Free Thinking Film Festival
| November 2, 2012 | to | November 4, 2012 |
Overview:
The Free Thinking Film Festival was started in 2010 in Ottawa to provide an outlet for filmmakers and moviegoers alike who are looking for an alternative to the ‘alternative’. In other words, we celebrate the efforts of risk-taking documentarians whose work espouses the values of limited, democratic government, free market economies, equality of opportunity rather than equality of result, and the dignity of the individual, all underscored by a healthy and patriotic respect for Western culture and traditions. Although there are a lot of courageous voices in the non-fiction film industry producing thoughtful pieces of art which reject cultural relativism, central economic planning and American culpability for all that ills the world, you wouldn’t know it by looking at the listings for most art house cinemas. The SecondAnnual Free Thinking Film Festival runs from November 11-13th, 2011 at the Bronson Centre and Library and Archives Canada in Ottawa.
Event Highlights:
- 20+ films
- Panel discussions
- DVD/Book Table
- Food/Drink
Festival Information:
General phone contact: Fred Litwin (613) 261-9060
General information contact: email
Locations:
Bronson Centre, 211 Bronson Avenue, Ottawa, Ontario K1R 6H4
Library & Archives Canada, 395 Wellington, Ottawa, Ontario K1A 0N4
On the Web:
Website: www.freethinkingfilms.com
Online tickets: www.ticketweb.ca
Facebook: www.facebook.com/FreeThinkingFilms
Twitter: www.twitter.com/FreeThinkFilms
YouTube: www.youtube.com/user/FreeThinkingFilms
Military debate kicks off Free Thinking Film Festival
The Ottawa Citizen (Movie Guide)
Ottawa’s Free Thinking Film Festival kicks off Nov. 11 not with a film but with a debate about the future of Canada’s military featuring historian Jack Granatstein and international law expert Michael Byers. It starts at 6:30 p.m. at Bronson Centre, 211 Bronson Ave. Other events include: The Biases of the CBC, a documentary that examines whether the CBC is biased against Israel and conservatives, 2 p.m., Nov. 13, Library and Archives Canada ($15 or included in the $75 festival pass, available at the door, Compact Music, Collected Works and the society’s website), and the Canadian premiere of Unmasked: Judeophobia and the Threat to Civilization, about the current political assault against Israel; in all the festival will screen more than 20 films, 7 p.m. Nov. 13, Bronson Centre. For a full list go to www.freethinkingfilmfest.ca.
One World filmfest focuses on protest and revolt
The Ottawa Citizen
Eleven new feature documentaries will premiere in Ottawa this week as the 22nd annual One World Film Festival gets underway. The four-day event will also include previews of new work by local media artists, an opportunity to meet filmmakers from the U.K. and the U.S., and attend workshops on crowd funding and female child soldiers.
This year the theme of the festival, which focuses on human rights and the environment, is “Raise Your Voice.”
“We chose this theme because of the number of very strong films in the program that depict scenes of protest and revolt,” said program manger Pixie Cram. “It also suits the motif of the individual rising up in the face of a challenge to make a difference in the community.”
The festival runs Oct. 13 to 16 at Library and Archives Auditorium, 395 Wellington St.
Ottawa International Animation Festival – Call for Submissions
Organizers of North America’s largest animation event are looking for entries for the 2010 edition to be held in Ottawa, October 2-24. The categories are: independent short films, feature films, new media, commissioned films (TV series, commercials, music videos, etc), student films and made for children.
Deadline for entries is June 1, with preview DVDs arriving no later than June 15.
There is no entry fee.
For more information and online entry form, go to www.animationfestival.ca.
Direct questions to entries@animationfestival.ca or 613-232-8769.
Kevin Jerome Everson – Free Films and Live Appearance @ Club SAW
The AVAILABLE LIGHT SCREENING COLLECTIVE and SAW VIDEO present KEVIN JEROME EVERSON
OTTAWA PREMIERE
OTTAWA – February 8, 2010 – With the Embassy of the United States of America and Black History Month Ottawa, the Available Light Screening Collective and SAW Video present Virginia‐based filmmaker Kevin Jerome Everson for an evening of his films and an afternoon artist talk. This is Everson’s first visit to Ottawa. He is currently at the 2010 Rotterdam International Film Festival.
On Friday, February 19th, Available Light presents a programme by DIM Cinema of Everson’s work. Following the screening will be a Q&A session and a public reception presented by the Embassy of the United States of America.
On Saturday, February 20th, SAW Video presents an artist talk by Kevin James Everson entitled “Materials, process, procedure and subject”. Everson will present excerpts from relevant short films and features and photographic images and discuss his longtime dedication to the primacy of the subject, culled from early training in ’70s sculptural art discipline and practice.
Instead of standard realism I favor a strategy that abstracts everyday actions and statements into theatrical gestures, in which archival footage is re‐edited or re‐staged, real people perform fictional scenarios based on their own lives and historical observations intermesh with contemporary narratives. The films suggest the relentlessness of everyday life—along with its beauty—but also present oblique metaphors for art‐making. ‐ Kevin Jerome Everson
Kevin Jerome Everson’s prolific body of film work engages with, and responds to, the history and culture of working-class Black Americans and people of African descent. His short gestural films challenge simplistic expectations of ethnographic documentary, poetic narrative, or theatrical drama. He stitches archival footage, scripted sequences, verité documents, and abstract aural and visual minutiae into textured portraits of people, places, economics, and ephemera.
The films of KEVIN JEROME EVERSON
Friday, February 19, 7:30pm
Club SAW, 67 Nicholas St., Ottawa, ON
Free admission
An artist talk with KEVIN JEROME EVERSON
Saturday, February 20th, 2pm‐4pm
Club SAW, 67 Nicholas St., Ottawa, ON
Free admission
Kevin Jerome Everson (b.1965) is a filmmaker, originally from Mansfield, Ohio, now living and working in Charlottesville, Virginia, U.S.A. Everson’s three feature films and over 50 short films and videos have been exhibited at the Centre Pompidou in Paris, Redcat in Los Angeles, the Museum of Modern Art in New York, the Whitney Museum of American Art, the Cleveland Museum of Art, the Studio Museum in Harlem, the Armand Hammer Museum in Los Angeles, Whitechapel Gallery in London, and many other venues worldwide. He is the recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship, a National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship, two NEH Fellowships, two Ohio Arts Council Fellowships, and an American Academy Rome Prize.
For further information about Kevin Jerome Everson: http://people.virginia.edu/~ke5d.
DIM Cinema is a monthly evening of contemporary short-form moving images and cinematic collaborations. DIM is focused on expanding the visibility of Canadian and international experimental artists and their practices in the cinema; and seeks to illuminate underground moving image culture in Vancouver, BC.
DIM is programmed by Amy Lynn Kazymerchyk through the Pacific Cinematheque Pacifique.
Available Light Screening Collective is an Ottawa, Ontario‐based artists’ collective committed to the curated exhibition of experimental film and video art for local audiences. Support for Available Light’s activities is received from the Canada Council for the Arts, the Ontario Arts Council, and the City of Ottawa.
SAW Video is an artist‐run‐centre committed to support ground breaking artistic production, presentation and programming of independent video and media art. SAW Video provides many services to its membership including affordable technical facilities, and a wide range of programmes designed to create an atmosphere that will inspire production through the exchange of ideas around form, content and style. Support for the centre is received from the Canada Council for the Arts, the Ontario Arts Council, and the City of Ottawa.
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For more information :
Christopher Rohde
Available Light Screening Collective
availablelightcollective@gmail.com
Denise MacDonald
SAW Video
denise@sawvideo.com / 613:238:7648
SAW Video Presents Award‐winning Documentary Filmmaker Isabelle Raynauld
SAW Video is proud to present accomplished Montreal-based director, filmmaker, and writer Isabelle Raynauld, winner of the 2002 Jutra Award for Best Documentary and two-time recipient of the Prix Gémeaux. She will be in Ottawa on February 12th and 13th for the screening of her latest documentary Mystical Brain and presentation of an intensive scriptwriting workshop.
Please see the press release below or visit the website for further details.
OTTAWA – January 27, 2010 – SAW Video is proud to present accomplished Montreal‐based director, filmmaker, and writer Isabelle Raynauld, winner of the 2002 Jutra Award for Best Documentary and two‐time recipient of the Prix Gémeaux. She will be in Ottawa for the screening of her latest documentary, Mystical Brain, and presentation of an intensive scriptwriting workshop.
On Friday, February 12, SAW Video presents Mystical Brain, which depicts scientists’ attempt to discover how the mystical experience and states of grace experienced by mystics and those who meditate affect the brain. Featuring experts such as philosopher Daniel C. Dennett, author and professor Mario Beauregard and the Dalai Lama’s French interpreter, Buddhist monk Matthieu Ricard, Raynauld takes us all over the world to explore the fascinating and often controversial crossroad of science and religion. The documentary is in French with English subtitles.
Stills from Mystical Brain
SCREENING
Mystical Brain (2007)
Friday, February 12, 2010
Club SAW, 67 Nicholas St., 7pm
Ottawa, ON
Free admission
In French with English subtitles
The screening will be followed by a Q&A session with the filmmaker.
WORKSHOPS
Scriptwriting: Documentary and Drama
Saturday, February 13, 2010
SAW Video
67 Nicholas St., 11am‐5pm
Ottawa, ON
$50 ($40 for SAW Video members)
Limited space. Register with SAW Video today!
Suitable for French and French‐as‐a‐second-language speakers
SAW Video : Centre for the media arts
67 Nicholas St.
Ottawa, ON K1N 7B9
T: (613) 238-7648
www.sawvideo.com
Denise MacDonald
Communications
SAW Video
67 rue Nicholas Street
Ottawa, Ontario, K1N 7B9
www.sawvideo.com
denise@sawvideo.com
613.238.7648
