DVD Releases for the Week of Apr. 28, 2009
With a dearth of French Québecois releases in the past few weeks some may be happy to know that Claude Menier’s Le Grand départ is available for rent this week. It represents a major cross-section of Québecois (and Western) society: that of the older married man leaving his first family to marry and begin a second family. The film starring Marc Messier has been criticized for treating its main subject lightly, only natural as it is loosely based on the director’s own experience. Québec cinephiles may want to look into this one. Read more »
Tags: Claude Meunier, Gonzalo Arijon, In the Realm of the Senses, JCVD, Le grand départ, Mabrouk El Mechri, Nagisa Oshima, Nothing But the Truth, Rod Lurie, Stranded: I've Come from a Plane That Crashed on the Mountains
DVD Previews | 
April 28, 2009 | Comments Off
Starting this week, the students of Concordia University rush their post-productions in order to meet final deadlines for semester or year-long projects. Film and video works from the Mel Hoppenheim School of Cinema and the Communication Studies department are screening at both Concordia and Cinéma du Parc. This is a great opportunity to support budding filmmakers and discover what the next generation is talking about. Once the screenings are done, all programs are offering after-parties with those involved. So watch, drink and be merry. 
The official website for the Montreal World Film Festival has opened up voting for their festival poster contest. Of the 160 submissions, six finalists were chosen. You can vote by e-mail until May 4th to choose the new look for the 2009 edition. Continue to see the finalists from graphic artists Ian Goulbourne, Laurent Grislain, Mathiew Lavoie, Azarnoush Nazari, Nima Farzaneh, Isabelle Pepin and Chlöé Surprenant. 
For three days (April 24-25-26), Cinéma du Parc will screen tens of very short films in the span of two hours, part of the Festival international des très courts (Very Shorts International Festival). Begun in France, this festival occurs simultaneously in 80 cities across the world, and is one of the only festivals in which you can watch so many films in so little time. 
In these times of supposed economic freefall, is it important for films to reflect or inform on the state of the capitalist market, or its outcome on the individual? The success of Kelly Reichardt’s Wendy and Lucy is proof that audiences want to see fictionalized accounts of the reality for some. For a broader picture, this week’s I.O.U.S.A. should explain some of the basic concepts, including how personal debt and living beyond one’s means has compounded the problem of greedy market pioneers. 
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