Maelstroem: Oscar or bust by MATTHEW HAYS There's impressive Oscar news on the home front. Maelstroem, the second feature from Montreal-based director Denis Villeneuve, has been chosen by the Canadian pre-selection committee as Canada's official entry in the Best-foreign-language film Oscar race. This marks the second time around for Villeneuve; his first feature, August 32nd on Earth, also made Canada's short list, though it didn't make the Academy's final cut to the nomination stage. "This is a beautiful compliment," Villeneuve told me on Wednesday, after the announcement had been made. "It's a breath of fresh air for the movie. I think it's quite an audacious move for Canada, quite frankly. Maelstroem doesn't have the look of the usual mainstream film." While the news is undeniably good for the filmmakers, being put forth for official consideration by the Canadian government is no guarantee of an Oscar win. Only two official Canadian entries have ended up with nominations, '87's The Decline of the American Empire and '90's Jesus of Montreal, both of which were directed by Denys Arcand and neither of which won. Montrealer Sabrina Mathews' documentary, A Time of Love and War, has its Montreal premiere this Friday, Nov. 3 at the NFB's downtown cinema. Mathews, a Montreal artist, travelled to Nicaragua during the country's bitter civil war over a decade ago. There, she befriended Martha Aguilar and the two corresponded for years. Mathews returned to Montreal, while Aguilar went to the Soviet Union to study. The film, based on a visit Mathews made to Nicaragua recently to see Aguilar again, looks back over the intense changes both women went through in a decade. Relationship breakups, political upheavals and financial crises (Mathews smuggled U.S. dollars to Aguilar in postcards during hard times) are all recounted in the words captured by the correspondence between the two women. Mathews adeptly makes the personal political (and vice versa) with her film. Though the film has already run on TV on the Women's Television Network (WTN) in the rest of the country, Quebec still doesn't carry the channel, thus we are only seeing this insightful doc now. A Time of Love and War screens this Friday, Nov. 3 until Nov. 9 at the NFB, 7 p.m. (English version) and 9 p.m. (French version). Finally, I've been fed some seriously exciting information for those of us Charlie's Angels freaks who've been somewhat disappointed by the feature film version (see my review on page 31). Look for the truly alternative peek at the trash trio--apparently some dyke guerrilla filmmakers in Toronto are now working on their own lesbian version, tentatively titled Almost Angels. This edition has three glamourous lipstick lesbians taking over the Townsend Agency, castrating Charlie and becoming their own bosses. The writers have sworn they'll strive to be anything but politically correct--stay tuned, I'll let you know where and when you can see the finished product. COMMENTS: mhays@mtl-mirror.com