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GlobalFest FilmFest

January 29 -31, 2010

Plaza Theatre - 1133 Kensington Rd. N.W.

Currently in its sixth year, our GlobalFest FilmFest features both narrative and documentary films by emerging and experienced filmmakers of all nationalities, with a unique cultural perspective from around the globe.

Come and be exposed.

Ticket Prices: $15 - Reception & Screening of Official Rejection; $10 - All other films; Receive a free ticket to GlobalFest's Finale night, Saturday, August 28, 2010, with each general admission purchased! ($15 value)
Films and Schedule: Friday, January 29th; Official Rejection
5:00 pm Pre-Screening Reception at The Yardhouse - 1136 Kensington Rd NW
7:00 pm Screening followed by Q & A with Producer/Animator Scott Storm; Queer China, Comrade China
9:45 pm Calgary Dollars accepted for this screening; Saturday, January 30th; Roadsworth: Crossing the Line
7:00 pm; Assume Nothing
9:00 pm presented by Fairy Tales Presentation Society; Sunday, January 31st – Finale Screening; Only When I Dance
3:00 pm

schedule:

GlobalFest FilmFest: Jan. 29, 30 and 31
Human Rights Forum presented by TD: May 3 - 7
Chinatown Street Festival: Aug. 14
Trico Homes International Fireworks Festival & Golder Associates OneWorld Festival: Aug. 20, 22, 24, 26, 28
Albert Park/Radisson Heights - Forest Lawn Centennial Homecoming: Aug. 28

Tickets are also available for purchase at all Calgary Co-op Customer Service offices and Marlborough Mall

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Friday, January 29th

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Official Rejection - 14A

CALGARY PREMIERE

USA; Running time: 107 min

Director/Writer/Editor/Producer: Paul Osborne

Producer/Animator: Scott Storm

Producer: Leslie Wimmer

Composer: Joe Kraemer

Website: www.officialrejectiondocumentary.com

Winner Best Documentary - deadCENTER Film Festival
Winner Best Documentary - Oxford International Film Festival
Winner Best Documentary - Flint Film Festival
Winner Audience Award - Best Documentary - Idaho International Film Festival
Winner Audience Award Best Documentary - Fort Lauderdale International Film Festival
Winner Stand Out Award - Hell's Half Mile Film & Music Festival
Winner Spirits of Independents Award - Fort Lauderdale International Film Festival
Winner Domani Award Emerging Filmmaker of the Year Paul Osborne - Visionfest
Winner Most Educational - Docufest Atlanta

"When the shooting stops, the war begins."

Following filmmakers Scott Storm and Paul Osborne through the festival trenches over a 12-month period, Official Rejection is a compelling expose that takes a lighthearted look at the politics, pitfalls, costs and personal sacrifices made chasing the independent film festival circuit.

We'll hear from directors, producers, actors, experts and moviegoers about their experiences, and also explore the difficulties that festival programmers and producers face in trying to maintain the integrity of independent production in an atmosphere of ever-increasing commercialism dependent on adequate media and distributor attention.

In 1979 Steven Spielberg was quoted in Time Magazine as saying that "the most expensive habit in the world is celluloid, not heroin, and I need a fix every few years." It's easy to be an addict when your production budget is $200 million and you're guaranteed worldwide distribution, but what about the legions of less- fortunate "celluloid junkies" fighting to get their films out there without guaranteed backing or industry connections? Is the film festival circuit still a viable option?

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Queer China, Comrade China - 14A

Alberta Premiere

China: Running time: 60 min

Director/Producer: Cui Zi'en

Executive Producers: Guo Yaqi; Zhu Rikun

Editors: Yang Jin; Zhang Jun

Translation: Chris Berry; Bao Hongwei; Zou Peng

Cinematography: Yang Jin; Li Ziqiang; Fan Popo

Sound: Wang Peng; Yu Bo; Ma Sai

Music: Qiaoqiao

Winner Audience Award Best Documentary - Turino GLBT Film Festival
Official Opening Night Selection - Shanghai PRIDE
Official Selection - Pusan International Film Festival
Official Selection - Beijing Queer Film Festival

Since the dramatic social reforms of China started over twenty years ago, gender and sexual orientations aregetting increasing public attention. Male sexism and heterosexual hegemony are confronted with severe challenges from feminism and queerness. Progresses in sexual attitudes, behavior and media representations have been fumbling and stumbling its way among diehard conservatives in the 30 years of the China's new history.

A revolutionary and controversial documentary, Queer China, Comrade China traces and documents the homosexual equal rights movement in China and highlights the historical moments such as the decriminalization of homosexuality, along with a visual report of Chinese people's conception shifts and positive media exposures. The film also presents the achievements in legislation, academic research, literary creation in publication, artistic works on display and the joint efforts of combating HIV/AIDS by sexologists, medical professionals and community-based LGBT groups.

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Saturday, January 30th

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Roadsworth: Crossing the Line - PG

Canada: Running time: 72 min

Director: Alan Kohl

Producers: Sergeo Kirby; Adam Symansky (NFB); Sarah Spring

Executive Producer: Ravida Din (NFB)

Associate Producer: Adriana Kelder

Writers: Matthew Tomlinson; Sarah Spring

Editors: Chantal Lussier; Etienne Gagnon; CarlFreed

Music: Mitchell Akiyama; Miracle Fortress; Broken Social Scene

Website: www.nfb.ca/roadsworth

Official Selection - SXSW
Official Selection - Hot Docs

"Art is always a risk..."

Over a period of three years, stencil artist Peter Gibson, aka Roadsworth, made his mark on Montreal in the early hours of the morning by launching a self-described "attack on the streets." Armed with spray paint and handmade stencils, he began to play with the language of the streets, overlaying city asphalt markings with his own images: a crosswalk became a giant boot print, vines choked up traffic dividers, and electrical plugs filled parking spots. Each piece begged the question, Who owns public space?

Roadsworth: Crossing the Line details the artist's prosecution at home and his travels abroad to France, London and Amsterdam, as he imprints himself legitimately (and illegitimately) on foreign streets. The film reflects Roadsworth's personal struggle to defend his work, define himself as an artist and address difficult questions about art and freedom of expression.

With Roadsworth: Crossing the Line, filmmaker Alan Kohl provides a portrait of an artist who provokes debate about the significance of urban spaces in cities all around the world.

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Assume Nothing - 14A

Alberta Premiere

New Zealand: Running time: 81 min

Director/Producer/Editor/Super-8 Animator: Kirsty MacDonald

Executive Producer: Dorthe Scheffman

Sound/Camera/Super-8 Animator: Christopher Pryor

VFX Animator: George Port (PRP-VFX)

2-D Animator: James Frankham

Music: Claire Cowan; James Webster; Aphex Twin (Richard James)

Special Mention - DOCNZ Documentary Film Festival
Official Selection - Rhode Island International Film Festival
Official Selection - DOK Leipzig
Official Selection- Mix Brasil Film Festival of Sexual Diversity

Focusing on the art, photography and performances of five "alternative" gender artists of Maori, Samoan-Japanese, and Pakeha-European descent, Assume Nothing poses the questions: "What if "male" and "female" are not the only options? How do other genders express themselves through art?"

Assume Nothing is inspired by acclaimed NZ photographer Rebecca Swan's book "Assume Nothing", which reveals an extraordinary diversity of gender identity from the Pacific region. Assume Nothing creates "living" portraits of four artists featured in Swan's work, woven together by a portrait of Swan herself. The featured Maori, Samoan-Japanese, and Pakeha-European artists weave tales of growing up in gender identities that fall outside conventional Western definitions of masculinity and femininity.

Meticulously crafted, playful and provocative, Assume Nothing travels from Wellington's Red Rocks to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York to explore the potent creative world that flourishes between and beyond genders.

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Sunday, January 31st

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Only When I Dance - PG

Alberta Premiere

Brazil: Running time: 78 min

Director: Beadie Finzi

Producers: Giorgia Lo Savio; Nikki Parrott

Editors: Alan Levy; Felipe Lacerda

Camera: Beadie Finzi

Music: Stephen Hilton

Website: www.onlywhenidance.com

Nomination - Rose D'Or
Official Competition - Tribeca Film Festival
Official Competition - Edinburgh International Film Festival
Official Selection - Vancouver International Film Festival
Official Selection - SILVERDOCS
Official Selection - Rio Film Festival
Official Selection - Warsaw Film Festival
Official Selection - Sheffield DocFest International Film Festival

Only When I Dance is the story of two teenagers trying to realize an extraordinary dream. One girl and one boy, both black and poor, are planning to dance their way out of one of the most violent favelas in Rio de Janeiro.

Granted scholarships to train at the Centro de Dance Rio, one of the most rigorous and prestigious ballet schools in Brazil, Isabela and Irlan's natural talent for ballet is about to transform their lives. This documentary follows them at a monumental turning point in their young lives.

For Irlan at age 17 turning 18, he needs a break now, or else the grinding poverty, drugs and violence of the favela will claim him. Isabela's situation is more urgent still: as a female ballet dancer, the competition is far fiercer, and the very colour of her skin means she will never be able to dance ballet professionally in Brasil, where black ballerinas are unheard of. Her only hope is to win a place at a school in America or Europe where she will have a chance of a career, or join the ranks of the favela's unemployed and/or pregnant young girls.

A classic coming of age story, Only When I Dance is about chasing a dream to dance the most perfect dance against all the odds of race and of circumstance, and the price you must pay for talent, ambition and success.

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