Chinook Film Group

February’s film will be Lars And The Real Girl. No links to the site this month as I think you’re enjoyment of this movie will be inversely proportional to what you know about it going in. Very quirky premise but over all a film about the power of family and community to heal.

Academy Award Nominations are in and a few of our selections are there:

Away From Her-

Best Actress- Julie Christie

Screenplay (adapted)- Sarah Polley

Across the Universe-

Costume Design- Albert Wolsky

Lars And The Real Girl

Writing (original screenplay)- Nancy Oliver

The awards will be shown Feb. 24

Set at the end of the 60’s as Swaziland is about to receive Independence from Great Britain, the film follows the young Richard E Grant at 12 (Zach Fox) through his parents traumatic separation, till he’s 14 (Nicholas Hoult). It is based on true events from Richard E Grant’s childhood.

Starring:
Gabriel Byrne
Miranda Richardson and
Julie Walters

Link to Wah-Wah at IMDB

Hi All and welcome back to another season of great Independent and Alternative film programming presented by the Chinook Film Group. Our season ended in April with the wonderful movie “The World’s Fastest Indian”. A great evening enjoyed by all (the electric grinder scene did it for me…)
To kick off our Fall series beginning September 20, a controversial title- ” An Inconvenient Truth”. A documentary presentation of Al Gore’s campaign to reverse the effects of global climate change. Here is a link to the Official Site.

We’ve arranged for a speaker to introduce you to Al Gore’s dedication to this issue. (And I thought he only invented the internet…)

Tickets are 10.00 and showtime is 7:00 pm at the Cochrane Movie House. Tickets available at Java Jamboree and our new supporter Phantom’s Music. Proceeds to the DVD collection at the Cochrane Public Library.

This film is a remarkable sound journey with Evelyn Glennie, a Scottish Grammy winning classical percussionist. She is also profoundly deaf. Her energy and incredible ability fascinates the renown German Director and Cinematographer, Thomas Riedelsheimer. Evelyn Glennie invites the director and his crew into the meditative world that allows her to literally hear with her body. Together they map this world of the senses, hearing images and seeing sound.

There is a belief that without vibrations or oscillations there is only statis, there is nothing. Riedelsheimer enters this universe of sound and rhythm through Evelyn who experiences these phenomena in a way that almost no one else can. In her world even colours ‘speak’.

A long list of nominations and awards have honoured TOUCH THE SOUND including:
The 2005 Golden Lola, German Film Awards for Best Sound, the Critics Week Award, Locarno International Film Festival and the Special Mention Award for Best Documentary- Bangkok International Film Festival.

TOUCH THE SOUND is the feature presentation of the Chinook Film Group for Wednesday, March 15th and will be preceded by a short film- the groundbreaking OIO. The evening will commence at 7:00 p.m. at the Cochrane Movie House.

OIO…. A Masterful Short Film

Who is on the ‘World Schedule’for screening the remarkable art documentary OIO in 2006? Yes, it is the Chinook Film Group right along with Bangkok and Los Angeles where it is being featured in the Tiburin International Film Festival in March 2006.

OIO has just won the Roma Documentary Festival, 2005 Award for the Best Documentary on art. This is not a singular event as it is the 14th award won by OIO.

You might ask what is OIO? Try to imagine liquid paint being catapulted into the air and the cinemagraphic medium coming together to create a painting in motion. With image and music this creates “an emotional, dizzying trip toward great creativity”.
(International Federation of Film Critics, Annecy 2003.

For 11 years Eric Tinner followed the artist. Simon Goulet during the creative process of OIO. The result is fun and surprising and explores what creative madness and perseverance can achieve. Coupled with the music of Rene Dupre, OIO is a delight, which has been honoured at film festivals all over the world. Think, Spain, Italy, U.S.A., Japan, England, Canada, France the Ukraine and Germany!

This short film is a Canadian (Quebec) masterpiece. Viewers once again can appreciate the Chinook Film Group and Film Circuit for making it available to our audience March 15, 7:00 p.m. at the Cochrane Movie House.

WATER

On Wednesday, February 15, The Chinook Film Group is once again bringing to the community another opportunity to view an outstanding film, chosen this past year for the opening Galas of the Toronto International Film Festival and the Calgary Film
Festival!

WATER examines the plight of a group of widows forced into poverty at a temple in the holy city of Varanasi in India. It focuses on a relationship between one of the widows and a man from a lower caste and a follower of Mahatma Gandhi. This inter-caste relationship touches at the core of Hindu fundamentalist ideology.

Mehta at first gained both national and state government approval in India for the filming of WATER but extremist forces claimed the film besmirches India and is part of an organized plot by the Christian Church against Hinduism. Violent demonstrations followed resulting in the destruction of the set and accusations of disloyalty and religious discrimination were aimed at the producer and film maker.

Deepa Mehta, a Hindu /Canadian displayed enormous persistence however and her deep commitment to finish filming WATER, the third of her elemental trilogy led her to a new location in Colombo, Sri Lanka.

Tinu Ruparell, an Assistant Professor from the Department of Religious Studies at U of C who has researched the philosophy of religion focusing on the Hindu and Christian traditions will introduce this fascinating film.

The film begins at 7:00 p.m. at the Cochrane Movie House, a sponsor of the Chinook Film Group. After the movie everyone is invited to enjoy free coffee, tea and talk at Java Jamboree another key sponsor where buzz about the movie is welcomed!

Along with Pix & Stix Music, the Cochrane Public Library is also an important link and sponsor of the film group. Affectionately known as the ‘Nan’ the library is the lucky recipient of any profits realized by the Chinook Film Group. DVD copies of many of the outstanding Canadian and International films screened by the Group at the Cochrane Movie House are there for the public to borrow and enjoy!

The Chinook Film Group is one of 190 Film Circuit groups found across Canada especially in small cities and towns where there is a need for venues to screen these important films.

Partnership with the Toronto International Film Festival Group makes this opportunity possible. The TIFF is an organization dedicated to the promotion of Canadian and international films and provides Film Circuit groups full organizational support and access to films from all over world.

Suzanne Lorinczi