6:30 pm Monday 16 November 2009

Owning The Slave, 2006, 32 min + extras

with filmmaker Renée Poisson

Andy Stringfellow is a black man who, wanting to escape the racism of his birthplace in rural Arkansas, settled in a white town in Canada. Suddenly facing death 30 years later, he questions his identity; he has lost his culture, his marriage and his health as well as his brilliant career as a clinical counsellor.

Determined to continue his personal evolution, Andy overcomes his lifelong need to keep his inner self hidden, taking the risk of revealing himself on camera. Andy's frankness and clarity give us fresh insight into the experience of the "outsider." Owning The Slave is about reclaiming oneself from imposed social, political and personal patterns and restrictions. Pg 13

Andy's spontaneous performances of traditional songs complement original music composed and played by Michel Leblanc. more

Filmmaker Renée Poisson will join us for the screening

The first 33 years of Poisson's artistic practise were focused on sculptural projects. She exhibited internationally and was awarded grants by the BC Arts Council and Canada Council.


Renée PoissonIn 1999 her practise began to focus primarily on video, soon expanding to include recording and experimenting with found sounds. Working as an independent producer/director, doing her own camerawork, sound and editing, Poisson has completed documentaries (in distribution with Moving Images and Video Out) and experimental videos, one selected for the Festival International du Film sur l'Art in Montreal in 2003, and another received an award in Edmonton.

In 2004, Poisson's work with sound extended beyond video into collaborating with Helen Walkley on a sound score for Walkley's dance project constantly changing rules. In 2005, dancer Robbyn Scott commissioned Poisson to create a sound score for migration, choreographed by Helen Walkley.

Owning the Slave, produced with the assistance of the Canada Council for the Arts, was premiered at the World Community Film Festival in Courtenay, BC and shown across Canada in 2006. Funding from Canada Council makes this special presentation possible.

Currently in the process of producing three more documentaries, Poisson, who has a long history in sculpture and sound, continues to live and work in Merville, BC, where she cleared the land and built her house in 1977.

6:30 pm and 8:30 pm Monday 23 November 2009

Four Feet Up, Documentary, Premiere!, 2009, 46 min

Director/ Writer/ Editor/Soundtrack: Nance Ackerman
Cinematography: Christopher Ball and Nance Ackerman

Due to overwhelming interest in this film an extra viewing has been added. 6:30 pm and 8:30 pm showings.

The filmmaker will be with us by phone from Nova Scotia with an update. We're pleased to have Janice Chow, the poverty specialist for the BC's Representative for Children and Youth, join us for the discussion.

On the 20th Anniversary of the House Of Commons promising to eliminate poverty among Canadian children. MM's screening will the first of Canada-wide promotion and launch of Four Feet Up held on November 24, 2009.

This new NFB documentary looks at child poverty in rural Canada through the eyes of one 8 year old child in Nova Scotia. Filmmaker Nance Ackerman followed Isaiah from the moment he woke up on November 24th (the anniversary of the promise by the federal government to end Child Poverty by the year 2000) to the moment he goes to bed a year later. Using her stunning imagery and Isaiah's own drawings and photography, Four Feet Up gives the audience a visceral, primal sense of life below the poverty line for a child in rural Canada. Whether that leaves the viewer with a greater appreciation for the struggle or questioning their own beliefs, priorities and prejudices, this film aims to affect change.


Nance AckermanIn Four Feet Up, her second NFB documentary, award-winning photographer and filmmaker Nance Ackerman invites us into the lives of this determined family for an intimate and touching experience of child poverty in one of the richest countries in the world.

Ackerman spent two years with Isaiah and his family, developing a relationship entrusted to her to share with us through her tender care and vision. As her portrait of the family unfolds with the help of Isaiah's creative input, curiosity and zest for life, so do Ackerman's own feelings about the responsibilities of Canadians - to raise all children as our best investment in the nation's future and to take a more critical look at how we measure wealth. Pg

My impressions:

It's a new, intimate, and really touching story seen primarily through the experience of a young boy, oldest of four siblings. He's a really sensitive kid, a natural artist, struggling for attention from his mum who has little to spare. She's dealing with the kids, food bank trips, budgeting on family allowance and the kids' drop-in dad who she loves but can't live with. They met on the street when she was in their middle teens, themselves leaving early from homes where addiction seems to have dominated the landscape. The kids started coming, apparently in spite of birth control. Her sometime partner makes a marginal living as a roofer. They hope their kids might make it out of this cycle....

There's a cumulative effect over the two years of gentle observation of this boy and his family that really does hook you to care about them and to engage with the greater picture. The filmmakers 'photographer's eye' for composition and angle add a lot to this small story with a big impact.

As I see it, the film is just a starting point. It is 46min long piece and purely cinéma verité. We'll all want to know the follow up story. We'll find out more, (probably) speak with the filmmaker, who spent those years getting to know the family and earn their trust. The audience will emotionally engage with this boy's plight, try to anticipate his future, think about others coming up with his potential and liabilities - and the conversation will begin. about the film and view clips.

For Four Feet Up we will be happy to accept food bank donations (of food and money) at the door, requested by the filmmaker.

6:30 pm Monday 7 December 2009

The Living Museum, 1998, 78 min

with a presentation by the Pandora Arts Collective and Yuri Arajs

The Living Museum is an art community in a downsized New York mental institution (Creedmoor Psychiatric Center) where every inch of the 40,000 square foot space is treated like a canvas. The Living Museum illuminates the life and work of artists who are patients and graduates of the Creedmoor. Dr. Janos Marton, charismatic director co-founder and seven of his patients/artists illustrate how it works and how art can be so necessary in the lives of many who are "afflicted " with mental illness.
Jessica Yu

By Academy Award winning filmmaker Jessica Yu (who transferred the film to DVD just for us!) The project is still, after 15 years, very much alive in NY, as our art programs are threatened. more and also see

"In the Living Museum, people are able to express themselves, to create something worthwhile - it's like going to a job. Karen Schechter, the Director of Community Relations, is part of an administration that is uniquely sensitive to and supportive of the artists in their midst. Recognizing how important an expressive outlet is for the recovery process, art is integrated into rehabilitation at Creedmoor. It is an important part of the treatment plans for both inpatients and outpatients."

6:30 pm Monday 21 December 2009

Johnny Cash: The Man, His World, His Music, 1969, 86 min

"In this classic 1969 documentary, the Man in Black is captured at his peak, the first of many in a looming roller-coaster career. Fresh on the heels of his Folsom Prison album, Cash reveals the dark intensity and raw talent that made him a country music star and cultural icon. Director Robert Elfstrom got closer than any other filmmaker to Cash, who is seen performing with his new bride June Carter Cash, in a rare duet with Bob Dylan, playing a prison concert, and behind the scenes with friends, family and being receptive to aspiring young musicians. Johnny Cash: The Man, His World, His Music paints an unforgettable portrait that endures beyond the singer's 2003 death." The film was recently recut by Vancouver based filmmaker Peter Davies, a friend of director Robert Elfstrom. Pg We expect a special guest...

A very young Metis musician, Don Freed, is seen auditioning backstage for an attentive Cash. He now lives in Victoria. We hope he'll drop by... See clip and more but there is so much more in this behind the scenes film. MM's Christmas treat for you!

cast: Johnny Cash, Anita Carter, June Carter Cash, Bob Dylan, Bob Johnston