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| Girlhouse |
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| The Lady in Number 6: Music Saved My Life |
The international front of OIFF looks very promising as the
fest builds on the two international features of last year, India’s Much Ado About Knotting and the American
(but locally shot) thriller Penthouse
North. Notable films from around the world include the Brazilian film Chess Game, which brings filmmaker Luis
Antonio Pereira to the festival for a Q&A following the film’s screening.
This year’s OIFF schedule boasts several interactive opportunities and marks
another element that makes the festival a bigger event. The highlight of the
festival, or the film I’m most local forward to, is the documentary The Lady in Number 6: Music Saved My Life,
which comes to Ottawa after winning the Oscar for Best Documentary, Short
Subject at the Academy Awards earlier this year. This acclaimed doc tells the
story of late Holocaust survivor Alice Herz Sommer, who shares her lifestory
and passion for music with the filmmakers at the tender age of 109. OIFF might
still be a young ‘un at five years old, but the festival itself could easily
make it to 109 if it keeps growing at its healthy rate.
The films schedule for OIFF ’14 is as follows:
Thursday Oct 16. at 7:00 PM:
Girlhouse
Dir. Trevor Matthews & Jon Knautz, Canada, 101 min.
A Halloween-style slasher for the digital age, it follows a
beautiful young college student who, needing money for tuition, moves into a
house that streams content to an Xrated website. After a deranged fan hacks in
to determine the house’s location, she finds herself in a terrifying fight for
her life.
Screens with:
The Garage
Dir. Patrick White, Canada, 7 min.
At the end of the work day, a woman returns to the downtown
garage where she parked her car only to find that it’s not where she left it.
Believing she may have parked it on a different level, she searches the
structure in vain for her vehicle before reporting it stolen to the security
guard on duty. The guard scrubs through the day footage from the security
cameras to see a man get into the woman’s vehicle right before he and the car
literally disappear – there one minute, gone the next. The guard calls to the
other guard on patrol to check out the spot where the car vanished. What
happens next triggers a chain of events that lead to a glitch between life and
death.
Friday, Oct. 17th at 7:00pm
My Father and the Man in Black
Dir. Jonathan Holiff, Canada, 87 min.
Synopsis: Want to see the true stories behind Walk The Line? See the documentary
The Guardian calls ‘a fresh angle on the Cash mythology, and a long way from Walk The Line. Following his
father’s suicide, director Jonathan Holiff discovers hundreds of letters and
telephone recordings with Johnny Cash during his pill fueled 1960s, triumphs
at Folsom and San Quentin, marriage to June Carter, and his conversion in the
early 1970s to born again Christian. These artifacts tell the story about how
manager and singer collaborated to create a superstar, while each struggled
with personal demons. A fascinating behind-the scenes look at the business of
music, the pitfalls of success, and their impact on family.
Friday, Oct. 17 at 9:00pm
American Descent
Dir. Brooks Hunter, USA, 83 min.
Synopsis: 2014, U.S. Army Staff Sergeant Stephen Harris
edited and uploaded this film. It was his message to the world. A group of
teenagers are sent an unlabeled DVD from a U.S. Army base in Afghanistan
containing a video of a strange woman tied to a tree and ends with a clue. The
teens follow the clue to another and yet another, until what started out as a
game becomes a terrifying chase into the psychopathic mind of Harris. At the
end of the line, the teens’ world comes full circle as they discover they
weren’t just playing a game, they were pawns in a revenge plot only a master of
war could devise.
Screens with:
Subsurface Flow
Dir. Carl Bird McLaughlin, USA, 15 min.
Dir. Carl Bird McLaughlin, USA, 15 min.
Synopsis: Wounded by their childhood, young lovers travel to the desert in search of a holy ground, where the pains of their past can be washed away.
Saturday, Oct. 18 at 7:00 pm
Shorts Program 1:
Be the Snow
Dir. Amir Honarmand, Canada, 5
min.
Synopsis: “Be the Snow” is the
adventure of a pillow who runs away from home to discover the outside world.
Dead Hearts
Dir. Stephen W. Martin, Canada,
17 min.
Synopsis: A young mortician will give his heart away to find true love. A
whimsical, gothic bedtime story filled with love, loss, taxidermy, Kung fu, and
biker werewolves.
Honor Code
Dir. Pascal Trottier, Canada, 10 min.
Synopsis: Set in an alternate contemporary society that allows citizens to engage
in mortal combat to settle scores, Honor
Code follows a corporate middleman seeking revenge for a public
humiliation.
Honor Code TRAILER 1
from Pascal
Trottier on Vimeo.
Market Hours
Dir. John Goldman, USA, 15 min.
Synopsis: Randall spends his days
imagining the vibrant inner lives of various vendors at the multicultural urban
market where he works; none more so than Angela, an angel with her own pastry
shop. But Randall’s inattention to his work has lead to a string of thefts and
soon threatens to cost him his job. A chance encounter with a beautiful starlet
and her lapdog provides Randall not only an opportunity to break the ice with
Angela, but a chance to prove his worth to everyone at the market including
himself.
A Mile in These Hooves
Dir. James Brylowski, USA/Canada, 15 min.
Synopsis:
Foster brothers, Tom and Mark set out on a mission to break the world record
for the longest journey in a two person costume. They will travel by foot from
Toronto to Venice Beach, California in a two person donkey costume. For three
months, they will not leave the costume.
Papa
Dir. Natalie Labarre, USA, 6 min.
Synopsis:
An eccentric inventor realizes he’s not a perfect father, so one day, he makes
one.
What is
Art?
Dir. Stanley
Ka Chun Chan, Canada 1 min.
Synopsis:
A metamorphic animation inspired through the dialogue of the artist and his
explanation of what art means to him.
Wired
Dir. Nick Lacelle & Nicholaus Hillier Canada, 10 min.
Synopsis: An hyper-violent buddy comedy about an undercover
cop who has infiltrated the mob.
*Please note that the short Silent Invaders will no longer be screening at the festival. Watch it in full here.
*Please note that the short Silent Invaders will no longer be screening at the festival. Watch it in full here.
Saturday, Oct. 18 at 9:00 pm
The Lost Key
Dir. Ricardo Adler, Ricardo Korda, Venezuela/USA, 88 min.
After a traumatic divorce, Ricardo Adler sets out to
discover how to achieve a fulfilling and lasting marriage. His search takes him
to Rabbi Manis Friedman, who introduces him to Kabbalah’s ancient secrets to
attain the highest form of intimacy. The film portrays the dramatic
transformation of Ricardo’s new marriage, and the reactions of other couples to
this revolutionary way to sexual connection. The Lost Key reveals forgotten wisdom that could inspire society to
rediscover intimacy, one bedroom at a time.
Sunday, Oct. 19 at 5:00 pm
In the Turn
Dir. Erica Tremblay, USA/Canada, 90 min.
Synopsis: In The Turn follows a 10-year-old
transgender girl in rural Canada as she navigates the difficult and complicated
world that surrounds her. Tormented at school by teachers and peers alike, she
faces daily assaults in the form of insults and physical altercations. The pain
she endures at school takes a toll on not only her self-esteem, but also on
the emotional stability of her family. Our film documents Crystal’s journey as
she and her family struggle against the challenges of prejudice, hatred and
ignorance. Her world opens up when her mother discovers the Vagine Regime, a
queer collective of roller derby players. Crystal is introduced to a community
that is comprised of people of all shapes, sizes, backgrounds and identities.
The Vagine Regime is not only accepting of Crystal, but they actively support
her journey…
Sunday, Oct. 19 at 7:00 pm
Shorts Program 2
Ausencia
Dir. Max Valverde, Costa Rica, 17 min.
Synopsis: Luis died prematurely.
Since then, Enrique’s life has been sleeping beside his father’s tomb. He tries
to play with other kids, he tries hard to play the game of his life. Yet, he
ends curled up in his solitude, next to his dad’s tomb. This absence gets
interrupted by Mary and Gold a girl and her doll who bloom in his life one
casual day.
Bear Story
Dir. Gabriel Osorio Vargas,
Chile, 10 min.
Synopsis: An old bear goes
out every day to a busy street corner. He sets up a small wooden theater
containing tin puppets of his own making. For a coin, the bear will set the
mechanisms in motion, the marionettes will start to move and a story will
unfold inside the box. Through the peephole passerbyes will see the life of a
circus bear that longs to escape and return to his family.
Carry On
Dir. Yatao Li, USA/China, 16 min.
Synopsis: Carry On tells a story set in Japan occupied
China during World War II. In 1944, the tide turned against Japan and the war
began winding down. Prior to their retreat, Japanese troops looted every
Chinese village in their path. They took only food and women from these
villages followed by massacring all others and burning everything to the
ground. To save his daughter, a Chinese father in my film stuffs her into a
large bag disguised as food. As he loads the bag onto the back of a truck along
with other bags with food, a Japanese army officer spots his secret.
The Lady in Number 6: Music Saved My Life
Dir. Malcolm Clarke, Canada/USA/UK, 39 min.
Synopsis: The Lady In Number 6 is
one of the most inspirational and uplifting stories of the year. 109 year old,
Alice Herz Sommer, the world’s oldest pianist and Holocaust survivor shares her
story on how to achieve a long and happy life. She discussed the importance of
music, laughter and how to have an optimistic outlook on life. The Lady In
Number 6 won the 2014 Academy Award for Best Documentary, Short Subjects.
Raab da Vaasta
Dir. Chakravarty Devulapalli, India, 10 min.
Synopsis: Must you kill in order
to live…? When a no typical customer walks in and demands a shave, a small time
barber with a traumatic past deliberates and faces an epiphany of sorts.
Sunday, Oct. 19 at 9:00 pm
Chess Game
Dir. Luis
Antonio Pereira, Brazil, 08 min.
Synopsis: Mina, Beth and Martona are locked in Talavera
Bruce Penitentiary, in Rio de Janeiro. Mina (Priscila Fantin) is the brain of
the group, Beth is the impulsive one, and Martona is pure muscle. Mina controls
the jail by selling drugs and goods, smuggled in by her sister, Jullienne. Mina
is doing time for social security fraud, involving Senator Franco. The Senator
thinks that she could snitch him to the authorities. So, he decided to bribe
the warden to put an end to her life. But she is strong and smart, and the
attempts against her are in vain. Now, it started a game of challenges and
fight over power inside the pen, which the strongest and smarter will succeed.
Screens with:
Butterfly Fluttering
Dir. Roman
Kayumov, Russaia, 10 min
She is a modern girl, young, beautiful, and she tries to follow their own instincts. She is searching for someone to love and real feelings. Perhaps she just wants to feel alive.
She is a modern girl, young, beautiful, and she tries to follow their own instincts. She is searching for someone to love and real feelings. Perhaps she just wants to feel alive.
