Shaw Festival Film Series 2008 Schedule

Building on the success of the last two years, the Shaw Festival is pleased to announce its continuing partnership with The Film Circuit, a branch of the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF), to bring acclaimed contemporary films to the Festival Theatre during the winter months.

Beginning December 8, 2007, some of the most celebrated feature films of the year will be screened on Saturdays at 3:00 pm. Eight films have been confirmed to date for the series, with four additional titles to follow in the coming weeks.

New this year is a Tuesday-evening documentary mini-series featuring four films, with two confirmed to date. The documentaries will be screened in the Festival Theatre at 7 pm.

TIFF's very successful Film Circuit programme assists groups in smaller centres to gain access to Canadian and international films. Providing service and support to volunteers in communities that wish to build film series and showcase films not otherwise locally available, the Film Circuit has benefited over 170 local groups across Canada. All profits from the Festival Film Series will benefit the Shaw Festival.

Tickets are $10 per person. A twelve-film Festival Film Pass is available for $109 per person. A Festival Documentary Pass is $35. To purchase tickets, please visit the Shaw Festival box office in person, or call locally 905-468-2172 or toll-free 1-800-511-SHAW (7429).

Shaw Festival Film Series Schedule

Feature Series:

December 8
La Vie en Rose
Rating: PG-13

Directed by Oliver Dahan, La Vie En Rose stars Marion Cotillard in a tour de force performance as troubled French singer Edith Piaf.

December 15
Waitress
Rating: PG-13

Sweet, smart and quirky, Waitress was an audience hit at the Sundance Film Festival. Keri Russell leads a dynamic cast as a diner waitress stuck in a lousy marriage whose only solace is baking out-of-this-world pies.

December 22
Death at a Funeral
Rating: R

A dignified send-off for a loved one erupts into uproarious chaos when romance, jealousy, in-laws, hallucinogens, dark secrets, life-long yearnings and a spot of bold blackmail all collide grave-side in this irreverent British comedy from director Frank Oz.

December 29
In the Valley of Elah
Rating: R

From the Oscar-winning writer/director Paul Haggis (Million Dollar Baby, Crash) comes a riveting story of a Vietnam veteran (Tommy Lee Jones) searching for a son (Jonathan Tucker) just returned from a tour in Iraq.

January 5
12 and Holding
Rating: R

Michael Cuesta's film explores the complexities of children losing their innocence and adults struggling to guide them. 12 and Holding enters the intricate - and often humorous - world where adolescence and adulthood collide.

January 12
Eastern Promises
Rating: R

Viggo Mortensen stars as the mysterious and charismatic Nikolai Luzhin, a driver for one of London's most notorious organized crime families, who unexpectedly finds his loyalties divided. David Cronenberg's new thriller explores the psyche, physicality, and fortunes of a man whose true nature may never be wholly revealed.

January 15
My Kid Could Paint That
Rating: PG-13

In the span of only a few months, 4-year-old Marla Olmstead rocketed from total obscurity into international renown - and sold over $300,000 worth of paintings. Then a 60 Minutes expose' suggested that the paintings were painted by her father, and the Olmsteads were ostracized and barraged with hate mail. Director Amir Bar-Lev takes a complex look at art and truth and finds no easy answers.

January 19
After the Wedding
Rating: R

Acclaimed director Susanne Bier returns with her most powerful film, the Academy Award nominee for Best Foreign Language Film. Sweeping yet intimate, After the Wedding is a shattering portrait of a family struggling with the fragility of life and the search for connection, healing, and forgiveness.

January 26
Across the Universe
Rating: PG-13

At once gritty, whimsical and highly theatrical, Julie Taymor's Across the Universe is an original movie musical featuring cutting-edge visual techniques, heartwarming performances, 1960s history and the Beatles songbook.

February 2
This Is England
Not rated

Based on writer/director Shane Meadows' own childhood experiences, This Is England is a moving coming-of-age tale that captures the despair among England's working-class youth in the 1980s. Thomas Turgoose, in his acting debut, is a revelation as the troubled Shaun, a 12-year-old boy who falls in with a group of anarchic older boys.

February 9
Lars and the Real Girl
PG-13

Written by Six Feet Under writer Nancy Oliver and directed by Craig Gillespie, Lars and the Real Girl is a heartfelt comedy starring Ryan Gosling as Lars, a loveable introvert whose emotional baggage has kept him from fully embracing life. When he introduces an anatomically correct doll as his girlfriend, his family finally has to admit his precarious mental state.

February 16
The Great Debaters
Rating: PG-13

Directed by and starring Denzel Washington, The Great Debaters is based on the true story of Professor Melvin Tolson. In the 1930s, this brilliant but volatile teacher shaped a group of underdog students from a small African American college in the Deep South into an elite debate team that went on to challenge Harvard in the national championship.

February 23
The Savages
Rating: R

Written and directed by Tamara Jenkins, The Savages is a darkly humorous tale of two unhappy siblings, played by Laura Linney and Philip Seymour Hoffman, who are plucked from their everyday, self-centred lives to care for their domineering elderly father.

Documentary Series:

January 22
Terror's Advocate
Not rated

Controversial lawyer Jacques Vergs - defender of terrorists and historical monsters of all kinds - is the subject of Barbet Schroeder's penetrating investigation of this compelling man. The result is a film both morally unsettling and emotionally gripping.

January 19
After the Wedding
Rating: R

January 26
Across the Universe
Rating: PG-13

February 12
The King of Kong
Rating: PG-13

Seth Gordon directs the roaringly funny story of Steve Wiebe, a middle-school science teacher, and Billy Mitchell, a hot sauce mogul, who engage in a cross-country duel to hold the Guinness World Record for the highest score in the arcade classic Donkey Kong. Along the way both men learn valuable lessons about what it means to be a father, a husband, and a true champion.

February 19
The Line King
Not rated

Susan Warms Dryfoos's 1996 documentary tells the story of the childhood, adolescence, and incredible adult years of Al Hirshfeld, celebrated creator of thousands of line drawings of famous people.