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Umberto Eco: A Library of the World

Umberto Eco: A Library of the World

Theatrical starts July 13, 2023

2022 - 80 MINUTES
A FILM BY DAVIDE FERRARIO

A documentary immersion into all things Eco, Davide Ferrario’s film takes us on a tour of Umberto Eco’s private library, guided by the author himself. Combining new footage with material he shot with Eco in 2015 for a video installation for the Venice Biennale, Ferrario documents this incredible collection and the man who amassed it. As Eco leads us among the more than 50,000 volumes, we also gain insight into the library of the mind of this vastly prolific and original thinker.

The Witches of the Orient

The Witches of the Orient

Theatrical starts September 3, 2021

FRANCE - 2021 - 100 MINUTES - IN JAPANESE WITH ENGLISH SUBTITLES
A FILM BY JULIEN FARAUT

How does a Japanese women’s volleyball team from the late 1950s become an international sensation, feminist role models, the subject of a wildly popular comic book and a still-influential anime? This stranger-than-fiction story is dynamically told by Julien Faraut (JOHN McENROE: IN THE REALM OF PERFECTION), with an ironic twist on the original demeaning moniker, Oriental Witches. A group of Osaka textile workers are transformed into a fiercely competitive volleyball team by their astonishingly ruthless coach whose unconventional techniques emphasize speed and aggression. A record-setting winning streak and a dramatic 1964 Tokyo Olympics triumph follow. Wonderful archival footage of the women in training and on the court, animated versions of their championship games, and moving interviews with the women today are set to a pulsating electronic score.

Carmine Street Guitars

Carmine Street Guitars

THEATRICAL STARTS April 5, 2019

4K - 5.1 - COLOUR - 80 MIN - Canada
PRODUCED AND DIRECTED BY RON MANN
EXECUTIVE PRODUCER: CARTER LOGAN, MICHAEL HIRSHWRITER: LEN BLUM

Once the centre of the New York bohemia, Greenwich Village is now home to lux restaurants, and buzzer door clothing stores catering to the nouveau riche. But one shop in the heart of the Village remains resilient to the encroaching gentrification: Carmine Street Guitars.

Comic Book Confidential

Comic Book Confidential

CANADA – 1988 – 90 MIN – COLOUR & B&W - DOCUMENTARY - IN ENGLISH
FILM BY RON MANN

COMIC BOOK CONFIDENTIAL is a feature-length documentary that profiles twenty-two of the most significant artists and writers working in comic books, graphic novels and strip-art in North America today.

In an entertaining and informative combination of interviews, historical footage and state-of-the-art animation techniques, Comic Book Confidential provides a positive answer to that burning existential question of the late twentieth century first posed by Zippy the Pinhead: "Are we having fun yet?"

Touch the Sound

Touch the Sound

GERMANY / UNITED KINGDOM – 2004 – 98 MIN – COLOUR - FEATURE - IN ENGLISH
A FILM BY THOMAS RIEDELSHEIMER

At the heart of every life form there is rhythm, movement, flow, change, renewal and repetition are all based on rhythm. It is only in rhythm, that we can experience time. Without vibration, without oscillation, there is statis. There is nothing. Stbility and solidity are illusions. Everything oscillates and vibrates — from the bridge of steel and concrete, to the energy shells around an atom. Even colours oscillate at different frequencies. We recognize and experience our world through rhuthm. Everything vibrates — everything speaks. It is, in essence, a universe of sound.

Evelyn Glennnie lives in this universe in a way that almost no one else does. Together with her, this film dives into the world of sound and rhythm — and into the world of our origins.

Hearing images, seeing sound.

Evenly Glennie embarks upon the recording of a new CD, within the four walls of a vast, decaying, industrial warehouse. She is the top classical, solo percussionist in the world — a role virtually of her own creation; a musician especially for whom an entire corpus of works has been written, yet, for this CD the pages of the score are blank. She sits in this light-filled space with Fred Frith — the great master of avant-garde music. Together they will create a CD as an improvisational exploration of sound and image using the space around them, as well as their instuments and intuititve talent, they follow this twin-track route. Hearing images. Seeing sound.

Altman

Altman

CANADA – 2014 – 95 MIN – COLOUR - FEATURE - IN ENGLISH
A FILM BY RON MANN

Maverick. Auteur. Rebel. Innovator. Storyteller. Rambler. Gambler. Mad man. Family man. Director. Artist.

Robert Altmanʼs life and career contained multitudes. This father of American independent cinema left an indelible mark, not merely on the evolution of his art form, but also on the western zeitgeist.ALTMAN, Canadian director Ron Mannʼs new documentary, explores and celebrates the epic fifty-year redemptive journey of one of the most important and influential filmmakers in the history of the medium.

Grass

Grass

CANADA – 1999 – 80 MIN – COLOUR - B&W - STEREO - DOCUMENTARY - IN ENGLISH
A FILM BY RON MANN
FEATURING: WOODY HARRELSON AND 60 MILLION POT SMOKERS

Years in the making... 

Ron Mann's much-anticipated documentary presents a humorous and surprisingly balanced history of recreational MARIJUANA use in the late 20th century.

Those who remain pure will see the degradation you've been missing. Those who have succumbed to temptation will learn how a nice person like yourself became a dangerous criminal.

Al Purdy Was Here

Al Purdy Was Here

CANADA – 2015 – 92 MIN – COLOUR & B&W - FEATURE - IN ENGLISH
A FILM BY BRIAN D. JOHNSON

What does it take to carve out a career as a poet? Why on earth would anyone attempt it? Al Purdy Was Here is the portrait of an artist driven to become a great Canadian poet at a time when the category barely existed. Al Purdy is a charismatic tower of contradictions: a "sensitive man" who whips out a poem in a bar fight; a factory worker who finds grace in an Arctic flower; a mentor to young writers who remained a stranger to sons. Purdy has been called the last, best and most Canadian poet. "Voice of the Land" is engraved on his tombstone. But before finding fame as the country’s unofficial poet laureate, he endured years of poverty and failure.