Preview
CALGARY INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL
September 24 to October 3
With more than 250 films to be screened over the course of 10 days, the Calgary International Film Festival (CIFF) will take the city’s art-house cinemas by storm once again this fall, as the event continues to grow in terms of both quality and stature.
"It’s a continual, steady growth," says programming director Andrew Eyck of CIFF’s rapid rise to prominence among Canadian festivals in just five short years. "Or even more than steady. It’s exponential in some ways…. There’s an increased interest from filmmakers in having their films screened at our festival…. The knowledge of the festival is spreading throughout the film community in Canada and internationally."
The result of that interest is that this year’s event features some of the best and most popular titles currently making the rounds on the festival circuit. For example, CIFF will kick off this year with a gala screening of actor-director Don McKellar’s Childstar, the followup to his critically acclaimed Last Night. In addition, the festival will feature gala screenings of films by both Istvan Szabo (Being Julia) and another Canadian luminary, Bruce McDonald (The Love Crimes of Gillian Guess).
With 26 Canadian feature films, Canuck flicks account for well over 10 per cent of CIFF’s program, including a spotlight on mainstream Quebec cinema. Considering the strength of the Quebec film industry today, it’s a shame how rarely films from la belle province are seen in the rest of Canada. Although such break-out hits as The Barbarian Invasions, Seducing Doctor Lewis and Mambo Italiano have found success with audiences outside Quebec, this particular program – which includes, among others, a vampire movie (La Peau blanche) and the true story of a bank heist (Le Dernier Tunnel) – will offer a rare opportunity to see populist Canadian movies that rival the best Hollywood has to offer.
Other noteworthy programs include a special film-noir retrospective as part of the festival’s ongoing Restored Classics series. What’s particularly valuable about this noir spotlight is that it features a number of lesser-known masterpieces, such as Jacques Tourneur’s Out of the Past (starring Robert Mitchum), Samuel Fuller’s Pickup on South Street (starring Richard Widmark), Frank Tuttle’s The Glass Key (starring Ray Milland) and Edmund Goulding’s Nightmare Alley (starring Tyrone Power), in addition to one of the iconic noir films of all time – Billy Wilder’s Double Indemnity (starring Fred MacMurray and Barbara Stanwyck).
Other restored classics include Luis Buñuel’s notorious 1929 surrealist short Un Chien Andalou and Gillo Pontecorvo’s landmark 1966 drama Battle of Algiers, the latter of which details, in almost documentary style, the struggle of Algerian freedom fighters to liberate their country from French colonial rule in the 1950s and 1960s.
Meanwhile, future classics of world cinema may come in the shape of new films from Pedro Almodovar and Walter Salles, whose Bad Education and Motorcycle Diaries, respectively, will make their debut Calgary screenings at CIFF.
In addition, the festival’s American Independent program looks stronger than ever this year, with Sundance Film Festival grand prize winner Primer highlighting a selection of films that also includes Cremaster III, one of the films from Matthew Barney’s five-part Cremaster Cycle, and Silver City, the latest from acclaimed indie auteur John Sayles.
Cult-film fans also have reason to rejoice, as an expanded Midnight Movies section will make room for the arrival of Harry Knuckles and the Pearl Necklace, the latest feature by Ottawa director Lee De Marbre, who previously entertained us with such sacrilegious fare as Jesus Christ Vampire Hunter.
With dozens more documentaries, short films and music videos (from the likes of Radiohead, Bonobo and Incubus, among others), CIFF looks to have programmed another strong and balanced lineup of films for the devoted cinephile and the casual moviegoer alike. That’s partly due to the fact that the festival is growing in every respect, but with that newfound stature comes a lot of responsibility and hard work, as well.
"Now, more and more filmmakers and distributors are contacting us, expressing their interest in having their films shown in Calgary," says Eyck. "It never ceases to amaze me how many films are made and how much we have to choose from in the end…. I’d say, even in terms of unsolicited submissions, we probably have (received) close to 1,000 tapes and DVDs – shorts, docs and features."
For further information on program highlights and how to acquire tickets to this year’s Calgary International Film Festival, please see www.calgaryfilm.com. |
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