!
One of the most anticipated comedies of the year comes from Ricky Gervais, whose impact on the entire culture of western comedic entertainment can be favourably compared to Woody Allen, Carl Reiner or Jerry Seinfeld. Gervais has done movies before, such as last fall’s Ghost Town (which critics seem to be falling over themselves to […]
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Thursday AFF Preview: Atom Egoyan’s Chloe
A remake of a 2003 French film Natalie… that starred Fanny Ardant, Emmanuelle Beart and Gerard Depardieu. Atom Egoyan transposes the French tale of marital infidelity to high-falutin’ locales in downtown Toronto (the AGO, the ROM, Little Italy and Yorkville all feature prominently) where gynecologist Catherine (Julianne Moore) suspects her professorial husband David (Liam Neeson) […]
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Private Lives worth a public view
To get underneath the mass of contradictions that is Pippa Lee, you need to watch her run. There are plenty of opportunities to do that in the movie, especially when we spend time with the 40-something Pippa, essayed by the astonishing Robin Wright Penn. Something about the way she moves; so tightly wound, yet girlish. […]
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Film Faceoff! Atom Egoyan’s Chloe vs. Mike Judge’s Extract
I’m not the only one noticing the striking similarities between the plots of Egoyan’s Chloe (screened for delegates and press this morning) and Judge’s Extract (released earlier this month). My colleague Mark Palermo mentioned the parallels in a conversation about post-screening dissection and The AV Club’s Scott Tobias mentioned the connection in his review of […]
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Friday AFF Preview: An Education
Jenny (Carey Mulligan, a delight) is a 16-year-old in pre-Beatles suburban London, the cleverest one in her class and a good grade in Latin away from going to Oxford for university. She meets older man David (Peter Sarsgaard, more charm than smarm) who sweeps her off her feet, offering nights out, glamorous events, dinners and […]
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Girls on Film
Yesterday Women in Film and Television – Atlantic hosted a panel discussion at the Khyber Arts Centre with Sherry White, writer-director of Crackie, and Jennice Ripley, the film’s producer. Among other things discussed, White and Ripley reflected on the history of filmmaking in Newfoundland and where their careers fit into it. That discussion was prompted by Jan Miller’s introduction to the afternoon: “As many people have commented, there is no where else in the country that has such a strong representation of women working in the industry and making a difference in the industry then Newfoundland.” Ripley’s career-history as a
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Eight is enough
In 2000 the United Nations committed to eight Millennium Development Goals, an effort to halve world poverty by 2015. The goals are lofty: eradicate extreme poverty and hunger, achieve universal primary education, combat HIV/AIDS, reduce child mortality, and so on. In an effort to shine a spotlight on these MDGs, eight directors offer eight short […]