Low-budget gamble by MATTHEW HAYS With Winter Lily, the local film production company Aska embarks on a risky, ambitious but admirable mission. The company hopes to bolster young local talent by backing a series of low-budget, B-movie-style film projects.  The series, at one film and counting, has been dubbed B&B Films. At first, a producer's note pertaining to the films seems to imply the B in the title is meant to evoke the films of B-movie tycoon Roger Corman. But in fact, the label stuck because each film will apparently be set in a bed and breakfast.  As a debut effort for the series, Winter Lily has its moments but is understandably uneven. A photographer arrives at a B&B in New England, only to find that one of the elusive proprietors at the inn has a spooky, mysterious past. The film's press release boasts that the film "evokes the claustrophobic atmosphere of Roman Polanski's films."  Er... not quite. But the film does offer performances by some choice Quebec thespian talent, including Dorothee Berryman (The Decline of the American Empire), Danny Gilmore (Lilies) and J.P. Bergeron (Free Money) and director Roshell Bissett exploits their talents well. Winter Lily opens next Friday, Feb. 11.  The programmers at the Cinema du Parc are intelligently holding a series of screenings honoring the late Japanese demigod director Kurosawa. The treat begins this Saturday, Feb. 5 with Rashomon, the auteur's 1950 breakthrough film. If you haven't seen this Oscar-winner, which concerns four different perspectives on a brutal rape, go now! See repertory listings for details.  When HIV+ experimental filmmaker Mike Hoolbloom spoke at Concordia's HIV/AIDS lecture series last year, he captivated the audience with his discourse about the virus and its effects on his creative process. After raves on the fest circuit, his latest feature, Panic Bodies, opens this Friday, Feb. 4 at Ex-Centris. See repertory listings for showtimes.  Finally, like the good film critic and cheerleader that I am, I dutifully tuned into the Genie Awards last Sunday night to check on our homegrown film talent. I was pleased with many of the choices, including the endearing Catherine O'Hara, who won the Best Supporting Actress trophy for her dramatic work in The Life Before This. Conventional wisdom has it that Canuck national cinema has matured and that our films have improved markedly since 20 years ago, when the Genies were first held (a point I wouldn't argue). It would be appreciated, however, if the folks behind this show would actually hire some real writers, so we don't have to sit through the kind of witless, dreary, pathetic shtick that presenters were forced to dredge up last Sunday. At about half-time, my faithful TV-watching companion retreated from the broadcast into something more uplifting (a book of Holocaust stories). Really, despite all those persistent jokes surrounding the nation's film biz, our filmmakers deserve better. : COMMENTS: matt_hays@babylon.montreal.qc.ca