Monday, November 3, 2008
Also Screening with Religulous is:
Farmer's Requiem, by Ramses Madina.
This is a beautiful nine minute meditative documentary about the gradual disappearance of farming culture. Ramses Madina employs striking time-lapse photography and the thoughtful narration of elderly farmer Victor McGregor. Images of dilapidated farms and decaying barns, accompanied by McGregor’s fading voice, haunt the screen.
Add the score of Montreal group Godspeed You! Black Emperor and you've got one gorgeous 9 minutes of Canadian farming!
This will screen directly before Religulous!
(See post below)
Wednesday, October 22, 2008
RELIGULOUS - Coming November 9th!
Empire Theatre New Liskeard
Nov. 9th, 7:30pm.
Religulous - Bill Maher travels to Israel, England, the Netherlands, Vatican City, and across America, speaking to people about faith and religion in the very funny documentary RELIGULOUS. Maher, a stand-up comedian who has hosted the talk shows POLITICALLY INCORRECT on ABC and REAL TIME on HBO and has written such bestsellers as DOES ANYBODY HAVE A PROBLEM WITH THAT? and WHEN YOU RIDE ALONE, YOU RIDE WITH BIN LADEN, reaches out to religious leaders as well as regular folk on the street, discussing the existence of God and the importance of organized religion. Maher makes it clear from the start that he is not a fan of religion and does not believe in God, and he has fun skewering people who do--including Christians, Jews, Muslims, and Mormons, rabbis, priests, politicians, scientists, evangelical ministers, and even a preacher whose church is a converted truck. He also visits such places as the Holy Land Experience in Orlando, Florida, where he interviews the actor who plays Jesus in a live show there, and the Red Light District in Amsterdam, notorious for its legalized drugs and prostitution. As he has done on his television programs and in his books, Maher questions literal interpretations of the Bible, seeing it more as a collection of fairy tales. Director Larry Charles (BORAT, CURB YOUR ENTHUSIASM) intersperses clips from Hollywood films about religion to punctuate Maher's points, often to hilarious effect. The soundtrack is also used effectively, including such songs as the Doobie Brothers' "Jesus Is Just Alright," Ben Folds's "Jesusland," and Billy Bragg and Wilco's "Christ for President." Like such Michael Moore documentaries as FAHRENHEIT 9/11 and BOWLING FOR COLUMBINE, Maher's RELIGULOUS uses humor--and lots of cynicism and sarcasm--to examine controversial theories and topics that people feel very strongly about, no matter what side of the fence they are on. In addition to making audiences laugh, RELIGULOUS will make them think
Watch the trailer here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qB8fPJ6zds8
Sunday, October 19, 2008
The Visitor ... tonight!!
We've had a great turn-out so far this weekend,
and can't wait to see everyone out to The Visitor tonight
at the Empire at 7:30!
"A deeply moving drama built around longtime character actor Richard Jenkins, The Visitor is a simmering drama about a college professor and recent widower, Walter Vale (Jenkins), who discovers a pair of illegal aliens who were the victims of a real-estate scam living in his New York apartment. After the mix-up is resolved, Vale invites the couple--a young, Syrian musician named Tarek (Haaz Sleiman) and his Senegalese girlfriend (Danai Gurira)--to stay with him. An unlikely friendship develops between the retiring, quiet Vale and the vibrant Tarek, and the former begins to loosen up and respond to Tarek's drumming lessons as if something in him waiting to be liberated has finally been unleashed."
We will be preceding this with a short film from Canada
called "I Met the Walrus"... . . you will love it!!
Wednesday, September 17, 2008
Hello Film Fans!
Drew, Josee and Mark would love thank everyone who gave their support to the first season of the Film Event Society of Temiskaming.
With that said... FEST is super proud to launch their second season of film events!!!
SO proud, in fact, that we have lined up a few treats for our patrons.
First! .... We will be hosting a fun little social event on Friday October 17th in Cobalt's beautiful Classic Theatre. This is a FREE event where you can watch some Oscar winning Canadian short films, have a drink or two (sorry, not free), grab FREE movie swag, and eat free popcorn... yes, that's right: eat FREE POPCORN!
It will also be pretty much the last chance to grab a Season's Pass, which are available NOW at Chat Noir Books, Robertson's (soon).
Second!... Saturday October 18th at Chat Noir Books in New Liskeard, the FEST crew and some friends will be presenting a more musically oriented event during the day. Drop by to see some live bare-bones music performed by the local riff-raff, watch some musical documentaries and/or videos, and bring your friends who couldn't come out the night before so they have an opportunity to pick up their own Season's Pass!!
Third!... The SEASON OPENER! (I'll post the title when it is confirmed). As usual, the 7:30 pm screening will take place at the Empire Theatre in New Liskeard. However, NOT as usual, it will be preceded by a short film. In fact, EVERY film screened this year will be preceded by a different short film! This first one is called I Met the Walrus, a documentary about a 14 year old kid who interviewed John Lennon in Toronto in 1969.
Link: http://www.imetthewalrus.com/
So,,, book it! It is sure to be a Filmtastic Weekend to launch Season Two of FEST!
Tuesday, April 1, 2008
The Counterfeiters - April 13th
The Film Event Society of Temiskaming (FEST) presents:
Synopsis:
Watch the trailer here: http://www.sonyclassics.com/thecounterfeiters/
Thursday, February 28, 2008
THE KITE RUNNER - March 9th
This film is an absolute work of art!
Screening at the Empire Theatre in New Liskeard at 7:30 on March 9th.
One night only! $9 admission.
Monday, January 28, 2008
EMOTIONAL ARITHMETIC - FEB. 10th
The february installment of the Cinema Sunday series is a screening of the profound new canadian film Emotion Arimthmetic.
In our troubled times of polarized politics and debilitating war, this extraordinary film from an emerging Canadian filmmaker asks how we will heal the emotional wounds that linger after great upheaval. A magical cast in an idyllic locale reflects on an earlier time when the world was in even greater peril. Three people were brutally separated then; now they must find the strength to face tragedy and reclaim the friendships that transformed their lives.
Melanie Winters (Susan Sarandon) is a survivor of Drancy, a transit camp set up outside Paris during the Nazi occupation. Now comfortably middle-aged, she is married to David (Christopher Plummer) and dotes over her son, Benjamin (Roy Dupuis), and grandson, Timmy (Dakota Goyo). Her life’s work has been to bear witness to what she experienced. Melanie’s life in Quebec’s picturesque Eastern Townships is turned upside down when she discovers that Jakob (Max von Sydow), a Polish dissident who saved her life in the camp, is still alive. She excitedly arranges for him to visit, but he brings an unwelcome surprise. As a boy, Christopher (Gabriel Byrne) was at the camp with Melanie; they both felt the first stirrings of love amid the horrors of Drancy. Christopher’s arrival shatters Melanie’s insulated existence, allowing complex desires to resurface.
These memories make for the mathematics of the film’s title. Melanie is faced with the limitations of facts and figures to describe atrocity with any adequacy. The men question her obsessive chronicling and attempt to draw Melanie out of her fixation on the past. Emotional Arithmetic is a film about personal transformation and, as such, places extraordinary demands on its actors. What a pleasure, then, to see vivacious Sarandon, growling Plummer and gently modulated Byrne play off one another, recreating a love triangle none of them ever wanted. But, even with all this extraordinary talent, it is the elegant, powerful presence of von Sydow, one of cinema’s finest actors, that imbues Emotional Arithmetic with its lasting moral weight. Given Barzman’s focus on humans overwhelmed by tragedy, one cannot help but recall von Sydow’s collaborations with the late Ingmar Bergman, and the great questions that master’s work continues to ask.
Watch the trailer
HERE