Silver-Screen Gold
NSI FilmExchange prepares to showcase the best of Canadian film
Peter Vesuwalla



The National Screen Institute appears to have put past research to good use in programming this year’s FilmExchange Canadian Film Festival. In fact, this year’s event closely sticks to last year’s paradigm: keep it intimate while strategically placing the films that are likely to sell out.

And if the past has shown anything, it’s that made-in-Winnipeg films and French-Canadian fare tend to play very, very well here.

The program, which began March 1 with the now-traditional, outdoor screening of shorts at The Forks, includes two sophomore features from Winnipeggers: Sean Garrity’s Lucid and Gary Yates’ Niagara Motel, as well as Paula Kelly’s documentary Appassionata: The Extraordinary Life and Music of Sonia Eckhardt-Gramatté, and a special presentation of Guy Maddin’s short My Dad Is 100 Years Old.

On top of that, Charles Binamé’s biopic of Montreal Canadiens star Maurice (The Rocket) Richard is a perfect choice for a closing-night film, especially considering the almost hysterical buzz Binamé’s Séraphin: un homme et son péché created when it sold out two screenings at the festival two years ago. This will be the first time a non-Winnipeg film has closed the festival since David Cronenberg’s Spider premiered in 2003.

“We wanted to get a big film for the closing night,” says NSI director of programming Liz Janzen, “and we had the opportunity to get The Rocket as an English-Canadian premiere. And we’re really excited about having three made-in-Manitoba (feature) films on the screen.”

While some of the films may be big, the festival as a whole is maintaining the streamlined approach that boosted attendance 17 per cent last year despite boasting almost 50 per cent less features than the year before.

“One of the things that works is not programming concurrent screenings,” Janzen explains. “We felt it would be better if people had the opportunity to get to pretty well every event if they wanted to.”

The festival attracted 6,000 moviegoers last year, and Janzen hopes to match, if not exceed, that number this year.

NSI Canada is this country’s oldest film and television training school, established in 1984 and incorporated in 1986. Its head office is located in Winnipeg but its training is delivered across the country. The FilmExchange festival is the organization’s opportunity to showcase the fruits of its labours.

The festival’s daytime program includes the usual master classes and panel discussions, which are usually only of interest to filmmakers, but the March 2 panel discussion on video games as the next generation of interactive storytelling might break new ground.

Short-film programs are also on the agenda, playing each afternoon, as is the ever-popular National Exposure amateur video contest, which has expanded to allow Movieola viewers to vote online for their favourite videos, making the contest a bit fairer to emerging filmmakers from other provinces.

The NSI is also trying a couple of new things. First, there’s the First Stories screening on March 4, at which aboriginal filmmakers will be showing and discussing four short documentaries about contemporary aboriginal life. Later in the day the NSI will be showing an encore presentation of an hour’s worth of short films for people who can’t make the weekday screenings.

For more info see our What’s Up entertainment listings or visit www.nsi-canada.ca/filmexchange.

NSI FilmExchange Schedule

Thurs., March 2

1:30 p.m. — Globe
Cinema 3
Showcase of Canadian Shorts 2 — Comedy

7:30 p.m. — Globe
Cinema 2
Feature — Lucid, with Drama Prize short film, Janitors

9:45 p.m. — Globe
Cinema 2
Feature — Familia,
with short film
My Dad is 100 Years Old

Fri., March 3

1:30 p.m. — Globe
Cinema 3
Showcase of Canadian Shorts 3

7:30 p.m. — Globe
Cinema 2
Feature — Niagara Motel, with Drama Prize short film,
The Meaning of Max

9:45 p.m. — Globe
Cinema 2
Feature — Fetching Cody, with Drama Prize short film, The Year I Ran in the Woods

Midnight — Globe
Cinema 2
Feature — The Zero Sum

Sat., March 4

1:30 p.m. — Globe
Cinema 3
Showcase of Canadian Shorts 4

2 p.m. — Globe Cinema 2
Feature — Appassionata: The Extraordinary Life and Music of Sonia
Eckhardt-Gramatté, with Drama Prize short film, The Letter

5 p.m. — Globe Cinema 2
National Exposure — Canadian amateur short-film competition

6:30 p.m. — Globe
Cinema 2
Rewind! Short Film Encore

8:30 p.m. — Globe
Cinemas 2 & 3
Feature — The Rocket, with Drama Prize short film, Gravity Boy