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The Man From Majorca

FROM his very public criticism of Ingmar Bergman's vision of Sweden to his stylish incorporation of French New Wave influences, Bo Widerberg (1930­1997) was unquestionably a maverick filmmaker. Starting as writer of novels and short stories, Widerberg turned to filmmaking after being inspired by filmmakers such as Godard, Chabrol, and Truffaut. From his first film to the international success of ELVIRA MADIGAN to his award-winning final film, ALL THINGS FAIR, Widerberg gave Swedish cinema a renewed passion and stylistic energy distinct from the Bergman legacy. His exploration of themes of love, loyalty, alienation, and rebellion have drawn comparisons with Truffaut, and have examined aspects of Swedish life in often startlingly frank fashion. A great talent who changed Swedish cinema, Bo Widerberg died of cancer on May 1, 1997.

The CFI is honoured to present, in collaboration with the Embassy of Sweden, this complete retrospective of one of Sweden's most original and innovative filmmakers. All films have English sub-titles.

DE sa critique publique de la vision de la Suède d'Ingmar Bergman à son utilisation des influences Nouvelle Vague, Bo Widerberg (1930­1997) était très indépendant. Ayant commencé comme romancier et nouvelliste, Widerberg tourne ensuite des films inspirés par des cinéastes tel que Godard, Rivette et surtout Truffaut. À partir de son premier film, THE PRAM, jusqu'au succès international d'ELVIRA MADIGAN et à son dernier film, ALL THINGS FAIR, Widerberg à donnée au cinéma suédois une nouvelle passion et une nouvelle énergie stylistique distinct de l'héritage de Bergman. Son exploration des thèmes de l'amour, de la loyauté, de l'aliénation et de la rébellion a été comparée à celle de Truffaut et a examiné des aspects de la vie suédoise de façon très franche. Un grand talent qui à changé le cinéma suédois, Bo Widerberg est mort du cancer le 1 mai 1997.

L'ICF est fier de présenter, en collaboration avec l'Ambassade de la Suède, cette rétrospective de l'un des cinéastes suédois parmi les plus originaux et les plus innovateurs. Tous ces films sont sous-titrés en anglais.

Sun./dim. Jan. 30 jan., 19:00
ELIVRA MADIGAN
Sweden 1967, 90 min. Director: Bo Widerberg
Based on an actual event in 1899, this film is the tale of two lovers trapped by their all-consuming love. Count Sixten Sparre, a lieutenant in the Swedish army, and Elvira Madigan, a tightrope walker in her parents' circus, abandon their respective careers in favour of a life of love. On the run through Sweden and Denmark, a tragic fate awaits them as, ironically, the more disconnected they become from society at large, the less room they have to exist. Widerberg's biggest international hit remains, over three decades later, a moving, poignant portrait of lovers in a dangerous time.

Sun./dim. Jan. 30 jan., 21:00
THE PRAM
Sweden 1963, 84 min. Director: Bo Widerberg
Eighteen year-old Britt tires of her dull life in Malmo. She takes up with a rock-and-roll singer, and moves in with him. She soon discovers he is too immature to deal with their marriage and impending parenthood. Then she meets a young intellectual named Bjorn. Will he be any different? A dazzling debut film, THE PRAM wears its French New Wave influences brilliantly, and is a rare look at the emerging and decidely restless generation of Sweden's 1960s.

Sat./sam. Feb. 5 fev., 21:00
RAVEN'S END
Sweden 1963, 100 min. Director: Bo Widerberg
Stunning. One of the most compelling portraits of an artist as a young man yet rendered in Swedish cinema, or anywhere else for that matter. Anders (played by Widerberg alter ego Thommy Berggren) is a young factory worker who aspires to be a novelist. His father an alcoholic and his mother a washerwoman struggling to keep the family afloat, Anders dreams of escape from Raven's End through his writing. One day, a publisher invites him to Stockholm.

Sun./dim. Feb. 6 fev., 21:00
LOVE 65
Sweden 1965, 95 min. Director: Bo Widerberg
Unable to come with inspiration for his filmmaking, Keve desperately seeks love in an affair with Evabritt. Together, they take refuge from their own marriages, but their relationship gives them nothing of lasting value, and they part. But will -anyone be there when they get home. This rarely-screened, Truffaut-esque drama of love reveals the limits of idealism and the frustrations of the search for absolute happiness.

Sat./sam. Feb. 12 fev., 21:00
THE ADALEN RIOTS
Sweden 1969, 113 min., Director: Bo Widerberg
1931. A strike has been called in the Adalen valley in northern Sweden. The boss of the factory decides to bring in strike breakers. The workers gather to fight back and march. The military is brought in to settle matters. Set against this turbulent backdrop of social upheaval is the love story of Kjell and Anna: Kjell is the son of a slain labour leader and Anna is the daughter of the factory owner. A ferocious portrait of Swedish class divisions and a potent tale of rebel lovers, ADALEN RIOTS is one of Widerberg's most highly acclaimed films.

Sun./dim. Feb. 13 fev., 21:00
STUBBY
Sweden 1974, 89 min. Director: Bo Widerberg
A six-year old soccer prodigy named Stubby joins the Swedish national team and leads it to victory. Stubby is a serious little person, and is likewise taken seriously by those around him. Stubby cannot read about his triumphs, nor can he sign his autograph, but he is exploited by advertizers all the same. A wise and witty comedy about exploitation and misplaced passions.

Sat./sam. Feb. 19 fev., 19:00
THE MAN ON THE ROOF
Sweden 1976, 104 min. Director: Bo Widerberg
In the middle of the night a hospital patient is murdered. He is a policeman and his murder is one of the bloodiest in Swedish history. The efforts of Inspector Beck and his men to solve the murder. It turns out that the police force itself may be behind the murder. Described as one of the greatest Swedish thrillers ever produced, MAN ON THE ROOF is an intelligent, entertaining, and, yes, thrilling ride.

Sat./sam., Feb. 19 fev., 21:00
THE MAN FROM MAJORCA
Sweden 1894, 107 min. Director: Bo Widerberg
A post office is robbed in Stockholm. Two quite ordinary policeman begin to investigate the crime, but they come across unexpected obstacles. As they soon discover, the obstacles themselves reveal a grander conspiracy at work. Another kinetic action thriller from Widerberg, bolstered by a sharp political twist about the nature of power and law in modern Sweden.

Sun./dim. Feb. 20 fev., 21:00
THE SERPENT'S WAY
Sweden 1986, 112 min. Director: Bo Widerberg
Based on a successful novel by Torgny Lindgren, SERPENT'S WAY is set in the last half of the 19th Century and concerns Tea, a widow tenant farmer who lives with her two children in northern Sweden. Forced to work to pay their debts to the landlord, the only merchant in their community, Tea and her daughter are expected to make payment with their bodies as well. A potent study of sexual politics and power relations, starring Stina Ekblad and Stellan Skarsgard.

Sat./sam. Feb. 26 fev., 21:30
LIFE AT ANY COST
Sweden 1998, 90 min. Director: Stefan Jarl
Acclaimed documentary filmmaker Stefan Jarl's film about Bo Widerberg is based on previously unreleased material, notes, and scenes from films that were never completed. The narrator-storyteller of Widerberg's amazing life and career is Thommy Berggren, star of most of the director's greatest films. An elegiac, heartfelt, and insightful documentary of Widerberg, Sweden's most famous international filmmaker after Ingmar Bergman.

Sun./dim. Feb. 27 fev., 19:00
ALL THINGS FAIR
Sweden 1995, 130 min. Director: Bo Widerberg
A prize winner in Berlin (best actress for Marika Lagerkrantz), Widerberg's final film is on familiar territory for him: forbidden love and interpersonal manipulation. The passionate relationship between high school student, Stig (played by Johan Widerberg, the director's son), and his teacher, Viola, soon leads in dangerous, desperate directions as Stig discovers that adult life is less than ideal.

IN the decade or so since the collapse of communism, the three Baltic nations of Latvia, Estonia, and Lithuania have produced an impressive number of films. To reflect this remarkable cinematic emergence, the Canadian Film Institute is proud to present the first ever festival of Baltic Film Festival in Canada, featuring internationally renowned, award-winning films from Latvia, Estonia, and Lithuania. All films are presented in their original language with English sub-titles.

DANS la dizaine d'années qui s'est écoulée depuis l'écroulement du communisme, les trois pays baltiques de la Lettonie, de l'Estonie et de la Lituanie ont produit un nombre impressionnant de films. Pour refléter l'émergence remarquable de ce cinéma, l'Institut canadien du film est fier de présenter le premier Festival de film baltique au Canada, qui mettra en vedette des films de renommée internationale de la Lettonie, de l'Estonie, et de la Lituanie. Tous ces films seront présentés dans leur langue originale avec sous-titres en anglais.

LATVIA
Sat./sam Jan. 29 jan., 19:00
THE SHOE
Latvia 1998, 83 min. Director: Laila Pakalnina
Set in the 1950s at the height of the Cold War, THE SHOE is the tale of a woman's shoe discovered by a Soviet patrol on an exclusive beach groomed every night to detect trespassers. Shoe in hand, the patrollers head to town to try the shoe on every woman's foot. Being Soviet soldiers, they are less than well received. A brilliant, complex retelling of the Cinderella story, THE SHOE is a gorgeous piece of work, rendered in astonishing black and white cinemascope. "THE SHOE marks the arrival of a very talented young filmmaker" (Piers Handling, Toronto International Film Festival). Preceded by Pakalnina's miniature marvel, THE POST (1995).

Sun./sam. Feb. 6 fev., 19:00
THE NEST
Latvia 1995, 104 min. Director: Aivars Freimanis
Gatis and his wife Mara and three children move from town into an forest reserve, where they are given permission to live in and repair an old uninhabited house. The house soon becomes home. One day, an older gentleman arrives and announces that it's actually his house. An former fighter in the national resistance in the 1940s, he had left Latvia and is now returning from Canada. Filled with quiet insights and gentle good humour, Freimanis' remarkable film is an absorbing and intelligent look at the drama of history, both personal and national.

ESTONIA
Sat./ sam., Feb. 5 fev., 19:00
GEORGICA
Estonia 1998, 109 min. Director: Sulev Keedus
Talented director Sulev Keedus' second feature film is reminiscent of Tarkovsky. Alternating between past and present, GEORGICA film concerns the relationship between Jakub, an elderly ex-missionary who now lives on a deserted island, and a young mute boy who arrives and changes his life. As Toronto International Film Festival programmer Dimitri Eipides observes, GEORGICA is "an alluring and enigmatic work of cinema. The visual power of this oneiric film is quite extraordinary." Preceded by a short animation from Estonia.

Sun./dim., Feb. 13 fev., 19:00
THE PROMPTER
Estonia 1993, 96 min. Director: Kaljo Kiisk
The last dress rehearsals are being held for the troupe's new production and, in addition to the usual stresses common under such circumstances, there is additional friction between Robert, the play's director, and Martin, its star. The source of the friction is Melissa, the director's wife. A love triangle, slightly twisted in this quiet, compelling drama. Preceded by a short animation from Estonia.

LITHUANIA
Sat./sam. Feb. 12 fev., 19:00
CORRIDOR
Lithuania 1994, 79 min. Dir.: Sharunas Bartas
In this film, unusual narrative techniques and thematic structures are combined to produce an associative mosaic of current and remembered fragments of experience. Images of lost and longed-after bonds; an apocalyptic world in which time, logic, and values seem to have dissolved. Winner of critics prizes at film festivals in Torino, Thessaloniki, and Venice, CORRIDOR is a challenging, strikingly poetic film from Lithuania's leading filmmaker. Extradordinary.

Sun./dim. Feb. 20 fev., 19:00
THREE DAYS
Lithuania 1991, 75 min. Dir.: Sharunas Bartas
Shot on largely location in Kaliningrad, Bartas here offers a meditation on time, landscape, and the nature of reality, both perceptual and cinematic. Winner of several international awards from various festivals, THREE DAYS captured the FIPRESCI prize at the Forum of New Cinema at the 1992 Berlin International Film Festival.

NOT only was Joyce Wieland (1931­1998) one of Canada's great visual artists, she was also an extraordinary filmmaker. From her suggestive, subversive short films to her two feature-length explorations of identity, nationhood, desire, and landscape, Wieland's work both reflected and embodied our complex nation and its constant, creative processes of transition. The CFI is proud to present a complete retrospective of one of the most remarkable Canadian artists of the now departed 20th Century.

NON seulement Joyce Wieland (1931­1998) fut-elle l'une des grande artistes visuelles du Canada, elle fut aussi une cinéaste extraordinaire. De ses courts métrages évocateurs et subversifs à ses deux long métrages qui explorent l'identité, l'appartenance à un pays, le désir et le paysage, l'oeuvre de Wieland a reflété et incarné notre pays complexe et ses processus créatif constant. L'ICF est fier de présenter une rétrospective complète d'une des artistes les plus remarquables d'un 20ième siècle désormais disparu.

Sat./sam., March 4 mars, 19:00
WIELAND SHORT PROGRAMME 1
This programme presents Wieland's groundbreaking first short films, including brand new prints of LARRY'S RECENT BEHAVIOUR, WATER SARK, and 1933. The programme: LARRY'S RECENT BEHAVIOUR (1963, 18 min.), PATRIOTISM I (1964, 4 min.), PATRIOTISM II (1965, 3 min.), PEGGY?S BLUE SKYLIGHT (1965-68, 11 min.), WATER SARK (1964-65, 14 min.), HAND TINTING (1967, 6 min.), 1933 (1967, 4 min.), SAILBOAT (1967, 3 min.), CAT FOOD (1967-68, 13 min.). Total running time: 76 minutes. Tonight we are also pleased to launch in Ottawa the Cinematheque Ontario book, THE FILMS OF JOYCE WIELAND, with the book's editor, Kathryn Elder in attendance.

Sat./sam., March 4 mars, 21:00
REASON OVER PASSION
Canada 1968­69, 80 min. Dir.: Joyce Wieland
Wieland's most important and complex nationalist statement, REASON OVER PASSION is structured as a cross-Canada road movie which contemplates the famous dictum of Pierre Elliott Trudeau while exploring themes of time, space, identity, and the ever elusive outlines of Canada itself. A masterpiece of experimental filmmaking, REASON OVER PASSION is an unforgettable, politically charged, and utterly unique portrait of this country.

Fri./ven., March 10 mars, 19:00
THE FAR SHORE
Canada 1975, 105 min. Dir.: Joyce Wieland
Arguably the most underrated feature film in Canadian history, THE FAR SHORE is Wieland's first and only feature drama. Set in 1919, it is the story of Eulalie, a refined French-Canadian woman who marries a boorish Toronto engineer. Living in Toronto in a barren marriage and a profound state of alienation, Eulalie?s is reborn when she encounters Tom, a landscape artist and kindred spirit (whose character was modelled on Tom Thompson). Their growing love for each other leads to chaos. At once a feminist melodrama and a powerful statement on the cultural divide in Canada's two solitudes, THE FAR SHORE is a critical slice of mid-70s Canadian zeitgeist.

Sun./dim., March 12 mars, 21:00
WIELAND SHORT PROGRAMME 2
This programme includes Wieland's later short works along with her collaborative efforts with such filmmakers as Michael Snow and Hollis Frampton. The programme: DRIPPING WATER (1969, 12 min. co-directed with Michael Snow), RAT LIFE AND DIET IN NORTH AMERICA (1973, 14 min.), SOLIDARITY (1973, 11 min.), PIERRE VALLIERES (1972, 30 min.), A&B IN ONTARIO (1984, 17 min. co-directed with Hollis Frampton), BIRDS AT SUNRISE (1972-85, 10 min.). Total running time: 94 minutes.

CFI @ Club SAW, 67 Nicholas Street

Fri./ven. Feb. 25 fev., 19:30
THE FILMS OF PHILIP HOFFMAN

Club SAW, 67 rue Nicholas Street

OUR second season of intimate, interactive evenings with the best Canadian in experimental filmmakers kicks off in the newly renovated Club SAW.

We are proud to begin with internationally acclaimed film artist, Philip Hoffman. A filmmaker whose work explores personal memory and its intersections with ideas of identity, history, and time, Philip Hoffman has been honoured at film festivals in Finland, Australia, and here in Canada. At Café Ex, Hoffman will present a selection of his most recent work, including KOKORO IS FOR HEART and a brand new OPENING SERIES collection of short, interactive films. He will also conduct a workshop at IFCO on Saturday, 26 February. For workshop details, call IFCO at 569-1789.

Special Presentations Speciales

Sat./sam. Feb. 26 fev., 19:00
ONE HEART BROKEN INTO SONG
Canada 1999, 90 min. Director: Clement Virgo
Set in 1930s rural Nova Scotia, ONE HEART is the story of Lyla Cromwell, an 18 year-old who wants to be a writer, and Hank, 21, who arrives in her town and becomes her lover. Leaving her family to live in Halifax's black community of Africville, Lyla discovers her dream man is flawed utterly. Returning home to face her embittered father and the unwanted affections of Hud, her mother's brother, Lyla yearns for a new life. Soon, a reformed Hank returns and an entirely new set of tensions is created. Acclaimed writer George Elliott Clarke (whose play, WHYLAH FALLS will be performed at the NAC) will attend the screening to introduce and discuss his screenplay. Don't miss this chance to meet one of Canada's most important writers. Presented in collaboration with the organizers of Black History Month in Ottawa.

Fri./ven. March 10 mars, 21:00
SKIN FLICK
Canada 1999, 67 min. Director: Bruce La Bruce
"Canada's bad-boy of queer cinema has accomplished yet another controversial, creative, provocative and entirely playful piece of 'porn'. Yes, indeed, Bruce La Bruce finally goes all the way with Skin Flick, a film which is designed to offend, enrage and push erotic buttons you would like to deny you have. Reinhold, member of a neo-skinhead gang in London, screws his girlfriend, Cameltoe, wild in their kitchen. Meanwhile his gangmates, Dirk & Dieter steal, bash and fuck throughout the city on their way to Reinholds's house. Cameltoe isn't thrilled when the guys arrive, sparking a big fight between Reinhold and Cameltoe. Finally Reinhold kicks her out. Realizing that they don't have any money, they decide to visit a rich 'faggot'. La Bruce has created a heady new breed of pornography underscored by his unique brand of twisted humour. Skin Flick is strong sauce for the open-minded viewer." Donna Quince (Making Scenes)

Presented in collaboration with the Embassy of Egypt. Please note that all films are in Arabic language with English sub-titles.

Sun./dim. March 5 mars, 19:00
LAUGHTER, GAMES, SERIOUSNESS AND LOVE
Egypt 1993, 113 min. Director: Tarek El Telmessani
A loving portrait of the turbulent decade of the 1960s in Egypt, this film follows the struggles and diversions of several young men who look for a new world away from school. They dream of a place where they can overcome the restrictions of family and society. Starring Omar El Sharif (or, as he is better known, Omar Sharif), this is a bittersweet film about the end of innocence.

Sun./dim., March 5 mars, 21:15
STOLEN JOY
Egypt 1994, 120 min. Director: Daoud Abdel Sayed
This is a love story about two people who want to get married. Trouble is, they've got more than a few expenses to cover, and this complicates things considerably. As they soon discover, getting married isn?t as easy as it looks. A marvelous film about love and money.

Sun,/dim., March 12 mars, 19:00
EL ARAGOUZ
Egypt 1991, 115 min. Director: Hany Lachine
Mohamad loves his son Bahloul's singing and artistry, as it is done not for money but to make others happy and to fight injustice. Bahloul decides to go to the city and seeks electoral office against his father?s wishes. This dramatic father and son conflict soon involves Bahloul's political enemies and leads to extraordinary and troubling events.

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