With so many great films screening all summer at Vancity Theatre, we thought we’d give you a hand and compile a list of fascinating but underrated films that you may have missed while flipping through our calendar. Take a moment to watch a few trailers and browse the movie intros below, we promise you will find a film or two that will pique your interest!
June 25: MONK WITH A CAMERA All proceeds from this screening will go to Nepal Earthquake Relief Funds: The Humanitarian Coalition, Sonrisa Orphanage Nepal (SON) & CaN Education Foundation
MONK WITH A CAMERA chronicles the life and spiritual quest of Nicholas (Nicky) Vreeland, who for the past twenty-eight years has been a Tibetan Buddhist monk. The son of a United States Ambassador, grandson of legendary Vogue editor Diana Vreeland, and a photographer by trade, Nicky left his privileged life behind to follow his true calling. He moved to India, cutting his ties with society, photography, and his pleasure-filled world, to live in a monastery with no running water or electricity.
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June 26 – July 2: A PIGEON SAT ON A BRANCH REFLECTING ON EXISTENCE
Critics Consensus: Expertly assembled and indelibly original, A Pigeon Sat on a Branch concludes writer-director Roy Andersson’s Living trilogy in style.
Master Swedish director Roy Andersson takes up the theme of “being a human being” with this meticulously crafted, dreamlike black comedy. Sam and Jonathan, a pair of hapless novelty salesman, take us on a kaleidoscopic tour of the human condition in reality and fantasy, unfolding in absurdist episodes: a sing-along at a 1940s beer hall, a randy flamenco teacher, a thirsty King Charles XII of Sweden en route to battle, and a diabolical metaphor for the horrors inflicted by European colonialism. It is a journey that unveils the beauty of single moments, the pettiness of others, life’s grandeur, and the humor and tragedy hidden within us all.
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July 11: BIG GAME
In the rugged countryside of Finland, a young thirteen-year-old (Onni Tommila) embarks on a traditional quest to prove himself by spending 24 hours alone in the wild, armed with only a bow and arrow. After witnessing a spectacular crash, he discovers the escape pod from Air Force One, containing the President of the United States (Samuel L. Jackson). When they realize a group of kidnappers is hot on their trail with the intention of taking the president, this unlikely duo must escape their hunters as they search for the American Special Forces team sent out to find them.
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July 17-23: STRANGERLAND
In one of her most impressive, raw performances Nicole Kidman is Catherine, a wife and mother trying to adjust to a new life in a small outback town. No one knows them here, which was the attraction, but Catherine’s rebellious 15-year-old daughter Lily (Maddison Brown) is fast getting a reputation with the local boys. When Lily disappears into the night – trailed by her younger brother Tommy (Nicholas Hamilton) – her mother can barely keep her alarm in check. Suspicions fall every which way, including on Catherine’s husband (Joseph Fiennes), and their already strained marriage buckles and cracks.
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July 11-27: I AM ELEVEN
Australian filmmaker Genevieve Bailey travelled the world for six years talking with 11-year-olds to compose this insightful, funny and moving documentary portrait of childhood. From an orphanage in India, to a single-parent household in inner-city Melbourne, to bathing with elephants in Thailand; weaving together deeply personal and at times hilarious portraits of what it means to sit at this transitional age. These young minds provide us with a powerful insight into the future of our world.
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