VANCITY THEATRE
THE RETURN OF MARTIN GUERRE
Tuesday, July 3, 7:30
Cinema Salon
Once a month, Melanie Friesen invites a distinguished guest to present his/her favourite film. After the screening, audiences and guests will have the opportunity to discuss the film over drinks and snacks in our spacious lounge.
France 1982 // Director: Daniel Vigne // 112 min // 35mm
Based on a true story from medieval France, a Bruegel painting seems to come to life when Martin Guerre (Gérard Depardieu) returns to his village, wife (Natalie Baye) and son after nine years of war. Everyone is thrilled to see how he has matured and become a better, kinder man. However, when he claims a bigger portion of the family land, relatives argue that he isn’t Martin Guerre. In the chaotic world of war-torn France, governed by cruelty, ignorance and mistrust, his wife defends him passionately in court ... then becomes silent.
PRESENTER: Diane Farris
Diane Farris founded the Diane Farris Gallery in 1984, an internationally recognized showcase for contemporary Canadian and international art, especially noted for finding and establishing new talent.
*****
INLAND EMPIRE
BACK BY POPULAR DEMAND
DAVID LYNCH'S
INLAND EMPIRE July 8-12, 8:00
USA 2006 // Director: David Lynch // 172 min // 35mm
RETURN ENGAGEMENT // VANCITY THEATRE EXCLUSIVE
Back after a week of sell-outs comes the surrealist, experimental epic that David Lynch has been carrying around inside his head for eons, an enigmatic, funny and downright creepy tumble through a cinematic wonderland. “Lynch’s first foray into high-definition video is just as visually stunning as his work in 35mm, but the lengthy gestation period of his new film has allowed him to give his own uniquely epic form to many of his primary concerns: The exploitation of young women, the mutability of identity and the omnivorousness of Hollywood. In the lead, Laura Dern gives more of herself than most actors manage in a lifetime.”—New York Film Festival.
In David Lynch’s own words, INLAND EMPIRE is simply about “a woman in trouble”. An actress (Laura Dern) is preparing for her biggest role yet for a director (Jeremy Irons), but when she finds herself falling for her co-star (Justin Theroux), she realizes that her life is beginning to mimic the fictional film that they're shooting. Adding to her confusion is the revelation that the current film is a remake of a doomed Polish production, 47, which was never finished due to an unspeakable tragedy. And that's only the beginning. Soon, a seemingly endless onslaught of indescribably bizarre situations flashes across the screen: a sitcom featuring humans in bunny suits, a parallel story set in a wintry Poland, a houseful of dancing streetwalkers, screwdrivers in stomachs, menacing Polish carnies, and much, much more.
David Lynch is one of the most creative and fascinating contemporary American directors, known for his use of black humour, surrealism, and nightmarish and dreamlike sequences. Over a lengthy career, Lynch has developed a consistent approach to narrative and visual style that has become instantly recognizable to audiences worldwide. Best known as the director of such strangely beautiful pictures as Blue Velvet (1986) and Wild at Heart (1990) – the former received a best director Academy Award nomination; the latter won the Palm d'Or award at the 43rd Cannes Film Festival in 1990. Lynch became a household name when his innovative television series Twin Peaks aired around the world for two seasons in the early nineties. Mulholland Drive (2001), rejected by ABC as a pilot for a new TV show, was completed as a feature film for which Lynch received a Best Director prize at Cannes. Lynch is not only creative as a filmmaker, but is also a painter, photographer and sculptor – his artwork has shown at galleries in New York, Paris and Tokyo. He designs furniture, composes soundscapes, writes song lyrics, and works as an author and producer.
*****
MANUFACTURING DISSENT
A documentary bombshell in the face of a man many respect, and many loathe.”—Chris Garcia, Austin American-Statesman
July 13-18, 7:30, 9:30
CANADA 2007 // Directors: Debbie Melnyk and Rick Caine96 min // DigiBeta
VANCOUVER PREMIERE // VANCITY THEATRE EXCLUSIVE
With their fascinating documentary Manufacturing Dissent, Canadian documentarians Debbie Melnyk and Rick Caine turn the tables around on filmmaker Michael Moore, who became a phenomenon by challenging American issues in documentaries like Roger & Me, Bowling for Columbine (2003 Academy Award), Fahrenheit 9/11 (2004 Palme d’Or) and now Sicko.
Starting in May 2004, Melnyk and Caine began following Michael Moore around while he promoted not only Fahrenheit 9/11, but also his “Slacker Uprising Tour,” where he spoke at 60 universities in 20 states, urging youth to vote against President George W. Bush in the 2004 election.
The filmmakers persistently asked Moore for an interview, but to no avail. But they did talk to others, among them critics, former allies and longtime observers. What emerge are startling revelations about how Moore creates his films. Are his films pure fact, propaganda or fiction – or a mixture?
One issue is Moore’s editing, including two interviews with General Motors CEO Roger Smith that never made it into Roger & Me and a Bush speech that was taken out of context in Farenheit 9/11. The film also touches on Moore’s background, including his firing from Mother Jones and his campaigning for (and abandoning of) Green Party presidential candidate Ralph Nader.
Melnyk and Caine do admit to their own fabrication. They used fake ID to be admitted to a Moore speaking engagement and were consequently thrown out.
Debbie Melnyk and Rick Caine, who call themselves “progressive liberals,” originally took on the documentary because they were fans of Michael Moore. But the film’s direction changed as their research progressed. It is their fourth documentary, following Citizen Black, The Frank Truth and Junket Whore.
“Manufacturing Dissent is not an assault by right-wing ideologues but a dissection by two self-described “progressive liberals” and has all the more impact for it.”—Joe Leydon, Variety.
Manufacturing Dissent is being released in Canada by Mongrel Media
*****
HONG KONG STORIES
On the occasion of the tenth anniversary of the handover of Hong Kong from British rule to Mainland China, the Vancity Theatre is pleased to present:
Hong Kong Stories
June 29-30, July 1-2, 4-7
HONG KONG STORIES includes a broad selection of classic films from past and present set and filmed in Hong Kong, many of which confront issues raised by the handover head-on. This series is presented in cooperation with the Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office, and with the help of the Hong Kong Film Archive, Leisure and Cultural Services Department.
ELECTION 1
June 29, July 5, 7:30
HONG KONG 2005 // Director: Johnnie To // 100 min // 35mm
ELECTION 2
June 29, July 5, 9:30
HONG KONG 2006 // Director: Johnnie To // 92 min // 35mm
VANCOUVER PREMIERES
Johnnie To’s landmark Triad epics, Election 1 and Election 2, chart a Hong Kong underworld in the process of internal conflict, with one eye on the past, and another on the massive potential provided by the Mainland. “Far from another slick celebration of the Hong Kong gangster lifestyle, Johnnie To’s ambitious pair of underworld dramas shows how the ruthless code of the Triad gangs corrodes the souls of everyone who abides by it. Both films reveal the political machinations and violent confrontations caused by elections in a venerable Hong Kong clan. The first movie is dominated by a long chase sequence as competitors vie for a Dragon’s Head Baton, the clan’s symbol of power. In the more satisfying and even more cynical follow-up, a rising, MBA-toting gangster named Jimmy (Louis Koo) tries to become chief in order to improve his stead with new business contacts in China. Closer in spirit and mood to The Godfather than A Better Tomorrow, To’s double shot is a landmark work for HK cinema.”—Jason Anderson, eye Weekly
ROUGE
June 30, 7:30
HONG KONG 1987 // Director: Stanley Kwan // 96 min // 35mm
Stanley Kwan’s acclaimed melodrama studies a tragic love affair from the ‘30s and a more, placid, everyday one from the present. The late Anita Mui stars as Fleur, a courtesan in love with Chen-Pang (Leslie Cheung). His parents do not approve, and the two lovers agree to commit suicide. In the ‘80s sequence, Fleur returns as a ghost. A subtle, anti-commercialism theme underlies Fleur’s confusion about what Hong Kong has become, and there are many allusions to the impending handover. And, of course, the film is haunted by the tragic fates of its two great lead stars.
THE ORPHAN
July 1, 7:30; July 4, 9:30
Hong Kong 1960 // Director: Li Changfeng // 100 min // 35mm
The first colour film made in Cantonese stars a young Bruce Lee as Ah San, a delinquent bailed out of jail by the director of a boys’ home. This Hong Kong classic of social realism features location shooting and archival footage, and locates the cause of social problems in the trauma and loss caused by war and displacement.
THE KILLER
July 1, 9:30; July 7, 7:30
HONG KONG 1989 // Director: John Woo // 110 min // 35mm
What would a series on Hong Kong filmmaking be without John Woo? The Killer is perhaps his most demented, over-the-top, action packed epic, with, of course, Chow Yun-Fat as a contract killer who accidentally blinds a nightclub singer, then takes one last job to pay for her cornea transplant. Much mayhem ensues.
AS TEARS GO BY
July 2, 7:30; July 7, 9:40
Hong Kong 1988 // Director: Wong Kar-wai // 102 min // 35mm
Though as gritty as any ‘80s Hong Kong gangster picture, this is a watershed film heralding one of the most auspicious directorial debuts in international cinema. Wong Kar-wai’s visually stunning and romantic first feature, featuring Andy Lau and Maggie Cheung, deftly smuggles the director’s now celebrated genius into an incendiary “Heroic Bloodshed” street opera.
THE LONG ARM OF THE LAW
July 2, 9:30
HONG KONG 1984 // Director: Johnnie Mak // 100 min // 35mm
The beginning of the Hong Kong Action New Wave can be found in Johnnie Mak’s astonishing, rarely screened thriller, the saga of a group of Mainland friends who cross into Hong Kong to set up a Triad gang. Amongst its many delights is a climactic shootout in the legendary Walled City of Kowloon not long before it was levelled.
BOAT PEOPLE
July 4, 7:30; July 6, 9:15
HONG KONG 1982 // Director: Ann Hui // 111 min // 35mm
Ann Hui’s film is an important landmark of the Hong Kong New Wave. Boat People follows a Japanese journalist who arrives in Vietnam intent on documenting the country’s recovery from the war, and has his eyes opened to the oppressive living conditions of the North Vietnamese. Implicitly anti-communist, and read as an allegory for the fate of Hong Kong after the handover, Boat People was banned in China at the time of its release.
0506HK
July 6, 7:30
Hong Kong/Canada/USA 2007 // Director: Quentin Lee // 63 min // HD
WORLD PREMIERE // FILMMAKER IN ATTENDANCE
0506HK documents filmmaker Quentin Lee’s return to Hong Kong, where he was born and raised. As he explores his desire to move back, he interviews local artists, filmmakers, friends, and family about why they chose to stay on the island. With humour and wit, Lee explores culture, belonging, and politics one decade after the handover. Part autobiography, part travelogue, and part cultural criticism.
|
