This week at TIFF Bell Lightbox, First Peoples Cinema: 1500 Nations, One Tradition begins and is accompanied by the Home on Native Land Exhibition, and a talk with actor Graham Greene. The Blonde in Fifties Hollywood Cinema continues, and in New Releases, it’s the latest from director Yorgo Lanthimos, Alps.
Exhibitions
Home on Native Land Exhibition coincides with programme First Peoples Cinema: 1500 Nations, One Tradition, and begins on June 21, running until August 19, 2012. The exhibition will feature new work from native artists and filmmakers that all address the themes of identity, home, and language. Artists whose work is featured include Rebecca Belmore, Félix Lajeunesse, Paul Raphaël, Zacharias Kunuk, James Luna, Alan Michelson, Kent Monkman, Nadia Myre, Lisa Reihana and Warwick Thornton.
Special Events
Juno-nominated artist, Tanya Tagaq, will premiere an original piece that she has scored to accompany a screening of Nanook of the North, Robert J. Flaherty’s seminal portrait of one Inuit family’s traditional life on the land. Tanya Tagaq in Concert with Nanook of the North is on Thursday, June 21 at 7:00 pm.
Free TIFF in the Park outdoor screenings also begins this week, on Wednesday, June 27 at 9:15 pm, with Ernst Lubitsch’s screwball comedy, Trouble in Paradise (1932). Every week during the summer, TIFF presents another free classic screwball comedy in David Pecaut Square, directly west of Roy Thomson Hall.
Film Programmes
New this week is First Peoples Cinema: 1500 Nations, One Tradition beginning on June 21 and running until August 11, 2012. This major retrospective offers up an unprecedented survey of First Peoples filmmakers from Canada, the United States, Australia and New Zealand. Films featured include Atanarjuat: The Fast Runner, The Journals of Knud Rasmussen, Before Tomorrow, Radiance, Bedevil, Boy, Smoke Signals and many more.
As a sidebar to the First Peoples Cinema retrospective is the Reclaimed Visions programme, which will examine famous films about indigenous peoples made by non-native filmmakers. It kicks off on Friday, June 22 with a screening of Reel Injun (2009), a documentary about the representation of First Peoples on screen. All screenings, which include Walkabout, The Exiles and Dances With Wolves, Billy Jack, Clearcut, and Utu, will be introduced by Programmer Jesse Wente or leading artists, critics and scholars from the aboriginal community for thought provoking post-screening discussions.
Ongoing Series
As part of the Hollywood Classics series Gentlemen Prefer Blondes: The Blonde in Fifties Hollywood Cinema returns this week with The Girl Can’t Help It, starring Jayne Mansfield as a gangster’s moll trying to make it as singer despite her lack of talent. Ironically in real life, Jayne Mansfield was classically trained on both piano and violin. The film features performances by Gene Vincent, The Platters, Fats Domino and Little Richard, and screens on Sunday, June 24 at 1:00 pm.
The final installment of Science on Film is this week, on Wednesday, June 27 at 7:00 pm, and will feature Canadian special makeup effects pioneer, Gordon Smith on his work on Kathryn Bigelow’s Near Dark (1987), a vampire western. Smith will be in attendance for an onstage discussion and audience Q&A.
New Releases
Starting Friday, June 22 is Alps, the latest from Academy Award-nominated director of Dogtooth, Yorgo Lanthimos. It’s a comedy about a group that take over the roles of the recently deceased to help comfort grieving families. For a fee they adopt the mannerisms of the deceased and wear their clothes until the bereaved decide that they’ve reached closure. It starts Friday, June 22.
Talks
A special edition of In Conversation With featuring Graham Greene, to complement the TIFF Cinematheque programme First Peoples Cinema: 1500 Nations, One Tradition. The Academy Award-nominated Canadian actor joins Jesse Wente, TIFF Head of Film Programmes, on Monday, June 25 at 7:00 pm to discuss his career highlights.
Check out tiff.net or visit any of the links above for details and showtimes.
Original artwork by Bennett O’Brian.
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