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Film Platform - Canada

Swimming Out Till the Sea Turns Blue

Swimming Out Till the Sea Turns Blue

2020 - COLOUR - DOCUMENTARY
A FILM BY JIA ZHANG-KE

In May 2019, a large number of prominent Chinese writers and scholars gathered in a village in China’s Shanxi Province – which happens to be Jia Zhang-ke’s native province. Images from this literary event open an 18-chapter ‘symphony’ which spans the history of Chinese society since 1949. The story is told through memories of the late writer-activist Ma Feng and the testimonies of three major writers who are active today: Jia Pingwa (born in the 1950s), Yu Hua (born in the 1960s) and Liang Hong (born in the 1970s). These writers recount their own lives and literary careers, which allows the film to weave a 70-year spiritual history of the Chinese people.

Tibet: A Buddhist Trilogy

Tibet: A Buddhist Trilogy

UNITED KINGDOM – 1984 – 134 MIN – COLOUR - FEATURE - IN TIBETAN & ENGLISH
A FILM BY GRAHAM COLEMAN

Four years in the making and hailed as a cinematic masterpiece in 1979, writer/director Graham Coleman's three-part feature has been unseen for over 20 years. Now, the film has been reworked into a single presentation, complete with digital restoration of the original material and new commentary.

Touch the Sound

Touch the Sound

GERMANY / UNITED KINGDOM – 2004 – 98 MIN – COLOUR - FEATURE - IN ENGLISH
A FILM BY THOMAS RIEDELSHEIMER

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 statis. There is nothing. Stbility 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 our world through rhuthm. 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 into the world of sound and rhythm — and into the world of our origins.

Hearing images, seeing sound.

Evenly Glennie embarks upon the recording of a new CD, within the four walls of a vast, decaying, industrial warehouse. She is the top classical, solo percussionist in the world — a role virtually of her own creation; a musician especially for whom an entire corpus of works has been written, yet, for this CD the pages of the score are blank. She sits in this light-filled space with Fred Frith — the great master of avant-garde music. Together they will create a CD as an improvisational exploration of sound and image using the space around them, as well as their instuments and intuititve talent, they follow this twin-track route. Hearing images. Seeing sound.

Rivers and Tides

Rivers and Tides

GERMANY – 2001 – 90 MIN – COLOUR - FEATURE - IN ENGLISH
A FILM BY THOMAS RIEDELSHEIMER

"That rare film about an artist that is, in itself, a work of art, RIVERS AND TIDES Andy Goldsworthy Working With Time is an extraordinary journey into the world and mind of Scottish sculptor Andy Goldsworthy. A land-artist who uses materials from nature to make site-specific works, Goldsworthy allows the elements to have the last say in his beautiful creations, as his ingenious patterns of wood, leaves, stone and ice move and erode over time.

LennoNYC

LennoNYC

USA – 2010 – 112 MIN – COLOUR - FEATURE - IN ENGLISH
A FILM BY MICHAEL EPSTEIN

As the world remembers John Lennon on what would have been his 70th birthday, and the 30th anniversary of his death, LENNONYC takes an intimate look at the time Lennon, Yoko Ono and their son, Sean, spent living in New York City during the 1970s. LENNONYC features never-before heard studio recordings from the Double Fantasy sessions, never-before-seen outtakes from Lennon in concert, and home movies that have only recently been transferred to video. Featuring exclusive interviews with Ono - who cooperated extensively with the production and offers an unprecedented level of access - and with artists who worked closely with Lennon during this period (including Elton John and photographer Bob Gruen), LENNONYC paints a revealing portrait of the legend’s momentous years in Manhattan, the final years of a remarkable life cut remarkably short.

I Wish I Knew

I Wish I Knew

CHINA – 2010 – 118 MIN – COLOUR - FEATURE - IN MANDARIN WITH ENGLISH SUBTITLES
A FILM BY JIA ZHANGE KE

Shanghai has hosted all kinds of people – revolutionaries, capitalists, politicians, soldiers, artists, and gangsters. Shanghai has also hosted revolutions, assassinations, love stories.

After the Chinese Communists’ victory in 1949, thousands of Shanghaiers left for Hong Kong and Taiwan. To leave meant being separated from home for thirty years; to stay meant suffering through the Cultural Revolution and China’s other political disasters.

Eighteen people from these three cities — Shanghai, Taipei and Hong Kong — recall their lives in Shanghai. Their personal experiences, like eighteen chapters of a novel, tell stories of Shanghai lives from the 1930s to 2010.

An eternally wandering soul returns to Shanghai and, walking along the banks of the Huangpu River, awakens to all the changes the city has undergone.

Dig!

Dig!

USA – 2008 – 105 MIN – COLOUR - FEATURE - IN ENGLISH
A FILM BY ONDI TIMONER

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.