Friday 8 March 2024
Cafe Daughter. March 17th at 9:30 pm
Showing March 17th at 9:30 pm
March 17th: 9:30 pm CAFE DAUGHTER
Shelley Niro CANADA, 2023 English 97 minutes Principal Cast: Star Slade, Violah Beauvais, Sera-Lys McArthur
A young half-Cree, half-Chinese girl living in Saskatchewan with her family is instructed to keep her Indigenous identity hidden by her ailing mother in order to escape prejudice from their community. Based on the story of retired-Canadian Senator Lillian Dyck, the film follows a nine year-old Yvette and she navigates childhood in her parent’s café identifying as both Chinese and Cree. As the only Chinese family in town, they are constantly victims of racist taunts and actions. However, Yvette’s mother, Cree herself, instructs her children to not tell anyone of their Indigenous identity, as this would only make things worse. After her mother’s death, Yvette seeks to figure out what it means to be someone on the margins of this small Saskatchewan city. Brave, intelligent, and moving, this film weaves together a poignant tale about rising amid adversity.
THE TRAILER:
There is no official trailer out, yet, for this movie... it's that new. Here's a link to a description of the stage play that is the basis of the film:
Ru. March 17th at 7 pm
Showing March 17th at 7 pm
March 17th: 7:00 pm RU
Charles-Olivier Michaud CANADA,
2023 French, Vietnamese 116 minutes
Principal Cast: Chloé Djandji, Chantal Thuy, Jean Bui
Based on the Governor General’s Award–winning novel by Kim Thúy, Ru is the story of the arduous journey of a wealthy family fleeing from Vietnam in 1975 after the fall of Saigon, then spending time at a refugee camp in Malaysia, before landing in Quebec. This film adaptation, directed by Charles-Olivier Michaud, tracks the events through the eyes of the daughter of the family, Nguyen An Tinh. She’s trying to make sense of her new French-speaking life while also fully aware of the horrors that she and her family have escaped. A stunningly beautiful film, Ru doesn’t shy away from devastating flashbacks of fleeing and hiding in buildings, friends and family left behind, and a dark and scary passage by boat. These flashbacks are juxtaposed with images of the family in snowy Quebec, trying to find their footing in a very different world than the one they’re used to, making friends, and working restaurant jobs amid culture clashes. Ru is a sombre examination of forced migration, isolation, and newfound belonging, told through rich visuals and an orchestral score.
THE TRAILER:
Days of Happiness. March 17th at 1 pm
Showing March 17th at 1 pm
March 17th: 1:00 pm DAYS OF HAPPINESS
Chloé Robichaud CANADA, 2023 French 118 minutes Principal Cast: Sophie Desmarais, Vincent Leclerc, Nour Belkhiria, Sylvain Marcel
Days of Happiness, the latest drama from Montreal-based writer-director Chloé Robichaud, is an emotionally complex, visually assured drama about a young orchestra conductor who finds herself at a crossroads in her life and career. Charismatic, gifted Emma (Sophie Desmarais, who starred in Robichaud’s breakout, Sarah Prefers to Run, TIFF ’13) is on track to become a major player on the Quebec classical music scene. Audiences are enraptured by her work, but her career is very closely managed by her controlling father, Patrick (Sylvain Marcel), who’s also her agent. After years of acquiescing to his demands, Emma is finally in a position to re-evaluate both their professional and personal relationship — and that’s when cellist and single mother Naëlle (Nour Belkhiria) enters her life, offering her the chance to experience an entirely different type of family dynamic. Comparisons to Todd Field’s Tár are likely inevitable, but this is a very different project. For a start, Robichaud is much more sympathetic to her characters, and far more invested in their mental and emotional well-being. Cinematographer Ariel Méthot and artistic consultant Yannick Nézet-Séguin (music director and principal conductor of Montreal’s Orchestre Métropolitain) give the film a visual and aural texture all its own. And Desmarais is uniquely compelling in the role of Emma, who’s only just beginning to realize she can have the life she deserves, if she fights for it. “Robichaud’s films don’t fit the traditional mold, [...] but it’s led to her being one of the truly most exciting filmmakers in the world. –Stephen Saito, The Moveable Feast
THE TRAILER:
Les Filles du Roi. March 16th at 9:30 pm
Showing March 16th at 9:30 pm
March 16th: 9:30 pm LES FILLES DU ROI
Corey Payette CANADA 2023 French 102 minutes
Julie McIsaac, Kaitlyn Yott, Raes Calvert
Director Corey Payette—who also directed the original production, wrote the music, plays hand-drum for the score, and co-wrote the script and lyrics with actor Julie McIsaac (who plays Marie-Jeanne)—tenderly brings the audience into the film’s world. The story is seen through the eyes of Marie-Jeanne, Mohawk youth Kateri (Kaitlyn Yott), and Jean-Baptiste (Raes Calvert), who, like much of the rest of the cast, also reprise their roles from the original stage production. Marie-Jeanne has come to Canada with an idealized concept of what her life would be, and quickly comes to realize the fort isn’t what she wants.
The film embraces the medium shift, mixing scenes in physical locations with elements that feel more theatrical: a limited chorus, occasional synchronized dance numbers, and some sections presented evocatively in a studio-esque space rather than photographically. Lighting helps ground scenes: the stark blueness of winter casts cool shadows within the fort, contrasting with suffused warmth outdoors, or the incandescent orange of a hopeful lantern. By reframing history through a feminist, Indigenous lens, examining well-trod colonial stories from other perspectives, the film centres cultural dialogue. Kateri is drawn to the French settlement; Marie-Jeanne to the matrilineal Kanien’kéha:ka society outside the suffocating walls of the fort. This film deals with serious topics and all the complex forces at play, but it is entertaining as well.. and —it’s a musical!
THE TRAILER:
Mr. Dressup: the magic of make-believe. March16th at 7 pm
Showing March 16th at 7 pm
March 16th: 7:00 pm MR. DRESSUP:
The Magic of Make-Believe
Robert McCallum CANADA, 2023 English 90 minutes Featuring: Judith Lawrence, Chris Coombs
Robert McCallum’s documentary looks at the life and work of Ernie Coombs, the nerdy American artist who became one of the CBC’s most beloved children's personalities — a grown-up pal to kids across the country for nearly 30 years, both on his TV show and in innumerable public appearances. The film also explores the love story of Coombs, his wife Lynn, and their kids, who grew up sharing their father with every other child in Canada. McCallum takes an almost cozy approach to the story, recreating the Mr. Dressup set and moving through Coombs’ life chronologically, mixing in archival interviews and behind-the-scenes footage while assembling a who’s who of Canadians influenced by the show: Michael J. Fox, Eric McCormack, Bif Naked, Paul Sun-Hyung Lee, Andrew Phung, Fred Penner, Barenaked Ladies, Graham Greene, Bruce McCulloch, Scott Thompson, Jonathan Torrens, Yannick Bisson, and more. There’s some nostalgia at play here, of course, and it just feels good to see beloved sets and props lovingly revived by McCallum’s team. But there’s more to Mr. Dressup — and this documentary — than a trunk and puppets and tinkly music: it’s about the importance of raising children with kindness, compassion, inclusion, and empathy, and encouraging them to explore the world and make it a little brighter.
THE TRAILER:
You Can Call Me Roger. March 16th at 1 pm
Showing March 16th at 1 pm
March 16th: 1:00 pm. YOU CAN CALL ME ROGER
Jon Mann CANADA, 2022 English 75 minutes
Following the events of multi-generational abuse and trauma at residential school in Canada, this poignant documentary’s subject Chief Roger Augustine aims to fight for Indigenous rights and sovereignty and heal those affected. Canada’s history with the forced displacement, abuse, and genocide of Indignous peoples has become one of the biggest stories finally coming to light in the past decade. The harrowing situation generations of families had to endure is deftly documented through talking-head style interviews with survivors, their families, and Indigenous lawyers and politicians. Cutting in clips and stories of Roger’s life as a Chief, leader, and healer, we find out the strong need for survivors to process their trauma through cultural practice and Indigenous-led therapy. Sharing both optimism and wariness about the future of Indigenous life in Canada, You Can Call Me Roger shows how persistence and strong leadership are needed in the face of prejudice and violence. “Despite the sometimes horrific memories and stories shared in Halifax filmmaker Jon Mann’s documentary, You Can Call Me Roger, about the life of retired Assembly of First Nations regional Chief Roger Joseph Augustine, there remains an overriding sense of hope and optimism.” –Mark Robins, Halifax Presents
THE TRAILER:
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