Coming soon to a screen near you: Montreal's Lost Stories and an Egyptian graffiti revolution
"Art War" is a Swedish film that follows a group of young, creative Egyptians through the 2011 Arab Spring, as they use graffiti murals, music and art to try to salvage the democracy movement.
The International Festival of Films on Art (FIFA) is back — and from March 19 to 29, more than two dozen of its handpicked cinematic oeuvres are being screened in Concordia’s newly refurbished J.A. DeSève Cinema.
It’s the sixth consecutive year that the university has worked with FIFA to introduce the world’s finest art films to a wider audience.
Clarence Epstein, the university’s senior director of Urban and Cultural Affairs, sees a natural correspondence between this high-quality programming and an arts hub like Concordia.
“Festivals are a hallmark of Montreal’s civic character,” he says. “We are committed to ensuring that academic and public programming can be further bridged by advancing such partnerships.”
Among this year's offerings is the first film in a series documenting Montreal’s forgotten stories, spearheaded by Ronald Rudin, a professor in Concordia’s Department of History, and supported by a Trudeau Fellowship.
Lost Stories chronicles the creation of a mural commemorating the life of Thomas Widd, who founded a school for the deaf in 1870. Renowned local artist Lalie Douglas created the artwork on the site of the institute, now known as the Mackay Centre School. The film is being screened in French at 1:30 p.m. on Sunday, March 22 in Salle Jean-Claude-Lauzon at UQAM.
“Instead of deconstructing monuments that have already been made, I was looking for a way to explain the process that takes place when a story is translated into public art,” Rudin, the co-director of the university’s Centre for Oral History and Digital Storytelling, told NOW at the time of the mural’s unveiling last April.
International Festival of Films on Art: top picks
Cinephiles will want to check out the first festival screening at Concordia, at 6:30 p.m on Friday, March 20 — Katharine Hepburn: The Great Kate, a German-made documentary on the classic American film star.
During Hepburn’s 60-year career, she earned a record four Academy Awards, with 12 additional nominations. This film takes a behind-the-scenes look at Hollywood’s golden era to find out how this headstrong, intellectual outsider managed to become one of cinema’s most enduring icons.
Art War is a Swedish film that follows a group of young, creative Egyptians through the 2011 Arab Spring, as they use graffiti murals, music and art to try to salvage the democracy movement. In the words of Nashville Arts critic Justin Stokes, the movie shows “how music can mobilize revolutionaries and how painted murals can bring war criminals to justice.”
At 9 p.m. on Friday, March 20, the documentary will be preceded by My Name is Søren Solkær, a short film about a famous Danish photographer.
"Katharine Hepburn: The Great Kate" screens at 6:30 p.m on Friday, March 20, 2015.
Indiewire called Tomorrow We Disappear “one of the best documentaries of 2014.” The film (Sunday, March 22 at 6:30 p.m.) depicts the struggle of the artist residents of the fabled Kathputli Colony in Delhi, India, whose land was sold to developers.
It is “beautiful, sad and stunning” according to The Wrap’s critic Steve Pond, and received a standing ovation at the 2014 Tribeca Film Festival in New York City.
Ballet Boys, playing at 4 p.m. on Saturday, March 28, is about three Norwegian youngsters’ pursuit of dance stardom. The documentary unfolds over three years, as the boys grow into young men, and culminates with the auditions that decide their future.
And finally, at 1:30 p.m. on the last day of the festival (Sunday, March 29), Lord of the Rings fans will be able to check out J.R.R. Tolkien: des mots, des mondes, which portrays the thoughtful man behind the evergreen fantasy novels.
The screening is preceded by Escape from Moomin Valley, a biopic about the fanciful Finnish children’s author Tove Jansson.
"Tomorrow We Disappear" screens on Sunday, March 22 at 6:30 p.m.
For screening locations, visit the International Festival of Films on Art’s website.
The complete list of Concordia-FIFA screenings
Friday, March 20 — 6:30 p.m.
Katharine Hepburn:The Great Kate (76 min., English)
Germany, 2014
Directed by Rieke Brendel et Andrew Davies
Friday, March 20 — 9 p.m.
My Name is Søren Solkær (30 min., English)
Denmark, 2014
Directed by John Adelsten
Art War (80 min., English subtitles)
Germany, 2014
Directed by Marco Wilms
Saturday, March 21 — 1:30 p.m.
Big Head (25 min., Spanish, with English subtitles)
Chile, 2014
Directed by Jairo Boisier
Whatever Happened To Spitting Image? (60 min., English)
United Kingdom, 2013
Directed by Anthony Wall
Saturday, March 21 — 4 p.m.
National Theatre Live: 50 Years on Stage (117 min., English)
United Kingdom, United States, 2013
Directed by Nicholas Hytner
Saturday, March 21 — 6:30 p.m.
Ian Rankin – My Edinburgh (44 min., English)
Austria, 2013
Directed by Günter Schilhan
Violette Leduc, la chasse à l’amour (57 min., French with English subtitles)
France, 2013
Directed by Esther Hoffenberg
Saturday, March 21 — 9 p.m.
Kehinde Wiley: An Economy of Grace (52 min., English)
United States, 2014
Directed by Jeffrey Dupre
Mugshot (52 min., English)
Canada, 2014
Directed by Dennis Mohr
Sunday, March 22 — 1:30 p.m.
Broken Tongue (3 min., English)
United States, 2013
Directed by Monica Saviron
Alice Walker: Beauty in Truth (84 min., English)
United States, 2013
Directed by Pratibha Parmar
Sunday, March 22 — 4 p.m.
The Cabaret of Death (95 min., Polish with English subtitles)
Poland, 2014
Directed by Andrzej Celinski
Sunday, March 22 — 6:30 p.m.
Tomorrow We Disappear (84 mins. Hindi with English subtitles)
India, United States, 2014
Directed by Jim Goldblum and Adam M. Weber
Friday, March 27 — 6:30 p.m.
K: Kenneth Clark 1903-1983 (55 min., English)
United Kingdom, 1993
Directed by John Wyver
Before the screening, Wyver is presenting a master class on Kenneth Clark’s career.
Friday, March 27 — 9 p.m.
Civilisation – Heroic Materialism (51 min., English)
United Kingdom, 1969
Directed by Michael Gill
Saturday, March 28 — 1:30 p.m.
The New Clark: Bringing the Ando Experience to the Berkshires (97 min. English and Japanese with English subtitles)
United States, 2014
Directed by Michael Blackwood
Saturday, March 28 — 4 p.m.
Ballet Boys (72 min., Norwegian with English subtitles)
Australia, 2014
Directed by Kenneth Elvebakk
A History of Dance on Screen (58 min., English)
United Kingdom, 2013
Directed by Reiner E. Moritz
Saturday, March 28 — 6:30 p.m.
Bill Viola, expérience de l’infini (54 min., English with French subtitles)
France, 2013
Directed by Jean-Paul Fargier
Rosalind Krauss, une moderniste, une vraie (40 min., English with French subtitles)
France, 2014
Directed by Pascale Bouhénic and Marianne Alphant
Saturday, March 28 — 9 p.m.
Ulrike Ottinger – Nomad from the Lake (86 min., German with English subtitles)
Germany, 2012
Directed by Brigitte Kramer
Sunday, March 29 — 1:30 p.m.
Escape from Moominvalley (58 min., Finnish with English subtitles)
Finland, Denmark, Sweden, 2014
Directed by Charlotte Airas
J.R.R Tolkien: des Mots, des mondes (55 min., French)
France, 2014
Directed by Simon Backès
Sunday, March 29 — 4 p.m.
K: Kenneth Clark 1903-1983 (55 min., English)
United Kingdom, 1993
Directed by John Wyver
Vincent Scully: An Art Historian among Architects (56 min., English)
United States, 2010
Directed by Edgar B. Howard and Tom Piper