Genie Award Nominations Announced

Unlike the Juno's the Genies I can get excited about - there is no mainstream Canadian film industry, it can't be about money because there isn't any money. For a full list of this year's nominees visit http://www.genieawards.ca/Genie29/infomain.cfm. The major award nominees are listed below, the links go to the trailers for each film. If you need more information on specific films try imdb.com or um..Google.



Best picture

Amal

Ce qu'il faut pour vivre

Normal

Passchendaele

Tout est Parfait

Best actress

Isabelle Blais, Borderline

Ellen Burstyn, The Stone Angel

Marianne Fortier, Maman est chez le coiffeur

Susan Sarandon, Emotional Arithmetic

Preity Zinta, Heaven on Earth

Best actor

Paul Gross, Passchendaele

Rupinder Nagra, Amal

Christopher Plummer, Emotional Arithmetic

Aaron Pool, This Beautiful City

Natar Ungalaaq, Ce qu'il faut pour vivre

Best director

Richie Mehta, Amal

Lyne Charlebois, Borderline

Benoit Pilon, Ce qu'il faut pour vivre

Carl Bessai, Normal

Yves-Christian Fournier, Tout est Parfait

Best documentary

Infiniment Quebec

My Winnipeg

Up the Yangtze

Eric's Trip Documentary and Tribute Album

According to Will McGuirk there is an Eric's Trip tribute album coming - for evidence he points to Baby Eagle's Myspace Page and an MP3 posted on his his blog

Stereo Moon and The Stables handed on this cover as a... lets say a Groundhog Day present... as you will be playing it over and over. Its to appear on an upcoming tribute record due out on Gooseberry Records.

(seriously go grab the free MP3.)

So I went searching for more info and didn't find much but I did stumble across this Eric's Trip 1990 - 1996 Documentary Trailer.

"All the digging, dubbing and editing is done. Eric's Trip documentary out soon. Put together entirely by the band, no grants or companys involved. 2 hours of 1990-1996 super8 films, live songs, interview bits, music and photos from the personal vault.
Thanks friends."

Sweet

24 Hour Canadian All Star Jam Session

According to a note in my inbox this morning Graham Wright of Tokyo Police Club, Will Currie of Will Currie and the Country French and Luke Lalonde of Born Ruffians and Skeleton Me along with Dean Marino (a.k.a. Ex~Po) will be heading into Chemical Sound Studio for 24 hours to record as many songs as they can squeeze in in that time.

The plan is to take whatever results come out of the session and release them for free. "I think the songs will get a lot more interesting around four in the morning" says Will Currie. "As we get tired, more creative things will start to come out in the music. Lack of sleep makes your brain think differently," he jokes.

Documentary filmmaker Wade Vroom is going to be documenting all of this as it happens and will release the final film on a, as yet unannounced, website. The actual date all of this is happening wasn't in the note but it is bound to be an amazing session and, in one way or another, we all get to be there.

Stay tuned! I'll let you know when/if I hear any more.

Bruce McDonald - Broken Social Scene Reunite

Bruce McDonald's film the Tracey Fragments was undoubtedly the best film of 2007, it didn't win Best Picture anywhere due to a taste defeceit amoung people who give awards, but it was by far the best film. Amoung the brilliant ascpects of the film is a score by Broken Social Scene.

Now, according to Exclaim Bruce McDonald is preparing a documentary on Broken Social Scene member Brendan Canning:

McDonald is now helming the doc designed to coincide with the release of the multi-instrumentalist's solo effort Broken Social Scene Presents: Brendan Canning, which is due for a late June release on Arts & Crafts. The Canadian filmmaker has been tailing Canning around recording material for the doc while the musician and band members tour overseas in Europe, Mexico and Asia.

Brendan Canning - Hit a Wall

CBC Doc Zone: The Pagan Christ

Oops, one more. If you're bored and looking for something to do here's the CBC Doc Zone presentation the Pagan Christ



Part II

Part III

Part IV

Part V

I Liked the Book Better: The CBC's 'Pagan Christ'

Before I say anything I should quantify it by saying that I almost never like a movie based on a book if I liked the book. I should also add that I loved "the Pagan Christ" by Tom Harpur.

With that said I can now say that the CBC Doc Zone presentation of "the Pagan Christ" should have been a series, not an episode. Given the format and time constraints the doc is barely more than a trailer for Harpurs book.

The book on which the documentary was based goes into painstaking detail on Harpur's research into early Christianity and covers not only his questions about Jesus, but about several other points which might damage 'the bible as history.' It also goes to great lengths in explaining how, as an Anglican Priest, Harpur feels Christianity can be strengthened by abandoning the literal, historical translation of the Bible.

On the flip side there are many deeply thoughtful, scholarly works that seek to refute Harpur. The Doc Zone presentation barely had time to skim the surface of some, but hardly all, of Harpurs evidence and theories and had even less time for those who disagreed with them. It was almost as if the opposition was put there just to take the curse off of it; As if they were saying "If Harpur's theories upset you here is a 'well known biblical scholar' to tell you it's not true." I am a fan of documentaries and think this is exactly the type of programming that television, especially the CBC, should be doing but please give the topic the depth and time that it needs to be meaningful.

Toronto: Two Free Screenings of Garbage!

For those of you in Toronto there are two free screenings of Garbage coming up at the Revue Cinema (400 Roncesvalles Ave.).

The first screening, tonight (December 3), is at 7pm. It will be hosted by NDP MP Peggy Nash and while it is free optional donation will be accepted for the Redwood Women's Shelter.

Tonights screening of Garbage! will be followed by KILLER'S PARADISE:

"...directed by Toronto-based Giselle Portenier, uncovers the horrific situation in Guatemala, where 2,000 women have been murdered since 1999 and the perpetrators gone unpunished."

The second screening free screening at the Revue will be this Sunday, December 9 at 2 PM.

If you have a Facebook account you can find out more at http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=6659550804 otherwise please visit the Revue Cinema home page.

The Pagan Christ on CBC

A documentary based on Tom Harpur's excellent book "the Pagan Christ" is set to air on the CBC. Harpur is former Professor of New Testament at the University of Toronto's Toronto School of Theology and Toronto Star Religion Editor and his book is, for me, where modern Christianity meets the work of Joseph Campbell.

So, what if it could be proven that Jesus never existed? What if there was evidence that every word of the New Testament – the cornerstone of Christianity – is based on myth and metaphor?



Based on Tom Harpur’s national bestseller, The Pagan Christ examines these very questions. During his research, Harpur discovered that the New Testament is wholly based on Egyptian mythology, that Jesus Christ never lived, and that – indeed – the text was always meant to be read allegorically. It was the founders of the Church who duped the world into taking a literal approach to the scriptures. And, according to Harpur, this was their fatal error – and the very reason Christianity is struggling today.

The book has, no doubt, raised the ire of many Christian extremists, and I'm sure the documentary will as well. That should surprise no one though as it is that very extremism that the book is meant to confront. It is, at it's core, about how to preserve the better teachings and values of Christianity (the love thy neighbour, turn the other cheek, do not judge kind) without the need for a literal interpretation an actual Christ or the ridiculous theories that come out of "Bible as literal history".
It attempts to introduce a Christianity that can survive in modern times and withstand the scrutiny of known history and modern science. I highly reccomend reading the book - but for a taste and (I'm sure) some intriguing video - you can catch the documentary Thursday December 6, 2007 at 9pm on CBC-TV and again on Newsworld Saturday December 8, 2007 at 10pm ET.

Dawn of Garbage

As many of you know, for the last few months I've been helping with Garbage! The Revolution Begins At Home (on the promotions/social media side). For anyone who doesn't know: It's a film about a North York family that keeps all of their garbage for three months to demonstrate the waste output of an average household. Beyond the trash the doc gets into wastewater, household toxins and other things that leave our homes to have a direct impact on the environment.

With so many people frustrated with the inactivity of government and industry on the environment I think it's important and timely that someone asked "What's the environmental policy at your house." It is something too many people don't think about, don't fully understand and can have an impact on immediately.

The film, officially, premieres tonight and to celebrate writer/director Andrew Nisker had appearances this morning on the CBC's Metro Morning, City TV's Breakfast Television and we got a nice write up in today's Toronto Star. If you want to see the film, you won't find it in theatres, but you can get a list of upcoming screenings here.

Let's All Hate Toronto This Sunday

This Sunday, October 28 at 10 pm "Let's All Hate Toronto" will air on CBC Newsworld's "the Lens". I'd give you a description, but I think I'll just give you the link and the trailer instead - less wordy that way. =)

Garbage! the Movie

I've been busy recently helping my friend Andrew Nisker promote his new environmental doc Garbage!. The summary goes something like

Garbage! The Revolution Starts at Home is a feature documentary about how the family household has become one of the most ferocious environmental predators of our time. Writer and Director Andrew Nisker takes an average urban family, the McDonalds, and asks them to keep every scrap of garbage that they create for three months. He then takes them on a journey to find out where it all goes and what it’s doing to the world.

For me it's kind of the flipside of "An Inconvenient Truth" in that instead of starting at a global level and working down it starts at the household level and works up. It also provides people with concrete things they can do, right now, today to have an impact. Rather than wait for various governments and industries to decide to act. I, obviously, highly recommend it.

The film is also, following the model of many recent docs, not going to theaters. It is premiering November 19 in homes, schools, churches, community centers, etc., so if you like you can buy a copy from the website and set up a screening through Brave New Theaters.

What Is Indie: the Movie

For still more opinions on what Indie is check out Montreal director Dave Cool's documentary "What Is Indie" which you can now buy from bside.com for as little as 2.99. Preview is below.