The Criterion Collection has recently announced that it will release five Nagisa Oshima films on DVD as part of its Eclipse series. Pleasures of the Flesh, Violence at Noon, Sing a Song of Sex, Japanese Summer: Double Suicide, and Three Resurrected Drunkards, all dating from 1965-68, are set to be released on Mat 18, 2010. However, what’s struck me most about this announcement is not that these films are getting a long overdue DVD release in the West (although this is true), but how long it took and how many Asian films still haven’t seen an English-language or North American DVD release.
Film News
News Update for 9/29/09
CBC news is reporting that Xavier Dolan’s J’ai tué ma mère has been selected as Canada’s entry for the Academy Awards. The film, which is the 20-year-old Quebecois director’s debut, has been picking up awards and plaudits at film festivals around the world. [CBC]
Montreal Film Festival
Dès le 27 Août 2009, Montréal acceuillira une nouvelle fois, cinéastes et passionnés afin de célébrer la 33ème édition du Festival des films du monde de Montréal (FFM). Plus de 240 films venant du monde entier seront présentés, incluant 130 premières mondiales ainsi qu’une sélection de films asiatiques et canadiennes. Durant les deux semaines et demi de ce festival, il y aura de multiples occasions d’assister aux projections gratuites de nombreuses productions québécoises en face du cinéma Quartier Latin sur la rue Emery. Comme toujours, des classiques du cinéma seront projetés de nuit sur grand écran, rue Sainte Catherine pour le plus grand plaisir des cinéphiles.
Cette année, le jury sera composé de Jafar Pinahi, Eiji Okuda, David La Haye, Fernando Méndez-Leite Serrano, Pascal Thomas et Reinhart Wagner.
Ciné-Asie’s 2nd Annual National Portrait Winners
Thank you to everyone who came out and made Ciné-Asie’s 2nd Annual National Portrait Contest a huge success. Congratulations to Quebec Provincial Award winner Nguyen-Anh Nguyen for “Mon Nom est Tuan”, National Award winner Jason Karman for “State of Yo”, Female Visual Media Artists Award winner Kelly-Anne Riess for “A Tall Tale” and Mina Vladimir for “Harvest Moon”. Special mention goes to all of our jury members: Yung Chang, Germaine Ying Gee Wong, Liz Ferguson and Francois Laurent to whom we are grateful for their time and support. Thank you also to all of sponsors Videographe, Groupe Intervention Video (GIV), Main Film, Cinémathèque Québécoise, Bureau du Cinema et de la Television de Montreal, Laika, Highest International Standard (HIS) for their generosity. We’re already planning next year’s edition so keep an eye out for Ciné-Asie’s 3rd Annual National Portrait Contest, which is sure to be an even bigger success!
Ciné-Asie’s 2nd Annual National Portrait Contest
Ciné-Asie announces its 2nd Annual National Portrait Contest being held on May 22nd 2009 at the Cinémathèque Québécoise Café-Bar, 335 Blvd. De Maisoneuve Est. from 18:00 – 22:00 pm (screenings start at 19:00pm)
Ciné-Asie’s National Portrait Contest is an annual event that encourages and supports emerging Asian and Canadian visual media artists. The screening of short films and video entries at this years event have been received from all across Canada such as Quebec, Nova Scotia, British Columbia, Saskatchewan, Manitoba and Ontario. The theme for this year’s edition is Portraiture, and the presentations lasting anywhere between 30 secs in length to 10 mins, explore a vast array of topics such as youth, identity, belonging, nomenclature, history, family, heritage, sexuality, culture, distance, and community. These unique short-film submissions that range in genres and styles from dramatic, documentary, experimental, to animation, will be presented in a one & a half hour length contest program.
Jury members:
Yung Chang, Director, Up the Yangtze – 2009 Genie award winner for best documentary film.
Germaine Ying Gee Wong, Producer, Up the Yangtze (2007), Atanarjuat: The Fast Runner (2001)
Malcolm Guy, Producer, Director, and President of Productions Multi-Monde
Liz Ferguson, Film Critic & Writer, for the Montreal Gazette
François Laurent, Director and President of the Cinema Students Association (CSA) of Concordia University
AWARDS
-National Award: $500 in cash made possible through sponsorship support from the Montréal Film and TV Commission.
-Quebec Provincial Award: $1 000 in value, Post-production facility rental & production equipment services, with a one-year membership provided by Vidéographe.
-Audience Choice Award: $500 in value, Post-production facility & Production equipment rental services provided by Main Film.
-Visual Media Artists Award for Asian & Canadian Women Filmmakers: $500 in value, Post-production facility & equipment rental services provided by GIV (Groupe Intervention Vidéo)
About ‘Ciné-Asie’
Started in 1996, Ciné-Asie is a non-profit arts organization that was founded by the distinguished visual media artist Mi Jeong Lee. The voluntary staff of Ciné-Asie is comprised by a culturally diverse group of talented individuals working in film, journalism, and the media arts industries in Montreal. Introduced by Ciné-Asie in 2008 – the National Portrait Contest, is an example of the value and commitment we share for supporting Asian and Canadian cinema and emerging Canadian talent. With various collaborations with other art organizations, Ciné-Asie has been able to perform yearly activities that include: monthly film screenings presented at the Cinémathèque Québécoise, scheduled workshops and artist presentations held throughout the year, annual film festival participation: such as the Fantasia Film Festival in Montreal (amongst others), and our active promotion of Asian and Canadian Cinema carried out each year through print and new media. This year, with their expertise in Asian networks, Ciné-Asie has launched a newly incorporated entity called Ciné-Asie Creatives. Under this umbrella, they specialize in Co-Production, Sales & Distribution, and Location Scouting between Canada and Asia.
For further information, please contact
Heetesh Patel, Project Coordinator at heeteshpatel@cineasiecreatives.com
or Fatima Arkin, Communication & Marketing Assistant at fartimaarkin@cineasiecreatives.com
Tel: 514 544 5865
Ciné-Asie on Facebook: cineasieonfacebook@gmail.com
www.cineasie.ca
