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Filmmaker Ron Mann and music/film promoter Gary Topp have established an independent film distribution company called filmswelike.
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| FILMSWELIKE BOARD OF DIRECTORS: filmmaker Peter Wintonick, filmmaker Sam Greene, film programmer Matt Dentler, U.S. film distributor Richard Abramowitz, film critic Jonathan Rosenbaum and programming associate @ VIFF and editor of Cinema Scope Magazine Mark Peranson, film programmer and critic Paul Ennis and film programmer and writer AGNES VARNUM. |
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CONTACT INFO:
filmswelike
24 Mercer Street
Toronto, ON
M5V 1H3
ph: 416-971-9131
fx: 416-971-6014
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filmswelike presents...
Indie Film Distribution Company Creates Speakers Bureau
Toronto, February 20, 2008
Filmmaker Ron Mann and Music Promoter Gary Topp whose indiedistribution company filmswelike has released acclaimed films including the upcoming Aussie hit "Kenny" and Jan Sverák's "Empties" has created a boutique speakers bureau for filmmakers.
VISIT SPEAKERSWELIKE.COM!
KENNY - A Film by Clayton Jacobson
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KENNY
From the biggest festival to the smallest church social,
Kenny Smyth delivers porta-loos to them all. Ignored and unappreciated, he is one of the cogs in society’s machinery; a knight in shining overalls taking care of business with his faithful ‘Splashdown’ crew. More info!
NOW PLAYING ACROSS CANADA!
CLICK HERE FOR DATES AND TIMES!
FWL website: Kenny
Official website: kennythemovie.com
Watch the Kenny trailer!
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EMPTIES (VRATNE LAHVE) - A Film by Jan Sverak
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Special Screenings:
AVAILABLE LIGHT FILM FESTIVAL, YUKON
March 4 - 9, 2008
Beringia Centre • Yukon Arts Centre • Qwanlin Cinema Centre
More Info
EMPTIES is a comedy-drama about a man who refuses to accept retirement without a fight and in the process rediscovers the love of his life.
EMPTIES is made by the star, writer, director and producers of the Academy-award-winning KOLYA (1997).
Currently on release in the Czech Republic, EMPTIES has broken all Czech box office records. It is the first film ever in that country - Czech or Hollywood blockbuster - to gross US$5.5 million.
EMPTIES recently won the Audience Award and a Special Jury Mention for Screenplay at the Karlovy Vary Film Festival.
Read about filmswelike's aquisition of the film on Variety!
More Info! / Read the Press Release!
GLOBE & MAIL REVIEW - **** - 4 STARS!!!
Friday Sept. 7th, 07
With the exceptionally funny and touching Empties, this Oscar-winning (Kolya) Czech director completes his acclaimed trilogy of films about stages in life. His father, Zdenek Sverak (once again his co-writer), stars as Josef, a blithe, somewhat mischievous literature professor who reluctantly retires. Josef's restless, social nature soon leads him to take a part-time job at a bottle-return counter - much to the consternation of his slightly jealous wife - and his well-intentioned meddling in other people's romantic problems produces mixed results. This comedy about life's inevitable transitions may conclude with an unforgettable scene in a hot-air balloon, but its many pleasures are down-to-earth.
EMPTIES win's "Festival audience favorite" at Cottbus! - Variety |
ABEL RAISES CAIN - A Film By Jenny Abel & Jeff Hockett
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COMING 2008
As far back as she can remember, Jenny Abel has seen her father appear on television under a variety of aliases, fooling news reporters and talk show hosts. He was continually plotting new ways to infiltrate the media with one of his seemingly absurd causes. Throughout the years, people have accused him of being a scam artist or an impostor. But to Jenny, he was always just a father with a unique profession. Alan Abel, by trade, is a professional prankster. His hoaxing career began in the late 1950s with a campaign to clothe all animals for the sake of decency. Even though it was a satirical commentary on censorship, his slogan, "A nude horse is a rude horse," was plastered on the front page of newspapers all over the country.
More info soon!
Visit the Official Website! Watch the trailer! |
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Title: MY DINNER WITH JIMI
Director: Bill Fishman
Writer: Harold Kaylan
Director: Howard Bronson
Year of production: 2006
Country: USA
Language: English
Format: DVD/ DVCAM
The film chronicles the events leading up to the night in 1967 when Howard Kaylan met Jimi Hendrix and the Beatles.
"It's an absolutely true story," Kaylan recounts. "It was our first trip to London, and we met Graham Nash, Donovan, the Stones, and the Beatles-who played us Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band before it was released-all on the same night! I wound up eating dinner with Hendrix at 4 a.m....!"
...and therein lies the tale.
More Info!
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Title: COLOSSAL YOUTH (Juventude Em Marc)
A film by Pedro Costa
Year of production: 2006
In Colour. 155 Minutes
Country: Portugal
Language: English
Ventura, a Cape Verdean laborer living in the outskirts of Lisbon, is suddenly abandoned by his wife Clotilde. Ventura feels lost between the dilapidated old quarter where he spent the last 34 years and his new lodgings in a recently-built low-cost housing complex. All the young poor souls he meets seem to become his own children. More info coming soon!
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Title: BRAND UPON THE BRAIN!
A film by Guy Maddin
Year of production: 2006
Running Time: 97 Minutes
Country: USA/ Canada
Language: English
1.85.1 aspect ratio
Dolby SR Optical Sound
Format: 35mm/ DVD
Watch: BRAND UPON THE BRAIN! - Trailer
Download the press kit!
Visit the official BRAND UPON THE BRAIN! movie website
Watch BUTB! on BRAVO! Canada, Wednesday March 19, 2008 @ 8pm!
Equal parts childhood reminiscence, Expressionist horror film, teen detective serial, and Grand Guignol reverie, BRAND UPON THE BRAIN! is a new cinematic spectacle from the unique mind of Canada's own Guy Maddin. More info
NOW IN THEATRES
Cinema Du Parc, Montreal - Opening Sept. 28th - Oct. 11th! *HELD FOR A 2ND WEEK!
Empire Theatre, Halifax - Oct 15
Broadway Theatre, Saskatoon - Oct. 30 & Nov. 1
Gem Theatre, Grand Forks, BC - Oct 30
Acadia Cine, Wolfville, NS, - October 31
Pacific Cinematheque, Nov. 14 & 16
Fernie B.C & District Arts Council, Vogue Theatre - March 10, 08
Kamloops Film Festival, Feb. 27 - March 2, 08
Previous Screenings
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Title: SPACEMAN: A BASEBALL ODYSSEY
Producer/ Director: Brett Rapkin
Year of production: 2006
Country: USA
Language: English
Format: DVD/ DVCAM
A documentary about former Major League Baseball player, Bill "The Spaceman" Lee, the ultimate gonzo player. A brilliant left handed pitcher who defied every manager or front office executive who tried to control him. The fans loved him and so did sportswriters who delighted in asking the usual baseball questions, only to get philosophical responses involving the relationship between existentialism and the curveball or the effects of karma on a pitcher's rotator cuff. More info
Listen to the CFRB interview with Bill (Spaceman) Lee!
Read reviews and interviews with Bill Lee!
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Title: IMAGINE THE SOUND
A film by Ron Mann
Year of production: 1980/ 2007
In Colour. 35 mm. 84 Minutes
Sound : Dolby SR
Country: USA
Language: English
Ontario Rating: 14A
DVD AVAILABLE FALL 2007!
Filmswelike re-releases IMAGINE THE SOUND one of the best documentaries on free-form jazz. Featuring Paul Bley, Archie Shepp, Bill Dixon and Cecil Taylor. More info
The first feature documentary by Ron Mann (GRASS, COMICBOOK CONFIDENTIAL) is an eloquent tribute to a group of highly celebrated artists that helped forge the avant-garde jazz of the 1960s.
Critic and film historian Jonathan Rosenbaum has said IMAGINE THE SOUND “may be the best documentary on free jazz that we have.”
The film features articulate interviews and dramatic
performances by pianists Cecil Taylor and Paul Bley,
tenor saxophone Archie Shepp, and trumpet player Bill Dixon.
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Title: TALES OF THE RAT FINK
A film by Ron Mann
Year of production: 2006
Running Time: 75 Minutes
Country: Canada
Language: English
Watch the trailer!
READ "RAT FINK" reviews
"Rat Fink" is now out on DVD and available through DVDSWELIKE.
See all Screenings!
From the award-winning director of COMIC BOOK CONFIDENTIAL
and GRASS comes TALES OF THE RAT FINK, Ron Mann’s wildly inventive
bio about Renaissance man Ed “Big Daddy” Roth, who engineered a shift
in mid-twentieth century culture with his customized cars, “monster”
T-shirts and America’s alternative rodent - “Rat Fink”.
Mann’s largely animated documentary features the voice talents of
John Goodman, Ann-Margret, Jay Leno, Brian Wilson, Tom Wolfe,
Matt Groening, Robert Williams, Stone Cold Steve Austin, Paul LeMat,
Billy F Gibbons, and The Smothers Brothers.
More info @ talesoftheratfink.com
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Title: ANGER ME
A protrait of avant-garde filmmaker Kenneth Anger
A film by Elio Gelmini
Year of production: 2006
Running Time: 72 minutes
Languages: English
Format: BetaSP/ DVCam
UPCOMING SCREENINGS!
New Fest, NYC, June 4
Art Gallery of Hamilton, March 2, 07
Pacific Cinematheque, BC, Jan 5-7, 07
Metro Cinema, Edmonton, Jan 12 & 13, 07
The story of the life, literary and motion-picture accomplishments of Kenneth Anger, a pivotal figure in the history of experimental film. An innovator and a pioneer, he literally blazed his own trail.
Considered to be one of the major personalities of the 1960's and 1970's underground art scene, Kenneth defined himself as a "cinematographic magician" and his "cinema" as a ritualistic form. Anger's films have taken audiences places where only great film poets can arrive.
Since the 1960’s, Kenneth Anger's films have been the subject of many books, film panels and film theory courses. Although he has never made a commercial music video, he has even been called the "Godfather of MTV".
More info!
Official Website - angerme.com
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Title: SIR! NO SIR!
A film by David Zeiger
Year of production: 2005
In Colour. 35 mm. 84 Minutes
Sound : Dolby SR
Country: USA
Language: English
Ontario Rating: 14A
UPCOMING SCREENING: Hamilton Social Justice Film Festival
Thursday April 24, 2008 @ 7pm sharp
Downtown Arts Centre - Hamilton
Co-sponsored by the Public School Teachers Federations (OSSTF and HWETL)
*discussion to follow with war resisters from Iraq / Afghanistan
Sir! No Sir! energetically reveals the untold story of the GI movement to end the war in Vietnam. This is the story of one of the most vibrant and widespread upheavals of the 1960s – one that had a profound impact on American society, yet has been virtually obliterated from the collective memory of that time. This hidden history combines fast-paced archival footage with thoughtful interviews, “perfectly timed with new doubts about the Iraq War” (Variety).
2 enthusiastic thumbs up! Ebert and Roeper
(Listen to the podcast review!)
Read more REVIEWS
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Title: THE SUN
A film by Alexander Sokurov
Running Time: 110 minutes
Length: 10700ft; 3260 Metres
No. of reels: 6
Sound: Dolby Digital
Projection Aspect Ratio: 1:85
Languages: Japanese & English
Showtimes!
Read Reviews!
5 Stars in EYE, 4 stars in NOW!!!
The Sun follows Moloch (on Hitler) and Taurus (on Lenin) as the third installment in his bold, ongoing series on those few figures who have held "ultimate power." This formidable work takes as its subject Emperor Hirohito (Issey Ogata), spanning the period between August 1945 and New Year's Day, 1946, during the American occupation of Japan...
more info/ Read the press release!
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Title: BE HERE TO LOVE ME
A film by Margaret Brown
Year of production: 2005
Running Time: 99 minutes
Country: USA
Language: English
Format: DVD/ DVCAM
Year of productions: 2004
99 minutes / United States
The ultimate songwriter's songwriter, Townes Van Zandy had a profuound impact on generations of musicians from Bob Dylan to norah Jones, yet he avoided the commerical success enjoyoed by many of his own fans.
BE HERE TO LOVE ME: A FILM ABOUT TOWNES VAN ZANDT provides an intimate portrait of the legendary artist's haunting music and life.
More info!
Official Website: townesthemovie.com
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Title: TOUCH THE SOUND
A film by Thomas Riedelsheimer
Country: Germany
Year: 2004
Running Time: 98 mins
Format: 35mm, Colour
Watch the Trailer
Official Website!
ABOUT THE FILM:
At the heart of every life form there is rhythm, movement, flow, change, renewal and repetition are all based on rhythm. It is only in rhythm, that we can experience time.
Without vibration, without oscillation, there is static. There is nothing. Stability and solidity are illusions.
Everything oscillates and vibrates - from the bridge of steel and concrete, to the energy shells around an atom. Even colours oscillate
at different frequencies. We recognize and experience out world through rhythm. Everything vibrates - everything speaks. It is, in essence, a universe of sound.
Evelyn Glennnie lives in this universe in a way that almost no one else does. Together with her, this film dives in to the world of sound and rhythm - and into the world of our origins. |
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Title: MANA - BEYOND BELIEF
A film by Peter Friedman & Roger Manley
Country: USA
Year: 2004
Running Time: 90 minutes
Format: 35mm, Colour
Official Website
Watch the Trailer
ABOUT THE FILM:
Mana is the Polynesian word for the power that resides in things. Appropriately, a Maori priest filmed in a New Zealand rainforest sets the stage for an odyssey which takes us from the Arizona deserts through Asia, Africa and Europe and finally to a real-life time machine-with stops along the way at nuclear reactors, art museums, Burmese temples, Elvisland, relic smugglers, voodoo ceremonies and the halls of Congress. Shot in crisp, state-of-the-art High Definition video transferred to 35mm, "MANA-beyond belief" is an adventure, both across the globe and into the human mind.
Mana is one of five finalists (from among more than 200) selected for Best Feature Documentary at the Independent Feature Project market in New York.
More info
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Title: THE WORLD
A film by Jia Zhang-ke
Country: China
Year: 2004
Running Time: 133 mins
Format: 35mm, Colour
Aspect ratio: Cinemascope (2.35:1)
Sound: Dolby SR
Watch THE WORLD on TMN!
The Toronto Film Critics Association names THE WORLD "Best Foreign Language Film" for 2005!
ABOUT THE FILM:
THE WORLD focuses on an security guard who is smitten by a showgirl. Both work at a Beijing theme park that offers scaled-down versions of famous landmarks -- the Pyramids, the Eiffel Tower, even the twin towers of the World Trade Center. The film casts a compassionate eye on the daily loves, friendships, and desperate dreams of the provincial workers at the park.
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Title: LOS ANGELES PLAYS ITSELF
A film by Thom Anderson
Country: USA
Year: 2004
Running Time: 163 mins
Format: DVD, Colour/ B&W
UPCOMING SCREENINGS
ABOUT THE FILM:
LOS ANGELES PLAYS ITSELF is an essay on how the movies have depicted Los Angeles a city symphony in reverse--a symphony with many directions and speeds. A critical history--and counter-history--of Los Angeles via clips from an eclectic list of movies. Many of them are well known (Chinatown, Blade Runner, L.A. Confidential); others are rarer finds (The Exiles, Bush Mama, Killer of Sheep).
The film tracks the various roles that specific landmarks and districts--the Bradbury Building, Frank Lloyd Wright's Ennis house, Bunker Hill--have played through the years, with insights on movies, architecture, transportation, racism, class and public space.
REVIEWS
EYE WEEKLY (5 Stars)
NOW MAGAZINE (4 Stars)
TORONTO STAR (4 Stars)
GLOBE AND MAIL
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Title: DIG!
A film by Ondi Timoner
Country: USA
Year: 2003
Running Time: 105 minutes
Format: 35mm, Colour
NOW PLAYING:
The Documentary Channel, VIDEO ON DEMAND
Official website!
Watch the Trailer
ABOUT THE FILM:
Culled from 1,500 hours of footage and narrated by Courtney Taylor DIG! is the feature-length documentary shot over seven years about musicians Anton Newcombe, leader of the Brian Jonestown Massacre, and Courtney Taylor, head of The Dandy Warhols – star-crossed friends and bitter rivals.
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Title: RIVERS AND TIDES: ANDY GOLDSWORTHY WORKING WITH TIME
A film by Thomas Riedelsheimer
Country: GERMANY
Year: 2001
Running Time: 90 minutes
Format: 35mm, Colour
NOW PLAYING:
The Documentary Channel, VIDEO ON DEMAND
More SHOWTIMES: RIVERS AND TIDES
ABOUT THE FILM:
German documentarian Thomas Riedelshiemer’s affectionate, awestruck look at the man and his mission to tap into a frequency of symmetrical order in terra firma’s chaos is as hypnotically dazzling as his subject’s abstract expressionist products… A gorgeous, wide-screen, 35mm time capsule.”
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Title: THE WEATHER UNDERGROUND
A film by Sam Green & Bill Siegel
Country: USA
Year: 2002
Running Time: 92 minutes
Format: 35mm, Colour
NOW PLAYING:
The Documentary Channel, VIDEO ON DEMAND
ABOUT THE FILM:
Academy Award nominee, The Weather Underground is a feature-length documentary that explores the rise and fall of "The Weathermen", a radical movement.
Former members speak candidly about the idealistic passion that drove them to "bring the war home" and the trajectory that placed them on the FBI's most wanted list.
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Title: GREENDALE
A film by Bernard Shakey/ A Neil Young Film
Country: CANADA/ USA
Year: 2003
Running Time: 83 minutes
Format: 35mm, Colour
ABOUT THE FILM:
Greendale is a lyrical experiment, a collection of vignettes centred around the people of a coastal California town brought to life in song and impressionistic images. Director Bernard Shakey (aka Neil Young).
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