Sunday, June 12, 2011 | Categories: Episodes |
Norman Jewison - The films of Norman Jewison are marked by three things--- superb camera technique, compelling narratives, strong performances by the actors.
And more than just a touch of class.
He is a director's director working across a variety of genres----comedies, thrillers, human drama, musicals, and themes of social and racial justice.
In a career spanning 50 years, his films have been nominated for 46 Academy Awards and have won 12 Oscars.
He has worked with the biggest stars in Hollywood---Al Pacino, Steve McQueen, Judy Garland, Frank Sinatra, Sidney Poitier and Harry Belafonte.
He has come a long way from East End Toronto and early Canadian television where his first job was directing a puppet named Uncle Chichimus.
Next month, he will be 85 and his passion for life and movies has not abated one bit.
This morning, a conversation with Norman Jewison about art, movies stardom and his next project.
An hour-long Brunch with Mr. Jewison. And he even brought his own food.
In our First Hour.
Read more about hour one here
Fares Mekideche - In our Middle Hour, meet Fares Mekideche, of Montreal.
Not only is he an expert in serving up the gastronomical delights of his native Algeria, he is also a very funny comedian.
And in his nightclub act, he manages to combine both talents.
Producer David Gutnick reports, eats and laughs in Hour Two.
Read more about hour two here
Joan Thomas - Mary Anning was young, poor, uneducated. She lived in England in the early 19th Century. She supported her family by scouring the beaches of Lyme Regis for "curiosities" - tiny fossils frozen in time.
When she was 12 she discovered the entire skeleton of an Ichthyosaurus. And thereby virtually invented the science of paleontology.
Mary Anning is the focus of Joan Thomas's second novel, Curiosity, which was long-listed for the Scotiabank Giller prize.
In the skillful hands of novelist Thomas, Mary Anning comes alive as a young girl breaking new ground in a science dominated by men.
Joan Thomas will be here to talk about Curiosity in our final hour this morning.
Read more about hour three here
Elsewhere in the program: some thoughts on great art and ghastly artists, teaching secularism in university and how all those free points programs come with strings attached.
Michael's Essay
In this week's essay, Michael thoughts on separating the art from the artist.Norman Jewison - Part One
Norman Jewison earned his chops in the early days of Canadian television. In fact, he was there when CBC-TV went on the air for first time. Then came a move to the States and soon after, a chance to direct his first movie.
In the fifty or so years since, Norman Jewison has fed our love of the movies with a string of classic and groundbreaking films. "In the Heat of the Night." "The Cincinnati Kid." "Fiddler of the Roof." "Moonstruck." "The Hurricane." And watching them can tell you a lot about the man himself - the tell-tale joie de vivre, zany sense of humour, compassion, unapologetic social conscience. He is a man who loves to tell stories.
Norman Jewison has collected shelves full of honours in his career, including a lifetime achievement award from the Directors Guild of America last year, only the 33rd person to win it in its 74 year history, and the only Canadian.
Earlier this month, Lincoln Centre in New York held a week-long retrospective of his work. And the Toronto International Film Festival Group in Toronto will celebrate him with a retrospective in August.
We thought we'd catch him in between these events.
Norman Jewison was in our Toronto studio.
Norman Jewison - Part Two
Michael continues his conversation with Norman Jewison.
Last week on the program, we heard Karin Wells' documentary "The Gold at the Roof of the World." She'd been at Pascua Lama, a controversial South American mining project being developed by Canadian mining giant Barrick Gold. That piece yielded a treasure-trove of e-mail.
Uncle Fofi and The Couscous Comedy Show
There's nothing Fares Mekideche loves better, than to make people laugh.
Well, that's not exactly true. He also loves to cook.
When he was growing up in France, he spent long hours in a steamy kitchen with his mother, as she taught him the secrets of Algerian cuisine.
Fares now lives in Montreal, where he has found a way to combine his two loves.
Each week, he boils up cauldrons of couscous, and feeds it to the audience at a comedy club.
In the process, Fares is helping to break down barriers between French Canadians, and the hundreds of thousands of immigrants who, like him, now call Quebec their home.
Here is Sunday Edition producer David Gutnick's documentary, "Uncle Fofi and The Couscous Comedy Show."
Joan Thomas
It was like finding a fossil in rock when Joan Thomas stumbled on the subject of her second book.
The Winnipeg novelist was researching Reading by Lightning, when she discovered Mary Anning - an extraordinary young woman who discovered - in 1812 - the fossilized skeleton of an Ichthyosaurus. It was buried in the mud of the British port town, Lyme Regis - a place famous for its fossils.
Her story inspired Joan Thomas' second novel, Curiosity, A Love Story.
Joan Thomas grew up on the Canadian prairies, where she was an English teacher and freelance writer and reviewer. She didn't begin writing fiction until 2000, but it obviously suits her. Her first novel, Reading by Lightning, won the Commonwealth Prize for Best First Book, and Curiosity was long-listed for the 2010 Giller prize.
Joan Thomas was in our studio in Winnipeg.
Secularism
In her latest book, "The Armageddon Factor," respected Canadian journalist Marci McDonald sounds a note of alarm. Christian fundamentalism is on the rise in this country, she says, and the religious right has a direct link to the office of Prime Minister Stephen Harper, with the aim of reshaping Canadian society.
Although we hear a lot about the growth of religious fundamentalism, the truth is that secularism is also on the rise. Statistics show that increasing numbers of people, particularly in Canada and northern Europe, describe themselves as atheists - as devout secularists, if you will.
Phil Zuckerman believes this is such an important phenomenon, that he has convinced his university to create a department of secular studies. This fall, Pitzer College, a small liberal arts institution in Southern California, will also begin to offer a major in secularism.
Phil Zuckerman is currently on sabbatical in Denmark, where he is an affiliated guest professor at the University of Aarhus. Ironically, he's in the department of religion. We reached Phil Zuckerman in Aarhus.
Personal Essay
What price loyalty?
Next time you open your wallet, bursting with points cards for everything from gasoline to air miles, you might want to ask yourself that question.
Because more than customer allegiance and reward are at play as Risa Klarman discovered recently.
Her essay is called Leaky Loyalties: How a Product Promo Pricked my Point Card Complacency. Or, You think I Need What?
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