Special Screening
Recommended for grades 8 and up
Themes: Empathy, Social Justice, Acceptance, Competitive Sports, Gender
Canadian downhill mountain bike champion Michelle Dumaresq has been shaking up the world of sports. But it's not her riding talent that's sparked controversy and international media attention - it's the fact that for the first 20 years of her life Michelle was Michael.
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A House / Ouchi
Director: Koji Yamamura
Japan, 1993, 4 min
One winter day, two birds find a big tree and decide to build their house there.
Blue Like a Gunshot
Director: Masoud Raouf
Canada, 2003, 6 min
This visual poem sees the absurd vanity of war in contrast to the harmony and perpetuity of nature.
Breakfast with Scot
02/24/2008 - 17:00
Vancity Theatre, 1181 Seymour Street
$6.00 child and $8.00 adult
Director: Laurie Lynd
Canada, 2007, 95 min
Recommended for ages 12 and up
Ed and Sam's world and relationship turns upside down with the arrival of Ed’s nephew, an exceptionally flamboyant 11-year-old boy named Scot. Sam is a former professional hockey player who now works as a broadcaster at a major sports network. His colleagues have no clue about the true sexuality of the outwardly masculine sportscaster; the same can be said about his longtime partner Ed, a high profile hockey player with a reputation for roughness on the ice. Scot - whose mother has just died and whose irresponsible father is currently out of town- is an expert in the subjects of knitting and show tunes, but when it comes to the topic of sports he just can't be bothered. Sam knows well the terror of having to hide your sexuality from the masses, and, in order to save Scot from the torment of classmates - and perhaps prevent his own secret from being revealed- the knowing uncle does his best to straighten out the effeminate young man. Laurie Lynd’s funny and heartwarming story explores what it truly means to be a family, contrasting familial stereotypes with the realities of family life and showing how it feels to be a boy who doesn't quite fit into the role society has prepared for him. Noah Bernett steals the show as Scot, whose wide-eyed incomprehension of the ways of the world is both hilarious and deeply affecting.
Lynd is a writer and director based in Toronto. His television credits include episodes of Degrassi: The Next Generation and Queer as Folk. His films include House (95), Virtual Mom (00), and I Was a Rat (01), which screened at Reel 2 Real.
www.caprifilms.com/breakfastwithscot/index.html
Preceded by short film No Bikini
Cell Animation
Director: Nick Hilligoss
Australia, 1998, 5 min
A free-spirited, artistic soul gets thrown in jail for drawing outside the lines. With the use of his imagination and a box of crayons he is able to create his own wilderness, and escapes.
Crank
Director: Kevin Langdale
Canada, 2001, 6 min
The seemingly nonsensical is juxtaposed with the precision of science to illustrate how our belief in the order of language does not guarantee communication.
Father and Daughter
Director: Michael Dudok de Wit
Netherlands, 2000, 9 min
A father says goodbye to his young daughter and leaves. As the wide Dutch landscapes live through their seasons, so the girl lives through hers. She becomes a young woman, has a family, and in time she becomes old, yet within her there is always a deep longing for her father. Oscar Winner
L'homme sans ombre
Director: George Schwizgebel
Canada/Switzerland, 2004, 10 min
A man agrees to a pact with a magician and swaps his shadow for riches. He soon discovers that the absence of a shadow can be a humiliating handicap.
Leaps and Bounds
02/24/2008 - 13:00
Vancity Theatre, 1181 Seymour Street
$6.00 child and $8.00 adult
Director: Petter Naess
Sweden, 2006, 86 min
In Swedish with English subtitles.
Recommended ages: 11 and up
Fourteen-year-old Azad loves to do the high jump and Swedish gold medal-winning high jumper Kajsa Bergqvist is his hero. After surviving a bomb blast near his home, his parents arrange for him and his younger brother Tigris to travel from Iraq to Berlin. The two brothers end up in Sweden by mistake, when an unscrupulous man tricks them out of their connecting flight tickets. In order to blend in with the family that hides him, he has to pretend that he is nine-years-old. Feeling alone in a new country where he doesn't understand the language, he hopes to be reunited with his real parents and seeks the help of a hot dog vendor, a school friend, and Kajsa Bergqvist. When a friend at school introduces Azad to the high jump team at school, Ali astonishes everybody with his skills, but runs into the problem of how an illegal immigrant can join the team that will compete in Germany. Norwegian director Petter Næss (Elling, 2001) sensitively portrays the loss of homeland and family, and the rewards of new friendships and successes.
Presented with the assistance of the Embassy of Sweden.
Prededed by short film: I Met the Walrus
Madame Tutli-Putli
Directors: Chris Lavis and Maciek Szczerbowski
Canada, 2007, 17 min
Madame Tutli-Putli boards the night train, weighed down with all her earthly possessions and the ghosts of her past. She travels alone, facing both the kindness and menace of strangers. As day descends into dark, she finds herself caught up in a desperate metaphysical adventure. Adrift between real and imagined worlds, Madame Tutli-Putli confronts her demons and is drawn into an undertow of mystery and suspense.
MUKHSIN
02/27/2008 - 11:30
Vancity Theatre, 1181 Seymour Street
$6.00 child and $8.00 adult
Director: Yasmin Ahmad
Malaysia, 2006, 90 min
In Malay, English, and Mandarin with English subtitles.
Recommended for grades 7 and up
Themes: Family Dynamics, Coming of Age, First Love, Friendship, Diversity
Orked is a tomboy who has no trouble confronting bullies at her Chinese school, and likes dancing in the rain with her English-speaking mother. She would much rather attend a soccer match then play wedding with the other girls. When Mukhsin and his older brother come to stay in the village, after their mother leaves their abusive father, it is no surprise that he is instantly drawn to Orked and her free-spirited family. Orked and Mukhsin become inseparable, taking the audience with them on their journey around rural Malaysia in this gentle, witty story of the awkwardness of trying to turn friendship into love. In this semi-autobiographical story, Malaysian director Yasmin Ahmad returns to her favourite family, portrayed in earlier films, including Rabun (2003), Sepet (2005) and Gubra (2006). She says of Mukhsin, “I feel it's an interesting human condition to look at, because I myself have never been able to understand how, sometimes, something as beautiful as Love can threaten to end something else that's just as beautiful – Friendship.”
yasminthestoryteller.blogspot.com/2006/04/orked-and-mukhsin.html