10/16/2012

The Enlightened Screen: Gary Burns


Directors Jim Brown and Gary Burns shooting The Future is Now!
Courtesy of The National Film Board of Canada.

The Canadian Film Institute in Ottawa has put together a new screening series that aims to engage moviegoers with Canada’s leading independent filmmakers. The series, titled The Enlightened Screen, allows Bytowners to explore the best that Canadian cinema has to offer through interactive screening sessions. Select films in the series will include guest artists and Q&A periods after the film.

The Enlightened Screen begins with one of Canada’s most unique and celebrated independent filmmakers, Gary Burns. Burns gained notice in the late 1990s when Canadians took note of his thoughtfully amusing take on contemporary (re: suburban) alienation. The Enlightened Screen brings six of Burns’ films to Ottawa with a mix of drama and documentary. (His latest film, The Future is Now!, is a true explosion of the two forms.) Burns is a fitting choice to open the series, for as the CFI notes, his films are “cinematically stylish searches, at once comedic and serious, for signs of intelligent life in the Canadian universe.”

Please show that there are indeed intelligent signs of life in the Canadian universe and attend one of these films:

The Suburbanators (1995, 87 min.)
Thursday, October 18, 2012, 7:00 pm.

Kitchen Party (1997, 92 min.)
Thursday, October 18, 2012, 9:00 pm.

waydowntown (2000, 83 min.)
Friday, October 19, 2012, 7:00 pm.
-Winner for Best Canadian Feature Film 2000 Toronto International Film Festival
-Genie nominee for Best Director

A Problem with Fear (2003, 92 min.)
Friday, October 19, 2012, 9:30 pm.
-Nominated for 2 Genie awards including Best Supporting Actress (Emily Hampshire)

Radiant City (co-directed with Jim Brown; 2006, 93 min)
Saturday, October 20, 2012, 7:00 pm.
-Genie Winner for Best Documentary

The Future is Now! (co-directed with Jim Brown; 2011, 91 min.)
Saturday, October 20, 2012, 9:00 pm,

*Please note that the CFI will be hosting a Q&A with Burns on October 19th

All screenings will be held at the Library and Archives Canada Auditorium, 395 Wellington St. Tickets for each film are $12.00 each for general audiences and $8.00 for CFI Members, seniors, and students.

Please visit the Canadian Film Institute’s website for more information.