Still Nouveau after all these years

>> The film fest that never stops changing celebrates a 30th birthday

by MATTHEW HAYS

Hard as it may be to sum up, perhaps the word that most springs to mind when looking back over 30 years of the International Festival of New Cinema and New Media is evolution.

In the 11 years I've been attending alone, the fest has altered its placement on the calendar a couple of times, shifted venues, suffered a family feud, gained a serious corporate sugar daddy and changed names with a frequency that seems annual.

But the fest has endured, and, if this year's lineup is any indication, it is has done so due to the keen curatorship reflected in the films collected. The fest has gained from its close proximity to the Toronto International Fest, allowing the very best of that festival--all those movies that managed, mysteriously, to sidestep the World event--to screen here. (This year those include Mulholland Drive, La Pianiste and Dog Days.) But the New curators must also be commended for a tantalizing roster of short films and an entire section dedicated to digital works, as well as a series of panel discussions on the art and industry of the biz.

Perhaps one of the pleasingly strangest films I've seen this year plays at the fest. Dog Days is Ulrich Seidl's brutal, bizarre and unforgettable attack on the mundane evil that lurks in the hearts of his fellow Austrians. Set in the 'burbs of Vienna, the film features a deranged, freakish woman who follows people around and harangues them with endless, inane questions; a man who degrades and rapes his older girlfriend; and an isolated man who cherishes his vicious guard dog. It's strange stuff, not quite as sordid as the work of Harmony Korine, but certainly recalling it. Seidl shoots it all in such a way as to make it all seem real, making matters all the more unpleasant.

An Australian legend is brought to life in Chopper, a much-talked-about and highly controversial film about Mark Read, a serial killer who became an adulated media star in his native Down Under in the '70s. Though I haven't yet seen it, this film is dividing audiences between those declaring it visionary directing (by first-timer Andrew Dominik) and those who dismiss it as shallow. Another film bound to inspire argument is Patrick Stettner's feature debut, The Business of Strangers. If nothing else, audiences will be able to agree on one thing: the performances, by Stockard Channing and Julia Stiles, are amazing. Channing plays a corporate go-getter who's managed to claw her way to the top in a sleazy man's world while suffering the personal fallout from the struggle. Stiles is her assistant, who's fired after showing up late for a presentation. Feeling badly, Channing bumps into Stiles in a bar and apologizes for her behaviour. The two become entangled in conversation, revealing deep, dark secrets about themselves. Channing recounts the sacrifices she's made in order to make it in the nasty male corporate order. Stettner plays up the sexual tension between the two women and maps out an impressive mind game here. Equal parts funny and brutal, Business approaches gender politics from a new, surprising angle.

Real on reel

Among the documentaries, Much Ado About Something offers a look into alternate theories surrounding the life of Shakespeare. Was it really Shakespeare who wrote all those plays? A new theory, surrounding Christopher Marlowe, is examined. This one intrigues me as much for its content as for its director, Michael Rubbo, the man behind so many now-classic NFB films--Sad Song of Yellow Skin, Waiting for Fidel and Daisy: Story of a Facelift among them--who has primarily been making children's films lately. His return to documentary territory is welcome. Another return to common ground comes with Daniel Cross's S.P.I.T.: Squeegee Punks in Traffic. Cross handed a camera to a squeegee known as "Roach," and thus has insider access to the life of the much-reviled group as they attempt to scrape up money and elude a hostile police force. Cross brought great sensitivity and intelligence to his previous work on the underprivileged, in such films as Danny Boy and The Street. Again, here he has proven a vital advocate for the disenfranchised. Crucial viewing for Montrealers, seeing as the overly zealous clampdown on squeegees seen in the film should probably be an election issue if it isn't already.

Donigan Cumming has created a daring experimental documentary with his My Dinner with Weegee. In it, Cumming cuts between reflections on his own life and memories of Marty, a 70-year-old alcoholic who recounts his memories of New York, including his brushes with famous crime photographer Weegee. Much of the film feels profoundly sad, as Donovan spares no unpleasant detail, making for a sobering look at someone so attached to the bottle. Cumming has created a truly unique film here, a smart, uncompromising and poetic 37 minutes of video.

Also of note in the doc category is Fassbinder Was the Only One for Me, Rosa von Praunheim's loving feature-length ode to the legendary late German deity. Though contemporaries, the two certainly had different cinematic visions, and the idea of von Praunheim on Fassbinder is something I'm dying to get a glimpse of.

Punch the universal clock

With The Universal Clock, Toronto-based director Geoff Bowie explores the working ethic of famed documentary filmmaker Peter Watkins. Watkins is perhaps best known for his '67 faux doc The War Game (that's not to be confused with the '83 Matthew Broderick vehicle WarGames), in which he created an ultrarealistic portrait of Britain coping after a nuclear blast. The film had been commissioned by the BBC, but they pulled the plug on actually airing it after seeing what Watkins had come up with: a brutally frank and honest look at what life would probably look like after such an attack. The film did gain some distribution in cinemas and then won a best-doc Oscar. Universal Clock gets its title from Watkins' resistance to the tyranny of TV, which dictates that all documentaries clock in at 47 minutes (a TV hour with room for commercials). Watkins has just released his La Commune, a six-hour opus to air on French TV. The huge cast are interviewed about the process of making the film with Watkins. Bowie looks for answers in the enigmatic Watkins and, not surprisingly, uncovers as many questions as answers. An enthralling look at an extremely important filmmaker.

Southern Comfort already screened at Image&Nation and had an airdate on Newsworld, but if you still haven't seen it, check it out. This is a feature doc about Robert Eads, a male-to-female transsexual who is diagnosed with ovarian cancer. As his health declines, he seeks medical help, but is turned away by numerous doctors, worried his trannie status may put off their other patients. Kate Davis's film is one of those remarkable, unforgettable doc portraits, destined to become part of the canon at film schools.

Local heroes

Actor Stephanie Morgenstern, who has regaled audiences with her fine performances in everything from Forbidden Love to The Sweet Hereafter to Maelström, directs a taut, intelligent and sensual film, Remembrance, which unreels this year. Set in '42, the film stars Morgenstern herself as a woman out to recruit memory savant Mark Ellis. Gorgeously shot and edited, Remembrance feels like a dreamy memory itself.

Montrealers will have their first opportunity to see Atanarjuat, the first feature made entirely by Inuits. Full of terrific performances, this 172-minute feature, directed by sculptor Zacharias Kunuk, writes an entirely new chapter in Canuck film history. An award-winner at Cannes and sold out at the Toronto Fest, tickets for this premiere will undoubtedly be packed; get yours early.

Those interested in the home grown will find reason to cheer in Un Crabe dans la tête, André Turpin's invigorating comedy about life, love and how a brush with death can change everything. Spirited and intelligently done, Crabe stars local hero David La Haye. For my money, the best Quebec entry since Maelström, worthy of Jutra and Genie honours.

Fans of the quirky Fast Food, Fast Women will want to check out filmmaker Amos Kollek's latest, the equally quirky Queenie in Love. The film follows the odd adventures of wacky 24-year-old Queenie, a social worker with a penchant for practical jokes who desperately wants to make it as a thespian. A light and frothy comedy, one that will undoubtedly feel odd, watching its pre-9-11 images of New York.