Canadian Box Office, April 27-29, 2007

1 FRACTURE Alliance Atlantis, Weekend: $919,180 Total: $2.49 mil
2 DISTURBIA DreamWorks, Weekend:$705,473 Total: $4.18 mil
3 NEXT Paramount, Weekend:$643,057 Total: $643,057
4 HOT FUZZ Odeon, Weekend:$558,710 Total: $1.62 mil
5 THE INVISIBLE Touchstone, Weekend:$524,537 Total: $524,537
6 BLADES OF GLORY DreamWorks, Weekend:$488,007 Total: $9.72 mil
7 THE CONDEMNED Maple, Weekend:$442,099 Total: $442,099
8 VACANCY Columbia, Weekend:$406,757 Total: $1.21 mil
9 MEET THE ROBINSONS Walt Disney Weekend:$389,015 Total: $5.06 mil
10 ARE WE DONE YET? Columbia, Weekend:$338,705 Total: $3.47 mil

*In Canadian dollars

Via tribute.ca

Douglas Coupland in Wired: talks about new film Everything's Gone Green

The new Douglas Coupland penned film Everything's Gone Green (Paul Fox, 2006), opened this weekend, and now Wired magazine pulled up and old interview from last years Toronto International Film Festival. At least a Canadian film was mentioned in a magazine as worthy as Wired, that's got to help, right?

Follow the link above to read Coupland interview via Wired.

Cannes 60th: NFB animation selected

Madame Tutli-Putli, by Montreal based Chris Lavis and Maciek Szczerbowskia have a 17-minute animated stop motion and computer animated film screening at International Critics' Week at Cannes.

The film is their first professional film which took 4 years to make, and was financed by the NFB.

Follow the link above, VIA CBC.

Quebec Box Office - April 20-26

If you ever wondered how The Rest of Canada (TROC) compares to Quebec in terms of box office take from week to week, here is your answer.

1 FRACTURE Vivafilm 452,697
2 DISTURBIA Paramount 153,315
3 VACANCY Sony 150,120
4 PERFECT STRANGER Sony 134,646
5 A VOS MARQUES... PARTY! Christal Films 127,055
6 SHOOTER Paramount 102,454
7 ARE WE DONE YET? Sony 98,251
8 LA VIE EN ROSE Tva Films 75,833
9 MOLIERE Christal Films 72,088
10 NE LE DIS A PERSONNE Films Seville 65 894

In Canadian dollars.

What is interesting is that only one film, A VOS MARQUES... PARTY! of the four French language films is actually from Quebec. The rest are releases from France.

It also goes to show, if you have a horror/thriller make sure you subtitle it and open it in Quebec theatres. The top 4 films are dominated by them, despite Hot Fuzz and Blades of Glory being the top comedies in TROC.

For further information: Box Office Quebec
Top Ten Movies in Canada (weekend gross): April 20-22

Cinéma Vérité/Direct Cinema filmmaker Allan King at MoMA

The Museum of Modern Art in New York is putting on a brief retrospective of direct cinema pioneer Allan King. The show will include his early work such celebrated work as Warrendale (1966), A Married Couple (1969), Come on Children (1973), and Skid Row (1956), which was one of the first films to use direct address as a central narrative device.

Warrendale won the Prix d'art et d'essai at Cannes in 1967, shared a BAFTA Best Foreign Film Award with Antonioni's Blow-Up, and a New York Critics Award with Bunuel's Belle Du Jour - and Jean Renoir called him "a great artist". Just think about that for a moment.

Jean Renoir.

His recent films Dying at Grace (2003), Memory for Max, Claire, Ida and Company (2005) and Empz 4 Life (2006) are also part of the retrospective.

The show was put on in part with the support of Telefilm and the Canadian Consulate General in New York.

The exhibition runs from May 9-31, 2007.

MoMa Film Exhibitions, 2007: Allan King.


Image from Allan King's film Warrendale, 1966.

[Edit: I found this quote on wiki:

Il faut le dire, tout ce que nous avons fait en France dans le domaine du cinéma-vérité vient de l'ONF (Canada)." Trans. "It must be said, all that we have done in France in the area of cinéma-vérité comes from Canada" - Jean Rouch

When was the last time Canadians were influential in cinema? Maybe it's time we start doing that again]

10 directing tips from Sam Raimi, the director of the most expensive film in cinema history*

Sam Raimi, the director of The Evil Dead and Spider-Man, recently talked to the CBC host of The Hour, George Stroumboulopoulos about his new blockbuster, Spider-Man 3.

For a man who just completed what will be reportedly * the most expensive film ever made (when advertising is factored in), Raimi is also one of the most down to earth, and honest individuals in Hollywood. Clearly, he's dealing with a lot of stress (wouldn't you be?) but, he had several very useful and basic principles of directing that every filmmaker, amateur or professional should consider.

10 things you can learn from Sam Raimi:

1. Know your characters: Know what the character is. Know who they are. Know what they want.

2. Obligatory moments: You have an obligation to your audience to resolve the tensions, set-up and questions you create when telling your story. Failing to do so will alienate them.

3. Be true to your material: You have a responsibility when adapting your material (either comic book or novel) to preserve what is unique about the material, and not change it just because of ego, or for the sake of change itself.

4. Children need role models: When your character is a hero, or role model to children, you have a responsibility to make a responsible individual on screen and make sure that character is worthy of admiration.

5. The essence of a moment is truth: Understanding your actor and your character will help you find the essence of a moment, moments of truth which you should always strive to get.

6. Find something real and you'll find your audience: If you can find those moments of truth your audience will connect with you - not even consciously, but they will be with the character and your film. You will fail more than you succeed at this, but you should keep trying to find those moments of truth because they make everything work. Getting to those moments will be more awkward and hard to get, if you don't have a close bond with your actor.

7. Know your subject matter: The most frightening thing as a director is working with new characters and finding out what they are. Until you completely understand your characters you will be out of your comfort zone. When you you understand them, you will know how to direct them.

8. Keep it simple: Thinking about studio expectations (or your own) will only terrify you, just focus on the characters.

9. Directing is stressful; get used to it: The problems you have on a small set, are just the same as a big one: you will lay awake at night rethinking every moment until complete neurosis. You will never become less insecure (Sam Raimi has made 15 pictures, and he still worries) But, you will become more confident if you know your subject matter and are comfortable with your actors.

10. Look the part: Finally, always wear a suit when you direct. Alfred Hitchcock wore a suit and expected his people to do likewise. Making a film involves being able to command authority. Sam Raimi, being a gentleman (and a fan of Hitchcock) has always viewed wearing a suit and tie on set, as a sign of respect. You should to.


Strombo interview with Sam Raimi (Mac users may have to download a QuickTime codec - instructions on the CBC site)

Gore Awards Manufactured Landscapes for Greatness

Toronto director, Jennifer Baichwal has received an honour for her beautifully horrific documentary, Manufactured Landscapes, which was presented to her by ex vice president, and world savior Al Gore.

The award was presented at the Nashville Film Festival on Saturday.

Yep, we still make The Best Documentaries In The World™ and thank God, otherwise we'd really be in trouble, but the question remains: when are we going to start making Kick Ass Fiction Films™?

Via the CBC

Canadian Box Office - April 20-22, 2007

1 FRACTURE Alliance Atlantis 993,877
2 DISTURBIA Paramount 912,363
3 HOT FUZZ Odeon 696,628
4 BLADES OF GLORY Paramount 645,879
5 VACANCY Columbia 556,096
6 MEET THE ROBINSONS Walt Disney 408,759
7 ARE WE DONE YET? Columbia 364,159
8 PERFECT STRANGER Columbia 363,407
9 IN THE LAND OF WOMEN Warner Bros. 345,162
10 300 Warner Bros. 213,060

In Canadian dollars

Truth or Fiction

Hot Docs, the Toronto based documentary film festival is going to screen a film which questions Micheal Moore's film making practices. The film is called "Manufacturing Dissent".

Here is an article written by one of the film makers, Debbie Melnyk...

http://www.nysun.com/article/52715

And here is another article discussing the film controversy...

http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/entertainment/view/271037/1/.html

Just Google for more info if you feel inclined.

Now, none of this background information regarding Mr's Moore's film strategies is new, and, ultimatelty, I have no desire to comment on his work in particular. What interests me is the concept of the documentary film as truth or fact.

Is Mr Moore violating the audiences trust by manipulating the events in his film? Are his film still documentaries?

Are Mr Moore's films less true and/or less documentaries in light of accusations of manipulation?

They are "less true" on the level of plot, perhaps. By that I mean, what happened did not happen in the order in which it's presented. This level of manipulation is a fairly common place narrative device. (So is omission, I should add.) But what about the story his films tell? Is he lying by excluding his interview with Roger Smith in Roger and Me?

I don't think so. The film was not about interviewing Roger Smith. It never claims to be about interviewing Roger Smith (interviewing Mr Smith is a narrative device, no more). None of his films are specifically about the individuals involved. Moore chooses his subject because they represent a point of view in the larger arguments his film engage.

Micheal Moore's film's are rhetorical, in the classical sense of Rhetoric.

I'd argue he has never claimed to be telling the truth, but is in fact trying to convince the audience to believe what he thinks is true. In the realms of rhetoric, "truth" and "belief" have no relation, nor should they in the real world. I'd also argue that what distinguishes a documentary from a fiction film is that documentaries are rhetorical. So, even though he "lies" to the audience (or omits) about specifics, his films are still documentaries by the simple fact that they are rhetorical.

No documentary is "True". They shouldn't even try to be. They just have to be convincing.

More on this later, in my first Books on Film post.

t

Cannes 60th: Sarah Polley on the jury; Cronenberg and Egoyan part of collection

You got to hand it to the French. It's the only place where it seems, Sarah Polley, Atom Egoyan and David Cronenberg get any respect, or the respect they deserve (although Egoyan has taken quite a career bruising since Where The Truth Lies). The Cannes red carpet will be a nice break from teaching at U of T for Atom.

Polley will join Maggie Cheung, Toni Collette, Michel Piccoli, Maria de Medeiros, Marco Bellocchio and Abderrahmane Sissako on the jury this year, headed by Stephen Frears (perhaps as a consolation prize for losing to Scorsese).

Cronenberg and Egoyan will participate by making 3 minute shorts in the festival commissioned anniversary piece To Each His Cinema. Participating filmmakers include Olivier Assayas, Jane Campion,Chen Kaige, Ethan and Joel Coen, Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne, Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu, Takeshi Kitano, Ken Loach, Nanni Moretti, Roman Polanski, Walter Salles, Gus Van Sant, Lars Von Trier, Wim Wenders, Wong Kar Wai and Zhang Yimou.

Good company, but probably a very dull film.

Via the CBC: Cannes-anniversary Film

Mr Bordwell's Blog

This has nothing to do with Canadian Cinema and everything to do with all of Cinema. A day or so ago, I was talking about starting a series of book reviews and I was saying how important I think it is for filmmakers to have a sense of film theory and history. My first entry was to be an overview of not a book, but a scholar; Mr David Bordwell.

This morning I load up his blog and there it is; an entry that sums up many of his ideas. So, I don't need to type one. So, head over to David Bordwell's blog and read his latest entry.

t

EDIT 04/20/07
Okay. I've reread Mr Bordwell's post and have realized that it doesn't clearly sum up his ideas; I've just read between the lines. (I've read most of his published work.) So, I will eventually type a piece discussing his ideas further. That said, its still a very interesting post. So go read it.

t

New look (Red, White & Black)

For now, (with the completely limited templates in blogger, and my complete lack of knowledge of CSS), this stark black, white and red template is what I've settled on.

It's nice, nationalistic, authoritarian, and let's be honest, completely fascist, or rather Soviet. Doesn't it fit Canadian cinema so well? Those Soviets sure knew something about aesthetics, huh?

I really should learn from Brian Ferry to curb my sense of humour.

Anyway, the new CBC Film feed I added on the side will transition smoother when you click on it (the CBC are all red, white & black too). Bloody socialists.

-cs

Image: Kasimir Malevich, "Black Square and Red Square" 1915.

Triple Feature: Away From Her, What I learned From LSD and Metropolis

Queen Street & Spadina Avenue, Toronto

Cannes 60th: Arcand represents Canada; not in competition

Denys Arcand has a new film, The Age of Darkness / (L'Âge des ténèbres), out competition at the 60th Cannes Festival this year. He will show along side new works by Joel and Ethan Coen, Quentin Tarrantino, Julian Schnabel, Gus Van Sant, Wong Kar Wai, Steven Soderbergh , Michael Winterbottom and Alexander Sokurov.

Arcands film will be show out of competition due to reported editing delays.

Wong Kar Wai's first English language film, (cross your fingers) Blueberry Nights, opens the festival which runs from May 16-27. Stephen Frears is the president of the jury this year.

6oth Festival De Cannes

Books on Film

I'm planning on starting a semi regular series of posts here on National Cinema dedicated to books, journals and web based critical writings on Cinema. Expect the first installment soon, but in the meantime, I'm opening my ears to suggested texts.

While I'm no professor on the subject, I have never let that stop me before. Besides, I think the one thing lacking most amongst film makers is a critical and theoretical discourse. All art forms have a history and an evolving theory. Understanding current and past trends of thought on cinema, in the least, can inform a film maker about the potential reception of their work. The best case scenario is that it opens up possibilities to be explored.

Be prepared, as the Boy Scouts say. Of course, I never made it through Cubs, so what do I know.

t

British Actor looking to steal Inuk woman for his own Canadian picuture

Ralph Fiennes is casting in Nunavut for his leading lading for his first Canadian feature film, Snow Country "She's 17, 18 [years old] in the story, but she could be played by someone a bit older. It's a question of, obviously, how they look, what their qualities [are]. So I'm really open."

What's extraordinary about this is that someone as talented as Fiennes would come here to make what looks like a rehash of every other Canadian film set in the arctic:

The film, based on an original screenplay, is a love story set in the 1950s involving a young Inuk woman who returns to the Arctic from a Winnipeg convent, having lost her original language and cultural identity. Pre-production work has begun and Fiennes and his crew hope to start shooting parts of the film this fall or next spring near Rankin Inlet.

Could the British have a co-production treaty with Canada that allows them to shoot in our country? If so, this is the first time they have actually chosen to shoot here, while every other Canadian film has a British (or Indian) sublot.

We love our co-pro treaties.

If Snow Country doesn't feel distinctly Canadian, maybe I'll go see it.

Via CBC.

Independent Media Arts Alliance

The IMAA is a great resource for film makers and cinema enthusiasts in Canada. I highly recommend signing up for their newsletter.

From their mission statement...
"...the Alliance works to promote the improvement of means and access for independents at every stage of funding, production, distribution and exhibition..."

Their site has a great list of links to it's member organizations, organized by region.

t

Apparently in Scotland, they watch (French) Canadian films

We're a little late on this (a whole three weeks), but this past March a major international conference took place at the University of Glasgow, Scotland to "examine the texts and contexts associated with this current [good Quebecer cinema] phenomenon, but also to establish a balance-sheet of the forty or fifty years of Quebec cinema's existence as such. The conference will also be concerned to look at Quebec cinema in its international context, and contributions are actively sought on its Atlantic, including Scottish, dimensions."

Wow. Who knew?

Perhaps one day they'll look at the bastard child English cinema. I bet them Scots have never seen Karla. That film is just dying for a dissertation paper written about it.

Follow the link above.

Canadian Box Office: April 13-15, 2007

1 DISTURBIA Paramount 1,627,781
2 BLADES OF GLORY Paramount 1,129,672
3 PERFECT STRANGER Columbia 1,083,311
4 MEET THE ROBINSONS Walt Disney 693,147
5 ARE WE DONE YET? Columbia 664,458
6 GRINDHOUSE Alliance Atlantis 471,840
7 SHOOTER Paramount 434,203
8 300 Warner Bros. 422,169
9 THE REAPING Warner Bros.. 364,477
10 WILD HOGS Touchstone 330,350

*All figures in Canadian Dollars

Should we cheer that Blades of Glory was partially filmed in Montreal?

For those of you that have seen Andrew Currie's FIDO, it's been released for a whole month now.

Fido's total box office take: $91,879

Fido's total estimated budget: $8,000,000

Hey, money isn't everything.

The Sound of the Bufflehead

Just head on over to the Video and Sound Clips link at the top of the page.

Just think, if you have Quicktime Pro, you can save these and put them on your iPod.

t