UNSTOPPABLE

DIRECTOR: TONY SCOTT

Starring: Denzel Washington, Chris Pine

Hang on for the ride of your life as Oscar winner Denzel Washington* and Chris Pine (Star Trek) team up for the year’s most electrifying action-thriller. A runaway train, transporting deadly toxic chemicals, is barrelling down on Scranton, Pennsylvania and only two men can stop it: a veteran engineer (Washington), and a young conductor (Pine.) Thousands of lives hang in the balance as these ordinary heroes attempt to chase down one million tons of hurtling steel and prevent an epic disaster. Helmed by visionary director Tony Scott (Man On Fire), this story inspired by actual events delivers excitement and suspense that are…UNSTOPPABLE!

GENRE: ACTION
FORMAT: DVD & BLU-RAY
RUNTIME: 98 MINS
RATED: PG-13

There aren't many new movies at the multiplex this weekend, which is just as well as I can't imagine exactly what could slow Inception down. Consensus seems to be that it's a stunning visual masterwork possibly lacking in the corresponding emotional majesty. If you can't get a ticket to whatever showing you attempt, you could do worse than The Sorcerer's Apprentice, which is frothy summer fun at its best and merely shallow at its worst.

Cyrus, a comedy about a recently divorced man (John C. Reilly) who is stymied in his relationship with a new woman (Marisa Tomei) by her creepy relationship with her adult son (Jonah Hill), has also made it to Ottawa, specifically at the World Exchange Centre.

Over at the Bytowne, it's another Stieg Larsson ruled weekend, with The Girl Who Played with Fire sharing billing with Exit Through the Gift Shop, a documentary about a man who tried to make a documentary about Banksy only to end to with the camera turned on him when he decided to try his hand at graffiti art himself. 

Hello,
We are looking to interview a local synesthete for an upcoming 3D documentary about the topic of Synesthesia. Synesthesia is also known as the “mingling of the senses” — where you can see sounds, or hear colors, or taste shapes, among other manifestations.

We want to spend a day with a synesthete to get a sense of how their extra perceptual ability affects them. We are then going to recreate that experience with 3D animation.

We will be shooting with a new 3D camera. The result will be a two-minute piece that will show the world exactly what it’s like to be a synesthete.

Okay, are you ready for it? Pixar's big movie of the summer is here, so you can assume that it's pretty much the only game in town. Toy Story 3 is no doubt as charming, funny, and moving as every Pixar movie in creation, so the fact that you are sitting here reading this suggests some deficiency on your part.

Alternatively we have Jonah Hex, yet another in a long line of less-than-known comic book adaptations that are really starting to confuse viewers with their very existence, and . . .  that's pretty much it for wide releases. 

As mentioned before, Ayaan Hirsi Ali will be in Ottawa on June 10, as part of the Ottawa International Writers Festival. The event coincides with the publication of her third book, "Nomad," which is primarily a charting of her alienation from the Muslim faith she grew up in. The Globe and Mail's reviewer, Theodore Dalrymple, is, on the whole, very positive and notes that she states her case "with both modesty and great eloquence." His sole caveat is that "the Enlightenment ideal that she espouses is rather too simple as an answer to the problems of human existence."

The latest issue of Brick magazine contains a series of three essays on the passing of Allan King, the versatile Canadian filmmaker most known for his powerful documentaries on social issues such as race, poverty, domestic abuse, and death. (Here is an insightful youtube clip incorporating an interview with King and footage from some of his films. It also has Orson Welles, smoking a cigar and saying that movie directing is "the only profession in the world where you can be incompetent and go on being successful for thirty years with nobody ever discovering.")

And Prairie Fire magazine contains an interview with Austin Clarke, the author of the Giller Prize-winning The Polished Hoe, in which he discusses race, immigration, and the concept of "home."

The New York Post's NYPD March 3 blotter includes the following little gem:

Brooklyn

He just wigged out.

 Friday

La Petite Mort Gallery presents ONE NIGHT ONLY Exhibit
Jose Rodriguez Garrido "JOS"
Friday February 12, 2010 / 7 - 10pm

RED WALL GALLERY presents
METAPHORICAL - SOLO SERIES 2010
Vernissage:  Friday February 12th, 2010, 18:00-21:00 The dresses fabricated by Wesley Kirschner are born of her imagination. She works with glass, newsprint, and piano wire to build an art piece to be photographed. By placing each dress in context, she allows the viewer to momentarily forget about the fashion and creates a setting and image that could be an editorial page in any fashion magazine. It is through this vision and imagination that she creates a visual metaphor for the fashion industry. The Red Wall Gallery is located in SPAO at 168 Dalhousie, at the corner of Bruyère, in the Byward Market.

DEAREST HAITI: AN ARTISTIC PERSPECTIVE
Colours of Africa Film Festival  |  Black History Month 2010
Library and Archives Canada, 395 Wellington Street, Ottawa
Free Admission. Donations go to UNICEF Canada’s emergency relief efforts in Haiti.
Presented by Black History Ottawa, Colours of Africa, and Partnership Africa Canada.
7:00 p.m. Two documentary films about contemporary artists in Haiti. OTTAWA PREMIERES
Best Documentary Award: Montreal International Black Film Festival, 2009
9:00 p.m. Award-winning feature film Dearest Haiti (Haïti chérie). OTTAWA PREMIERE
Best Screenplay: 24th Mons International Festival of Love Films

"So You Think You Can Pitch?" -
The 4th annual collaboration between the Toronto Reel Asian International Film Festival and Charles Street Video pitch competition is back!
 http://www.reelasian.com/news_details.php?id=142

* So you think you have a brilliant idea for a short film?
* So you think it's the recession that's keeping you from making your film a reality?
* So you think you and your team can go through the intensive Pitch Clinic boot camp and pitch like a pro in front of a live audience?

Then get ready, get set...APPLY NOW!

Once again this year, ten brave teams of finalists will present their pitches in front of three judges and a live audience. Two winning filmmaking teams will walk away with amazing prize packages that will help them kick-start and/or finish their short film. The two prize packages of over $10,000* for the Emerging Category and $18,000* for the Established Category cover High Definition or Standard Definition production and post services, artist's fees and a one-year membership at Charles Street Video (CSV).

We welcome all good films and film ideas! Your film can be dramatic, documentary or experimental, up to 30 minutes in length. Don't forget it must feature an Asian in a key creative role in front or behind the camera.

So make a film with an amazing prize package and expert guidance from our industry professionals! The winning teams will also get the opportunity to have their films considered for screening at the 2010 Reel Asian Film Festival.

DEADLINE FOR APPLICATIONS:
Received in the Reel Asian offices by 5 pm on Friday, September 25, 2009.

COMPLETE PITCH GUIDELINES & APPLICATION FORM:
So You Think You Can Pitch 2009 Guideline and Application (PDF, 2.8 MB, http://www.reelasian.com/PDFs/2009/RA09pitchG&A.pdf )

FINALISTS:
The ten teams of finalists will be announced live from the Exhibit Hall at the Japan Foundation-Toronto during the Reel Asian Press & Media Launch on Tuesday, October 13, 2009.

* Estimated prize values based on standard industry rates.

* Please forward widely to your contacts *

Siya Chen
Industry Series Coordinator
Toronto Reel Asian International Film Festival
401 Richmond Street West, Suite 309
Toronto, ON M5V 3A8
T 416-703-9333 | F 416-703-9986
industry@reelasian.com | www.reelasian.com

The Canadian Film Institute, working in partnership with the International Polar Year, is seeking entries for the International Polar Year Film Festival. The International Polar Year is an event with over 60 countries involved in an intense program of scientific research focused on the Arctic and Antarctic. This special film festival will bring together an international selection of works exploring the issues and activities of the International Polar Year. Ranging from educational works (documentaries, industrial films) to fiction films, the Festival will celebrate the rich diversity of the polar region, as well as examine the many challenges it faces in the 21st century.

The Canadian Film Institute, committed to programming a dynamic and diverse selection of works related to the representation of the Arctic, welcomes submissions from all film and video practices, including science and research.

The IPY Film Festival will take place from September 28-30 in the Auditorium of Library and Archives Canada in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.

Submissions must be sent in a playable DVD or video format (NTSC). Send submissions as soon as possible, as the process of selection is already underway. If possible, please include a director's biography, filmography, a film still, contact information, and any other relevant information.

Send submissions to:

CANADIAN FILM INSTITUTE
2 Daly Avenue | Suite 120
Ottawa | Ontario | Canada
K1N 6E2
Tel: 613.232.6727
Fax: 613.232.6315
info@cfi-icf.ca

Contact Scott Birdwise of the Canadian Film Institute at birdwise@cfi-icf.ca  for further information.

THE NFB-TVO CALLING CARD PROGRAM INVITES ONTARIANS TO MAKE NEW-MEDIA AND BROADCAST DOCUMENTARIES.

Winning teams receive $45,000, mentorship and an online or broadcast launch.

Documentaries must be original, character-driven narratives with a focus on social, political and cultural issues.  Submission deadline is August 31st, 2009.

For more information please visit:  NFB.ca/callingcard