Virginia Hastings and Annie Bradley's films shine at Women's Day film fest. Women in Film: Promotional postcard for Pudge, a film by Muskoka-born Annie Bradley.
MUSKOKA - On March 8, the Muskoka YWCA will celebrate International Women’s Day with a film festival.
The Women in Film Festival: The 100-Mile Movie is being organized by YWCA Muskoka, Spinning Reels and Reel Alternatives Huntsville.
On Tuesday, March 8, two films by local filmmakers will be screened at the Rene M. Caisse Theatre in Bracebridge.
Pudge, by Muskoka-born and raised director Annie Bradley, tells the tale of an unlikely friendship between a wealthy recluse and a poor girl who wants a new coat.
Violet, a pudgy 12-year-old girl, lands in foster care in the projects, and has to start all over — new school, new rules, and a frosty new roommate too.
When the kids at school hassle Violet about her ratty baby coat, Violet’s fists fly, landing her in trouble.
She vows to get herself a new coat in time for her birthday and ventures to a wealthy neighbourhood in search of a job.
Here Violet meets Edith, a rich, eccentric elderly lady who never leaves her mansion. Edith hires Violet to clean her house under the pretense of preparing for a party as her beloved maid has passed away.
Gradually they begin to form an unlikely friendship, but when the teasing at school ramps up, Violet demands her money.
The final chore day turns ugly, ripping their fragile relationship apart. Realizing what she has lost, Edith is forced to venture out from her safe but lonely world.
In the end Violet gets a birthday gift that fits her just right.
“These two people have nothing in common but they need each other. They save each other’s lives,” says director Annie Bradley. “People at the bottom of the social pile believe they have nothing to offer those at the top. That’s not true. At the end of the day we’re all looking for connection. That can always come from the most unlikely of places.”
Violet comes from a Toronto area called Regent Park. The foster home in which Violet is sent to is set in the heart of this east end neighbourhood. Regent Park, is an underserved low-income housing region, and populated mostly by people of color and visible ethnicities.
It is a locality that is often represented in films doubling as the slums of New York or a ghetto in Toronto, and in both cases the subject matter usually surrounds gun violence.
Bradley made a concerted effort to secure locations at Nelson Mandela Park Public School and St. David’s Walk in the Regent Park district for both the reasons of authenticity and to represent the area within a different social context.
According to Bradley, in addition to shooting on location, it was also important to engage the surrounding community organizations that support the region.
It was her intention to reach out to the Regent Park Focus Youth Media Centre.
The centre is a youth driven, not-for-profit organization with a program aimed at marginalized and culturally diverse youth living in and around the community.
It provides free access to media technology, so participants work collectively through youth-led media productions disseminated on their RP-TV internet broadcasts.
Bradley invited Regent Park Focus on location to supply them with an opportunity to shadow a professional film crew during production and their presence there became a representation of the community at-large.
Bradley’s passionate vision paints a compelling story.
This multiple award-winning director/writer and Sundance alumnus has helmed over 60 short films, music videos, commercials and episodes of TV.
Bradley is also developing multiple feature and television projects through her company, the Heat Mansion.
Garnering a multitude of nominations, Pudge was awarded a platinum Remi at WorldFest in Houston, Texas, best performance in a short film at the 30th annual Young Artist Awards in Los Angeles and best dramatic short at the Cinecita Film Festival.
Labour of Love, directed by Huntsville’s Virginia Hastings, follows Canadian ultra cyclist Caroline van den Bulk as she attempts to complete what is known as the hardest endurance race in the world, the Race Across America.
Racers ride 3,000 miles across the United States, through 14 states climbing over 100,000 feet, and only sleep for an average of 60 to 90 minutes a day.
When they are not sleeping they are in the saddle. The race is one stage – once the gun goes off in California it is an all-out solo challenge until each racer crosses the finish line on the east coast.
Van den Bulk follows her dreams, passions, and obsessions.
The kindergarten teacher, having only bought her first bike nine years before, is an everyday person who decides to throw caution to the wind, follow her heart and see what rewards life offers on the open road.
Naturally determined and passionate, director Hastings has a creative eye that makes people, wildlife and landscapes shine in her work.
After spending the last nine years running Starshine Video Productions, a company that focuses on commercial and marketing videos, Hastings made a turn in the road and decided to pursue her dream of producing documentaries that focus on the outdoors, adventure and adrenaline.
Labour of Love is her first feature-length film.
She has also been a dedicated volunteer and is currently board president of YWCA Muskoka.
The films will be shown on March 8 from 6:30 until 9:30 p.m. General seating admission is by donation.
Refreshments will be served and there will be a question period after each film.
For more information about the films, or about Women’s Day activities, contact the YWCA at 705-645-9827 or visit www.ywcamuskoka.com.
Source:
No comments:
Post a Comment