Canadian Front 2005
March 16–23, 2005

This second annual survey of new Canadian films made between 2004 and 2005 features eight strong, imaginative, and provocative features, and one short. Canadian cinema is distinctive in that it embraces two cultures, Anglophone and Francophone, unified by a system of federal and provincial support. This year’s program is distinguished by the number of emerging filmmakers selected for inclusion: Cameron Bailey, Noam Gonick, Caroline Martel, Rubba Nada, Daniel Roby, and Rob Stefaniuk. Returning to New York with recently completed features are Carole Laure and Bruce McDonald, and debuting at MoMA is a documentary by Benoît Pilon.

Organized by Laurence Kardish, Senior Curator, Department of Film and Media, and presented in cooperation with Telefilm Canada. Special thanks to Brigitte Hubmann, International Festival Specialist.

This exhibition is presented with the support of the Canadian Consulate General, New York.

Sabah. 2005. Canada. Written and directed by Ruba Nadda. With Arsinée Khanjian. Nadda is a young Syrian-Canadian filmmaker, and Sabah, executive produced by Atom Egoyan, is her third feature. The filmmaker depicts the conflict that arises when a dutiful spinster daughter in a devout and closely knit middle-class Muslim family in Toronto allows herself to be courted by a man outside the community. Khanjian is memorable as Sabah, the woman who cautiously broadens her experiences and determines her own future. 90 min.
Wednesday, March 16, 6:00; Sunday, March 20, 2:00. T1

CQ2 (Seek You Too). 2004. Canada/France. Written and directed by Carole Laure. With Clara Furey, Danielle Hubbard, Mireille Thibault, Jean-Marc Barr. A seventeen-year-old girl whose rebelliousness verges on delinquency becomes fascinated with a young woman newly released from prison, and through her becomes acquainted with the healing powers of dance. For her second directorial feature, Laure, a noted French-Canadian actress, cast her own daughter, Clara Furey, as the troubled Rachel who learns to channel her anger. In French, English subtitles. 100 min. Wednesday, March 16, 8:00;
Saturday, March 19, 4:00. T1

Stryker. 2004. Canada. Directed by Noam Gonick. Screenplay by Gonick, David McIntosh. With Kyle Henry, Deena Fontaine, Ryan Blake. The city of Winnipeg has one of the world’s largest urban aboriginal populations. In his second feature, activist filmmaker Gonick partnered with celebrated cinematographer Ed Lachman to vividly dramatize the violent underbelly of Winnipeg's Native community. Stryker, a fourteen-year-old arsonist from a northern reservation, becomes a pawn in a war between the Indian Posse, headed by Mama Ceece, and the Asian Bomb Squad, whose leader, Omar, initially "befriends" Stryker. 85 min.
Thursday, March 17, 6:00; Sunday, March 20, 5:00. T1

The Love Crimes of Gillian Guess. 2004. Canada. Directed by Bruce McDonald. Screenplay by Angus Fraser. With Joely Collins, Ben Bass, Hugh Dillon. This surreal firecracker of a film, outrageous and foul-mouthed in the tradition of Jerry Springer, traces the colorful biography of real-life Gillian Guess, a single mother who, while sitting on a murder jury, had an affair with the accused killer. Maverick filmmaker McDonald (Highway 61; Hard Core Logo) pulls out all the stylistic stops in this wild account of popular morality. 91 min.
Thursday, March 17, 8:00; Monday, March 21, 6:00. T1

Phil the Alien. 2004. Canada. Written and directed by Rob Stefaniuk. With Stefaniuk, Brad McInnes, Boyd Banks. An extraterrestrial lands in backwoods Ontario, befriends a boy, discovers alcohol, joins a dinky bar-band, goes to jail, and finds Jesus without ever suspecting that the American government is trying to capture him for dissection. This frequently hilarious deadpan comedy is a first feature by Stefaniuk, a puppeteer, guitarist, and actor who appeared on the popular television series Kids in the Hall. 85 min.
Friday, March 18, 6:00; Monday, March 21, 8:00. T1

La Peau blanche (White Skin). 2004. Canada. Directed by Daniel Roby. Screenplay by Jöel Champetier, Roby. With Marc Paquet, Marianne Farley, Frédéric Pierre. Although her translucent skin unnerves him, Thierry, a student in Montreal, falls in love with Claire, a redhead who does her best to discourage his attention. As their romance blossoms, Claire becomes increasingly weird. Skimming the Canadian Gothicfilm genre developed by David Cronenberg, Roby’s elegant first feature finds supernatural menace in passion. In French, English subtitles. 89 min.
Friday, March 18, 8:00; Saturday, March 19, 2:00. T1

Roger Toupin, epicier variété (Roger Toupin, Neighborhood Grocer). 2004. Canada. Directed by Benoît Pilon. An honest and humane documentary about change. Roger Toupin, whose barely stocked convenience store has become a local meeting place, lives above the old shop with his elderly mother. When her health deteriorates, Toupin must decide what to do with the meager business that has been not only the sum of his life but also the neighborhood’s social club and amateur musical club. In French, English subtitles. 94 min.
Saturday, March 19, 6:00 (T1); Wednesday, March 23, 8:00 (T2)

Hotel Saudade. 2004. Canada. Directed by Cameron Bailey. This spellbinding journey of a black Canadian writer through Brazil becomes a meditation on personal choice. 24 min.

Le Fantôme de l’operatrice (The Phantom of the Operator). 2004. Canada. Directed by Caroline Martel. When Martel’s debut feature premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival, programmer Susan Oxtoby called it "an inspired essay that examines the history of the telephone operator: the rise of this occupation for women and the fate of the profession in the computer age. . . . [It] mines the wealth of corporate films produced by Bell Laboratories and Western Union." In French and English, English subtitles. 66 min.
Saturday, March 19, 8:30 (T1); Wednesday, March 23, 6:00 (T2)

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