Over 800 Medicine Hat High School students will spend a day immersed in Canadian films on Thursday, April 5, 2012 as the travelling REEL CANADA film festival screens a variety of films and gives students a chance to meet either the filmmakers or the actors who brought the films to life.

The films, programmed by the students themselves, include How She Move, Wild Life, The Rocket, Fido, Passchendaele, and Inside Hana’s Suitcase. Wherever possible, actors or filmmakers will conduct Q+A sessions with students via Skype.

In addition, a special animation program will be conducted by Oscar-nominated Alberta filmmakers Wendy Tilby and Amanda Forbis, creators of Wild Life, nominated for an Oscar for Best Animated Short Film in 2012.

“We can’t wait to show these films to Medicine Hat students,” says REEL CANADA’s executive director Jack Blum. “The students chose some outstanding movies to watch, and we know they will be totally inspired by the quality of the filmmakers and the stories they are telling – right here in Canada.” Blum will also be in attendance in Medicine Hat.

REEL CANADA is a traveling film festival that has exposed over 100,000 high school students to the incredible achievements of Canadian filmmakers for the past seven years, enhancing their appreciation of our national culture. This year, the festival also includes a Welcome to Canada program, which brings the immersive, dynamic learning experience of REEL CANADA to new Canadians, introducing them to home-grown films and filmmakers.

In the 2012 spring season, the festival is touring the country with 20 events in eight provinces. Cities include Ottawa, ON, Montague, PEI, Montreal, QC, Medicine Hat, AB, Winnipeg MB, Calgary AB, Stonewall, MB, Brampton, ON, Toronto, ON, Fredericton, NB, Saskatoon, SK and Vancouver, BC.

Created by a committee of passionate filmmakers and dedicated educators in 2005, REEL CANADA is designed to foster greater awareness of, and pride in, Canadian films, by bringing the excitement of a film festival experience directly into high schools.

REEL CANADA is supported by an advisory committee of Canada’s most celebrated film professionals: Hussain Amarshi, Denys Arcand, Carl Bessai, Gary Burns, David Cronenberg, Colm Feore, Niv Fichman, Bryan Gliserman, Paul Gross, Norman Jewison, Robert Lantos, Bruce McDonald, Don McKellar, Deepa Mehta, Charlotte Mickie, Geoff Pevere, Marguerite Pigott, Gordon Pinsent, Sarah Polley, Peter Raymont, Patricia Rozema, Mina Shum, Tara Spencer-Nairn, and Jean Marc Vallée.

REEL CANADA is made possible by the generous support of our Founding Sponsor Telefilm Canada, and Premier Corporate Sponsor Cineplex Entertainment. National expansion is supported by a grant under the Youth Take Charge program of the Department of Canadian Heritage.

REEL CANADA’s Website

A Dangerous Method

Noted Canadian director, David Cronenberg, presents a film about two giants of early psychoanalysis and the beautiful but troubled young woman who comes between them in the recently released film, A Dangerous Method. The film will be shown on Monday, February 20 at the Monarch Theatre. Show time is 7.30 pm.

Set in the early years of the twentieth century, the film charts the intense and inexplicably interwoven relationships between fledgling psychoanalysist Carl Jung (Michael Fassbender) and his mentor Sigmund Freud (Viggo Mortensen). Sabina Spielrein (Keira Knightley) is a disturbed patient who challenges their minds and ethics.

With Jung and Freud at the centre point, the film looks at the issues which initially united these two pioneering psychiatrists and which eventually divided them and took them off into other areas of investigation.

The film is based on the book, A Most Dangerous Method by John Kerr and adapted by Christopher Hampton from his stage play, The Talking Cure. Viggo Mortensen was nominated for Best Supporting Actor for the Golden Globes. THE JUMP – Read the rest of this entry »

AT THE MONARCH THEATRE, MEDICINE HAT
January 16 and 17, 2012

Travel to exotic lands and remote cultures! Be up close and personal with adrenaline-packed action sports! The Best of the Banff Mountain Film Festival returns to Medicine Hat on Monday and Tuesday, January 16 and 17, 2012 at 7.00 pm sharp. Tickets are available at the Information Desk at Medicine Hat Public Library or through the students in the Ecotourism and Outdoor Leadership program at Medicine Hat College. Tickets are also available at Valhalla Pure Outfitters, at 1667 Dunmore Road SE. The evenings take place at the Monarch Theatre in downtown Medicine Hat.

Tickets are $12 for adults and $10 for students and seniors. If not sold out, there will be a limited number at the door at $12 each evening.

Two evenings of films, with different line ups, will be shown. Spoil, filmed on the remote west coast of BC, chronicles the attempt to photograph the elusive and legendary spirit bear in an area threatened by a proposed pipeline, currently in the news. Cold captures the interwoven roles of pain, fear and doubt as two climbers experience winter and the dangers of avalanches on Gasherbrum 11 in the Karakorum range of the Himalayas. In On The Trail of Genghis Khan, Australian Tim Cope, his band of horses and his dog travel overland 10,000 km from Mongolia to Hungary, following in the footsteps of the legendary warrior and nomad Genghis Khan. In addition films on tightrope walking across incredible abysses, kayaking, climbing in the desert and glaciers, as well as a nine year girl wonder climber, skiing and paddling will be featured.

For the past 36 years on the first weekend in November, people have gathered in Banff to see films and videos which celebrate the best in mountain culture, extreme sports and the environment. Once the festival has concluded, a selection of these films goes on the road across Canada and the United States and around the world.

The students in the Ecotourism and Outdoor Leadership program at the College are an integral part of the evenings as they generously volunteer their time to help with the presentation of the Best of the Banff Mountain Film Festival in Medicine Hat.

Two local companies, Criterion Catalysts and Technologies and Cancarb have generously sponsored the Film Festival, thus allowing for the proceeds of ticket sales to go towards library projects.

For more information, please call Hilary Munro at 403-502-8533 or email hilmun@medicinehat.ca.

For background information and a short preview of the some of the films, go to http://www.banffcentre.ca/mountainfestival/

Aaron is currently working with experimental, highly translucent soft paste porcelain that matures at an extremely low temperature. His interest in this new material, for which there are few historical precedents, grows out of a concern for the environment and reducing the carbon footprint of his practice.

At the same time, he has become interested in contemporary communications technologies – QR Codes in particular. He is experimenting with the merging of ceramic art with these new forms of communication.

This is Aaron’s latest Big Idea. We hope you enjoy it.

Copyright Medalta 2011
Filmed by Quentin Randall
Edited & Directed by Quentin Randall & Jenn Demke-Lange
Music by JS Zamecnik

Medicine Hat’s Volunteer Centre will likely close it’s doors after Christmas. The organization that has been a staple in our community since 1991 was overlooked for FCSS funding and can no longer operate. Program funding was a decision made by our current city council. The same council that has recently allotted funds to Slave Lake, Haiti and the Horn of Africa. Irregardless of the fact that our generosity extends beyond our borders, times are tough and we cannot fund a twenty year old organization providing services to the local community. If you are wondering why, here are some people you can ask:

At 7pm, Thursday, November 17th in Room F156 at Medicine Hat College we will be showing “The Healthcare Movie”. There is free admission and everyone is welcome.

This documentary provides the real story of how the health care systems in Canada and the United States evolved to be so completely different, when at one point they were essentially the same. Most people under the age of 50, in both countries, are not aware of the intensity of the political struggle that led to the universal medical care system in Canada. Nor are they aware of the public relations campaigns, still active today, that have been prevalent in the United States since the early 1900’s to dissuade the public from supporting national health care.

Produced by Canadian/American couple Laurie Simons and Terry Sterrenberg, The Healthcare Movie reveals the personal and emotional impact on Canadians who now have access to universal health care because of the heroism of people who took a stand nearly 50 years ago. It also reveals the continuing struggle in the United States between the fear of government intervention and the right to quality health care for all people.

Every day people are dying or going bankrupt due to the ills of the United States system. Who are we in the face of this human tragedy? If you agree that people are more important than profits, then you must watch this film.

Feature: 65 minutes including credits, followed by an Addendum entitled “The Second Stage of Medicare”: 10 minutes
Narrated by Kiefer Sutherland

Sponsored by Palliser Friends of Medicare

The Parks and Outdoor Recreation department has installed signs at a number of leisure trails indicating if it is considered a dog off-leash or on-leash area. The signs will help educate and assist users in understanding when they are entering or exiting these areas, allowing everyone to take the required actions.

Pet owners are reminded that they are always responsible for promptly picking up any waste and ensuring that dogs are under their control at all times, regardless of whether they are on or off-leash.

At this time, signs have been installed at major trail heads indicating that dogs are allowed off-leash. A complete map of off-leash areas can be found on the Parks and Outdoor Recreation section of the City website.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-nY7GE1Tzgo

Some locals, Daniel and Tom, from comtv.ca have started a new show discussing the latest news on Digg and Reddit. There’s also some local story discussion as well.

Medicine Hat Public Library and Cinema Politica partner in presenting H2Oil, a film about America’s thirst for oil and and the effect on Canada’s oil sands and environment. The film takes place on Monday, October 31 at 7.00 pm in the Library Theatre.

America’s biggest oil supplier has quickly become Canada’s oil sands. Located under Alberta’s pristine boreal forests, the process of oil sands extraction uses up to 4 barrels of fresh water to produce only one barrel of crude oil.

Water has become the most important issue to face humanity in this century. At the same time, the war for oil is well underway across the globe. A struggle is increasingly being fought between water and oil, with Alberta’s oil sands at the centre of this tension.

This recent film examines the social, ecological and human impacts and the coming crisis point, as pipelines move towards crisscrossing the continent from the Arctic to the southern U. S, leaving toxic water basins the size of Lake Ontario and surface mines as large as Florida.

Cinema Politica and Monday Night at the Movies/Friends of Medicine Hat Public Library have partnered to present this free program.

For more information about Cinema Politica, go to www.cinemapolitica.org

For more information about H2Oil, go to www.h2oildoc.com

Medicine Hat Public Library and the Canadian National Institute for the Blind (CNIB) present Going Blind, a film about glaucoma and vision loss on Saturday, October 29 at 2.00 pm. The film will be shown in the Theatre at Medicine Hat Public Library.

When American film maker Joseph Lovett developed glaucoma and subsequent vision loss, he decided to examine the different causes of vision loss, both from a medical and an emotional point of view. His film documents the experiences of a number of people: a young Iraq war vet, an art teacher, an architect and others who are coming to terms with their vision loss.

The Library and the CNIB invite those who may be losing their vision, along with their friends and family, to view this film and learn more about this devastating disease. For more information about the film, go to www.goingblindmovie.com

Admission is free and refreshments will be served following the film showing.

For more information, contact Hilary Munro at 403-502-8533 or at hilmun@medicinehat.ca