| The Calgary International Film Festival (CIFF) has announced its schedule for the 2006 season. This year’s festival has some of the most unique and interesting programming to date with over 300 entries from local, national and international filmmakers.
The festival will run from Friday, September 22 to October 1 and entries will include documentaries, shorts and feature films spanning every imaginable subject – from murdered mimes (Mime Massacre) to political conflict (Iraq in Fragments).
This year’s Opening Gala ceremonies will kick off with a screening of The Journals of Knud Rasmussen, the followup to the 2001 surprise hit Atanarjuat: The Fast Runner. The Wrap Gala will offer many noteworthy films including the Spanish feature Volvér starring Penelope Cruz and directed by Pedro Almodóvar (Bad Education, Talk to Her).
Films will be shown at a variety of venues including the Uptown Screen, Globe Theatre, Glenbow Museum, Plaza and Eau Claire Market. Not only will films be featured, but they’ll also be showcased in a creative new way. Special programming such as Cowboy Cool – a film talk series – will explore Calgary’s cinematic history through panel discussions and performance to make for an interactive experience. A double feature with the Dutch documentary Sneakers and Viktor & Rolf: Because We’re Worth it, is sure to entice the fashion forward. Crowd favourites like Shorts in Motion will give you the most movies for your buck, by offering a wealth of short films by up-and-coming new artists.
Other films of interest include: Calgary filmmaker Gary Burns and CBC journalist Jim Brown’s secretive suburban film Radiant City; Canadian favourite, actor Don McKellar, will be in attendance for his "revolutionary" comedy Monkey Warfare; childhood friends and Indiana Jones fanatics Eric Zala and Chris Strompolos will screen their much talked about scene-by-scene homage in the film Raiders of the Lost Ark: The Adaptation and stick around for an interesting Q and A (boulders and bull whips not included); the critically-acclaimed American film, Half Nelson, starring Ryan Gosling as a drug-addicted inner-city school teacher who befriends a student from the neighbourhood.
There will also be some stellar music documentaries such as You Will Miss Me, about the troubled 13th Floor Elevators psychedelic icon Roky Erickson; Christian indie-folk songwriter Daniel Smith brings us Danielson: A Family Movie about his "familyre" supergroup and friend Sufjan Stevens; Sigur Ros, Bjork and other weird and wonderful Icelandic musicians are profiled in Screaming Masterpiece; American Hardcore about the ’80s punk and hardcore movement; Breakfast at Rock Central, a documentary about the now-demolished city landmark and the legendary Stampede breakfasts held there as well as the feature film starring Bonnie ‘Prince" Billy himself, Will Oldham, in his surreal indie exercise The Guatemalan Handshake.
For more information about the festival, passes and scheduling, check out the CIFF website at www.calgaryfilm.com. |
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