Victoria Film Festival screenings at Parkside
Parkside is proud to partner again with the Victoria Film Festival as a venue. Our HD movie theatre with large, plush seating is all set for February.
Here's a list of films showing at Parkside Feb. 2-10.
Belcanto
Friday • February 3rd • Parkside • 7:15
Director: Ryszard Maciej Nyczka
Poland • 2010 • 107 min • Digital
Canadian Premiere
When Mariusz Marzeda, a provincial opera and operetta tenor, comes into neighbourly conflict with a local escort of considerable influence he loses his job and becomes a social outcast. His old friend General Ogórcow, a commander of the armed forces, who is totally in love with music, decides to defend him by dropping two atomic bombs on West Berlin.
Prinsessa
Princess
Saturday • February 4th • Parkside • 7:15
Also playing at Cap 6 Th 6 • Saturday • February 11th • 2:00
Director: Arto Halonen
Finland • 2010 • 104 min • DVD
BC Premiere
Princess is based on the real-life events of cabaret dancer Anna Lappalainen. Drifting from one foster home to another, she ends up in psychiatric care claiming to be "Princess," a member of the English royal family from Buckingham Palace. Her duty is to help her subjects and it becomes her life mission. Princess’ court is comprised of fellow patients and her jurisdiction extends all the way to Kellokoski village even the manager of the local bank comes under her rule.
Nuit #1
Sunday • February 5th • Parkside • 7:15
Also playing at Cap 6 Th 6 • Saturday • February 11th • 11:30
Director: Anne Émond
Québec • 2011 • 91 min • DVCam
Best Canadian Feature at the Vancouver Film Festival
Clara and Nikolaï meet at a rave. They return to Nikolai’s apartment and make love. When Nikolai catches Clara sneaking out in the middle of the night, he confronts her, and the typical one night stand transforms into something else. The two lovers stay up all night and divulge their deepest secrets to one another.
Midnight Son
Monday • February 6th • Parkside • 7:15
Also playing at The Vic • Thursday • February 9th • 7:00
Director: Scott Leberecht
USA • 2011 • 88 min • Blu-Ray
BC Premiere
Jacob, in his early 20s, hasn’t quite figured out he’s a vampire. He was never bitten, only born with a rare skin condition that prevents him from being exposed to sunlight. This clever indie horror tale twists into a truly captivating romance that’s laced with dark ideas and refreshingly effective humour. Tense and unpredictable, this re-envisioning of the vampire myth is both subtle and daring.
Kirjad Inglile
Letters to Angel
Tuesday • February 7th • Parkside • 7:15
Director: Sulev Keedus
Estonia • 2011 • 110 min • Blu-Ray
Estonia’s official nomination for the Academy’s Best
Foreign Language Oscar®
BC Premiere
A Russian soldier reported as KIA in Afghanistan returns to his small village as a converted Muslim. Humbled, perhaps broken by war, he is desperate to find his lost wife and daughter – a daughter who he has never met, but to whom he constantly writes letters attempting to make sense of the surreal, absurdist world he finds himself in.
Tatsumi
Wednesday • February 8th • Parkside • 7:15
Also playing at The Vic • Friday • February 3rd • 9:30
Direct or: Eric Khoo
China • 2011 • 98 min • Digital
Canadian Premiere
The life and work of Japanese comics artist Yoshihiro Tatsumi. As a teenager in post-war Japan his manga was already well established, earning the recognition of the manga godfather Osamu Tezuka. Tatsumi began to question why comics were just for children and in 1957 he coined the term gekiga (dramatic pictures), forever redefining the manga landscape with works that were dark and disturbing yet still deeply human and literate.
Shorts Program: Dangerous Days
Thursday • February 9th • Parkside • 7:15
Bücle: Aritz Moreno • Spain • 4 min; It’s good to get up in time for your coffee.
Combustion: Renaud Hallée • Québec • 4 min; Fire used as a visual and musical tool.
A Brief History of the World: Brian MacDonald • Victoria • 6 min; A history of the world, from The Big Bang to supernova.
The Fuse: or How I Burned Simón Bolívar: Igor Drljaca • Ontario/Bosnia • 9 min; A young boy’s attempts to avoid a poor mark on a school assignment in 1990s Sarajevo may have contributed to a civil war.
Angels: Zachary Kerschberg • USA • 10.5 min; A family farm is rattled by the birth of a severely disabled child. Her sister sees her father’s disappointment and attempts to fix the baby.
108.1 FM Radio: Giuseppe Capasso, Angelo Capasso, Italy • 15 min; A driver, a hitchhiker, and a radio program. A night trip between suspicion and paranoia.
Animal Control: Kire Paputts • Ontario • 17 min; Larry works for Animal Services. His hobby is taxidermy.
Lost Tracks: Jon Stanford • United Kingdom • 21 min; In rural Shropshire Tobi is a teenager disillusioned with family life, friends, and the community around her, slowly steeling her soul to run away forever.
Shorts Program: Cruel Worlds
Friday • February 10th • Parkside • 7:15
The Indian Word: David G. Wilson • Manitoba • 4.5 min; Is the word "Indian" a label for Canadian Aboriginals to reject or reclaim?
Pathways: Dusty Mancinelli • Ontario • 14 min; Little Marco is constantly being bullied at school until one day he finds a man passed out in the woods with a briefcase clenched in his hand.
Half as Bad: Sergio Barrejóna • Spain • 14 min; At dawn an executive is about to shoot himself but the unexpected arrival of the cleaning lady interrupts him.
Hush: Marco Ianniello • Australia • 26 min; Lee and Kate arrive at a small isolated farmhouse. After reading some instructions left inside the house, they settle themselves in for what appears to be a long stay.
Patchtown: Craig Goodwill • Ontario• 28 min; "Where do babies come from?" This satirical comedy-meets-musical clashes Russian folklore and Soviet style oppression with western-style consumerism.
Mid Program: New Family Frontiers
Saturday • February 11th • Parkside • 7:15
Margaret & Evergon
Direct or: Donald Winkler
Québec • 45 min
In 1999 celebrated Montreal photographer Evergon took a remarkable series of nude portraits of his 80-year-old mother. Far from betraying the weakness and decrepitude of an aging body, these large, majestic, black and white images conveyed strength, dignity, and an implicit awareness on the part of the model. Shortly thereafter Donald Winkler embarked on a film project that would probe what lay behind those photographs, uncovering a remarkable and inspiring relationship between mother and son.
Conceiving Family
Direct or: Amy Bohigian
BC • 51 min
A heart-warming doc that takes us inside the lives of five same-sex couples as they form families through adoption. Director Amy Bohigian and her partner Jane Byers have adopted biracial 15-month-old twins. Jan and Lindsey find twins at a Romanian orphanage. Daryl and Ian prepared for a new arrival only to be left heartbroken.Colleen and Tammy only fostered but then Kelly came to them. Jim and Ted researched surrogacy but sought out adoption. Weaving together diverse lives, this film tells the intimate collective story of what it takes to rise above and become an intentional family.
Download the complete 2012 Victoria Film Festival program guide.