Dir: Petra Biondina Volpe
Switzerland, 2017 German/ w. subtitles 95 mins
Cast: Marie Leuenberger, Maximilian Simonischek
Switzerland, 1971: Nora is a young housewife and mother who lives with her husband and their two sons in a peaceful little village. Here, in the Swiss countryside, little or nothing is felt of the huge social upheavals that the movement of May 1968 has caused. Nora's life, too, has been unaffected; she is a retiring, quiet person, well liked by everyone - until she begins to campaign publicly and pugnaciously for women's right to vote, an issue that will be put before the male voters on February 7th, 1971.
Dir: John Carroll Lynch
Cast: Harry Dean Stanton, David Lynch, Ron Livingston 2017 88 min USA
Made more poignant by the recent death of Harry Dean Stanton, "Lucky" follows the spiritual journey of a 90 year old atheist and the quirky characters that inhabit his off the map desert town. Having out lived and out smoked all of his contemporaries, the fiercely independent Lucky finds himself at the precipice of life, thrust into a journey of self-exploration, leading towards that which is so often unattainable: enlightenment. Acclaimed character actor John Carroll Lynch's directorial debut, "Lucky", is at once a love letter to the life and career of Harry Dean Stanton as well as a meditation on mortality, loneliness, spirituality, and human connection.
Dir: Justin Chadwick
UK/USA, 2017 107 mins
Cast: Alicia Vikander, Christoph Waltz, Dane DeHaan, Judi Dench
When wealthy merchant Cornelis commissions a portrait of his beautiful wife Sophia, an irrepressible passion begins to bloom between Sophia and the talented young artist hired to commit her beauty to canvas. As the young star-crossed lovers hinge their future together on an investment in the risky tulip market, tensions build and deceptions abound as the stakes grow higher. Beautifully shot in muted palettes reminiscent of Vermeer, Tulip Fever features quietly powerful performances from both its leads and from the brilliant supporting cast.
Dir: Joshua Z.
Weinstein US, 2017 82 mins Cast: Menashe Lustig, Yoel Falkowitz
Deep in the heart of New York's ultra-orthodox Hasidic Jewish community, Menashe--a kind, hapless grocery store clerk--struggles to make ends meet and responsibly parent his young son, Rieven, following his wife Leah's death. Tradition prohibits Menashe from raising his son alone, so Rieven's strict uncle adopts him, leaving Menashe heartbroken. Meanwhile, though Menashe seems to bungle every challenge in his path, his rabbi grants him one special week with Rieven before Leah's memorial. It's his chance to prove himself a suitable man of faith and fatherhood, and restore respect among his doubters.
Dir: Michael Showalter
US, 2017 120 mins
Cast: Kumail Nanjiani, Zoe Kazan, Holly Hunter, Ray Romano
Based on a real-life courtship, THE BIG SICK tells the story of Pakistan-born aspiring comedian Kumail who connects with grad student Emily after one of his standup sets. However, what they thought would be just a one-night stand blossoms into the real thing, which complicates the life that is expected of Kumail by his traditional Muslim parents. When Emily is beset with a mystery illness, it forces Kumail to navigate the medical crisis with her parents, who he's never met, while dealing with the emotional tug-of-war between his family and his heart.
Dir: Vanessa Gould
USA, 2016 English 93 minutes
With: Bruce Weber, William McDonald, Margalit Fox
A lively look at the inner workings of the team of The New York Times’ obituary section, Obit chronicles the ways in which life, death, and the written word intersect to create personal and public legacies that resonate long after our time is up. The obit department is an entertaining and eccentric crew of writers and editors charged with the daunting daily task of chronicling the life and legacy of complete strangers. Each writer carefully delves into peoples’ histories, gently detangling the complex minutiae of a lifetime of familial myths, newsworthy accomplishments, and amusing anecdotes.
Dir: Thomas Vinterberg
DEN, 2016 Danish /subtitles 111 mins
Cast: Trine Dyrholm, Ulrich Thomsen, Helene Reingaard Neumann
This film examines the fallout from the social upheavals of the 1970s through the microcosm of a Copenhagen commune.When Erik’s father passes away,he and Anna must decide what to do with the huge house that Erik grew up in. Erik prefers to sell, but Anna, who has become frustrated with Erik’s dour outlook and longs for something new, suggests that they use the opportunity to experiment with a commune.Before too long, they take very different paths...
Cinema CNC is proud to present, in conjunction with POCKET THEATRE, MARION BRIDGE, May 9th to 13th, in room 1-306 at CNC.
MARION BRIDGE will be presented in SUPER 3-D [some people call this a "play", including playwright, Daniel MacIvor]. Come see a show so real it will astonish you that such technology exists in the world... and you can chat with the characters afterwards! The cutting edge in interactivity, brought to you by Pocket Theatre and Cinema CNC.
Nominated
for the Governor General’s Award for Drama, MARION BRIDGE tells the
story of three sisters who have come together in Sydney, Cape Breton,
Nova Scotia, to hold a vigil over their dying mother while
simultaneously dealing with their shared and separate pasts and
presents. Alternately poignant and funny, the play shows the range of
their sibling issues, while they try to forge a new path. Holding it all
together is that, in spite of some of the words they throw around,
Agnes, Theresa, and Louise truly care for one another.
Starring: Katherine Trepanier as Agnes, Sandra Clermont as Theresa, and
Krista Dunlop at Louise. Produced by Allison Haley. Directed by Peter
Maides.
The play runs from May 9th to 13th in room 1-306 at the College of New Caledonia. Showtime: 8 pm.
Tickets: $20 - regular; $15 - student, senior, unemployed. Available at Books and Company and at the door.
About the playwright: Daniel MacIvor
A prolific playwright, dynamic performer, producer and artistic
director, Daniel MacIvor has been creating original Canadian theatre
since 1986 when he founded the highly acclaimed theatre company da da
kamera, which has won a Chalmers Award for Innovation in Theatre (1998).
MacIvor is also a successful filmmaker. His projects include the award
winning short film The Fairy Who Didn’t Want to Be a Fairy Anymore
About the play:
An intimate, swiftly moving family drama … a sparkling crisp script,
beautifully structured, with snappy, funny lines that dart in and out
quickly like swallows, not interrupting the emotional drama of the
story.” — Halifax Chronicle-Herald
“This moving drama,
which tiptoes toward sentimentality without ever reaching it, is the
most surprising play that [MacIvor’s] ever written. When was the last
time you saw a drama about three distinct, complex women that had
nothing to do with their relationships with men?” — New York Times
March 4th, 2017: 7 pm Hello Destroyer Director: Kevan Funk CANADA, 2016 English 110 minutes Cast: Sara Canning, Jared Abrahamson, Ian Tracey
FILMED IN PRINCE GEORGE!
2016
TIFF Rising Star Jared Abrahamson stars in this uncompromising first
feature from Vancouver director Kevan Funk, about a young minor-league
hockey player who discovers the unforgiving nature of his sporting life.
Hello Destroyer raises deeply troubling questions about how we teach
boys to become adults, particularly within the context of Canada’s
national obsession.
A new recruit for the Prince George
Warriors, Tyson Burr is an enforcer whose primary tasks are digging the
puck out of corners and protecting more skilled team- mates. Tyson is
painfully shy and inarticulate, the result of growing up with a
dismissive and impatient father — and being raised in a world that
places little value on emotional development.
The lone
articulate character in Tyson’s world is his coach, Dale Milbury (Kurt
Max Runte), who spews forth an endless string of asinine clichés,
coercing evermore aggression from his players. Spurred on by Milbury,
Tyson inadvertently injures an opposing player, and soon finds out that
the “family” he has grown up in is a lot more self-serving than he
thought.
Shot in tight close-ups that brilliantly
mirror Tyson’s confused and constantly anxious head space, Hello
Destroyer is driven by Abrahamson’s amazing performance and director
Funk’s fearlessness. Few Canadian artists have had the courage to
question our assumptions about our national game, and fewer still have
mounted such a forceful cri- tique of an athletics system that forges
young boys into weapons and then abandons them when they become
inconvenient.
The 21st Annual Cinema CNC Film Festival takes place March 3rd to 5th at the Prince George Playhouse. Come out for 8 screenings of the best of Canadian film!
We have something for every taste in cinema: our opening film KONELINE is a powerful documentary [AND the filmmaker, Nettie Wild will be here!]; WEIRDOs is a beautifully filmed coming-of-age story by veteran moviemaker Bruce McDonald; our final film, JEAN OF THE JONESES, is helmed by first-timer Stella Meghie; Ann Marie Fleming's WINDOW HORSES is an animated feature; IT'S ONLY THE END OF THE WORLD is a family drama by fest-favourite Xavier Dolan; with MEAN DREAMS, Nathan Morlando brings his second feature to the screen; in Zacharias Kunuk's MALIGLUTIT takes us on an adventure in Canada's North; and, last but not least, HELLO DESTROYER is Kevan Funk's hockey drama, significantly featuring Prince George and many of its citizens!
More information – including descriptions, photos, and trailers – can be found in posts on this site →
Passes:
Festival: $48 [8 films]
Friday: $14 [2 films]
Saturday: $21 [3 films]
Sunday: $21 [3 films]
Available at Books and Co., the CNC Bookstore, and the UNBC Bookstore.
Single tickets: $8
Available at the door... AND, for the first time, a limited number of advanced-sale single tickets will be available from www.centralinteriortickets.com [a service fee applies]
March 5th, 2017: 9:30 Jean of the Joneses Director: Stella Meghie CANADA, 2016 English 82 minutes Principal Cast: Taylour Paige, Erica Ash, Sherri Shepherd, Gloria Reuben
Writer-director Stella Meghie takes the family comedy into fresh new territory with this whip-smart tale about the twentysomething scion of an all-female Brooklyn clan wrestling with her literary aspirations, romantic mishaps, and the chaotic preparations for her estranged grandfather’s funeral.
Jean of the Joneses is a savvy comedy exploring three generations of vibrant and unforgettable women in the Jones family.
To say that Jean (Taylour Paige) is at a crossroads would be putting it kindly — she really doesn’t know which way she’s headed. A vista of unappealing career prospects opens before her, and her latest relationship has just unceremoniously ended. Chronically self-analyzing, she often hangs out with her two aunts, mother, and grandmother Daphne (Michelle Hurst, television’s Orange is the New Black, Frances Ha). The women’s routine of lively dinners at Daphne’s brownstone, is interrupted when the estranged patriarch of the family literally dies on their doorstep.
Ray (Mamoudou Athie, television’s The Get Down), the paramedic who responds to their 911 call, falls fast for the acerbic Jean. The feeling is more or less mutual, but their potential romance will have to take a back seat to the chaos leading up to the funeral. In a series of sometimes harsh, always-spirited discussions — fuelled by a complex family history, and occasionally a few drinks — the women will do their best to figure themselves out, and to understand each other.
Meghie’s feature debut takes the multi-generational family comedy into clever new territory. The Jones women are thoughtful, honest, and exceptionally funny, and Jean of the Joneses observes them all with infectious affection. Moving to a sprightly jazz soundtrack by pianist Robi Botos, and exhib- iting an irresistible energy, this is one of the best-written and most entertaining films of the year.
If Jean of the Joneses feels fresher than most multigenerational ensemble dramedies, credit not only the relative novelty of an all-black, mostly female cast, but also writer-director Stella Meghie’s
talent for suggesting the invisible bonds that unite her characters, despite their many disagreements and (in some cases) general disagreeability. —Justin Chang, Variety
March 5th, 2017: 7 pm Maliglutit (Searchers) Director: Zacharias Kunuk CANADA, 2016 Inuktitut, w/English subtitles 94 minutes Principal Cast: Benjamin Kunuk, Karen Ivalu, Jonah Qunaq
Fifteen years after winning the prestigious Caméra d’Or for Best First Feature at Cannes for his debut Atanarjuat: The Fast Runner, Inuk filmmaker Zacharias Kunuk (The Journals of Knud Rassmussen) returns with this Arctic epic, inspired by the classic John Ford western The Searchers, in which a vengeful husband sets off in pursuit of the men who kidnapped his wife.
While Kunuk and his collaborator Natar Ungalaaq (The Journals of Knud Rassmussen, Atanarjuat: The Fast Runner) hew closely to the basic scenario of the Ford original — wherein a white girl is abducted by members of the Comanche nation, sparking a seven-year search by her obsessed uncle — they have made a film that is very different in tone and feel. In the vast spaces of the Arctic, a family is torn apart when marauding men break into an igloo and abduct a young woman. When the woman’s husband returns to find his home ransacked and his wife vanished, he vows revenge.
Gathering together a band of maliglutit (“followers”), the man sets out to rescue the captives. During the arduous journey across the tundra, Kunuk slowly transforms his theme from justified retribution to self-examination, as the film questions whether these hunters, ostensibly the heroes, have begun to act like those who have violated their family.
As with Ford’s The Searchers, Maliglutit (Searchers) explores the repercussions of acts of violence within a community, and how righteous indignation can all too easily become wanton brutality in its own right. But Kunuk’s film goes beyond Ford’s as it forces us not only to interrogate the colonial ideology inherent to the western genre, but also to consider the very possibility of justice in a seemingly unjust world. With this tale as time-less as the landscape in which it is set, one of Canada’s foremost filmmakers has provided us with another classic.
March 5th, 2017: 2 pm It’s Only the End of the World [Juste la fin du monde] Director: Xavier Dolan French with English subtitles 95 minutes Cast: Nathalie Baye, Vincent Cassel, Marion Cotillard, Léa Seydoux, Gaspard Ullliel
Following the success of his critically acclaimed and award-winning film Mommy, Xavier Dolan returns with It’s Only the End of the World, a thunderous drama about home and familial roots.
Winner of the Grand Prix in Cannes, Dolan’s latest film is based on the late French playwright Jean-Luc Lagarce’s Juste la fin du monde, and demonstrates how his singular voice transcends borders and makes him one of Canada’s most exciting contemporary filmmakers.
Louis (Gaspard Ulliel, Saint Laurent, Paris, je t’aime) is a successful director who, having just received a terminal diagnosis, returns home to his estranged family after a 12-year absence. However, his homecoming is quickly tainted by lingering resentment from his family, who see Louis as both a prodigy and a deserter. His attempts to inform his mother (Nathalie Baye, Lawrence Anyways, Catch Me If You Can), sister (Léa Seydoux, The Lobster, The Grand Budapest Hotel), brother (Vincent Cassel, A Dangerous Method, Eastern Promises), and sister-in-law (Marion Cotillard, Macbeth, Rust and Bone) of his illness are repeatedly stymied by the surfacing tensions between family members.
Stunningly stylized and shot in intimate close-ups, the film’s aesthetic helps convey the director’s intuitive understanding of the characters, their memories, disappointments, and, ultimately, their profound love for each other.
“Xavier Dolan’s It’s Only the End of the World is histrionic and claustrophobic: deliberately oppressive and pretty well pop-eyed in its madness — and yet a brilliant, stylized and hallucinatory evocation of family dysfunction” —Peter Bradshaw, The Guardian
March 4th, 2017: 9:30 Window Horses (The Poetic Persian Epiphany of Rosie Ming) Director: Ann Marie Fleming 88 minutes Principal Cast: Sandra Oh, Ellen Page, Shohreh Aghdashloo, Don McKellar
One of Canada’s most beloved animators, Ann Marie Fleming (The Magical Life of Long Tack Sam, Stories Sarah Tells, I was a Child of Holocaust Survivors) returns with an extraordinary tale of art, history, and family, in this warm, witty animated feature about a young Canadian poet who undergoes a life-changing experience when she attends a poetry festival in Iran.
Rosie is a young Canadian poet of Chinese and Persian descent who lives in Vancouver with her protective, but loving Chinese grandparents, and dreams of an artistic and glamorous Parisian life. When she receives an invitation to a poetry festival in Shiraz, Iran, she decides to embark on the trip that will change her life. Though Rosie has never travelled alone, she ends up meeting fellow artists from around the world and locals who open her eyes to the nature of art; they become guides to her own personal narrative, offering new perspectives on the story of a father she thought had abandoned her. Rosie’s time in Shiraz proves to be a transformative experience as she learns to ground herself by connecting with her own roots, both far and near.
Voiced by an all-star cast that includes Canadian icons Sandra Oh (Cat Fight, Sideways), Ellen Page (Into the Forest, Freeheld), and Don McKellar (The Grand Seduction, I’m Yours), the characters dis- play the intelligence and humour typical of Fleming’s work. The film seamlessly integrates different animation styles to express Rosie’s diverse experiences, and audiences marvel at the richness of this world with the same wide-eyed wonder as Rosie. One of the most magical things about Window Horses is the way that each sentence, idea, or scrap of history comes to life in colourful and graceful ways, flowering into a poetic universe all its own.
An entertaining, educational, and poignant tale about identify and imagination that is filled with stories and poetry. —Alissa Simon, Variety
March 4th, 2017: 7 pm Hello Destroyer Director: Kevan Funk CANADA, 2016 English 110 minutes Cast: Sara Canning, Jared Abrahamson, Ian Tracey
FILMED IN PRINCE GEORGE!
2016 TIFF Rising Star Jared Abrahamson stars in this uncompromising first feature from Vancouver director Kevan Funk, about a young minor-league hockey player who discovers the unforgiving nature of his sporting life. Hello Destroyer raises deeply troubling questions about how we teach boys to become adults, particularly within the context of Canada’s national obsession.
A new recruit for the Prince George Warriors, Tyson Burr is an enforcer whose primary tasks are digging the puck out of corners and protecting more skilled team- mates. Tyson is painfully shy and inarticulate, the result of growing up with a dismissive and impatient father — and being raised in a world that places little value on emotional development.
The lone articulate character in Tyson’s world is his coach, Dale Milbury (Kurt Max Runte), who spews forth an endless string of asinine clichés, coercing evermore aggression from his players. Spurred on by Milbury, Tyson inadvertently injures an opposing player, and soon finds out that the “family” he has grown up in is a lot more self-serving than he thought.
Shot in tight close-ups that brilliantly mirror Tyson’s confused and constantly anxious head space, Hello Destroyer is driven by Abrahamson’s amazing performance and director Funk’s fearlessness. Few Canadian artists have had the courage to question our assumptions about our national game, and fewer still have mounted such a forceful cri- tique of an athletics system that forges young boys into weapons and then abandons them when they become inconvenient.
March 4th, 2017: 1 pm MEAN DREAMS Director: Nathan Morlando English 108 minutes Principal Cast: Sophie Nélisse, Josh Wiggins, Bill Paxton, Colm Feore
With Edwin Boyd (aka Citizen Gangster), winner of the Best Canadian First Feature prize at TIFF, Nathan Morlando established himself as a director to watch. With his second feature Mean Dreams he more than delivers on that promise, crafting an emotionally powerful film about two young lovers on the run from their respective pasts.
The life of teenage Jonas Ford (Josh Wiggins) is dominated by his father’s struggle to keep the family farm afloat and his mother’s ongoing battle with severe depres- sion. When Casey Caraway (Sophie Nélisse) moves in a few miles down the road, the two click immediately — but while most parents would be happy to see their children find companionship, Jonas’ father sees Casey as someone who distracts Jonas from his duties, while Casey’s father Wayne (Bill Paxton), an alcoholic prone to explosive and sometimes violent outbursts, sees Jonas as competition. Making things worse is the fact that Wayne is the town’s new deputy, and the sheriff consid- ers domestic abuse to be a household matter. With nowhere to turn, the young lovers are soon faced with an impossible decision.
Atmospherically shot by Steve Cosens (Edwin Boyd: Citizen Gangster, The Tracey Fragments), one of Canada’s finest cinematographers, Mean Dreams percolates with a sense of both promise and dread, the vaunting sky above the lovers’ heads signifying limitless possibility even while serving as a grim reminder of their seemingly inescapable pasts. Drawing fine performances from the veteran Paxton and especially his young leads Wiggins and Nélisse, Morlando creates a sensitive portrait of the dilemmas facing young people trapped by circumstance and history.
Morlando draws great performances out of his two young leads ... who are like fugitives out of a French New Wave film, discovering love while also hatching a plan on the run. —Peter Howell, The Toronto Star
March 3rd, 2017: 9:30 WEIRDOS Director: Bruce McDonald Cast: Dylan Authors, Allan Hawco, Molly Parker, Julia Sarah Stone Runtime: 89 minutes
Canadian master Bruce McDonald (Hard Core Logo, The Tracey Fragments) teams with veteran playwright and screenwriter Daniel MacIvor (Trigger) for a coming-of-age road movie with the perfect blend of magic and naturalism.
It’s July 1976, and the USA is celebrating its bicentennial. But, north of the border in the small Nova Scotian town of Antigonish it’s a weekend like any other, which means not much is going on. Music-loving 15-year-old Kit (Dylan Authorsm, The Husband) spends his time either alone in his room listening to Elton John albums, or hanging out with his platonic girlfriend, Alice (Julia Sarah Stone, a 2014 TIFF Rising Star know for her performance in Wet Bum). Like Kit, Alice feels out of place, and her divorced parents have too many issues of their own to offer much comfort.
Craving a turning point in their lives, the two decide to hitchhike to Sydney on Cape Breton Island to visit Kit’s glamorous but unstable mother, Laura (Molly Parker, The 9th Life of Louis Drax, Men with Brooms) — a journey guided, by a laconic Andy Warhol apparition (Rhys Bevan-John, Roaming). Through their quest for something bigger and better — both on the road and at their destination — they’ll face some truths about themselves that will point the way to a more honest, fully lived future.
Accompanied by a suitably killer ’70s soundtrack, and shot in softly sunlit black and white, McDonald’s film is grounded in its quiet and life-affirming moments; the film’s offbeat sense of humour arises organically from the differences in the ways its characters express their love. These sweet weirdos are temporar- ily lost, but they’re about to help each other find out where they’re headed.
It’s ultimately Stone who walks away with the picture. Adding an impatient clarity to the old-soul watchfulness she displayed in Wet Bum, she slowly becomes Weirdos’ moral centre. And it’s something to see. —Norm Wilner, Now Magazine
March 3rd, 2017: 7pm Konelıne: Our Land Beautiful Director: Nettie Wild Documentary 96 minutes
Taking its name from a Tahltan First Nation word meaning both “our land beautiful” and “our mind beautiful,” Konelīne captures the splendour of remote northwestern British Columbia and tells the story of those who call this magnificent land home. Celebrated Canadian documentarian Nettie Wild (FIX: The Story of an Addicted City) directs, writes, and produces this unique portrait of the Tahltan territory and the people whose identities are so closely tied to this land.
Winner of the 2016 Best Canadian Feature Documentary Award at Hot Docs Film Festival, and shot in majestic CinemaScope, Konelīne explores the breathtaking landscapes and contradictions of the land and provides a glimpse of the Canadian wilderness in the throes of change. Nicknamed the “Golden Triangle” by gold and copper mining companies, and the “Canadian Serengeti” by hunters, the rich natural resources and beauty of the Tahltan land has attracted interest and visitors from across the country, all united by their love and admiration for the northern British Columbian wilderness.
Conceived as a cinematic poem, Konelīne offers a succession of stunning images — from the dazzling Northern Lights, to horses swimming across the Stikine River, to a 16,000-pound electrical cable being carried over the mountains via helicopter — that will remain indelibly imprinted on your memory. Capturing both the majesty of the land and the eerily impressive spectacle of encroaching industrialization, director Wild and her cinematographer Van Royko (Monsoon) visualize one of the crucial issues of our century with striking immediacy and enduring artistry.
If you’re looking for a simple take on the politics of development in the wilds of British Columbia, keep looking. If, on the other hand, you can handle some moral ambiguity being served by fantastic visuals, then keep looking at this beautiful, complicated, compelling documentary by Nettie Wild.
—Chris Knight, National Post
