Fairytales
INTERNATIONAL QUEER DIVERSITY FILM FESTIVAL 11
May 28 – June 6, 2009 | Calgary, Alberta | www.fairytalesfilmfest.com
FESTIVAL PARTIES
Media Launch Party
Wednesday, May 6 | Noon –1:00 pm
Plaza Theatre
1133 Kensington Road NW
OPENING NIGHT FAIRYTALES FIESTA
Thursday, May 28 | 9:30 pm – 11:30 pm
Julio’s Barrio | 101 – 10 Street NW
Mix and mingle in one of Kensington’s finest restaurants. Exclusive to ticketholders to THE BABY FORMULA only.
YOUTH MIXER
Saturday, May 30 | 5:30 pm – 6:30 pm
Sungate Café
1101 Kensington Road NW
All Ages Social, complimentary beverages and snacks provided courtesy of COURTNEY AARBO Barristers and Solicitors.
CLOSING GALA: HOORAY FOR HOMOWOOD COSTUME BALL
Saturday, June 6 | 9:30 pm –1:00 am
Sunnyside Hillhurst Community Centre
1320 5th Avenue NW
Dress as your favorite personality either real or reel from the silver screen. Admission is $15 or free with your ticket stub to THE NEW TWENTY. Sponsored by Steamwhistle Pilsner
TICKET LOCATIONS
Bird Dog Video
1333 - 16 Avenue SW | (403) 398-2283
Open Noon - 11 pm; 7 Days a Week
Service charges will apply to credit or debit card purchases.
The Plaza Theatre
1133 Kensington Road NW | (403) 283-2222
Purchase same day tickets at the door 30 minutes prior to screening.
TICKET PRICES*
Opening and Closing Galas
$15 (includes after-parties)
Centerpiece Galas and all other Screenings
$10 or $9 for current FairyTales Presentation
Members (must show membership card)
General Festival Pass
$99 (includes access to all film screenings and parties)
Members Festival Pass
$75 (includes access to all film screenings and parties)
*Calgary Dollars accepted at par.
MOVIE SCREENINGS
THURSDAY MAY 28th
Opening Gala Film
THE PLAZA Theatre | 7:00 pm
The Baby Formula
Director: Alison Reid
2009 | 81 MIN
Canada
Athena and Lilith are two women in love. As with most couples, they dream of having a child that is a true biological combination of them both. Although Mother Nature doesn’t work that way, modern science has found a way to make one plus one equal two. What begins as a story of advancements in science, THE BABY FORMULA ultimately ends in a tale of love, acceptance and family.
FRIDAY MAY 29th
THE PLAZA Theatre | 7:00 pm
This Land is herland: A Collection of Shorts by Women
Tonight’s offering of shorts directed by women begins sobering and poignant and gradually transitions into charming, silly and sublime.
THE PLAZA Theatre |9:30 pm
Sizzle
Director: Randy Olson
2008 | 84 MIN | USA
When the topic of global warming gets too hot, how does a marine biologist turned filmmaker cool off? He makes a mockumentary! Ranging from silly comedy to sharp satire to eye-opening reality, SIZZLE provides a fresh take on the most vital issue effecting humanity, the destruction of Mother Earth.
THE PLAZA Theatre |11:30 pm
The Eyes of Laura Mars
Director: Ivan Kirshner
1978 | 104 MIN | USA | 35 mm
Faye Dunaway plays a fashion photographer who likes to stage her supermodels in scenes of bloody carnage. Suddenly people start dying in scenes that mimic Laura’s photos, and what do you know – Laura can actually see through the killer’s eyes as the murders happen!
SATURDAY MAY 30th
EMMEDIA Gallery | 12:00 pm
Saturday Morning QueerToons
Come dressed in your finest bedtime threads as we exhibit animation made by grownups for grownups.
THE PLAZA Theatre | 2:00 pm
Watercolors
Director: David Oliveras
2008 | 106 MIN | USA
You never forget your first love, and for artist Dan Wheeler, the passage of decades makes his teenage passion burn even brighter. This hot and heartbreaking adolescent romance will make you nostalgic for your own first crush.
THE PLAZA Theatre | 4:00 pm
The Lost Coast
Director: Gabriel Fleming
2008 | 74 MIN | USA
Mark, Jasper and Lily are high school friends now in their early twenties. Mark is gay, living with Lily (his high school girlfriend), while Jasper is straight and soon to be married. The Lost Coast explores the complexities of sexuality, repression, and isolation, with a quite, measured style.
THE PLAZA Theatre | 7:00 pm
Drool
Director: Nancy Kissam
2009 | 88 MIN | USA
Laura Harring (MULHOLLAND DRIVE) plays Anora Fleece, a depressed wife and mother who feels like a nobody. That is until a new neighbor, Imogene Cochran moves in.
THE PLAZA Theatre | 9:30 pm
Deep, Dark & Delicious Shorts
Tonight we explore the darker side of queer film and video from 7 innovative filmmakers.
THE PLAZA Theatre | 11:30 pm
Otto; or Up With Dead People
Director: Bruce LaBruce
2008 | 94 MIN | Germany /
Canada
Otto, a young zombie trying to find his place in the world, discovers that there is a wallet in his back pocket that contains information about his past, he begins to remember memories of his ex-boyfriend Rudolf. He arranges to meet him at the schoolyard where they met with devastating results.
SUNDAY MAY 31st
THE PLAZA Theatre | 2:00 pm
Queer Movies That Matter
4 films where important social justice issues take centre stage.
THE PLAZA Theatre | 4:00 pm
herStories: Spotlight On Beauty
A comparison of work by filmmakers Maya Gallus and Deirdre Logue exploring the concept of beauty and what it means to be a woman.
Centrepiece Gala Film
THE PLAZA Theatre | 7:00 pm
Half-Life
Director: Jennifer Phang
2008 | 106 MIN | USA
HALF-LIFE is the compelling story of a Northern California community’s struggle to relate to each other and adapt to looming global chaos. Bursting with creativity, subtle humour and beautiful cinematography and animation, Jennifer Phang’s first feature film is a moving, sophisticated and completely original work.
THE PLAZA Theatre | 9:30 pm
Bandaged
Director: Maria Beatty
2009 | 91 MIN
Germany /USA
Lucille lives with her domineering father and great aunt in a creepy mansion out in the middle of nowhere. Feeling as though she has no way out Lucille attempts suicide after rifling in her father’s lab. She survives, but is left with hideous burns to her face, which her father chooses to treat at home. He hires a sultry nurse with her own chequered past to look after Lucille. Spending 24 hours together every day leads patient and nurse to discover passionate feelings for each other, the bandages come off and soon a torrid affair begins.
MONDAY JUNE 1st
THE PLAZA Theatre | 7:00 pm
DreamMakers
Director: Susan Cardinal
2007 | 47 MIN | LOCAL
FairyTales is proud to screen local artist Susan Cardinal’s exceptional documentary that explores the general representation of First Nations people in film and television throughout history. Join Tantoo Cardinal and her guests: Graham Greene, August Schellenberg, Gordon Tootoosis, Nathaiel Arcand, Dakota House, Gerald Auger, Jimmy Herman, Stacy Da Silva, and many more.
THE PLAZA Theatre | 9:30 pm
Guy Candy Mens’ Shorts
A tasty collection of shorts by men for men from around the world.
TUESDAY JUNE 2nd
THE PLAZA Theatre | 7:00 - 11:00 pm
The Secret Weapons Manifesto: Spotlight on Two Spirit Film & Video
FairyTales is proud to shine our spotlight on the Two-Spirit film and video community by showcasing classic and contemporary North American cinema.
WEDNESDAY JUNE 3rd
THE PLAZA Theatre | 7:00 pm
Johnny Greyeyes
Director: Jorge Manzano
2000 | 76 min | Canada |
35 mm
Since the shooting death of her father, Johnny (Gail Maurice) has spent most of her life in one kind of prison or another. Johnny eventually ends up in Kingston’s notorious maximum security Prison for Women. Within these walls, she finds her being: womanhood – and Lana, her lover and companion of spirit.
THE PLAZA Theatre | 9:30 pm
Honey Moccasin
Director: Shelley Niro
1998 | 49 MIN | Canada
The first of its kind in Canada made by an Aboriginal filmmaker, “Honey Moccasin” is set on the fictional Grand Pine Indian Reservation (aka “Reservation X”) and employs a hybrid pastiche of styles that depicts the rivalry between two bars, the Smoking Moccasin and the Inukshuk Cafe, the tale of closeted drag queen/powwow clothing thief Zachery John (illy merasty), and the travails of the crusading investigator/storyteller Honey Moccasin (Tantoo Cardinal).
THURSDAY JUNE 4th
THE PLAZA Theatre | 7:00 pm
Drifting Flowers
Director: Zero Chou
2008 | 97 MIN | TAIWAN
Zero Chou’s DRIFTING FLOWERS, her remarkable follow up to SPIDER LILIES is a thoughtful and beautiful drama that explores the lives of conflicted and lovelorn women. This homage to the sacrifices inherent in love looks at relationships between feminine and masculine women in three separate but overlapping stories.
THE PLAZA Theatre | 9:30 pm
Antarctica
Director: Yair Hochner
2008 | 110 MIN | Israel
Hebrew with English subtitles
This wacky comedy from Israel ignores politics altogether while focusing on its characters’ domestic and romantic problems. And no one has more problems than gay siblings Shirley and Omer. As the siblings sort through their feelings and prepare for adulthood, friends and relatives chime in with their advice and problems of their own.
FRIDAY JUNE 5th
THE PLAZA Theatre | 7:00 pm
I Can’t Think Straight
Director: Shamim Sarif
2007 | 80 min | United Kingdom
Gorgeous Canadian actress Lisa Ray (Deepa Mehta’s WATER), stars as Tala, a London-based Palestinian, who is preparing for her elaborate Middle Eastern wedding when she meets Leyla (Sheetal Sheth), a young British Indian woman who is dating her best friend. Spirited Christian Tala and shy Muslim Leyla could not be more different from each other, but the attraction is immediate and goes deeper than friendship. I CAN’T THINK STRAIGHT explores the clashes between East and West and conventions and individualitycreating a humorous and tender story of love and freedom.
THE PLAZA Theatre | 9:30 pm
The Art of Being Straight
Director: Jesse Rosen
2008 | 77 min | USA
After a break-up with his girlfriend, John moves west to Los Angeles for a fresh start. He is officially back on the market and looking to score. John takes an entry-level position at an ad agency, determined to prove himself. Things get a little confusing when Paul, a successful executive at thea firm, takes a special interest in John, and when John ends up in Paul’s bed, his world is turned completely upside down.
THE PLAZA Theatre | 9:30 pm
The Art of Being Straight
Director: Jesse Rosen
2008 | 77 min | USA
After a break-up with his girlfriend, John moves west to Los Angeles for a fresh start. He is officially back on the market and looking to score. John takes an entry-level position at an ad agency, determined to prove himself. Things get a little confusing when Paul, a successful executive at the firm, takes a special interest in John, and when John ends up in Paul’s bed, his world is turned completely upside down.
SATURDAY JUNE 6th
EMMEDIA Gallery | 12:00 pm
Common Ground Community Bridge Building Project
SPOTLIGHT ON HEALTH AND WELLNESS
Three very different films explore themes associated with health and wellness and the community.
THE PLAZA Theatre | 2:00 pm
Super Surprise Family Film
Bring the kiddies or your big kid at heart as FairyTales presents a classic film for the entire family. We’re not going to tell you what it is, only that it’s campy, happy and a great film for same-sex parents to bring their little ones!
THE PLAZA Theatre | 4:00 pm
To Each Her Own
Director: Heather Tobin
2008 | 112 MIN | Canada
Jessica is married to her high school best friend Trevor, despite having romantic feelings for girls. Set on the typical small-town suburban path, Jessica feels pressure to start planning for a baby. However, when Jess meets openly gay Casey she is instantly captivated by the outgoing and extroverted woman and a romantic bond quickly develops. As Jess spends more time alone with Casey and more effort avoiding her husband, her life begins spinning out of control.
THE PLAZA Theatre | 7:00 pm
The New Twenty
Director: Chris Mason Johnson
2008 | 92 min | USA
Thirty isn’t what it used to be. Writerdirector Chris Mason Johnson’s award-winning first feature charts the lives of five New Yorkers, a mix of gay and straight best friends about to turn thirty. So if money isn’t the root of their discontent, what is? Whatever they’re searching for - love, meaning in work - they won’t find it in each other. On TV, friendship lasts forever. In real life, not so much.
FILMS SCREENED
Secret Weapons
Director: Adam Garnet Jones
2008 | 5 Min | Canada
Nikamowin (Song)
Director: Kevin Lee Burton
2007 | 11 Min | Canada | Cre /
English
Shooting Geronimo
Director: Kent Monkman
2007 | 11 Min | Canada
I Heard a Light
Director: Beric Manywounds
2008 | ? Min | Canada
Smudge
Director: Gail Maurice
2005/12 Min | Canada
Apples and Indians
Director: Lorne Olson
2006 | 5 Min | Canada
Madness in Four Actions
Director: Thirza Cuthand
2008 | 8 Min | Canada
Me Mengwa Maa Sinatae: Butterfly Patterns of Light
Director: Marjorie Beaucage
2008 | 24 Min | Canada
GUEST PANELISTS
Adam Garnet Jones
Gail Maurice
Kent Monkman
Kevin Lee Burton
Beric Manywounds
Marjorie Beaucage
Thirza Cuthand
Lorne Olson
THE SECRET WEAPONS MANIFESTO: SPOTLIGHT ON TWO SPIRIT FILM & VIDEO
FairyTales is proud to shine our spotlight on the Two-Spirit film and video community by showcasing classic and contemporary North American cinema.
Join our impressive panel of both veteran and novice Two-Spirit filmmakers from across Canada as they examine whether the intentions of artists and festivals that celebrate queer and/or aboriginal diversity with the intention of empowering their own people has ironically created a cultural insularity that actually forsakes visibility to the larger community. FairyTales hopes to challenge the panelists to engage with their peers and with the audience their perceptions of the current status of queer, Canadian Two-Spirit film and video works and what the future may hold.
