2008 Program guide - Victoria Film Festival

CANADIAN WAVE
24
ASWANG PORTAGE
DIRECTOR: JORDON CLARK
VICTORIA, BC
2007 81 MINUTES DVCAM
PRODUCER: JORDON CLARK
WRITER: JORDON CLARK
World Premiere
When do myth and reality meet? How much can spiritual myths affect
this reality? Aswang offers a unique perspective on the search of the
past’s effect on how history is viewed in hindsight. This challenging,
yet accessible, work of art explores this link, with a story that is,
literally, right in our back yard. Writer Maria Villanueva is intrigued
by the existence of ghosts, and upon returning to her hometown of
Victoria, she becomes intrigued with the city history of prostitution
in Chinatown. Maria proceeds to document the presence of
apparitions at any cost, and her fi ndings validate her long-standing
belief in the afterlife.
Aswang brings together two elements of particular interest to Victoria
fi lmgoers: an exploration of a little-known aspect of our city’s history,
and an examination of a unique moment from our past that relates
to the city’s sizeable Filipino community. Shot throughout Victoria’s
downtown, as well as in the Philippines, the fi lm offers a terrifi c view
of the melding of myth and reality, and how the two, when combined,
reveal a greater truth than either can refl ect on their own. Shot by
Victoria fi lmmaker Jordan Clark, who produced the 2005 VFF fi lm
Bangkok Girl, Aswang is a narrative accompaniment to the disturbing
history of the exploitation of Asian women through prostitution.
Thursday • February 7 • Odeon • 7:00 PM
DIRECTORS: EZRA KRYBUS, MATTHEW MILLER,
SASCHA DREWS
ONTARIO
2007 83 MINUTES BETASP
PRODUCERS: JATY TAM, MATTHEW MILLER, NICHOLAS TABARROK
WRITER: SASCHA DREWS
Teenaged Stephie is sent camping in beautiful Ontario lake country
with her big brother Jonah and her three best friends, the Juniper Girls,
as a way to get past her traumatic fear of water. On the canoe trip,
Jonah crosses a line he should not have, and in the ensuing mess, he
dies. The four girls, divided by the transgression, must come together
to deal with this tragedy under terribly diffi cult conditions as Stephie
refuses to leave his body behind.
This coming of age story is shot beautifully in remote, ragged
Ontario, and the challenge of coping with the tragedy that befalls
Jonah is heightened by the challenges wrought by this unforgiving
environment. Through the experience, Stephie overcomes her fear of
the water, reconciles with the past that haunts her, and becomes a
strong young woman who fl ourishes under pressure and escapes the
oppressive fear she has lived with for years.
Wednesday • February 6 • Odeon • 9:30 PM
Saturday • February 9 • Odeon • 3:30 PM