filmswelike are pleased to announce times for 3 great films which will appear at the 2010 CALGARY INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL.

UNCLE BOONMEE WHO CAN RECALL HIS PAST LIVES by Apichatpong Weerasethakul
The surprise winner of the Palme d'Or at this year’s Cannes film festival, the latest masterpiece from Thai master Apichatpong Weerasethakul—whose previous feature Syndromes and a Century was voted TIFF Cinematheque's #1 film of the past decade—is also the final segment of his multi-platform film/installation project Primitive.

Calgary International Film Festival: Buy Tix Online!
Friday, Oct. 1, 07:15pm - Eau Claire Market - Cineplex Odeon - #1


THE LIGHT THIEF by Aktan Arym Kubat
A funny and touching portrait of small-town politics in a rapidly globalizing world that follows Svet-ake, an electrician in a small Kyrgyz village who has been stealing electricity to help the impoverished local residents. When Bekzat, a wealthy land developer and former villager arrives to buy up the land for a group of Chinese investors, Svet-ake shares with him his dream to populate the valley with modern windmills—but soon Svet-ake realizes that not everyone has the best interests of the village community at heart.

Calgary International Film Festival: Buy Tix Online!
Sunday, Oct. 3, 04:45pm - Eau Claire Market - Cineplex Odeon - #2

IN THE WAKE OF THE FLOOD by Ron Mann
Canadian documentary film icon Ron Mann (DREAM TOWER, GRASS, KNOW YOUR MUSHROOMS) uses his trademark mix of vérité style intercut with animation and archival film to follow literary superstar Margaret Atwood on her paradigm-shifting book tour for THE YEAR OF THE FLOOD. After decades as an author, Atwood decides to turn the sometimes stuffy and reverential tone of a book tour inside-out by creating a travelling theatrical spectacle in hopes that her literary prophesy of an environmentally compromised world doesn’t become a reality.

To help bring the words off the page, Atwood collaborated with Orville Stoeber to compose a new style of devotional music infused with elements of gospel, jazz, folk and the country ballad—songs which help further turn traditional readings literally on their ear. Mix the excitement of a book tour with the power of theatre and advocacy and you have a film that captures an “old dog” with new tricks.

Calgary International Film Festival: Buy Tix Online!
Thursday, Sep. 30, 07:15pm - Eau Claire Market - Cineplex Odeon - #1

Tags: Calgary International Film Festival

filmswelike are pleased to announce the schedule for 3 great films which will appear at the 2010 Toronto International Film Festival.

UNCLE BOONMEE WHO CAN RECALL HIS PAST LIVES by Apichatpong Weerasethakul
The surprise winner of the Palme d'Or at this year’s Cannes film festival, the latest masterpiece from Thai master Apichatpong Weerasethakul—whose previous feature Syndromes and a Century was voted TIFF Cinematheque's #1 film of the past decade—is also the final segment of his multi-platform film/installation project Primitive.


Toronto International Film Festival (North American Premiere)
Sept 16th @ ISABEL BADER THEATRE - 10:30pm (1st Public Screening)
Sept 18th at AMC 5, 9:15am (2nd Public Screening)


THE LIGHT THIEF by Aktan Arym Kubat
A funny and touching portrait of small-town politics in a rapidly globalizing world that follows Svet-ake, an electrician in a small Kyrgyz village who has been stealing electricity to help the impoverished local residents. When Bekzat, a wealthy land developer and former villager arrives to buy up the land for a group of Chinese investors, Svet-ake shares with him his dream to populate the valley with modern windmills—but soon Svet-ake realizes that not everyone has the best interests of the village community at heart.

Toronto International Film Festival
Friday September 10 @ 6:00PM - AMC 4
Saturday September 11 @ 9:30AM - AM AMC 3


I WISH I KNEW by Jia Zhan-Ke
Commissioned to commemorate the 2010 World Expo, this documentary on Shanghai portrays a chapter of modern Chinese history through interviews and scenic views of a city in continuous evolution. I Wish I Knew is directed by one of the youngest masters of cinema, Jia Zhanke.


Toronto International Film Festival
Wednesday September 15 @ 9:45PM - SCOTIABANK THEATRE 4
Friday September 17 @ 5:00PM - JACKMAN HALL - AGO

Tags: Toronto International Film Festival

Toronto, Monday, August 16, 2010

FilmsWeLike, the independent distribution company headed by filmmaker Ron Mann is pleased to announce that the 2010 Palme d’Or winner Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives (Lung Boonmee Raluek Chat); I Wish I Knew (Hai Shang Chuan Qi) - the new film from master Chinese filmmaker Jia Zhang-Ke; The Light Thief (Svet-Aki) a delightful gem from Kyrgyzstan’s Aktan Arym Kubat and Tamra Davis’ Jean-Michel Basquiat: The Radiant Child will open at the Bell Lightbox this fall.

Opening on Thursday, September 23 at the Bell Lightbox - Thai director Apichatpong Weerasethakul’s magical-surrealist film Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives (Lung Boonmee Raluek Chat) - the story of an old man suffering from kidney failure who prepares to die and encounters his dead wife, his missing son (who's been transformed into a laser-eyed monkey ghost) and a princess who has sex with a catfish, took the Palme d’Or at the 63rd Cannes film Festival. Inspired by a book by a Buddhist abbot recording accounts of people who remembered their past lives, the film was shot in Isan, in Thailand’s north-east where Weerasethakul spent his childhood.

Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives is the final installment in a multi-platform art project called Primitive. Previous installments include a seven-part video installation and the two short films A Letter to Uncle Boonmee and Phantoms of Nabua.”

Working outside the strict confines of the Thai studio system, Apichatpong Weerasethakul is an independent Thai film director, screenwriter, and film producer. His feature films include Tropical Malady, which won a jury prize at the 2004 Cannes Film Festival, Blissfully Yours, which won the top prize in the Un Certain Regard program at the 2003 Cannes Film Festival, and Syndromes and a Century, which premiered at the 63rd Venice Film Festival and was the first Thai film to be entered in competition there.

Opening on Thursday, October 7 at the Bell Lightbox is Tamra Davis’ Jean-Michel Basquiat: The Radiant Child. In his short career, Jean-Michel Basquiat was a phenomenon. He became notorious for his graffiti art under the moniker Samo in the late 1970s on the Lower East Side scene, sold his first painting to Deborah Harry for $200, and became best friends with Andy Warhol. Appreciated by both the art cognoscenti and the public, Basquiat was launched into international stardom. However, soon his cult status began to override the art that had made him famous in the first place.

Director Tamra Davis pays homage to her friend in this definitive documentary but also delves into Basquiat as an iconoclast. His dense, bebop-influenced neoexpressionist work emerged while minimalist, conceptual art was the fad; as a successful black artist, he was constantly confronted by racism and misconceptions. Much can be gleaned from insider interviews and archival footage, but it is Basquiat's own words and work that powerfully convey the mystique and allure of both the artist and the man.

Opening on Thursday, November 11 at the Bell Lightbox, critically acclaimed Chinese director Jia Zhan-Ke (24 City, Still Life) turns to the history and people of Shanghai in his newest film I Wish I Knew.

Like his last film, 2008's 24 City,, Jia Zhan-Ke’s I Wish I Knew (Hai Shang Chuan Qi), which screened at 2010 Cannes in Un Certain Regard, is a documentary/fiction hybrid about modern-day China. Where 24 City took a personal focus on the citizens of a Chinese town affected by the construction of a high-rise condominium, I Wish I Knew takes a broader view, examining the history of Shanghai as viewed from the present. Jia Zhan-Ke’. Eighteen people from Shanghai, Taipei and Hong Kong recell their lives in Shanghai. Their personal experiences, like eighteen chapters of a novel, tell stories of Shanghai lives from the 1930s to 2010. Jia Zhan-Ke said “I came to Shanghai with my movie camera and traced the footsteps of Shanghaiers who left this city for Taiwan and Hong Kong. Shanghai is closely tied to the lives of almost every important historic figure in the modern history of China. And events of national significance in the life of the city also destined Shanghaiers for lives of painful, life-long separation. When I sat face-to-face with characters in my film, and listened to them talk every so calmly about the hair raising events in their pasts, I suddenly realized what it was that I captured with my camera: a dream of freedome twinkling in their eyes.”

Opening Thursday, November 18 at the Bell Lightbox is Krygyz filmmaker Aktan Arym Kubat’s third feature, The Light Thief (Svet-ake). Completed before the April 2010 popular uprising against the deeply corrupt regime of Kyrgyz President Kurmanbek Bakiyev, the failures of post-Soviet Kyrgyz democratization come to roost in a remote village in Kubat’s tragi-comic fable. Unfolding in short vignettes The Light Thief is stylistically similar to his earlier works "The Adopted Son" and "The Chimp"

Played by the director, Svet-ake (the film's original title, which literally means "Mr. Light") is the electrician of a remote, impoverished village in the Kyrgyz mountains. The villagers turn to him for help with their constantly short-circuiting electricity (which he often steals for them from the town hall) and personal problems. For his part, the kind, spirited father of four daughters has two dreams: to have a son and to bring cheap, wind-powered energy to the valley.

Although not specified, the film is set in early 2005, during the Tulip Revolution that overthrew the government. There are no demonstrations in Svet-ake's little village, but the changing times are felt nonetheless.

Progress, good and bad, is personified by Bekzat (Askat Sulaimanov), a dubious young tycoon who has returned to his native village looking to buy land and go into business with even shadier Chinese investors. He promises to finance Svet-ake's surprisingly modern windmills if the latter works for him. Initially trusting of Bekzat, the electrician soon realizes that the changes he is bringing go hand in hand with the death of centuries-old traditions.

-30-

Apichatpong Weerasethakul, director of Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives is available in Toronto for interviews on September 16, 2010

Press kits and images for all 4 films are posted on the FilmsWeLike website:

http://www.filmswelike.com/films/uncleboonmee/
http://www.filmswelike.com/films/basquiat/
http://www.filmswelike.com/films/wish
http://www.filmswelike.com/lightthief

For further information on Uncle Boonmee, I Wish I Knew and The Light Thief please contact:
V Kelly & Associates

For further information on Jean-Michel Basquiat: The Radiant Child please contact:
Gary Topp

Tags: Bell Lightbox, TIFF

Mid-August Lunch

"Good food, feisty ladies and unlikely friendships," are a recipe for success with Toronto audiences as they sate themselves on the cinematic feast that is "Mid-August Lunch".

Now heading into its 12th week, the little film that could continues to satisfy the cravings of Toronto audiences at the Mt. Pleasant Theatre.

Peter Seroc, who owns and operates the historic independent theatre south of Eglington, said that word-of-mouth accounted for the films phenomenal success "Audiences love the film, and they tell their friends about it ".

"These days its unusual for a film to sit stay in a movie theatre longer then one week " quipped filmmaker and distributor Ron Mann of Films We LIke.

"You have to admire the Mt. Pleasant Theatre for taking an old school approach to exhibition. Nowadays films are released simultaneously on TV and don't give a film a chance to find its audience."

"At the outset we didn't think "Mid-August Lunch" would be playing in August - but here we are - and at this rate we'll be playing through
September".


For more information, please contact :
V Kelly & Associates / 416 466 9799 / info@vkpr.ca

Trailer, press kit, images are posted here.

Tags: Mount Pleasant, Ron Mann

JEAN-MICHEL BASQUIAT: THE RADIANT CHILD a film by Tamra Davis

In his short career, Jean-Michel Basquiat was a phenomenon. He became notorious for his graffiti art under the moniker Samo in the late 1970s on the Lower East Side scene, sold his first painting to Deborah Harry for $200, and became best friends with Andy Warhol. Appreciated by both the art cognoscenti and the public, Basquiat was launched into international stardom. However, soon his cult status began to override the art that had made him famous in the first place.

Director Tamra Davis pays homage to her friend in this definitive documentary but also delves into Basquiat as an iconoclast. His dense, bebop-influenced neoexpressionist work emerged while minimalist, conceptual art was the fad; as a successful black artist, he was constantly confronted by racism and misconceptions. Much can be gleaned from insider interviews and archival footage, but it is Basquiat's own words and work that powerfully convey the mystique and allure of both the artist and the man.

Featuring interviews with Julian Schnabel, Larry Gagosian, Bruno Bischofberger, Tony Shafrazi, Fab 5 Freddy, Jeffrey Deitch, Glenn O'Brien, Maripol, Kai Eric, Nicholas Taylor, Fred Hoffmann, Michael Holman, Diego Cortez, Annina Nosei, Suzanne Mallouk, Rene Ricard, among many others.

Mid-August Lunch (Pranzo di ferragosto), a film by GIANNI DI GREGORIO
Opens in Toronto (The Royal) on Friday, May 21, 2010

Inspired by director and lead actor Gianni di Gregorio’s real life, Mid-August Lunch centers around Gianni, a middle-aged man and the only son of his widowed mother, with whom he lives in an old house in central Rome.

Living under the tyranny of this impoverished aristocrat, his life drags on between housework and going to the bar.

The day before the August bank holiday the condominium manager asks him to take his own mother into his home for the two days he has off. In exchange, he will knock some money off the condominium debts Gianni has run up over the years.

Gianni is forced to accept.

The manager treacherously turns up with two women - not knowing where to take his aunt, he brings her along too.

Gianni is overwhelmed and crushed by the clash between these three dominant characters, but heroically does his best to make them happy. At a certain point he feels faint and calls a friend of his who is a doctor. The doctor not only reassures Gianni, but foists his own elderly mother on him, since he is on shift at the hospital.

Gianni goes through 24 hours of hell.

But when at last it’s time to say goodbye, the women have other ideas…


About GIANNI DI GREGORIO
Gianni Di Gregorio was born in Rome in Trastevere, where he still lives and works.

He fell in love with cinema when he was still a child, spending his mornings at school and his afternoons in the local cinemas, sometimes watching up to three films a day.

After studying classics at high school he went to university to study literature, but before graduating dropped out to go to the Accademia di Arti Sceniche in Rome, run by Alessandro Fersen, where he took a diploma in directing and acting.

In 1986 he wrote the screenplay for the film Sembra morto ma è solo svenuto by Felice Farina, with Sergio Castellitto and Marina Confalone, which won the Premio FRIPRESCI at the Settimana della Critica, at the 1987 Venice Film Festival.

In the same year he wrote the story and screenplay for the film Carefree Giovanni by Marco Colli, with Sergio Castellitto, Eleonora Giorgi, Aldo Fabrizi, Franco Fabrizi and Luca De Filippo. Presented at the Quinzaine des Realizateurs at Cannes 87, it was awarded the Gran Prix du juri at the festival of Annecy.

He met Matteo Garrone after seeing his first film, Terra di Mezzo. He started working with him, as assistant director, in 2000 with Roman Summer, and continued with The Embalmer and First Love. In 2007, with Braucci, Chiti, Gaudioso, Saviano and Garrone, he co-wrote the screenplay for the film Gomorrah, directed by Matteo Garrone.


Italian w/English subtitles/ 75 mins

Order them online at dvdswelike.com!

EXAMINED LIFE a film by Astra Taylor
EXAMINED LIFE takes philosophy out of the darkened corners of academia and into the hustle and bustle of the everyday, a visual reminder that great ideas are born through profound engagement with the world around us. Featuring the “rock star” philosophers of our time, including Cornel West, Peter Singer, Slavoj Zizek, Judith Butler, Avital Ronell, Michael Hardt, Anthony Appiah and Martha Nussbaum.
Buy it now! ($22.99)




JERICHOW a film by Christian Petzold
Off the beaten path of life, three people stumble into a fateful encounter. Thomas, young and strong, as been dishonorably discharged from the army. Ali, an affable Turkish businessman, has seen some hard times, but now his primary concern is making sure the employees of his snack-bars don’t cheat on him. Laura, an attractive woman with a dark past, seems to find refuge in the shadows of her marriage to Ali.
Buy it now! ($22.99)

Tags: DVD

Starting March 26 @ The Royal; WATCH THE TRAILER



A SONGBOOK SPANNING DECADES

NEIL YOUNG TRUNK SHOW, the second in Jonathan Demme’s planned film Neil Young
trilogy is an unconscious, raw, in-the-moment concert movie. The words Trunk Show conjure another time when people moved across the country, displaying unique and precious goods from old chunky leather-strapped luggage.

Taking his cue from this image, Young surrounds himself with his favorite instruments, played at whim on a stage-set filled with personal icons: a small-scale model of a guitar shop, a red phone and other items. “I always tell people,absolutely and sincerely, if you’re not a Neil Young fan, don’t waste your time,” Demme remarks. 

“Second of all, if you don’t love electric guitar, don’t go." Trunk Showis subtitled “scenes from a concert”, specifically from a pair of shows Young performed at the 1927-built Tower Theatre in Upper Darby, Pennsylvania, as part of his intimate 2007 Chrome Dreams theater tour. He performed a full acoustic set, followed by a full electric one with bandmates Ben Keith, Rick Rosas, Ralph Molina, Anthony “Sweetpea” Crawford and wife Pegi Young.

He also had painter Eric Johnson creating on-the-spot works for each song. Demme says knew the set list, but says nothing was planned for the film. Shot on hand-held cameras (HDCam, HDV and Super-8mm), his team included director of photography Declan Quinn (Rachel Getting Married, Leaving Las Vegas) and camera operators he’s worked with before. 


JONATHAN DEMME:
A prolific American film director, producer and screenwriter, his credits include:

Caged Heat (1974); Crazy Mama (1975); Melvin and Howard (1980)
Stop Making Sense (Talking Heads concert film, 1984)
The Perfect Kiss (New Order music video, 1985)
Swimming to Cambodia (1987); Haiti: Dreams of Democracy (1987)
The Silence of the Lambs (1991); Philadelphia (1993)
Storefront Hitchcock (1998); The Truth About Charlie (2002)
The Agronomist (2003); The Manchurian Candidate (2004)
Neil Young: Heart of Gold (2006); Rachel Getting Married (2008)


UPCOMING CANADIAN SCREENINGS: 
Vancity, Vancouver: March 5 (preview), opens March 26 - April 1
The Royal, Toronto: Opens March 26
Cinematheque Winnipeg: March 26, 27, 28, 31, April 1, 2, 3, 7, 8    
Princess Cinema, Waterloo: April 8-12
Broadway Theatre, Saskatoon: April 16-29
Mayfair, Ottawa: April 16, 17 & 18
Cinema du Parc, Montreal: May 13 (preview), opens May 21-27

Press and Publicity: Gary Topp

Tags: Jonathan Demme, The Royal

A TOWN CALLED PANIC has been selected in the best foreign film category of the CESARS (the French equivalent of the Oscars) alongside such names as Michael Hanneke, Clint Eastwood and AVATAR!



BEST FOREIGN FILM CATAGORY
Avatar, d. James Cameron, USA
Gran Torino, d. Clint Eastwood, USA
J'ai tué ma mère [I Killed My Mother], d. Xavier Dolan, Canada
Milk, d. Gus Van Sant, USA
Panique au village [A Town Called Panic], d. Stéphane Aubier, Vincent Patar, Belgium/Luxembourg
Das weiße Band [The White Ribbon], d. Michael Haneke, Austria/Germany

Tags: CESARS, Award

ANVIL took home the IDA music prize (The alternative to the Oscars) and remains in contention for the feature prize which will be announced at the ceremony itself, Friday at the Directors Guild Theatre.

Read the CBC.ca article!

Tags: 2009 International Documentary Association Award

FOR 2 WEEKS ONLY!

Purchase anything at DVDSWELIKE.COM and get 25% off the original price!

Starts FRIDAY NOV 27th, 2009
Ends FRIDAY DEC 11th, 2009

Share on Facebook
24 CITY by filmmaker Jia Zhang-Ke is now available on DVD!

Synopsis: Chengdu, nowadays. The state-owned factory 420 shuts down to give way to a complex of luxury apartments called "24 CITY". Three generations, eight characters: old workers, factory executives and yuppies, their stories are the History of China.

Tech specs: 2008/ Colour/ 108 Mins/ In Mandarin with Optional English Subtitles/ Aspect Ration 1.77.1 - 16:9 Widescreen/ Stero with 5.1 Option

Purchase it directly through DVDSWELIKE.COM for only $24.95!

Tags: DVD

filmswelike invites you to join us for a Q&A with AUTISM CANADA following the opening night screening of THE HORSE BOY.

When: Friday November 13th following the 6:40pm screening at Canada Square.

AUTISM CANADA Mission Statement:
* Support Canadians by providing biomedical and behavioural treatment information to help those affected by autism.
* Expand health care professionals’ knowledge and awareness of autism as a treatable illness affecting the whole body.
* Work to influence policy within governments to provide public health initiatives and policy change.
* Enable research into the causes and treatments for autism.

More info about AUTISM CANADA.

Tags: Autism Canada, Canada Square, Q&A

Trunk Show: a traveling display of unique goods, packed and unpacked along the way - in Neil Young's case it's a display of soul in the musical and spiritual sense.

Jonathan Demme presents NEIL YOUNG TRUNK SHOW, with Young in the middle of a stage full of personal icons, at times alone in the center of a circle of his beloved acoustic guitars, at others in the midst of a handful of much-beloved musicians Ben Keith, Rick Rosas, Ralph Molina, Anthony 'sweatpea' Crawford and wife, Pegi Young.

There are delicately offered piano/guitar/voice numbers like "Ambulance Blues" and "Mexico"; mesmerizing electric travelogues into the artist's psyche ("No Hidden Path"); searing, chaotic anthems like "Hurricane" and 'Spirit Road"; and rarely performed pieces, like 'Harvest" that provide glimpses of Young's less public persona.

Shot with a mix of video and film cameras, mostly handheld, the NYTS follows the assembling and presenting of a concert in breathtakingly intimate fashion, catching lighter moments backstage and between songs with Neil, the band and the crew. On stage, at times using dramatically long takes, Demme allows the audience to experience Young opening up his heart song by song, and then blowing it all away in heated, uninhibited displays of rock and roll power.

AVAILABLE MARCH 2010!
Visit trunkshowmovie.com

Share on Facebook

Below is the confirmed screening schedule for our 4 films at the VANCOUVER INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL, 2009.
Hope you can join us!

INFERNO
Sat, Oct 3rd 9:45pm, Vancity Theatre
Oct 6th 11:30am, Empire Granville 7, Theatre #1


POLICE, ADJECTIVE
Sun, Oct 11th 9:15pm, Empire Granville 7 Theatre #3
Wed, Oct 14th Noon, Empire Granville 7 Theatre #3


MID-AUGUST LUNCH
Wed, Oct 7th 11:40am, Empire Granville 7, Theatre #4
Sat, Oct 10th 6:20pm, Empire Granville 7, Theatre #4


THE HORSE BOY
Tue, Oct 13th 11:40am, Empire Granville 7 Theatre #4
Wed, Oct 14th 6:00pm, Empire Granville 7 Theatre #4

Tags: VIFF

Cinefest Sudbury honours filmmaker RON MANN with a retrospective of his works.

Share on Facebook

Flak - Tuesday, September 22, 4:00pm
Ron Mann, Canada, 1976, 30 Minutes
Made by Ron Mann when he was only 16 years old, FLAK captures the apolitical spirit of the 1970s – a drastic change from the intense activism of the 1960s – by following a group of roommates as they wander the city, work, play street hockey, and sit around debating political change.

Echoes Without Saying - Tuesday, September 22, 4:00pm
Ron Mann, Canada, 1983, 28 Minutes
ECHOES WITHOUT SAYING celebrates the development of Coach House Press, an innovative Toronto-based publishing and printing house that since 1965 has produced distinctive and experimental books of poetry, fiction and visual art.

Dream Tower - Tuesday, September 22, 4:00pm
Ron Mann, Canada, 1994, 47 Minutes
Rochdale College was one of the most controversial experiments ever to have taken place in Canada. Intended to be a radical educational institution, Rochdale rapidly became a meeting place for North America’s burgeoning drug culture and a focal point for the best and worst dreams of the Canadian generation of baby boomers.

Grass - Monday, September 21, 3:30pm
Canada, 2001 80 Minutes
Ron Mann’s much-celebrated GRASS presents a humorous and surprisingly balanced history of recreational marijuana use. The most controversial drug of the twentieth century – smoked by generations of musicians, students and workers to little discernible ill effect – marijuanacontinues to be reviled by the vast majority of governments around the world. With a rueful yet incisive script, extraordinary production values, narration by Woody Harrelson and an impressive soundtrack featuring original songs by Mark Mothersbaugh, GRASS charts the terrible loss in imprisoned lives and billions of dollars wasted fighting a drug that refuses to go away.

Know Your Mushrooms - Sunday, September 20, 3:30pm
Canada, 2008 73 Minutes English
In Ron Mann’s latest feature documentary, we follow uber myco visionaries Gary Lincoff and Larry Evans (two of the more expert and unforgettably mercurial characters in the community) as they lead us on a hunt for the wild mushroom and the deeper cultural experiences attached to the mysterious fungi. Combining material filmed at the Telluride Mushroom Fest, along with animation and archival footage and a neo-psychedelic soundtrack by the Flaming Lips, KNOW YOUR MUSHROOMS opens the doors to perception, takes the audience on a longer, stranger trip and delivers them to a brave new world where the fungi might well guide humanity to a saner, safer place... with extra cheese...

Tags: Cinefest

Share on Facebook

The first film released on a 4GB re-usable USB flash drive!

includes:
• Mushroom Themed Mimobot
• Alaska Morel Mushroom
• Special Edition Booklet
• Hand-Crafted Collectable Wooden Box

Buy it only through dvdswelike.com!

Tags: USB Special Edition, DVD

Below is the Confirmed Screening Schedule for our 3 films:

L'ENFER DE HENRI-GEORGES CLOUZOT  (INFERNO)
35mm, Real to Reel
94 min.

Film archivist Serge Bromberg uncovers a treasure trove of imagery from an unfinished film called L’Enfer starring Romy Schneider and directed by the French master Henri-Georges Clouzot, known for Wages of Fear and Diabolique.

Festival Screenings:
- Thursday, Sept. 10, 7.15PM, Varsity 1
- Saturday, Sept. 12, 3.45PM, Jackman Hall-AGO
- Friday, Sept. 18, 6.15PM, Varsity 4

Press & Industry Screening:
- Friday, Sept. 11, 9.15AM, Varsity 5

POLICE, ADJECTIVE
35mm, Contemporary World Cinema
113 min.

A witty portrait of life in the small town of Vaslui, the sophisticated Police, Adjective builds on the promise of Porumboiu’s debut 12:08, East of Bucharest.

Festival Screenings:
- Sunday, Sept. 13, 10PM, Bader
- Thursday, Sept. 17, 2.30PM, AMC 6
- Saturday, Sept. 19, 9AM, Varsity 4

Press & Industry Screening:
- Saturday, Sept. 12, 12PM, AMC 4

Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XpAbFoWwjJY
Press book: http://filmswelike.com/films/police/presskit/
Stills: http://filmswelike.com/films/police/highrez/

A TOWN CALLED PANIC
35mm, Midnight Madness
75 min.

“Oh non! Mon Dieu!” The feature version of A Town Called Panic (Panique au village), the demented Belgian television-animation sensation of the same name, has arrived! The first stop-motion animated feature selected to Cannes, A Town Called Panic smashes out of the toy chest to deliver a spastic joyride full of slapstick violence and manic energy in a topsy-turvy world populated by cheap plastic figurines of cowboys, Indians, farmers, police officers, horses, cows and pigs.

Festival Screenings:
- Friday, Sept. 18, 11:59PM, Ryerson
- Saturday, Sept. 19, 3.45PM, AMC 3

Press & Industry Screening:
- Tuesday, Sept. 15, 12PM, Varsity 3

Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w3uG8LLuVPQ
Synopsis: http://www.filmswelike.com/films/panic/
Press book: http://www.filmswelike.com/films/panic/presskit/
Stills: http://www.filmswelike.com/films/panic/highrez/

Tags: Toronto International Film Festival

Cristi is a policeman who refuses to arrest a young man who offers hashish to two of his school mates. “Offering” is punished by the law. Cristi believes that the law will change, he does not want the life of a young man he considers irresponsible to be a burden on his conscience. For his superior the word conscience has a different meaning…

A film by Corneliu Porumboiu.

“Oh non! Mon Dieu!” The feature version of A Town Called Panic (Panique au village), the demented Belgian television-animation sensation of the same name, has arrived! The first stop-motion animated feature selected to Cannes, A Town Called Panic smashes out of the toy chest to deliver a spastic joyride full of slapstick violence and manic energy in a topsy-turvy world populated by cheap plastic figurines of cowboys, Indians, farmers, police officers, horses, cows and pigs.

When an attempt to surprise their pal Horse with a homemade brick barbecue for his birthday goes terribly awry, Cowboy and Indian must find a way to deal with the fifty million bricks they mistakenly ordered. Unfortunately, their effort to hide the bricks results in their house being destroyed. Trying to rebuild it, the oddball trio contends with an avalanche of bizarre obstacles and surreal situations: a voyage to the centre of the Earth; a giant snowball-throwing mechanical penguin; parachuting cows; pointy-headed sea creatures from a parallel underwater world; giant waffles and even bigger slices of toast; and madcap music lessons for barnyard animals taught by the comely red-maned horse Madame Longray. Even Père Noël makes an appearance!

A Town Called Panic was originally a television series made up of frenetic short episodes. The creators and directors, Stéphane Aubier and Vincent Patar, have perfected their unique visual style and proven beyond a doubt that their brilliantly absurd concept can sustain its chaotic pace and profound silliness for a feature-length adventure.

The Panic crew are no strangers to Midnight Madness. One of the film’s producers, Vincent Tavier, produced Calvaire (04) and co-wrote and acted in the notorious Midnight Madness hit Man Bites Dog (92). And Benoît Poelvoorde, who played that film’s serial-killer anti-hero, voices the shouty neighbouring farmer Steven here.

Playfully charged with Belgian surrealism and a rock ’n’ roll sensibility, A Town Called Panic feels as though Jacques Tati led the crew of Monty Python's Flying Circus to hijack the world of Pingu. The resulting mayhem sounds like a grade-school French teacher, jacked on amphetamines, reading a storybook while huffing helium from a balloon.

- Colin Geddes

Visit A TOWN CALLED PANIC on the Toronto International Film Festival website!

Download the PDF Press Release!
In celebration of the highly-anticipated release of Ron Mann’s latest film Know Your Mushrooms, comes a Limited Special Edition Collector’s Box.
For the first time in North America, a feature film is being released on a 4-gigabyte re-usable Mimobot(R) USB flash drive!
 
Ron Mann has always been on the cutting edge of film distribution. He worked with the Voyager Company, which pioneered CD-ROM production in the 1980s and early 1990s, and published The Criterion Collection, a pioneering home video collection of classic and important contemporary films. As digital technology began to revolutionize the film distribution model, Mann’s seminal documentary Poetry in Motion was one of the first films to be digitized with Quicktime.
 
“We fight piracy every day,” says Mann. “So we figured, why not cut out the middle-man (DVDs) and give the media-pirates exactly what they want? A movie as a digital download. DVD and Blu-Ray are simply optical disc storage. So why not use a Mimobot(R) flash drive? It’s more compact and you can re-use the stick after you transfer the film to a hard drive device.”
 
In a revolutionary move, Mann and his independent distribution company Filmswelike are releasing Know Your Mushrooms on commercial DVD as well as a Special Edition Collector’s Box.
 

• a Mushroom-themed 4 GB reusable USB flash drive (plugs into your computer’s USB port) Portable, re-usable and great for storage!
• Flash drive contains the feature film Know Your Mushrooms, Formatted for Mac and PC. AppleTV and iPod. Quicktime 7 required.
• Dried Alaska Morel mushrooms hand-picked by the film’s star, Larry Evans, the “Indiana Jones of Mushrooms”
• A booklet with an original essay about the film by Canadian film critic, Jennie Punter
• Packaged in a hand-crafted collectable wooden box

 
Spread the Spores! Coming August 2009

Tags: Mimobot(R) Flash Drive

NOW AVAILABLE: July 2009!
Bob Marley began his career in the Rocksteady eras as a singer & songwriter. Emerging from the ghettos of Kingston, he became the Third World’s first international superstar.

“Rocksteady: The Roots of Reggae” brings together the last of the great singers and musicians of Jamaica’s Golden Age of music, Rocksteady. Forty years after the Rocksteady era, they gather to record and album of greatest hits, to perform at a reunion concert and to tell their story.

A musical romp through the artists’ memories and stories of the 1960s social scene in Jamaica. The film features a mix of recording sessions at Tuff Gong Studios, archival footage from the period and interviews with the performers at home or at places on the island that had profound effects on their music and lives.

Featured singers include Judy Mowatt, Marcia Griffiths, Dawn Penn, Hopeton Lewis, Streager Cole, Derrick Morgan, Ken Boothe, Leroy Sibbles and U-Roy. Among the musicians are Ernest Ranglin, Sly Dunbar, Jackie Jackson, Gladstone Anderson, Hux Brown and Scully Simms. A featured guest is Rita Marley.

These Rocksteady greats helped develop the buoyant rhythms, prominent base pulse, soulful vocals and socially conscious lyrics that gave Reggae its power.

Bookings & Print Traffic: Mike Boyuk
Publicity: Sandra Chwialkowska

The wait is over! OF TIME AND THE CITY is now available on DVD!

Terence Davies returnes to his native liverpool and to his film making roots to caputure a sense of the City today and its influences on him growning up in the late 40's and early 50's.

Purchase the DVD at dvdswelike.com

ANVIL! THE STORY OF ANVIL
A film by Sacha Gervasi with

Lars Ulrich (Metallica), Lemmy (Motorhead), Scott Ian (Anthrax), Slash (Guns N’ Roses/Velvet Revoler); Tom Araya (Slayer)
and……. Anvil

Opens in Toronto at AMC Dundas Square on Friday, April 3, 2009

Meet ANVIL at the 8:15pm and 10:30pm shows Fri, April 3!

Meet ANVIL and director Sacha Gervasi at the 8:15pm and 10:30pm shows Sat, April 4!


Richard Crouse hosts the Anvil Q&A (1st evening show) and Intro (2nd evening show) on Fri April 3 at AMC Dundas Sq!


PLEASE NOTE: FULL REVIEWS ARE EMBARGO’D UNTIL FRIDAY, APRIL 3, 2009 OPENING

March 30, 2009: Toronto’s favourite sons of rock return in triumph to the city they love after an unforgettable year on the road performing and presenting screenings of the award-winning feature documentary by Sacha Gervasi “Anvil! The Story of Anvil” - opening at the AMC Dundas Square Cinemas on Friday, April 3, 2009.

The success of Anvil! The Story of Anvil at festivals around the world has re-introduced the band to its legions of fans, introduced Anvil to new fans and re-charged Anvil’s career.

Before the commercial opening of Anvil! The Story of Anvil, the band will be honoured as the 2009 inductees into the Indies Hall of Fame, Fairmont Royal York Hotel, on Saturday, March 14th as part of the 9th Annual Independent Music Awards at Canadian Music Week (CMW), Toronto. Anvil will be performing at Canadian Music Fest, a part of Canadian Music Week (www.canadianmusicfest.com/www.cmw.net), along with Prestorika and Dead Sexy Sheila at the Velvet Underground, 510 Queen Street West, $15 Advance. 19+. All wristbands-passes accepted.

After a smashing World Premiere at Sundance and Canadian Premiere at Hot Docs in 2008 Anvil! The Story of Anvil continued to find friends, and delight critics and audiences at festivals around the world racking up awards including Best Documentary Feature at the Galway, Calgary and Edmonton film festivals and being honoured with Audience Awards at the Los Angeles and Sydney Film Festivals. The film was also a nominee at this year’s prestigious Independent Spirit Awards. Read More...

a documentary about the Canadian Improv Games, by Sandra Chwialkowska

BUY THIS DVD!
This briskly paced and enthusiastic doc follows 6 high school improv teams as they work their way through local and regional tournaments to get to the pinnacle of the sport, the Canadian Improv Games. The movie, which hurtles along breathlessly across the country to keep up with its youthful subjects, takes an occasional break to interview former Canadian Improv Games champ Sandra Oh and Games founder David Shepherd. But mostly, this is a movie about the high schoolers and  their dream: 3,000 kids compete in improv games across Canada each year, and every one of them wants to be on one of the top 20 teams to go to the National Games, and to take home gold.

85 min. Colour. Stereo. In English. 4:3

SPECIAL FEATURES:
-Audio commentary with filmmaker
-Outtakes
-Deleted scenes
-Theatrical trailer


DOWNLOAD THE PRESS KIT
HIGH REZ STILLS
OFFICIAL SITE

a movie about rock posters, by Eileen Yaghoobian

DIED YOUNG is a candid look at the underground rock poster culture in North American and a unique film that examines the creative spirit that drives the indie graphic artists that create these works of art. The film chronicles both the giants of this modern subculture but also the underground art movement that is happening now on our city streets.

94 min. Colour. Stereo. In English. 4:3


SPECIAL FEATURES:
-Movie Poster Gallery
-Five Original Tracks
-Deleted Scenes
-Trailer

DOWNLOAD THE PRESS KIT
OFFICIAL WEBSITE WITH PRODUCTION STILLS

EXAMINED LIFE
CINEMA DU PARC, April 3 - 9

Following each 7pm screening of EXAMINED LIFE, joing us for a discussion with a philosophy professor from a Montreal university.

APRIL 3RD - DAVID MORRIS
Associate Professor of Philosophy, Concordia University
PhD: The University of Toronto (1997) MA: The University of Toronto (1992) BA: The University of Toronto (1991)
"My main interests are in Continental Philosophy (especially Phenomenology, Merleau-Ponty and Bergson) and Hegel, with a focus on the philosophy of the body, mind and nature in relation to current biology and cognitive science. "
 
 
APRIL 4TH - OLIVIER MATHIEU 
Ph.D. candidate, McGill University (2003-2009) 
2008-2009: founder and organizer of Ateliers Montréalais de Réflexions sur l’art et l’esthétique bringing together researchers affiliated with four Montreal universities working in various research fields (philosophy, the history of art, cinematography studies, etc.) 
 

APRIL 5TH  - JUSTIN SMITH
Associate Professor of Philosophy, Concordia University 
Ph.D. in Philosophy, Columbia University, 2000. MA in Philosophy, Columbia University, 1996. BA with Honors in Philosophy and Highest Honors in Slavic Linguistics, University of California, Davis, 1993.
"My principal research focus is on the philosophy of G. W. Leibniz. I have a book forthcoming; entitled Divine Machines: Leibniz's Philosophy of Biology (Princeton University Press, 2009), and am currently preparing a critical edition and translation, with François Duchesneau, of the Negotium Otiosum and related texts pertaining to the controversy between Leibniz and Georg Ernst Stahl, for the Yale Leibniz series. "
 

APRIL 6TH - ERIC LEWIS
Professor, Dept of Philosophy, McGill
BA, Cornell PhD, University of Illinois, Chicago
PI (The Project on Improvisation/Projet sur l'improvisation)
"I am presently researching the philosophy of improvised music. I am the McGill Site coordinator for the MCRI project, Improvisation, Community and Social Practice, a major international interdisciplinary research project, and a founding editor of the journal Critical Studies in Improvisation. My research focuses on the intersection of the aesthetics, metaphysics and ethics of improvised music."


APRIL 7TH - SHEILA MASON
Professor and Undergraduate Advisor, Concordia University
Ph.D. 1972 Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN M.A. 1965 Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN B.A. 1965 McGill University
Sheila Mason teaches and publishes in several areas of Ethics: Virtue Theory, Feminist Ethics, Environmental Ethics, Narrative Ethics, the Ethical dimensions of Leisure Studies. She has also taught and published with colleagues in Psychology [Center for Research on Human Development] and in Accountancy.
 

APRIL 8TH  - DOMINIQUE LEYDET
Director, Department of Philosophy, UQAM
1990 : Ph.D., École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales (EHESS), Paris.  Mention très honorable.
1984 : Diplôme d’Études Approfondies (DEA), philosophie, Université Paris IV.
1983 : M.A., philosophie, Université Paris IV, mention très bien.
1982 : B.A. political science (First class honours), McGill University
"My primary areas of interest are political philosophy, and the philosophy of law. I am particularly interested in the theory of democracy, public deliberation in pluralist societies and in the constitutionalist approach."
 

filmswelike presents
JERICHOW by Christian Petzold

Off the beaten path of life, three people stumble into a fateful encounter...

Year: 2008 / Running Time: 93 min.
Colour/ 35mm / Germany/ German with English Subtitles 

Vancouver Dates: Vancity Theatre: March 27 - April 2, 2009
Toronto Dates: AMC Yonge/Dundas: April 10- April 16, 2009
Ottawa Dates: Mayfair Theatre: May 22 - 24 + 26

Thomas, young and strong, has been dishonorably discharged from the army. Ali, an affable Turkish businessman, has seen some hard times, but now his primary concern is making sure the employees of his snack-bars don’t cheat on him. Laura, an attractive woman with a dark past, seems to find refuge in the shadows of her marriage to Ali.

Thomas, Ali, and Laura keep an eye on each other and keep their secrets to themselves. This love-triangle is a classic cinematic constellation but with a daring new interpretation: Caught between guilt and freedom, between passion and reason, there are wishes whose fulfillment can only mean escape.


HIGH REZ IMAGES
http://filmswelike.com/films/jerichow/highrez/index.html

DOWNLOAD THE PRESS KIT

Publicist Contact
Sandra Chwialkowska
filmswelike
24 Mercer Street
2nd Floor 
Toronto, ON
M5V 1H3
T: 416.971.9131
F: 416.971.6014
sandra@filmswelike.com

filmswelike presents...
24 CITY by Jia Zhang-Ke
Chengdu, nowadays. The state-owned factory 420 shuts down to give way to a complex of luxury apartments called "24 CITY".

Three generations, eight characters: old workers, factory executives and yuppies, their stories are the History of China. 

HIGH REZ IMAGES / DOWNLOAD THE PRESS KIT

March 20-25 @ The ROYAL CINEMA, Toronto

A Note from Director Jia Zhang-Ke:
Read More...

We're elated to announce Canadian director Ron Mann’s “Know Your Mushrooms” is selected for the 2009 SXSW Film Festival.

Every March, thousands of film fans, industry and press descend on Austin, TX for the SXSW Film Festival for the very best of international independent cinema, essential docs and cutting-edge storytelling. Over
9 days, from March 13-21, 108 features, including 54 world premieres, will screen over various sections and sidebars.

Know Your Mushrooms is one of three films to represent Canada, along with RIP a remix manifesto and Iron Maiden: Flight 666.

Mann’s mushroom doc, a surprise critical hit, is currently playing in movie theaters across Canada.

For more information contact :
Sandra Chwialkowska Sandra@sphinxproductions.com

KNOW YOUR MUSHROOMS - FUNDRAISER
January 31st, 8pm Downward Dog Yoga Centre
735 Queen Street West, 2nd Floor

Special Guests: Ron Mann (Director "Know Your Mushrooms"), Ron Obadia and Nadine Artemis (Living Libations) plus more to be announced.

Tickets:  ($25) Twenty Five (includes screening, Q+A, and scrumptious cook + taste!)  Available in advance at Downward Dog Yoga Centre.

Space is limited and tickets are sold on a first come basis. Read More...

filmswelike presents
Opening Night Co-Presented by Hot Docs

KNOW YOUR MUSHROOMS
A film by RON MANN
 
Opens in Toronto at The Royal on Friday, January 30, 2009
 
From the award winning director of Comic Book Confidential, Grass, Go Further and a host of paradigm-shifting films reappraising the backwaters of popular culture, Ron Mann investigates the miraculous, near-secret world of fungi with his newest piece of cinema, Know Your Mushrooms.

Read More...

filmswelike presents
EXAMINED LIFE
A film by Astra Taylor
A Thoughtful Way to Begin the New Year
 
Opens in Toronto at The Royal – Friday, January 23, 2009

Thurs Dec 18, 2008: An intimate, engaging conversation with some of the greatest minds of our era, Examined Life conveys the wonderment and curiosity that drive philosophical thought. This feature length documentary also introduces the world's most formidable thinkers and some of the most compelling theoretical debates taking place today. Read More...

filmswelike presents a doublebill...

ABEL RAISES CAIN & IS THERE SEX AFTER DEATH?
The Bloor Cinema - Sunday December 7, 2008
Abel Raises Cain (1pm & 5:15pm) / Sex After Death (3pm & 7:15pm)


Read More...