11 CANADIAN FILMS ON BERLIN FESTIVAL SLATE

CBC Prince Edward Island, Canada
Feb 8 2007

Eleven Canadian films, including works by Guy Maddin and Bruce
McDonald, are official entrants at this year’s Berlin International
Film Festival, which begins on Thursday.

The festival opens with a French-British co-production, La Môme: La
Vie En Rose, a tragic screen portrait of singer Edith Piaf directed
by Olivier Dahan.

There are 26 films in competition for the Golden Bear, the festival’s
highest honour, including Clint Eastwood’s Letters from Iwo Jima,
Israeli production Beaufort and China’s Lost in Beijing.

A Canada-U.S. co-production, When a Man Falls in the Forest (Quand
un homme tombe dans la foret), an ensemble drama directed by Ryan
Eslinger about four characters trying to make sense of their lives,
is also in the main competition.

Canadian director Bruce McDonald’s The Tracey Fragments, a look into
the "fragmented emotional world" of a teenage girl, will open the
festival’s Panorama program on Thursday.

McDonald is known in Canada as the director of films such as Hard Core
Logo, Highway 61, Dance Me Outside and Roadkill. His TV credits include
directing Lexx and episodes of This is Wonderland and Queer as Folk.

The Panorama program, which typically highlights more art house-type
films, also features the European premiere of Canadian Sarah Polley’s
Away From Her and the world premiere of Clement Virgo’s Poor Boy’s
Game.

Away From Her, starring Gordon Pinsent and Julie Christie, is based on
an Alice Munro story about an elderly couple dealing with Alzheimer’s
disease.

Poor Boy’s Game is about a man just released from prison who is drawn
into a morass of revenge when he goes back to his old community.

There are another five feature films from Canada in the Forum program,
which focuses on experimental and yet-to-be-discovered filmmakers:

Brand Upon the Brain! by Guy Maddin, a family drama set on a lonely
island.

Dans les villes (In the Cities) by Catherine Martin, a film about
the loneliness of city life set in Montreal.

L’Esprit des lieux (The Spirit of Places) by Catherine Martin, which
examines the work of photographer Gabor Szilasi in rural Quebec.

Faro by Salif Traore, a France/Canada/Mali/Burkina Faso production
about an illegimate boy trying to find a place for himself in
village life.

Stone Time Touch by Garine Torossian, about a Canadian woman, played
by Arsinee Khanjian, who travels back to her homeland in Armenia.

Maddin, director of 25 films including The Saddest Music in the World,
is to write a blog for CBC.ca while in Berlin.

Among the short films are John Price’s gun/play and View of the Falls
from the Canadian Side.

Thirteen recent Canadian features will be presented to international
buyers in Telefilm’s Perspective Canada showcase, part of the European
Film Market, the festival’s booming industry market.

The Berlin International Film Festival is one of Europe’s top three
festivals, with Venice and Cannes.

Many stars of Hollywood and Europe are expected to attend, including
Oscar nominees Judi Dench, Cate Blanchett and Clint Eastwood.

Also expected to be in Berlin are Sharon Stone, Lauren Bacall, Robert
De Niro and Matt Damon.

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