Festival Nouveau Cinema 2014

The best film festival in town just got underway yesterday and I just took a look at the program.  Holy moly there's lots of good stuff here. A couple of projects I did the costume design for are going to partake in the fun, so check it out!

First up, Turn Off Before Living, directed by Annick Blanc, a dark and steamy film set in Havana, Cuba about a cast of characters living personal lies.

Step Well Pilgrim is a dance film that I had the pleasure of making "butt turbans" for four of the performers.  Director Duncan McDowall was inspired by principal performers Katia Lesvesque and Jonathan Fortin's performance from Cabaret Carmagnole and transformed it to a screen adaptation.

I was super stoked to assist the insane talent of costume designer Patricia McNeil for one day on the set of Félix et Meira.  Directed by Maxime Giroux, the film explores the unlikely crossing of paths of a young mother and wife in the Hassidic Jewish community and an eccentric francophone québecois. 

My one awesome day consisted of transforming about twenty bearded men, from young hip dudes to elderly santa claus-like gentlemen into Hassidic Jews.  With the treasures of eBay Israel and a bunch of resourcefulness, McNeil orchestrated epic movie magic.

Southcliffe

image from den of geek

One evening, during an endless browse through Netflix I was really excited to find Warp Films/Channel 4's wonderful Southcliffe.  I watched the four-part mini-series last year at TIFF without any prior knowledge to the work other than the fact that it was directed by Sean Durkin.  That was pretty much all I needed to know.

Like his work on Martha Marcy May Marlene, the dialogue is pared down to the minimum, the narrative is not so much plot driven, but rather character studies of people in exceptional conditions. In Southcliffe a shooting takes place and the series explores the psychological toll that is taken on the small town.  Painful, beautiful and slow moving were words that resonated as I left the screening.  It is works like this that truly lets the actors flex their thespian muscles and deliver heart wrenching performances.  It didn't hurt either that the images are stunning, with an overall grey heaviness of the English town.

So needless to say I'm ready to watch it all again.
May I recommend that should you have the luxury of watching this in one or two sittings that you do so?
Enjoy this great interview with Sean Durkin from Den of Geek.

FNC 42

The 42nd edition of the very wonderful Festival Nouveau Cinema has just come to a end.  Twelve days of cinematic good times flew by and I unfortunately only got a miniature sampling (only caught two features this year!)  But I squeezed in the last hurrah to attend the festival's closing party.
Above, projections light up the dancefloor
Middle, 1st AD Catherine wears an intricate leather necklace by LaLaYeah
Bottom, leaving the party for a rainy, late-night bike ride home

Inside the Lightbox

TIFF's three year old, five storey, super fancy home, the Bell Lightbox hosted many of the festival's films.  People watching of attendees racing to their next screening was in abundance.

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all together now
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all gone

Packing for TIFF

Heading to Toronto for the first time in about three years to see friends, friends of the family and of course TIFF!  Bought a couple of tickets for some shorts I worked on and the British mini-series Southcliffe directed by Sean Durkin of the Martha Marcy May Marlene fame.  Our visit will be quick and dirty and jam packed.  Commence the bag stuffing of the travel/wardrobe essentials.

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Of course by essentials I mean three pairs of shoes and a pair of flip flops for four days.  This picture does not even include outerwear and sweaters, but with all the erratic weather we've been having this summer you just never know.

tiff.festival'13

Super stoked to learn that two projects that I did the costumes for will be playing at the juggernaut of a festival: the Toronto International Film Festival (tiff is alot easier no?)

First up, Daybreak or Éclat du jour directed by Ian Lagarde about a group of kids on bikes, rebellion and pack mentality.  Some behind the scenes images here.

Film number two is The Sparkling River directed by Felix&Paul.  This 3D short has undergone various incarnations and had received the Guillaume Corbeil touch in its final stages.  We shot this many many moons ago, and I have yet to see the end result!

Here I will take a moment to say that a dear friend, Daniel Allen Cox has co-written Gerontophilia with THE Bruce LaBruce, Canadian queer filmmaker/artist extraordinaire.  I don't know how many more excuses I need to go to tiff now.

Les Rendez-Vous Du Cinéma Québecois

Les rendez-vous du cinéma québecois is upon us!
It's no secret I'm a huge fan of the movie making side of life and les rendez-vous is a nice showcase of homegrown films of the past year.
In no particular order I will throw down some of my picks from the festival.

In the category of "I can't believe I haven't seen these films yet-what am I waiting for?"

Clockwise from top left:
1. Monsieur Lazhar, fiction feature film, director: Philippe Falardeau
2. Surviving Progress, documentary, feature, directors: Mathieu Roy, Harold Crooks
3. Marécages, fiction, feature film, director: Guy Édoin
4. Café de Flore,  fiction, feature film, director: Jean-Marc Vallée
5. Inside Lara Roxx, documentary feature, director: Mia Donovan
6. Inni, feature documentary on Sigur Ros! director: Vincent Morisset

In the category of "Shorts I've already seen but love all these directors so I have to give them shout outs"

Clockwise from top left:
1. Sanctuaire, director: Andreas Mendritzki
2. Washed in Blue, director: Tom Fennario
3. Surveillant, directior Yan Giroux (and ps. I did the wardrobe on this short. It's a great film that just had a screening at Sundance. High five!)
4.  A Film Portrait on Reconstructing 12 Possibilities that Preceded the Disappearance of Zoe Dean Drum, director Eduardo Menz
5. Drat, director Farzin Farzaneh
6. Vent Solaire, director Ian Lagarde

And last but not least in the category of "It will probably be difficult to see these films outside of a film festival setting (unlike films by Denis Coté-whose Bestiaire is supposed to be awesome!) "

Alejandro Jodorowsky Grand Rectum de L'UdFOU 
feature doc directed by François Gourd
Ummm...Jodorowsky is a mad genius. What else is there to say? Have you seen El Topo?!

Un 14 Juillet å Marseille
feature doc directed by Yan Giroux (again!)
An experimental hand is given to this doc with lots of long takes. Sign me up!