7:30 Saturday 31 May 2008

Strong Coffee, 2007, 48 min

Strong Coffee tells the story of a revolutionary idea that is helping people in need all over the world. Café Femenino beans are the first and only coffee beans grown entirely by women farmers. Remarkably, the Café Femenino project is helping to change long-established attitudes and weaken the grip of machismo in remote farming communities. In response, a cultural shift is taking place. There is more equality between women and men, abuse and violence towards women are decreasing, and the quality of life in these regions is improving. STRONG COFFEE also shows how Café Femenino helps women in our own communities too.

The Vancouver-based women filmmakers will be with us and there'll be coffee to be sampled while we enjoy this uplifting, motivating, and inspiring film. Pg more
6:30 Monday 2 June 2008

Autism: The Musical, 2007, 93 min


Tricia Regan Autism: The Musical counters today's bleak statistics with one woman's optimistic pledge to lead a group of autistic children in defying diagnosed expectations by writing, rehearsing and performing their own full-length musical. Following five Los Angeles children over the course of six months, director Tricia Regan captures the struggles and triumphs of their family lives and observes how this musical production gives these performers a comfort zone in which they can explore their creative sides. PG the official site and video clips

We'll link up with Tricia Regan by phone to learn more of this fascinating documentary process.
7:00 pm Friday 6 June 2008

Mystic Ball, 2006, 83 min


view the films' posterTonight this film will be shown in the Woodward Room, Begbie Hall at Fort St and Richmond Rd corner of the Jubilee Hospital Campus.

Passion suffuses every moment of Mystic Ball, an uplifting documentary about one man's physical and spiritual quest. The film resists easy categorization - it's simultaneously a thrilling sports movie, an insightful journey to a new world, and a lyrical personal story.

Mystic Ball follows Greg Hamilton, the Canadian filmmaker, deep into the ancient and little-known culture of Myanmar and its traditional sport, chinlone. Like the film, chinlone is hard to define. It's a team sport without an opposing team, part dance, part meditation. There is no competition, no winners and no losers. The game is back-breakingly difficult, yet is played by almost all Burmese, from young children to octogenarians.

The film follows Greg's transformation from outsider obsessed with learning chinlone to accomplished teammate of the masters of the game. But sport is only one aspect of his journey. Through chinlone, Greg discovers things he didn't even know he was looking for: family, community and love. more Pg

Here's a brilliant film that MM was planning on screening May 26 that is particularly topical now. The maker, Greg Hamilton, will be phoning in to talk about the, film, country, and his upcoming trip back there to personally deliver funds, Raised by screenings of his film, to the people in the film directly affected by the disaster. The film introduces you to these lovely people and their passion for this beautiful sport, bypassing (necessarily) the politics. A great way to assist in spite this crazy political situation that has turned people away from helping out these poor folks who have been clobbered by this calamity.


Protesters are occupying Laurel House in an effort to keep it open.
Darren Stone, Times Colonist
view the films' poster
7:00 pm and 9:00 pm Saturday 7 June 2008

Crazy About Laurel House, 2007, 50 min

The members of Laurel House, an activity center for people with mental illness, take on the authorities that threaten to close their second home, the place that helps them to maintain a good quality of life. And they win. Special guests! A film by Victoria's Monique Cartesan. Pg

Kathleen, a spokesperson for Laurel house members, will be one of our guests, along with filmmaker Monique Cartesan. read the story by Rob Wipond

6:30 Monday 30 June 2008

Louis 19 – King of the Airwaves, 1994, 95 min, Subtitled

for Canada Day!
This little French Canadian film from 1994 is a treat. It hilariously predicted the fad for "reality TV". Louis has always had a dream to be on television. But when he enters a contest and wins, the first prize involves a cameraman following him everywhere for three months. The only problem is that Louis has a boring life, so the TV executives decide to put some excitement in it. This odd quiet man's life becomes the rage of Quebec society as his astonishing, stumbling metamorphosis is broadcast live.

Here's a smart and gentle comedy that won Best Canadian Screenplay and Most Popular Canadian Film at Vancouver International Film Fest and I bet you never heard of it ...Canadians... geez eh! We'll be finished in lots of time to catch the fireworks. Pg13 .... more about the film and view a trailer
Cast: Martin Drainville, Dominique Michel, Patricia Tulasne

The American film EDtv was an adaptation of Louis 19.
6:30 pm Monday 7 July 2008

The Butterfly and Diving Bell, 2007, 112 min, Subtitles

Far from a "Who's Life Is It Anyway", this film about Jean-Dominique Bauby, a high-flying editor of Elle Magazine, paralyzed by a stroke in 1995. It's also about life and its possibilities, in spite of severe disability, a theme I love to explore at MM. Based closely on the autobiographical book by the same title, this is an amazing, intense film you won't forget. Pg. Read about the film.
Cast: Mathieu Amalric, Emmanuelle Seigner, Anne Consigny, Emma De Caunes, Max von Sydow
With guests Ann Jacob and Stan Tomandl See: Coma Communication and Process-Oriented Facilitation


6:30 pm Monday 14 July 2008

Mandela - Prisoner To President, 1994, 90 min, Subtitled

Nelson Mandela's 90th Birthday Celebration with Peter Davis' doc and photo exhibit...
Featuring Peter Davis' documentary Mandela – Prisoner To President, plus Journey To Nyae Nyae, another from Davis' Villon stable of films about Africa, that shows us the story of N!Xau, the Bushman hero of the most successful African film ever made, The Gods Must Be Crazy. What was his life really
N!Xau, star of The Gods Must Be Crazy about? We'll have a photo exhibit in our lobby gallery as well as filmmaker Peter Davis, who now lives in Vancouver, with us to fill us in on "the rest of the story". read about Mandelas' 90th birthday and about Villon Films

Peter Davis: Under the aegis of Villon Films, the company which he founded, British born director Peter Davis has been independently producing and distributing award-winning films since 1970. With a strong focus on socio-political documentary, Davis' work spans such issues as government, history, ecology, culture, health and science, women's issues, biography, and the apartheid period of South African history. Visit his collection of films at the Black Film Center in Indiana.

From Peter: "Around 1986, fearing that Nelson Mandela had been forgotten or ignored - this was certainly the case with Britain's Margaret Thatcher, who dismissed him as a terrorist, and President Reagan, who thought he was irrelevant - I had the idea of doing a documentary on the powerful
Peter Davis political force that had come about through the union of Nelson and Winnie Mandela. I raised some money through the United Nations, but had the problem of being persona non grata in South Africa, having been arrested and deported from that country in 1976. But I did manage to cross the border illegally, and make my way to Brandfort, where Winnie was in internal exile. I interviewed her there - narrowly missing a visit by the police - and eventually made the documentary Winnie Mandela: Under Apartheid, which was distributed worldwide.

However, I had a bad conscience about this film, because of Nelson's absence - he was on Robben Island - and the inevitable result that Winnie's strong personality dominated the film. So I eventually made my bio of Nelson, Remember Mandela! This was completed in 1988, when I believed that Mandela would never be released. The film had some impact, since it was shown on the opening day of the Democratic Convention of 1988, which was July 18, Nelson's birthday. Mandela: Prisoner to President, is a version that goes up to Mandela's release in 1990. I can fill in some details for the period after that. The photo exhibition [we’ll be hanging in MM’s lobby/gallery] ran throughout the Convention period.

I have been fortunate enough to see Mandela a few times since his release in 1990, the last time being last year, at the inauguration of the new statue to him in Parliament Square in London. I have also curated the current exhibition about him at the Museum of London."

6:30 pm Monday 21 July 2008

The Tracy Fragments, 2007, 77 min

also Bruce MacDonald with Elimination Dance or the short I saw at Whistler....
This novel film, the latest from Bruce MacDonald, Canada's 'bad boy' filmmaker, features the breakout Maritime actor, Ellen Page (Juno, Marion Bridge), as a troubled teen on a quest to find her little brother - who she has hypnotized to act like a dog. .. The sometimes multi-screen format gives an impression of the fragmented experience of her difficult world. I found it an exhilarating film experience.

We'll talk to Director Bruce MacDonald by phone (from Toronto) about its making and the novel opportunity he gave fans to 'un-fragment' it to compete for a prize for best result. R more info and view a trailer
Cast: Ellen Page, Libby Adams, Shawn Ahmed, Stephen Amell, Jackie Brown


6:30 pm Monday 28 July 2008

Garbage Warrior, 86 min, 2007

This brilliant doc could just change the world. That's the ambition of the protagonist who gave up his architect license to build 'green' housing out of garbage - all the good stuff we're so busy throwing in dumps. Heroically battling with bureaucracies, technical hitches in his off-the-grid subdivision in New Mexico, and heading for the eye of hurricane and tsunami wracked communities to put his ideas to work, our man is undeterred, full of innovation and passion. Pg .... trailer