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Melissa
Bergland and Aaron Poole star in ONEFF opener Relative Happiness.
Photo: Duncan DeYoung
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The ONEFF kicks off Friday at The ByTowne with the Ottawa of the Canuck comedy Relative Happiness starring Aussie TV star Melissa Bergland (Winners & Losers) alongside Aaron Poole (The Animal Project), Jonathan Sousa (also from The Animal Project) and Joel Thomas Hynes (who can be seen in Cast No Shadow this week at The Mayfair, if you want some extra East Coast Can Con!).
Screenings continue through the night
Friday and Saturday with a full and diverse line-up. The programme includes the
Ottawa premiere of the Sundance prize-winner and Hot Docs highlight How to Change the World, which is an
inspiring Greenpeace doc, and a whack of shorts including the award-winning
local production The Buckley Brothers,
directed by Rachelle Casseus (The Hold-up), which returns to Ottawa in a showcase of women in film on
Saturday night. There’s even a Cuban dance-party-screening-thing on Friday to
give the East Coast flavour some extra spice.
The line-up for the 2015 ONEFF is as
follows:
Relative Happiness
Dir. Deanne Foley | Canada | 94 min. |
Ottawa Premiere
Friday, May 22 at 6:00 PM
Synopsis:
Plus sized and 30 years old, Lexie Ivy (Melissa
Bergland*) is a feisty Bed and Breakfast owner who desperately needs a date to
her sister’s wedding. In small town Nova Scotia, thats no easy task, especially
when the most eligible bachelor is Joss (Aaron Poole), the rough handyman
fixing her roof. When Adrian (Johnathan Sousa), a handsome and charming guest,
arrives and seems to take an interest in Lexie, she thinks all her problems are
solved. But she misreads the situation and is soon reeling, believing her
romantic dream has slipped away, maybe forever. After a series of hilarious
mishaps and a reality check or two, Lexie opens her heart and eyes to see that
love may be a lot closer than she thought.
Friday Night Shorts
Friday, May 22 at 8:00 PM
Includes:
This
Was My Son
Dir. Rob Underhill | USA | Canadian Premiere
Avalanche
Dir. Thyrone Tommy | Canada (Toronto) | Ottawa
Premiere
Nayan
and The Evil Eye
Dir. Shaleen Sangha | Canada (Toronto) | Ottawa
Premiere
Butterflies
Dir. Cayman Grant | USA/Canada | Ottawa
Premiere
When
Fish Fly –
Dir. Lisa Rose Snow | Canada (Nova Scotia) |
Ottawa Premiere
Quelle
Affair
Dir. Ruth Lawrence | Canada (Newfoundland) |
Ontario Premiere
Island Soul
Dir. Jimmy Inch | Canada | World Premiere
Friday, May 22 at 10:00 PM
Synopsis:
Island Soul is a documentary on the
recording of an album by Keith Mullins at Egram Studios in Havana, Cuba. The
film was Directed and Produced by Jimmy Inch and Assistant Producer Ian
McInnis, while Music Producers were Keith Mullins and Chris Kirby. The album
was recently nominated for an East Coast Music Award. Keith had an opportunity
to record at the historic studios with some of the top Cuban musicians in the
industry today.
Watch
for a special appearance from Ottawa's Salsa-Force!
How to Change the World
Dir. Jerry Rothwell | Canada/UK
| 110 min. | Ottawa Premiere
Saturday, May 23 at 6:00pm
Synopsis: In 1971, a group of friends sail into a nuclear test zone, and
their protest captures the world's imagination. Using never before seen archive
that brings their extraordinary world to life, How To Change The World is the
story of the pioneers who founded Greenpeace and defined the modern green
movement.
Hot
Docs Review: How
to Change the World should inspire environmentalists and filmmakers alike
with its eye-opening footage of the beginnings of one of the most significant
contemporary movements. The archival footage is a treasure trove of both
activism and maverick filmmaking: the footage itself is journalist in nature,
but How to Change the World assembles
it so artfully and intelligently that it's bound to plant seeds in a new
movement. The objective portrait makes the necessity of groups like Greenpeace
all the more urgent, while the strong endnotes on the death of Rob Hunter and
the activism of his daughter Emily ushers in a new generation of
revolutionaries. (Full
review)
Resurrecting McGinn(s)
Dir. Vincent Gaffney | USA | Running time
TBA | Canadian Premiere
Saturday, May 23 at 8:20 PM
*Director Vincent Gaffney will attend the
screening
Synopsis: Declan, an author struggling with his unrealized potential, is
confronted by renewed grief over his long dead brother Aidan. His wife Anastasie
suggests they throw a party on what would’ve been Aidan’s fiftieth birthday. Over
the course of dinner, revelations of sexuality, race, abortion, love, life and
death unroll at a feverish pace as the night escalates into mayhem. Emotional
explosions uncover secrets that have been buried for more than two decades. The
revelations push the family to the edge and are a catalyst to confront,
reconcile and heal old wounds. But is it too late?
RM_TRAILER_ONE
from Vince
Gaffney on Vimeo.
A Celebration of Women in Film
Saturday, May 23 at 10:15 PM
Includes:
Sadie
–
Dir. Latonia Hartery | Canada
(Newfoundland) | Ottawa Premiere
DAWG
Dir.
Shelly Thompson | Canada (Nova Scotia) | World Premiere
The
Buckley Brothers
Dir. Rachelle
Casseus | Canada (Ottawa)
-Winner: Best Comedy
Short – Lady Filmmakers Festival, Los Angeles
*DAWG director and The Buckley
Brothers director Rachelle Casseus and co-writer Charlie Ebbs will attend
the screening
The
ONEFF runs May 22 and 23. All screenings are at The ByTowne.
Please
visit www.theoneff.com for more
information on this year’s festival.
