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!

 

Into the ravine with Mr. do it all

by Drew Anderson … Quarrington brings his expansive skills to WordFest … Just to drive the point home that he can do everything, Quarrington is premiering a short film, Pavane, based on The Ravine at WordFest. Perhaps reflecting the schizophrenic writing style of the book, Quarrington worked on both projects at the same time. “In writing The Ravine, I wrote about half the book and then left off to write a screenplay, or a different take. It’s not actually a version of the novel, it’s kind of another approach. So I guess I wanted to explore other storylines and slightly different characters. And then went back to the novel,” he says.

The short film mixes animation and live action, separating the lives of the adult characters from the animated youth and the terrors of the ravine. It is set largely in Birds of a Feather, a piano bar that makes appearances in the novel as the place where Phil’s younger brother Jay tickles the ivories. “In going back and forth, I thought, well, it might be effective to tell the children’s story in animation, because it sort of, I don’t know, lends a patina of innocence that either makes the creepy stuff all the more creepier or maybe makes the creepy stuff a little easier to take,” explains Quarrington. He also did it to spare audiences the suspension of disbelief that is often required to match a child actor with his adult counterpart.

It’s a long way from his initial foray into filmmaking. “When I was in Grade 13… I got accepted to this film sort of camp in the summer, where they gave us all sorts of equipment and encouraged us to make films. But my friend and I took the camera to a party and filmed ourselves drinking beer, and then goodly sent in the stuff to get developed. So I got thrown out of that and my career as a filmmaker was in jeopardy for many years.”

If a novel and a movie isn’t enough to impress, Quarrington will also be playing with his band, Porkbelly Futures, at The Banff Centre. Show off.

Published October 16, 2008  

Read it in the original at FFWD Magazine

A moving (and funny) story … Ottawa Citizen

By James MacGowan … Paul Quarrington presents a short film version of The Ravine at Writers Festival….

Busy man, that Paul Quarrington. Right now, he’s multi-tasking: he’s got his ear to his cellphone and his eyes searching for a place to park and chat. He’s in Toronto, so this is harder than fitting a camel through the eye of a needle.

“I’m going to go up here and just pull over,” he says, finally. “That way I can give you the full weight of my concentration.” He’s being funny. He’s always being funny. He’s a damn funny guy and his latest book, The Ravine, is a damn funny book and a thumping good read. … he has done some movie work. Which is why he’s coming to Ottawa, as part of the BookShorts Moving Stories Film Festival. For the first time, Quarrington not only wrote a script for a film, he directed it as well. It’s called Pavane, and it’s based upon The Ravine. Now, it’s only five minutes and 28 seconds long, so he hasn’t completely ventured into the land of Spielberg and Kubrick, but it was a nice beginning. (You can see a trailer of the short at movingstoriesfilmfest.com/media/pavane).

“It wasn’t technically my debut,” he counters, when I ask how it felt to be behind the camera for the first time. “I’ve actually made three short films. Indeed, I attended the Canadian Film Centre as a director resident 16 years ago. And yes, I would like to direct the full-length version. While I don’t think I can really direct a film, I don’t think anyone else can either.” (I’m not sure what that means, but never mind. It’s Quarrington, after all.)

Odd thing about the writing of The Ravine. Halfway through, he stopped. Something was pulling at him and that something was a screenplay. So he wrote the screenplay for the novel that was not yet finished. When that was done, he finished the novel. He then also decided to do a short-film version, which is how Pavane was born.

“We are in the business of making short films inspired by books,” agrees Judith Keenan, executive director of the Moving Stories Film Festival. “The films are crafted from an artistic perspective just like any short film would be — each has a narrative arc, a beginning, middle and ending, and gives every viewer a satisfying experience. The original screenplay for each film is adapted from a book because that’s our niche, we love to introduce new readers to the work of both our authors and our filmmakers.

“There are those that agree that our little guys stand on their own — CBC is on board to broadcast Pavane, A Life’s Passion; Bravo continues to support the films (What Casanova Told Me, Pavane, Nagasaki Circus), as does the National Film Board (Nagasaki Circus, and others just now in development stage).”

Pavane, A Life’s Passion and Nagasaki Circus will be shown Wednesday, along with This Hour Has Seven Decades, JPOD, The Gargoyle and nine others, all based on written word sources (short stories, poems). Then, on Thursday, Quarrington will be conducting a workshop with Keenan on the difficulties of adapting a novel for the screen.

“The big problem,” he says, “is that movies are a lot smaller than people think they are. A relatively small book like Whale Music can’t fit comfortably into a movie — you have to pick and choose.”

Quarrington says adapting his own work, such as Whale Music, is easier, because he has no qualms about cutting things. When he’s adapting someone else’s work, he becomes “fiercely protective of their work because it’s theirs. Myself, because I’m closer to me, I can say, ‘Get over yourself, Paul’.”

When he was working with director Richard Lewis on Whale Music, for instance, there were quite a few times where Lewis wanted to add a scene from the book, but Quarrington wouldn’t allow it. “Well, it’s in the book,” Lewis would say. “Who cares?” Quarrington would respond.

This Thursday, you’ll learn how to be just as self-flagellating. From the master, no less.

Paul Quarrington will appear at the Ottawa International Writers Festival on Wednesday at 7 p.m and Thursday at 4 p.m. and 8:30 p.m.

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James Macgowan’s blog, Cover to Cover, is a perfect destination to read what’s happening in the world of books

Read it all here at the Ottawa Citizen

James MacGowan, The Ottawa Citizen
Published: Sunday, October 19, 2008

Five questions for Quarrington with Calgary Herald

Q: At this year’s Wordfest you’re curating the Moving Stories film program which, looks at short films from around the world. Do you have a background in film? A: When I was in high school I really wanted to be a filmmaker. I even got into a prestigious program at one point . . . but my filming partner and I took the cameras to a party and shot everyone drinking beer. We got thrown out of the program for that, so that sort of felled my filming ambitions for a while. But I did actually go to the Canadian Film Centre here about 15 years ago for the director’s residence and I did make four short films. (My new one) Pavane is based on The Ravine. It’s about the brother relationship and it hints at an occurrence in The Ravine. I use animation to do the childhood stuff, which i think is kind of effective. I’m not if it makes it more creepy or less creepy, but I know it effects the creepiness level. Q: What inspired you to write your latest novel The Ravine? A: I taught creative writing for a long time and at one point I was a writer-in-residence at the Orillia Public Library here in Ontario. . . . Some women came (to the class) and it became clear to me they were in abusive relationships, but I noticed their stories either led up to the abuse and stopped or they began after the abuse had finished and (the stories) proceeded from there. I realized it was my job to get them to write about that middle part that made them uncomfortable. I later realized that about four or five years ago in my own life there was a certain amount of turmoil and I wasn’t following my own advice, so I chose to confront some issues I had. It was things based on an incident which happened to me and my brother and another boy when we were young. So the inspiration for The Ravine was writing about things that made me feel uncomfortable. Spotlight … Paul Quarrington appears at Wordfest events on Oct. 15, 16, 17, 18 and 19. wordfest.com Published: Tuesday, October 14, 2008 Read the whole interview at the Calgary Herald website

ME SEXY at THIN AIR 2008

Paul Quarrington talks to Drew Hayden Taylor, award-winning author, playwright and comedian. At the risk of dating himself, Taylor reveals that his first writing credit was for the Beachcombers! Who knew? At THIN AIR, Hayden reads from Me Sexy (the sequel to Me Funny), a collection of stories written by some of Canada’s most esteemed First Nations writers. First funny, then sexy…we can’t wait to see what’s next for Taylor.

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).

Pavane On Tour

In Paul Quarrington’s short film, PAVANE, Phil and Jay share more than a family bond - failed careers, failed relationships, bottomless drinks, and a debilitating memory of a shocking encounter in a ravine one childhood day. The pretext of being strangers, the darkly comic ritual that the broken, non-functioning brothers perform in an attempt to get at their pain, cant cover the palpable connection between them, nor their deeply felt desire to find redemption. Cutting between live action performed by an award-winning cast and ingenuous animation whose simplicity belies the impact of the incident it reveals, Pavane portrays both the loss of innocence and a subtle hint at the boys fragile potential for a new beginning.

Pavane is inspired by Quarrington’s latest novel The Ravine, which has just been long-listed for the prestigious Giller Prize. The film will premiere to audiences attending Moving Stories Films in each city on our tour, before national broadcasts on both Bravo!FACT Presents and CBC Reflections.

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