Big Meat Eater, April 18th, Canadian Film Day 2018

Big Meat Eater, Bytowne Cinema, 9:15pm, PG, 82mins

Actor Andrew Gillies will introduce the film

In addition to being in dozens of movies and TV shows since Big Meat Eater, including Orphan Black and 12 Monkeys, Andrew was at the Shaw Festival for 12 seasons and acted in numerous Stratford and other theatrical productions. Big Meat Eater was one of his first features.

"Pleased to meet you! Meat to please you!"

1982

Directed by:

Chris Windsor
Produced by Laurence Keane

Starring:

George Dawson

Andrew Gillies

Clarence 'Big' Miller

Sharon Wahl

Ida Carnevali

Stephen Dimopoulos

Georgina Hegedos

Howard Taylor

Screenplay by:

Phil Savath, Laurence Keane and Chris Windsor

 

This cult-comedy/sci-fi/horror/musical was filmed in White Rock British Columbia in late 1980 and early 1981. True to its kitschy intentions, Big Meat Eater plays like an Ed Wood film mixed with a punk rock musical. It pioneers similar satirical terrain later explored by The Kids in the Hall, and Canadian filmmakers John Paizs and Guy Maddin. Set in the fictional small town of Burquitlam, B.C., the plot features eccentric characters brought together by a series of unlikely events centring around the local butcher shop. 

 George Dawson plays local butcher Bob Sanderson, a man with unfailing faith in a brighter future for his community. His faith is tested when he hires a mysterious hulking assistant, Abdulla the Turk, who has a propensity for butchering that goes slightly beyond the normal range of professional behaviour. Abdullah is played by Edmonton jazz musician Clarence 'Big' Miller, with a genuinely frightening intensity. The film also stars Canadian T.V. stalwart Andrew Gillies, who audiences may recognize from his recent appearances on Orphan Black and Murdoch Mysteries. He plays a teenage science-genius from a family of Moldovan immigrants whose zeal to "fit in" to Canadian society causes him to overshoot and adopt a "More-British than the British" English accent. His strange experiments with a stolen car plays a key role in the plot, as do his sister Nina's more conventional desires to go on a regular teenage date. But that's just the vague outline of a plot that ranges from mildly bizarre to completely absurd. Yet it all holds together in a pleasing, and inescapably entertaining, Canadian way. Anyone looking for a deeper meaning can certainly find an intelligent exploration of the complexities of small town economics, political corruption, prejudice, and crime. With a heavy dose of music, of course.

Big Meat Eater was released theatrically in Canada, the U.S. and the United Kingdom. Shot on 16mm film, it was "blown up" and finished in 35mm for distribution. In the U.K. it received rave reviews and gained a cult following with decent box office. In the United States it also had positive reviews, notably in Variety, but the distributor, New Line Cinema, managed to lose the only 35mm internegative in existence, limiting the number of release prints in that country. Finally, after years of relative obscurity, Library and Archives Canada embarked on a full digital restoration of the film, painstakingly recreating the director's cut. The original 16mm film elements were scanned in 2k High Definition, scenes were re-synched, colour-timed and edited in proper sequence with a digitally remixed soundtrack, exceeding the quality of the original release. There's no better way to discover the magic, and the delightful horror, of the Big Meat Eater.

Presented by The Lost Dominion Screening Collective
Digital Restoration by Library and Archives Canada

Films from EXPO67 May 28th/29th Bytowne Cinema

The six panel film "We Are Young"

The Lost Dominion Screening Collective is co-presenting this series with Cinemaexpo67 and in collaboration with La cinémathèque québécoise

A collection of five shorts, all of which were made for pavillions at Expo 67, the centrepiece of Canada's 1967 centenary. To show off the country and/or provinces, these films used cutting edge split-screen technology and multiple projections in purpose-built auditoria. They're plot-free but dense with images – thousands of things to see per minute.

"Polar Life"

Here, the multi-image formats have been digitally remastered to be playable on a standard screen, but there's still a jaw-dropping amount of footage on display. The Ontario film, "A Place To Stand" won an Oscar. This is a unique opportunity to see these groundbreaking specialty films.

A frame from "A Place to Stand"

The shorts, not necessarily in this order, will be:

Polar Life (20 min.)
Canada Is My Piano (7 min.)
A Place To Stand (17 min.)
We Are Young (20 min.)
Plus a surprise bonus short. 
For more details on the films please go to cinemaexpo67

"Canada is My Piano"

The program runs about 85mins.

The films screen at the Bytowne Cinema in Ottawa on May 28th at 2pm and May 29th at 8:50pm
The screenings are free and open to all.

Skip Tracer April 21st Bytowne Cinema 9:15pm

SKIP TRACER

dir: Zale Dalen, 1977, Canada, DCP, 14A, 95mins

Starring: David Petersen, John Lazarus, Mike Grigg, Rudy Szabo, Sue Astley

Skip Tracer is a free-wheeling private detective story set on the mean streets of Vancouver in the late 1970's, with the twist that the detective is a loan agency's debt collector hunting down “skips” who have stopped repaying their loans. The film stars David Petersen (The Grey Fox) in the role of John Collins, a collector trying to regain his status as his agency's “Man of the Year” while reluctantly mentoring a young protegé in the business. Propelled by Petersen's wry performance, the film plays like a post-hippie critique of capitalism and “The Man”, mixing together elements of social satire and film noir. The lighter comic touches help to highlight the harsh realities of people living beyond their means in a ruthlessly monetized society, where the bonds of debt tie together debtor and creditor in a precarious dance of ambition, greed and (largely masculine) pride and shame.

Skip Tracer was the feature film debut of director Zale Dalen, who went on to a long career in Canadian television. The film played at the Toronto International Film Festival and in major cities around the world, earning its money back in its initial run, but since then it has suffered from haphazard distribution and has mainly been kept alive as a cult title through VHS distribution (often under the alternate title “Deadly Business”), or16mm screenings, and rare appearances on TV. More well-known in England and Germany than in Canada, it has nevertheless been rediscovered by Canadian audiences in recent years thanks to select revival screenings such as the one held at the Ontario Cinematheque in December 2006. At the time they described Skip Tracer a “Canadian classic”, and we're not going to argue with that description.

In cooperation with Zale Dalen and Library and Archives Canada (LAC), Ottawa's Lost Dominion Screening Collective has procured a brand new 4K digital transfer from the 35mm preservation master print held in LAC's film collection. This will be the best print of the film screened since its 1977 debut, and the audience at the ByTowne Cinema will get to see it first. It will be a great chance to see an under-appreciated West Coast cinematic gem.

Shivers, March 25th, 8:45pm, Mayfair Theatre

Shivers, 87 minutes, Rated R, David Cronenberg, Canada, 1975

PRESENTED BY THE CANADIAN CULT REVUE | RESTORED DIGITAL PRINT

Cronenberg's first commercial film, about genetically-engineered parasites turning the residents of a luxury high-rise into sex maniacs, shows the shape of things to come in his career; it “scares and shocks us because it's so cleverly made." (Roger Ebert)

Full review here

Shivers Courtesy of TIFF's Film Reference Library

 

 

Eddie: The Sleepwalking Cannibal, Oct. 23rd 9:10pm

Eddie: The Sleepwalking Cannibal is a Danish-Canadian co-production shot in the Ottawa area in the winter of 2011. This comedy-horror movie features appealing Danish actor Thure Lindhardt as Lars Olafssen, a world-famous artist with ‘painter’s block’ who takes a teaching job at an obscure art school in a small Canadian town. Struggling to fit into his new surroundings, he soon finds inspiration in Eddie, a mute gentle-giant of a man with an odd somnambulistic habit: stalking the woods at night and devouring small forest animals.

Canadian actor Dylan Smith (Immortals) plays Eddie with subtle menace, effectively portraying the character’s Jekyll and Hyde nature. Georgina Reilly (‘Murdoch Mysteries’) lends appropriate cuteness and intelligence as Lars’s nascent love-interest. Supporting standouts include Paul Braunstein (‘Train 48’) as a smart small-town cop, and Stephen McHattie (Pontypool) as Lars’ art dealer suddenly eager for more commissions.

First-time feature director and co-writer Boris Rodriguez pulls together an entertaining story skewering artistic pretension with low-brow horror. The film makes good use of its small-town setting to build suspense and takes particular advantage of the harsh beauty of the Canadian winter to enhance the film’s themes and visuals.

Eric Hynes of The Village Voice calls the film ‘inspired’ and says that it ‘strikes just the right balance between camp horror and clever satire.’

– Lost Dominion Screening Collective

Oct. 23rd 9:10pm @ The Bytowne Cinema

Part of the Canadian Cult Revue film series at the ByTowne,
 
Producer Michael Dobbin will attend a Q&A after the screening, along with some members of the cast and crew.

Thats a wrap! CCR Season II is over.

Thanks for all the support during our second season of the Canadian Cult Revue.

Special thanks go out to the Bytowne for their great venue. Thank you Megan, Phil, Bruce and the Projectionist's Kirk and Paul!  

Our top 5 attended shows were:

1. "Lost Films" with Live Music by the HILOTRONS.

2. "Janis" a Crawley Films produced documentary on Janis Joplin.

3.  "Jesus Christ Superstar" the perfect Easter send off.

4. Ottawa native Adam Traynor's Ottawa Premiere of "Ivory Tower"  the first public screening at the Bytowne of a DCP (Digital Cinema Package).

5. Ed Folger's World premiere video art collection "The River Of Life, Or The Case Against Certainty". A home made DCP btw.  Check out his new silent film inspired Second Life Video here

Canadian Cult Revue Season III is in the works!

The River of Life, Or The Case Against Certainty leap day screening

The River Of Life, Or The Case Against Certainty

World Premiere
71mins, DCP 2K, Feb. 29th, 6:50pm Bytowne Cinema

Directed by:  Edward Folger

In a tribute to the work of his friend, the late Canadian/Bolivian/Dutch artist Juan Geuer, Canadian/American filmmaker/poet Edward Folger builds a jig-saw vision of his life in Ottawa, in the form of a graphic raga, evolving, like classical Indian music, from a leisurely beginning, into a frenzied ride on the force of nature. He draws from his history with media – still photography, feature films, early consumer video; moving on to standard digital and state of the art, high definition video; and finally, into online virtual worlds.

From New York, New England, Ottawa, rural Ontario, and the vast digital world of Second Life, in concert with artists from France, Portugal, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Spain, Italy, Sweden, and Denmark, each stanza of this video poem twists in a new direction – drama, documentary, animation, still montage, experimental, music video. The worldview that Folger shared with Juan Geuer is the glue holding all the pieces together. Portions of the film have been screened previously at various galleries and international film festivals and some chapters were produced with the support of the City of Ottawa and SAW Video Media Arts Centre.

– Lost Dominion Screening Collective

Folger’s work leaps forward into the Twenty-First Century, visualizing String Theory and M-Theory, vibrating in the full eleven dimensions of reality.

– László Fontoskodó, Director of the Institute for Post-Quantum Critical Studies

Ivory Tower September 28th 7pm Bytowne Cinema

Wednesday September 28th 7pm, Ottawa Premiere, Director in Attendance, 2k Digital Cinema Presentation. 5.1 sound


Ivory Tower is Canadian director/musician/puppeteer Adam Traynor’s feature film debut. The Ottawa-born Traynor treats this ‘existential sports comedy’ as an exercise in high silliness, with just enough family drama to give the action some emotional heft.

Set in the world of international chess competition, it features the sibling rivalry between two chess prodigies fighting over the game and the same woman. The film is infused with the rhythms of both chess and music, and stars a roster of talented Canadian musicians, including multi-instrumentalist and Grammy-nominated producer Chilly Gonzales, Juno-Award winning DJ/producer Tiga, and internationally-renowned raunch rocker Peaches. Music fans should also watch for appearances by indie-pop superstar Feist and underground pop sensation The World Provider.

Gonzales, best known for producing Feist’s albums and having his music appear in the Apple iPad commercial that launched the product last year, stretches himself here not only as a musician (by providing the film’s soundtrack) but also as an actor and writer. Traynor and French filmmaker Céline Sciamma – writer and director of the provocative 2007 film Water Lilies – also share scripting credits. Their combined talents result in a comedy thatCahiers du Cinema compared (positively!) to the work of both Will Ferrell and Wes Anderson, and which Toronto.com described as ‘sweetly nutty’.  Perhaps having doubted that a group of non-actors and a first-time director could pull off such a high-concept comedy with any degree of success, the Montreal Gazette ended up declaring it ‘a hilarious and surprisingly accomplished satire.’  With such a talented group of collaborators, perhaps it shouldn’t have been too much of a surprise after all.

    –  Lost Dominion Screening Collective

This screening marks the debut of the Canadian Cult Revue film series at the ByTowne, presented by the Lost Dominion Screening Collective.

Regular admission prices apply, or you can buy a series pass: 11 movies for $45.