Mark Sawers will be at Movie Monday Mar 25 as part of our Canadian Independent Film Series assisted by Canada Council for the Arts.
Since graduating from the U.B.C. film program in 1989, Mark Sawers has been busy writing and directing for film and television. His technological satire, Stroke, was an official selection at the 1993 Cannes Film Festival. In 1994 he released Hate Mail, which was an official selection at the Berlin International Film Festival. His latest film, Shoes Off!, won the Best Short Film prize in the International Critics Week section of the 1999 Cannes Film Festival. All three films garnered Genie Nominations for Best Live Action Short Drama. Sawers' other directing credits include the 1996 independent feature, Best Wishes, Mason Chadwick, as well as episodes of the several television series, including the The Kids in the Hall.
Mark Sawers 20 min. 1989 From
Moving Images Distribution
Through sardonic humour and a "home video" style, this presentation of family life illustrates interactions in a dysfunctional family in a unique and entertaining way.
Award: Best Video, Best Drama, B.C. Student Film Festival
Mark Sawers 18 min. 1991
Poignant and powerful, this fictional drama takes a unique look at aging and the effect it has on family relationships. Through the use of "home video," it also examines issues of memory and control in the family.
Award: Honourable Mention, American Film & Video Festival
Marks Sawers Driftwood Productions 15 min. 1992
This black comedy about the stress caused by our growing technological environment chronicles the plight of Nathan Thompson, a highly driven 39-year-old executive. In an effort to make his life more efficient, Nathan has furnished his apartment with a variety of modern communication devices. But one evening after suffering a sudden stroke, those same devices not only prevent him from getting help, but also expose the degree to which he has isolated himself from his friends and family.
Award: Official Selection, Cannes Film Festival 1993 "Un certain regard" section.
Shoes off! portrays a lonely bachelor smitten by a mysterious blond women and her beautiful black boots. In his attempt to meet her, he crashes a housewarming party and finds himself at the center of an embarrassing faux pas involving a shish-kebob skewer and a wine-stained carpet.
Set to an original operatic score, Shoes off! enters the realm of poignant giddy art, "a world of slightly magic realism where coincidence and fate click their heels and do a syncopated pas-de-deux". Craig MacInnis, The Vancouver Sun
Award: Shoes off! won the Canal + award for Best Short Film at the 1999 Cannes Film Festival's International Critics Week AND was featured at a recent MediaNet talk on great short film.
Since graduating from the U.B.C. film program in 1989, Mark Sawers has been busy writing and directing for film and television. His technological satire, Stroke, was an official selection at the 1993 Cannes Film Festival. In 1994 he released Hate Mail, which was an official selection at the Berlin International Film Festival. His latest film, Shoes Off!, won the Best Short Film prize in the International Critics Week section of the 1999 Cannes Film Festival. All three films garnered Genie Nominations for Best Live Action Short Drama. Sawers' other directing credits include the 1996 independent feature, Best Wishes, Mason Chadwick, as well as episodes of the several television series, including the The Kids in the Hall.The Middle Child
Mark Sawers 20 min. 1989 From
Moving Images DistributionThrough sardonic humour and a "home video" style, this presentation of family life illustrates interactions in a dysfunctional family in a unique and entertaining way.
Award: Best Video, Best Drama, B.C. Student Film Festival
The Family Image
Mark Sawers 18 min. 1991Poignant and powerful, this fictional drama takes a unique look at aging and the effect it has on family relationships. Through the use of "home video," it also examines issues of memory and control in the family.
Award: Honourable Mention, American Film & Video Festival
Stroke
Marks Sawers Driftwood Productions 15 min. 1992This black comedy about the stress caused by our growing technological environment chronicles the plight of Nathan Thompson, a highly driven 39-year-old executive. In an effort to make his life more efficient, Nathan has furnished his apartment with a variety of modern communication devices. But one evening after suffering a sudden stroke, those same devices not only prevent him from getting help, but also expose the degree to which he has isolated himself from his friends and family.
Award: Official Selection, Cannes Film Festival 1993 "Un certain regard" section.
Shoes off!
Mark Sawers 13:00 min. 1999Shoes off! portrays a lonely bachelor smitten by a mysterious blond women and her beautiful black boots. In his attempt to meet her, he crashes a housewarming party and finds himself at the center of an embarrassing faux pas involving a shish-kebob skewer and a wine-stained carpet.
Set to an original operatic score, Shoes off! enters the realm of poignant giddy art, "a world of slightly magic realism where coincidence and fate click their heels and do a syncopated pas-de-deux". Craig MacInnis, The Vancouver Sun
Award: Shoes off! won the Canal + award for Best Short Film at the 1999 Cannes Film Festival's International Critics Week AND was featured at a recent MediaNet talk on great short film.