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

 

Scenes from the Set

By Ken Tsui
Director of Soucouyant

What a terrific shoot we had. With so much to do in such a short period of time, the cast and crew really came together to do an amazing job!  Here are a few stills from our work on set, including me & the camera crew, “Adele” getting her makeup done, and a poignant portrait of the family.

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!

Kinnie Starr Inspires Moving Stories Films

Moving effortlessly from spoken word to trip hop, funk and pop, from silk screening to graffiti to acting, Vancouver-based Kinnie Starr has been a member of Canada’s creative community since she emerged on the music scene in 1995. “Hip hop aggro-groove,” wrote the L.A. Weekly after the release of her debut album. Her latest album, Anything, combines all of Kinnie’s strongest talents translating them into a dynamic collection of killer songs. Kinnie’s song la le la la from the Anything album is featured here on the Moving Stories Films book preview, to celebrate Kinnie’s first collection of poems and illustrations, HOW I LEARNED TO RUN. The book will be released by House of Parlance Media in September 2008. We thank the artist and her generous publishers for allowing us to inspire the filmmakers participating in Moving Stories Film Festival!

(c) Moving Stories Film Festival is an program of BookShorts Literacy Program. Thanks to BC co-organizers Vancouver International Writers Festival and Emily Carr Institute of Art + Design; supported by Canadian Heritage. OLE Music and House of Parlance Media Inc.

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.