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Female Eye Today
by Staff
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(March 26, 2009 - Toronto, Ontario) -- The 7th Annual Female Eye Film Festival got off to a great start last night with a screening of the remarkable movie, Hounddog. The venerable Bloor Street Cinema played host to an almost-packed house, not bad considering it was a rainy Wednesday night. The movie is a provocative Southern tale set in rural Alabama in the late 1950s. It's the story of a spirited young girl named Lewellen, played by Dakota Fanning, and her struggle to rise above the repression that surrounds her. The film also stars David Morse, Robin Wright Penn and Piper Laurie.
As promised, director Deborah Kampmeier was on hand to field questions from the audience and through her answers a story as remarkable as her film began to unfold. Hounddog is an original idea that has been fraught with problems since its inception, 12 years ago. She has had to deal with everything ffom finding initial funding only to lose it time and time again, to not being able to sign a young lead actor because of content she refused to cut, to almost losing Dakota Fanning when getting production started was taking so long the young actor's representatives felt they needed to move on with her career, to union crew problems, problems in the edit suite, etc., etc. To this day there are problems with the film inclduing distribution issues, which have led to problems with music rights payments. The print for the festival showing was even held in customs on Wednesday night and didn't arrive at the theatre until 30-minutes before show time.
Kampmeier drove up from New York to be at the festival and she held court, answering every last question, with an ease and charm that belies the turmoil surrounding her film. She also displayed the obvious passion and belief it often takes to get anything worthwhile done these days.
Today the action moves to the Rainbow Cinemas Market Square on Front Street East in Toronto and begins at 4PM with a program of international and Canadian short films, including:
XXX-RAY, Dir. Jill Rosenberg
Being naked isn’t half as embarrassing as an exposed skeleton… and other objects. A motley crew find themselves at the hospital where a bored lab technician takes a closer look, until he reveals his own internal secret.
(2008, Comedy, Toronto, Canada, 6 min) World Premiere
Spoiled, Dir. Sherry White
Nine year old Pearl loves her Dad. He’s fun, he’s outrageous and he’s single. Pearl uses the internet to connect her dad with someone new. She also discovers a new side to her father.
(2008, Drama, St. John's, NL, 15 min) World Premiere
The Princess of Selkirk Avenue, Dir. Jill Riley
This clash of cultures set in early 60s Winnipeg features a bizarre love triangle: the disapproving patriarch, Hershel, his willful daughter, Hannah and her affable, non-Jewish suitor, Bob. (2008, Comedy, Toronto, Canada, 13 min) World Premiere
Mode d’emploi, Dir. Angela Romboni
Together or apart is a question that can’t seem to be easily answered by this couple. Only the dog, Jude, seems to understand what their problem is.
(2008, Drama, France, 30 min) World Premiere
Ben Voyons Camille, Dir. Carole Ducharme
Ben voyons, Camille! Is a colorful black comedy about body image and puberty. To avoid being teased by her family, 13-year-old Camille goes to great lengths to hide from her uneducated father and her clean-freak mother the fact that she has started to menstruate. Unfortunately, the thing she fears most - attracting attention - is likely to be what she gets. (2008, Comedy,
Vancouver, BC, 21 min) Toronto Premiere
Following a Question and Answer session with the directors, Leslie Ann Coles, founder of the festival, will host the presentation of the Female Eye Maverick Award. The recipient is television industry veteran, Linda Schuyler, the woman behind such enduring shows as Degrassi, and all its incarnations, as well as a number of other programs. There will be a brief tribute video recapping Schuyler's career, followed by a special documentary screening of MTV Presents: Degrassi In Kenya. Co-directed by Lara Leavoy, the 30 minutes film follows cast members from Degrassi: The Next Generation as they to build a much needed addition to the Motony Primary School in Kenya along with the Toronto-based organization, Free The Children,
This will be followed by the first of two feature films. The first is Before Tomorrow. Co-directed by Marie-Helene Cousineau and Madeline Piujuqivalu, Before Tomorrow is the story of two isolated families that meet for a summertime celebration. Food is abundant and the future seems bright, but Ningiuq, a strong and wise old woman, sees her world as fragile and moves through it with a pervasive sense of dread. Ningiuq and her  grandson Maniq are dropped off on a remote island, where, every year, the family dries the catch and stores it for winter. The task is soon finished, but as summer turns to fall, they wait in vain for the others to pick them up.
This is the third feature from Igloolik-Isuma Productions and the first in collaboration with Arnait, the women’s video collective of Igloolik, following Atanarjuat: The Fast Runner (2001), and The Journals of Knud Rasmussen (2006). It is based on the novel “Før Morgendagen” by Jørn Riel.
The second program is scheduled to start at 9:30pm and contains two films. The first, Bark, is a 6-minute film from director, Ruth Lawrence, from St. John's, Newfoundland. The film asks the question, What do you hear when you're not really listening? Bark is a short drama that explores the wrongful conviction of a young man for the murder of his girlfriend. When the jury is swayed by instinct over evidence, the life of a boy is changed forever.
This is be followed by The Business of Story, by Rebecca Ormond. Running almost 90-minutes this "dramedy" is about antisocial Professor Emerson who has overcome great adversity, namely her mother. Now it’s publish or perish time and only one eccentric publisher is interested in Em’s book of childhood stories on the condition that Em include her mother’s account of the events alongside Em’s own.
Both directors are expected to be on hand to answer questions.
Click here for more information about the Female Eye Film Festival.
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