This weekend marks the 3rd edition of the Toronto Romanian Film Festival, which is put on by the ToRo Arts Group. This is an exciting opportunity to catch up on the latest in Romanian cinema, which has been among the world's best as of late. The festival began with a panel discussion on Thursday, but has its official opening Friday night at 6:30pm with Amintiri Din Epoca de Aur (Tales From the Golden Age), which is Cristian Mungiu's followup to the critically acclaimed 4 Luni, 3 Saptamâni si 2 Zile (4 Months, 3 Weeks, and Two Days). But while he wrote and produced this latest film, he shared the directing credits with Constantin Popescu Jr, Razvan Marculescu, Ioana Uricaru and Hanno Hofer. The film is an anthology of 5 short films, each by a different (though unnamed) director. For more information, go to the Toro Arts website.
From Friday, February 5 - Thursday February 11th, the first ever Great Digital Film Festival will take place at Scotiabank Theatre on Richmond Street W. Classics such as The Godfather, Part I and Part II; Amadeus; 2001: A Space Odyssey; The Wizard of Oz; The Silence of the Lambs; and The Matrix will be projected digitally on the big screen. Tickets are $5 per screening, less if you buy more. Details at Great Digital Film Festival.
The Canadian Film Centre celebrates Black History Month with a special screening of In the Heat of the Night at Isabel Bader Theatre. The event will be hosted by noted director Clement Virgo (Rude) and will feature special guests Norman Jewison and Lee Daniels, recently nominated for his film Precious: Based on the Novel "Push" by Sapphire. For more details, click here.
The Caribbean Tales Youth Film Festival is an spotlight on Africentric films aimed at high school and university students and educators. It is ongoing until February 25th. For more information, go to http://ctyfilmfestival.com/
Invisible City, the winner of the Best Canadian Feature Documentary award at Hot Docs 2009, plays at the Royal Cinema until Thursday, Feb. 11. Director Hubert Davis was nominiated for an Academy award with his 2004 documentary short Hardwood.
"Between a Rock and a Hard Place: Ukrainian Cinema Since Independence" is a screening and lecture series focusing on Ukrainian cinema as it tries to shake off the crippling legacy of the Soviet past and adapt to today's fast-moving reality. On February 11, Taras Bulba screens at 7pm, followed by a panel discussion. February 12, 6-8pm, screening and discussion of Birds of Paradise. Free admission; the films will be shown in its Russian/Ukrainian language version with English subtitles. Visit here for more information.
I just saw the first screening this afternoon for the Great Digital Festival 2010. The Godfather looked terrific in the pristine 2k digital projection. There were a couple of very momentary glitches. But amazing to see the clarity and the little details (like Robert Duvall's eyes subtly tearing up when he's told Vito Corleone was shot) which are not really noticeable on a small screen. It plays again on Monday as a double feature with Part 2.
ReplyDeleteFantastic! Amadeus in 2K!
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