Canadian filmmakers Arcand, McDonald, Virgo selected for MoMA showcase
Last Updated: Thursday, March 6, 2008 | 12:14 PM ET
CBC News
Recent films from Denys Arcand, Bruce McDonald, Clement Virgo and other top Canadian directors have been selected for an annual spotlight on Canadian film at the Museum of Modern Art in New York.
Federal film funding body Telefilm announced on Wednesday a lineup of eight Canadian titles set to screen at MoMA beginning next week.
The 2008 Canadian Front program, selected by MoMA senior film curator Laurence Kardish, will feature:
- Poor Boy's Game: Clement Virgo's Halifax-set racial drama about a young boxer who agrees to take part in a high-profile match to make up for a crime from his past.
- L'Âge des ténèbres (Days of Darkness): Denys Arcand's comic drama about a French-Canadian man who escapes into rich fantasies peopled with beautiful women to avoid the drudgery of his real life.
- Breakfast with Scot: Laurie Lynd's hockey-themed comedy about a semi-closeted gay couple whose lives are turned upside-down when they become legal guardians of a precocious 11-year-old.
- Continental, un film sans fusil (Continental, A Film Without Guns): Stéphane Lafleur's Genie-nominated feature film debut weaves together the stories of four characters whose lives intersect after the disappearance of a man.
- Contre toute espérance: Bernard Émond's story of a woman whose life is falling apart, after her husband falls seriously ill and she loses her livelihood due to corporate downsizing, personalizes a larger examination of the toll globalization can take on average people.
- Family Motel: Documentarian Helen Klodawsky's first dramatic feature follows a Somalian refugee and her two children, who end up in a motel for homeless families after being evicted from their home.
- Le Ring: The feature debut of documentarian Anaïs Barbeau-Lavalette tells the story of a poor Montreal 11-year-old's attempt to become a wrestler.
- The Tracey Fragments: Bruce McDonald's experimental, non-chronological, split-screen exploration of the life of a troubled teen, portrayed by Oscar-nominated actress Ellen Page.
In announcing this year's selections, Telefilm executive director Wayne Clarkson pointed to the success of one of 2007's picks.
"Last year's opener, Away From Her, went on to capture audiences and critical praise, due in part no doubt with the momentum built with every screening — like the one at the MoMa," Clarkson said in a statement.
"There is clearly a market for and interest in Canadian cinema."
MoMA officials have also decided to hold over Poor Boy's Game for a week-long screening after it has its Canadian Front showcase, which will qualify it for review by New York critics and possibly gain wider exposure.
The MoMA screening of McDonald's The Tracey Fragments will also give audiences an early peek at the film, which is scheduled for official release in the U.S. in May.
The fifth annual Canadian Front film showcase runs at New York's Museum of Modern Art from March 13 to March 20.
