2008 Program guide - Victoria Film Festival

CANADIAN WAVE
20
THE TRACEY FRAGMENTS ALL HAT
DIRECTOR: BRUCE MCDONALD
ONTARIO
2007 78 MINUTES 35MM
PRODUCER: SARAH TIMMINS
WRITER: MAUREEN MEDVED, BASED ON HER NOVEL
Canadian maverick Bruce MacDonald has returned to the silver screen
after three years with a fi lm that is completely unlike anything you
have ever seen in theatres before. Shown almost exclusively in multiple
split screens that shift and swirl like a kaleidoscope with a personality
disorder, his newest vision is a surprisingly stylish, accessible and yet
still a troubling look at teenage alienation that owes as much to the
fresh nouvelle vague energy of the 1960s as it does the modern
technology that makes his visuals so fascinating to watch.
Tracey (played by amazing up-and-comer Ellen Page) is just your
average naked teenager wrapped in a shower curtain on a bus circling
the city. Granted, she may be responsible for the disappearance of
her younger brother by hypnotizing him and convincing him he was
a dog, but it wasn’t like her parents were ever really there physically
much less mentally to stop her. And her natural response to imminent
punishment was like that of any small-town girl with misplaced goals:
she makes her way to Winnipeg for her “grand escape”.
Now at the mercy of people much smarter and bitter than she is,
things have naturally gone from bad to wrapped-in-a-shower-curtain.
But Tracey still has her reasons and that fl eeting fl ickering shadow of
her brother is somewhere just at the edge of the fragments that follow
her everywhere she goes.
Screened with
PLAYGROUND
Eve Spence Australia 21 minutes
Struggling to balance their loyalties, three boys have come to play in
the atmospheric surrounds of a building site. Our hero Milton draws
upon the lessons learnt from his parents while Floyd, neglected by his,
always fl ounders. However, somewhere in between lies the delicate
roots of aggression, just waiting to burst through on them all.
Wednesday • February 6 • Capitol 6 - 6 • 6:45 PM
Saturday
PRESENTED BY
DIRECTOR: LEONARD FARLINGER
ONTARIO
2007 89 MINUTES 35MM
PRODUCER: JENNIFER JONAS
WRITER: BRAD SMITH, BASED ON HIS NOVEL
Old fl ames and old feuds fl are up in Farlinger’s screen adaptation of Brad
Smith’s neo-Western novel, gorgeously fi lmed in Ontario’s horse country.
The fi lm opens on the suitably laconic hero, Ray Dokes, as he is released
from prison after doing time for assault. He is picked up by lifelong
friend Pete Culpepper (Keith Carradine), who’s as garrulous as Ray is
taciturn (he’s addicted to wise pronouncements that even he doesn’t
take too seriously). Returning home, he discovers the countryside of his
youth transformed. Urban development crawls across the pastoral fi elds
like a rash.
Sonny Stanton (Noam Jenkins), the heir to a thoroughbred dynasty, is
buying the entire concession of farmland to build a golf course. One
of the farms he’s after belongs to Etta Parr (Lisa Ray), Ray’s old fl ame.
Seems she’s the only one brave enough to stand in Sonny’s way. So
before Ray knows it somehow he’s caught up in sneaky land deals,
family farm problems and high-stakes horseracing shenanigans.
This is a classic fi lm about the family farm and the values that go hand in
hand with it yet also manages to be a comic fable about growing up.
All Hat is a refreshing and much-needed glimpse of the world outside
urban centers, a lifestyle that’s often ignored. Shot by cinematographer
Paul Sarossy (Affl iction, The Sweet Hereafter), it features a musical score
by Grammy award-winning jazz guitar legend Bill Frisell.
Screened with
BURGEON & FADE
Audrey Cummings Ontario 15 minutes
An attractive middle-aged woman comes out of social seclusion to
attend her best friend’s 25th wedding anniversary, but her insecurities
have another agenda.
• February 2 • Capitol 6 - 6 • 6:45 PM
Sunday • February 3 • Caprice • 7:15 PM