Fundy Filmmakers’ showcase a dream on screen

BY WENDY ELLIOTT

Kings County Register

“We’re finally doing it,” beams Susan Hauer of the Fundy Film Society (FFS) who, along with local filmmaker/ writer Marke Slipp, have put together Fundy Filmmakers Night 1 and 2—evenings to showcase the work of 10 filmmakers with connections to the Valley.

This long-held dream will be realized Jan. 27 - 28 at the Al Whittle Theatre in Wolfville. Most of the directors and/ or producers will be in attendance.

Hauer says this will be the first of what the society hopes to be an annual program component, once an appropriate digital projector is secured for the Acadia Cinema Co-operative.

FFS is evaluating the projector market and Hauer says they will have a demonstration unit, graciously supplied from Panasonic Canada through Bachman Vidcom (Halifax) from Jan. 26 – 30. To best present the potential of this equipment to audiences, the society has created a series of screenings under the banner of Digital Days, also the official kick-off for the projector fundraising drive.

Audiences will see top-quality digital projection of a broad range of cinematic experiences, including the 30th anniversary director’s cut of Spielberg’s classic Close Encounters of the Third Kind in High Definition (HD), Merchant Ivory’s breakthrough blockbuster, A Room With a View — now in re-released HD; La Boheme, an Opus Arte HD encore from Teatro Real in Madrid; and, from the NFB, Oscar entry Madame Tutli-Putli, an eye-catching new animated short; and Up the Yangtze, an unsettling new feature documentary with the imposing Three Gorges Dam in China as a backdrop.

There will also be a other events at the theatre, and “a digital workshop is planned for Monday during the day,” Slipp says, “to demonstrate the capabilities of this projector.”

The core of Digital Days is the Fundy Filmmakers Night 1 and 2— an eclectic assortment of productions.

“With five films per night, totalling over three hours, there will be a lot of diversity, insight and entertainment presented at both the evenings,” Slipp says.

Admission for most Digital Days events is $8 each. All events are FFS 6-Pack friendly, except La Boheme, a special presentation that will cost $20.

WEBLINKS

www.fundyfilm.ca or call 542-5157.



Valley screening

On screen January 27:

• Upper Canard resident Fred Macdonald’s short animation, Fundy Tides, time-lapse videography of the tidal seascapes around the eastern Bay of Fundy.

• Beverly Bliss, Windsor, will show her production on Margaret Visser’s book, The Geometry of Love.

• Tim Wilson, Bear River, offers a poignant short on his aging mother, Upright Grand.

• A Ballad of South Mountain is a local, classic NFB production by Hubert Schuurman, Wolfville.

• Jason Young of Sheffield Mills’ second Valley première with his most recent NFB film, Inside Time.

On screen January 28:

• P is for Papaya, a short with an environmental bent by Wolfvillian (now at York University) Aube Giroux.

• Kimberly Smith, Canning, will present his sculptural art video, The Three Dimensional World of Joshua Kalfa.

• Grand Pré’s Sylvia Hamilton presents her documentary Think on Me: Portia White.

• Ann Verrall, with local roots, and Valley actor Leah MacDonald present the short drama, The Wait.

• Robert Hutt’s (New Ross) feature documentary, The Prince and Grail, closes the evening with camera work by Macdonald, script by Ed Thomason and actor Raymond O'Neill as narrator.