We had a good meeting last week and covered quite a bit of territory, though we
still have lots to do. Our next meeting will be: Thursday, October 25th at 9:30
at Railroad Square Cinema. We will be screening the Icelandic film “THE SWAN.”
The earlier start time will allow us to be able to cover more during our
meeting on Thursday.
I will try to send out a note on last week’s meeting either later today or
tomorrow.
Below is a link to the film “HOCHELAGA, LAND OF SOULS” which is a film from
Quebec we recently added to consideration. Hopefully, everyone will have an
opportunity to see this at home.
I would remind everyone that links to 10 films from FilmMovement were
previously sent out. Although we have decided to eliminate “EGON SCHIELE: DEATH
AND THE MAIDEN,” the others are still under consideration. So far, we have had
discussion at meetings on “ICEMAN,” “RAFIKI,” “THE SOWER,” “THE CHARMER,” and
“STYX.” “ICEMAN” provides a lot of action and a heavy revenge plot. The film
definitely appealed more to the guys, but it does have some terrific scenes and
raises some interesting issues even though it did not include a language or
subtitles that might have expedited the exploration of more concepts and the
relationships. My wife really liked “RAFIKI” when she saw it in Toronto. I
enjoyed it, but I think it might be a little simplistic and superficial in
dealing with being a lesbian in a country (Kenya) that is officially opposed to
homosexuality. Bob described “THE SOWER” as “predictable” and I would add that
even though I liked it I found that some of the potentially most interesting
perspectives, storylines, and “the rest of the story” were not addressed in the
film. However, I would refer you to a review of “THE SOWER” from the Hollywood
Reporter which I shared in an earlier e-mail. That review describes the writing
of the account used for the film and the time-table for allowing that story to
become public. That path clearly does provide commentary on the sense of the
violation of moral norms which the film’s story tells. Although “THE CHARMER”
seems to have been quite successful in collecting a variety of prizes at
numerous film festivals, both Alice and Bob found the would-be charming
immigrant trying to solidify his case for staying in Denmark by establishing a
permanent relationship to a woman to be less than endearing. Do we need to have
a main character that is sympathetic? Bob found “STYX” to be quite powerful and
described it as something of a gut-punch. Bob, did I get that right? Anyways,
there are several films for which we have no reaction and none for which we
have had everyone’s opinion.
Bob, thank you for the link to your streaming service. I did see “WHAT PRICE
HOLLYWOOD?”(1932) and really loved it. I think it has lots of interesting
possibilities for discussion that still are quite pertinent to today’s film
business. I hope to see the 1937 version of “A STAR IS BORN” before our next
meeting. However, we may want to add this into our calculations about including
“A STAR IS BORN” (1937) into our film series since I did notice in my research
that it is scheduled to show on TCM on January 31, 2019 at 9:45 pm.
Abbott, I understand your frustration with how the discussion and the decisions
went regarding a couple films we were considering. There’s certainly
relationships that were once seen as unremarkable and possibly beneficial that
are now looked at with considerable suspicion. Unfortunately over time we have
seen a fair amount of evidence about the harm that was being inflicted in
relationships that may have seemed on the outside to be benign. That’s the kind
of thing that heightens awareness about these types of relationships even if
that means certain relationships that would be benign are discouraged. While it
might well be an excellent subject for discussion how attitudes about certain
films can and do change over time, it would certainly be a challenging
discussion to lead and even a neutral or favorable presentation of the ‘SUNDAYS
AND CYBELE” synopsis might prove alarming to those sensitive to a sexually
abusive relationship between an adult and a child. It is important that we are
able to attract people to our films and have an opportunity for each film and
the series to be successful—even very modestly—commercially. However, don’t
stop coming up with suggestions for us. There’s a lot of older movies that have
merit, offer us some things not in current movies, and should not be forgotten.
Joel
From: Ruby Rondina <RRondina@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Monday, October 22, 2018 3:51 PM
To: joel_johnson@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: RE: "HOCHELAGA, LAND OF SOULS"
Hello Joel,
Thank you for your interest in HOCHELAGA. My name is Ruby Rondina and I am the
festivals and marketing manager at Seville International. We are the
international sales rep of the film. The screener is as follows:
HOCHELAGA- LAND OF SOULS- SCREENING LINK (Festival)
<https://vimeo.com/236653053>
Password: Percival MolsonStad
If the film is officially invited into your program, we will require a
screening fee + the cost of shipment both ways for the encrypted DCP.
My Best,
Ruby Rondina | Manager, Festivals and Marketing – Seville International
<http://www.sevilleinternational.com/> www.sevilleinternational.com | P 416
646 2400 ext 4475 | F 416 646 6998
134 Peter Street | Suite 700 | Toronto, ON M5V 2HV | Canada
**AFM OFFICE**
Loews Hotel- Suite 520
Santa Monica
Please see our AFM line up HERE
<https://na01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.sevilleinternational.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2018%2F10%2FSeville-International-FALL-2018-Line-up.pdf&data=02%7C01%7C%7C474ad8bde5f24bbe247608d6338c761b%7C4fe908e75934461383c3bf48bf142102%7C1%7C0%7C636753075689832523&sdata=uYP8gmcPE%2FLiVCnMgg%2FJ8oJJky8OP%2Bw0NpQ02yzkXl0%3D&reserved=0>
Market Screening:
THE DEATH AND LIFE OF JOHN F. DONOVAN
Thursday, November 1st, 15:00 – ArcLight 7
Début du message réexpédié :
De: "Joel Johnson" <joel_johnson@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
<mailto:joel_johnson@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx> >
Objet: "HOCHELAGA, LAND OF SOULS"
Date: 22 octobre 2018 07:48:53 UTC−4
À: <info@xxxxxxxxxxx <mailto:info@xxxxxxxxxxx> >
I am the leader of a Selection Team for a winter film series that happens from
January to March each year in Waterville, Maine, under the auspices of the
Maine Film Center and Railroad Square Cinema. We are considering "HOCHELAGA,
LAND OF SOULS" for inclusion in our series. This film appears to be a unique
film-making effort in undertaking to tell the story of such a broad swathe of
history and could appeal especially to those who have French-Canadian heritage
of which our area has a significant population. However, our team would
appreciate the opportunity to see the film in advance of committing to show it
in our film series. Could you provide us with a link for streaming the film
with English subtitles or a subtitled DVD screener? The former could be sent
via return e-mail, but the latter should be sent to this address: CINEMA
EXPLORATIONS Selection Team, c/o Railroad Square Cinema, 17 Railroad Square,
Waterville, Maine 04901, USA.
If, however, this e-mail is misdirected and there is another entity that holds
the US theatrical rights to this film, we would be very grateful if you could
redirect us there.
Thank you in advance for your assistance.
Joel Johnson