Nino Ricci & Paul Quarrington Review 2008 Moving Stories Films

Curator Paul Quarrington speaks with Film Advisor Nino Ricci about the page-to-screen film adaptations represented  in the Moving Stories Films 2008 program.

 

A LETTER TO COLLEEN: Dir. Andy London / USA / 8:30 / Fiction / Based on the graphic novel A Letter to Christine by Andy London - Haunted by the events of his 18^th birthday, Andy London writes a letter to Colleen in an attempt to put his demons to rest.

 

THE CAVE: Dir. Michael Ramsey / USA / 3:00 / Fiction / Based on The Republic by Plato - An evocative claymation adaptation of the allegory of the cave, a classic commentary on the human condition.

 

NO BIKINI: Dir. Claudia Morgado Escanilla / Canada / 9:00 / Fiction Based on the short story “No Bikini: included in the collection Close to Spider Man by Ivan E. Coyote, Published by Arsenal Pulp Press - A young girl pretending to be a boy discovers the freedom that comes with no bikini.

 

PAVANE: Dir. Paul Quarrington / Canada / 5:30 / Fiction / Based on the novel The Ravine by Paul Quarrington - Connected by debilitating memories, bottomless drinks, and the pretense of being strangers, Phil and Jay play out a darkly comic ritual in an effort to redeem themselves, and each other, of a terrifying childhood incident.

 

THE GARGOYLE: Sei’s Story: Dir. Bert Kish / USA / 5:30 / Docu-Drama / Based on the novel The Gargoyle by Andrew Davidson Published by Doubleday US / Random House of Canada - Author Andrew Davidson recounts the story of Sei, a beautiful Japanese glassblower caught in a dilemma of love and loyalty.

 

Shot live on location at the Vancouver International Writers Festival.  Thanks Hal!

 

© 2008 BookShorts Literacy Program

 

Cross-Country Moving Stories tour plays to enthusiastic audiences

With a big shout out to our committed presenters coast to coast, 600 audience members enjoyed the inaugural screening program Moving Stories Films Our Special Guests on stage included Randall Maggs, Andrew Davidson, Gary Thomas, Rachel Peters, Irene Duma, and Ivan E. Coyote. Filmmakers Ken Tsui and Brittany Junek were specially commissioned to produce a BookShorts film based on David Chariandy’s novel “Soucouyant,’ which premiered during the Vancouver presentation.  Thanks to our presenters THIN AIR 2008: Winnipeg International Writers Festival; St. John’s International Women’s Film Festival; Ottawa International Writers Festival Fall Edition; WordFest: Banff-Calgary International Writers Festival and Vancouver International Writers Festival.

For a complete listing of all the books and films in the program, and the terrific press coverage along the way, check out http://movingstoriesfilmfest.com/festival-info/about-the-festival.

UPCOMING TORONTO DATE:  NOVEMBER 26, 2008 - GLADSTONE HOTEL Pressented by THIS IS NOT A READING SERIES, Pages Books & Music.  Reserve in advance by email, judith@bookshorts.com

 

 

Moving Stories Toronto launches holiday season with Hollywood Glam

Moving Stories Films event in Toronto, Nov 26, Gladstone Hotel, doors at 7:00pm, cover $5 with complimentary Hollywood bevvie. Event sponsored by Pages Books “This Is Not A Reading Series.”  Special Guests James McCreath (A Life’s Passion) and Brian D. Smith (Sprout This!) plus Gary Thomas (A Life’s Passion) Rachel Peters (Nagasaki Circus), Kate Hollett (Food, Sex and Salmonella), Nino Ricci (Moving Stories Film Advisor) and many more artists of the page and screen.  Followed by BookShorts Holiday Party hosted with KMD Karen Marren Design — this year’s theme is Hollywood Glamour, so put on your tuxes, satin gowns and boa’s - we’re providing the photo opportunity!

 

Nagasaki Circus Trailer a hint of Rachel Peters

Nagasaki Circus

Supported by BravoFACT, National Film Board Animation Studio, BookShorts Inc.

Now on tour with Moving Stories Films 2008

Thin Air audiences appreciate Moving Stories Films and afternoon popcorn

Emma Hill Kepron, one of several bloggers at Thin Air 2008, Winnipeg’s International Writers Festival has this to report about the very first public screening of MOVING STORIES FILMS.

… I had just visited 13 different worlds in one afternoon.  …They were more like a variety of different dishes, all with different ingredients, methods of preparation and presentation. …These little short films were just perfect wee morsels of delicious story. Watching the films sort of felt like being at a buffet where you nibble away at this and that and then realize later that you’ve actually had quite a lot to eat. … the components of this buffet complemented each other very nicely. “No Bikini,” “The Perfection of the Moment,” and “Nagasaki Circus” were particularly memorable and tasty.  And this was the perfect end to a perfect festival.

 

Randall Maggs was our special guest at the intermission. He told the tale of how the film’s central story, Night Work: A Sawchuk Poem, took its heart and soul from his own personal experience with the only man to score on hockey legend Terry Sawchuk in a round of exhibition games in Newfoundland, way back in the golden era of the game. 

Other authors at Thin Air and represented in the Moving Stories Films screening included Andrew Davidson (The Gargoyle: Sei’s Story, directed by Bert Kish); David Waltner-Toews (Food, Sex, and Salmonella, directed by Kate Hollett) and Paul Quarrington (Pavane, based on the novel The Ravine, directed by Paul himself).

Our thanks to the enthusiastic audience, who really let us know their favs with abundant applause and visits to the book sale table after the show. 

 

 

Moving Stories reports from Winnipeg

Moving Stories has landed in Winnipeg for the first leg of its cross country tour. The film screening takes place on Sunday September 28, but we couldn’t wait till then to get into the action. We attended ME SEXY, an event featuring some of Canada’s most esteemed First Nations writers. With so many fabulous authors around, we dove right in with our camera to cover some readings and do a few interviews …including  Joseph Boyden and Drew Hayden Taylor.

We also caught up with walker and writer Charles Wilkens. Stay tuned for clips and updates as we continue our tour!

For now we’ll leave you with our very own Paul Quarrington sharing a moment with the THIN AIR festival folks, including Charlene Diehl (left).

First Rehearsal

By Ken Tsui
Director of Soucouyant

We had our first rehearsal yesterday with the cast. Our brilliant lead actress is Addena Sumter-Frietag, who is “well known for her provocative poetry and powerful performances and has been likened to Maya Angelou.” Wow!

http://www.addenasumterfreitag.com/

We’ve got most of the rest of our cast and crew in place, and we’re looking forward to our 2 day shoot, scheduled for September 22-23. The target delivery date of our film to BookShorts is October 1.

Originally we wanted to shoot in red cam, and even did a test shoot to determine whether we had enough time and resources post production to make it work. As it happens, we’re on quite a tight schedule so we’ve decided to forego that challenge for this project and shoot on an EX1 HD instead. We’re doing screen tests in this format during our rehearsals.

Stay tuned for updates on our progress!

JPod Returns to the Screen

When we first screened JPod at SXSW, Wired Magazine took notice …

I Want My Book-based Film Shorts

By Todd Jatras March 12, 2007 | 2:42:03 PMCategories: SXSW07  

Authors could soon begin demanding short video treatments of their latest works of fiction and non-fiction, emulating musicians in the 80’s, who quickly realized they could seriously pump sales by producing mini-films of their hottest singles for the MTV generation. The other night Bookshorts screened a 4-minute HD adaptation of Douglas Coupland’s new novel JPod. The film was slick and more than lived up to Bookshorts’ stated goal: “to advance a new genre of entertainment, making short films, animations and interactive media that capture the spirit of a book in moving images.” JPod and bookshorts’ catalogue of 20 or so  3-to-5 minute adaptations can be viewed on their web site and will be showing at select movie theaters around the country.

 

Adapting

By Ken Tsui
Director of Soucouyant

It was early on a sunny afternoon when Judith Keenan of Book Shorts called with the exciting news. I was on a bus ride home when she called and amidst the roar of traffic, I managed to hear her tell me that we had won the competition.

We went to work immediately and realized quickly the elaborate process involved with adapting a one page treatment in to five pages of script. The first draft came quickly but felt like a scattershot burst of all the ideas bottled up from the days we waited anxiously to hear if we had won the competition. As we progressed through the drafts, Brittany and I received valuable feedback from peers and supportive members of Book Shorts such as Judith and Paul Quarrington. As we received critiques, we in turn churned out new drafts, removing dialogue, adding scenes and even at one point eliminating a character. After more than a month of constant revision, the first draft feels like a lifetime ago and has become six pages of embarrassing script we retrospectively laugh at. 

BookShorts’ Original Short Film Program

We continue to produce high production value short films in the style of projects like Pavane, A Life’s Passion, JPod, ICE, The Fighter and What Casanova Told Me.

Films such as these in the BookShorts catalogue form the basis of our programming for television series on national broadcast channels.  Through our sister com[any, BookShorts Literacy Program, we offer screenign adn event compilations to film festivals, literary festivals, booksellers, libraries and community groups in Canada and the United States.  Call us at 416.519.0806 if you are interested in presenting an event.

For more information, to submit a manuscript for development, or to work with us as a director or screenwriter, please contact Executive Director Judith Keenan at 416.519.0806.

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