Progressive Recovery Group Victoria BC

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Movie Monday events are by donation at the Eric Martin Theatre (Jubilee Hospital) 1900 Block Fort Street.
Parking on Lee Avenue, north of Fort St, in the “one hour” zone, is not ticketed for our events.
‘Map’ link and details at http/:www.moviemonday.ca    info also on the MM hotline 250-595-FLIC
for weekly notices check out the Movie Monday Facebook Page


   6:30  Monday March 4   TO BE HEARD
To Be Heard is a feature documentary that follows a trio of young spoken word performers as they work through their teen angst, putting their feelings into verse.  It’s called “power-writing”, a process brought into their inner city high school in the Bronx by a trio of intense mentors. These kids know that this is their opportunity to dig deep and, through writing and performing (and being watched by the filmmakers), to re-describe themselves, turning their tumultuous lives into art. This process is part of that rewriting.   http://www.tobeheard.org/ See my full review for VIFF 2012 in Monday Magazine on our site. 104min 2010 Pg13  language

6:30  Monday March 11  THE SESSIONS
Based on the poignantly optimistic autobiographical writings of California-based journalist and poet Mark O’Brien, The Sessions tells the story of a man confined to an iron lung who is determined – at age 38 – to lose his virginity. With the help of his therapists and the guidance of his priest, he sets out to make his dream a reality. The story bravely takes on the question: Are people living with disabilities also deserving and able to have sex be part of their lives? 95min 2012 R considerable nudity and frank sexual situations.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/2013/jan/20/the-sessions-helen-hunt-review
Jessica Yu’s Academy Award winning film Breathing Lessons (35min 1996) about the real Mark O’Brien.

  6:30  Monday March 18  A SUMMER IN THE CAGE is filmmaker Ben Selkow’s feature-length documentary chronicling his
friend Sam’s battle with manic-depressive illness, also known as bipolar disorder. The film follows Sam for six years as he suffers delusional manic episodes, battles paralyzing depressions, and tries to escape the legacy of his bipolar father who committed suicide when Sam was eight years old. The film features interviews with renowned Johns Hopkins University author and clinician Dr. Kay Redfield Jamison; who is also bipolar. Through intimate footage of Sam, Ben and Sam’s mother Sharon, A Summer in the Cage shows the difficult emotional impact of being bipolar on Sam, his family, all those who care about him and the filmmaker. A Summer in the Cage hopes to put a human face on an illness that affects millions of families. But as this dramatic story unfolds and heads to an explosive standoff, it also becomes a unique tale about friendship and the ethical responsibilities of a documentary filmmaker. http://cagethemovie.com/story.html  
We’ll have special guests with us:
Dr Erin Michalak heads up the CREST BD Research Team, studying ways to live well with bipolar http://www.crestbd.ca/team/
and Dr Joanna Cheek, psychiatrist at UVic. – See their bios on our website

also: 7:30pm TUESDAY March 19  Community presentation        location:  Woodward Room Begbie Hall – 2101 Richmond near Fort St        
‘Changing the Landscape of Bipolar Research and Care’                                                   
Presentation by Dr. Erin Michalak and Dr Joanna Cheek   http://www.crestbd.ca
Right on your doorstep, in Vancouver BC, Erin’s team is the only group in the world specializing in involving people with bipolar disorder and their healthcare providers in the research process itself. Want to get involved and make a difference in bipolar research? Then join us for a night of information and engagement - appies provided!


  6:30  Monday March 25  WINDS OF HEAVEN – Emily Carr, Carvers and The Spirits of The Forest  
An impressionistic exploration of the spirit that informed the solitary life of one of Canada’s most celebrated and irrepressible painters. Emily Carr began painting in an era when women didn’t, at an age when most people shouldn’t, traveling to remote locations that few professional adventurers chose to go. Not only did she adopt the painting techniques of modernism, when such ideas were considered dangerous, Carr chronicled the extraordinary art and culture of native peoples, who were invisible to the dominant culture.  87min 2010 Pg   First in a new series of films about artists at MM.
http://www.whitepinepictures.com/all-titles/emily-carr/

  7PM WEDNESDAY March 27  SEARCHING FOR SUGARMAN -  another Music Movie Wednesday! with Friends Of Music
Searching for Sugar Man tells the incredible true story of Rodriguez, the greatest ’70s rock icon who never was. Discovered in a Detroit bar in the late ’60s by two celebrated producers struck by his soulful melodies and prophetic lyrics, they recorded an album which they believed would secure his reputation as the greatest recording artist of his generation. In fact, the album bombed and the singer disappeared into obscurity amid rumors of a gruesome on-stage suicide. But a bootleg recording found its way into apartheid South Africa and, over the next two decades, he became a phenomenon. The film follows the story of two South African fans who set out to find out what really happened to their hero. Their investigation leads them to a story more extraordinary than any of the existing myths about the artist known as Rodriguez. This film just deservedly won the Oscar for Best Documentary – it’s terrific!! http://www.sonyclassics.com/searchingforsugarman/

Movie Monday events are by donation at the Eric Martin Theatre (Jubilee Hospital) 1900 Block Fort Street.
Parking on Lee Avenue, north of Fort St, in the “one hour” zone, is not ticketed for our events.
‘Map’ link and details at http/:www.moviemonday.ca    info also on the MM hotline 250-595-FLIC
for weekly notices check out the Movie Monday Facebook Page
Please pass our info to friends. Movies are most fun shared!

   6:30 Monday Jan 21  BOBBY FISCHER AGAINST THE WORLD
(keeping with this Northern theme) Iceland figures in this amazing tale. I don’t even play chess and I was riveted. In ‘72 the Fischer/Spassky game was broadcast live, a Cold War Battle Royal, bumping “other sports” on the Wide World of Sports and in newscasts pushing aside breaking Watergate news. Here’s that exciting match, Bobby’s background and the strange story of his life after the match.  93min 2011 Pg
http://bobbyfischermovie.co.uk/

 6:30 Monday Jan 28 PEOPLE OF A FEATHER  
“People of a Feather is a breathtaking journey into the remote world of the Belcher Islands Inuit people. Uniting this community’s past and present is their cultural connection with the eider duck, a species now suffering massive die-offs. Eider down, the warmest feather in the world, is essential for surviving harsh Arctic winters. But both the Inuit and the eiders are struggling to adapt to changing sea dynamics as seasons and ocean currents are reversed by run-off from hydroelectric dams that power North America’s entire eastern seaboard. Filmed over seven winters, Arctic ecologist and cinematographer Joel Heath’s debut feature employs stunning time-lapse photography and underwater footage to create an authentic and insightful portrayal of a community challenged by a changing environment. This stunning piece of visual poetry weaves past with present to powerfully acknowledge humankind’s relationship with nature and the fragility of our existence.” 90min 2011 G www.peopleofafeather.com/
(hopefully) with first-time director, full time scientist Joel Heath by phone. He’s based at UBC but travelling through the north so we hope to link up with him
http://www.arcticamag.ca/a-documentary-for-more-than-the-birds-an-interview-with-joel-heath/
http://www.signalblog.ca/?p=12268

  7pm WEDNESDAY Jan 30 THE SINGING REVOLUTION  
                            another Music Movie Wednesday! a collaboration with Friends Of Music     www.friendsofmusic.ca/
The Singing Revolution shares how, between 1987 and 1991, hundreds of thousands of Estonians gathered publicly to sing forbidden patriotic songs and share protest speeches, risking their lives to proclaim their desire for independence. While violence and bloodshed was the unfortunate end result in other occupied nations of the USSR, the revolutionary songs of the Estonians anchored their struggle for freedom, which was ultimately accomplished without the loss of a single life. A truly uplifting story!   94min 2006 Pg

  6:30  Monday Feb 4 RUBY SPARKS
What happens when your dream-girl creation becomes real? Calvin (Paul Dano) is a young novelist who achieved phenomenal success early in his career but is now struggling with his writing – as well as his romantic life. Finally, he makes a breakthrough and creates a character named Ruby who inspires him. When Calvin finds Ruby (Zoe Kazan), in the flesh, sitting on his couch about a week later, he is completely flabbergasted that his words have turned into a living, breathing person. But like most dreams come true, it’s a little more complicated than that…  104min 2012 R
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ehxa_pA1v5k&feature=endscreen

6:30 & 8:30 Monday  Feb 11 for FAMILY DAY – A Wholesome Family Double Feature
Kids: share with the oldsters the brilliance and awesomeness of the cutting edge games
Parents: share with your kids the video games you may have played as youngsters 30 years ago (some folks are still obsessed with them)

   
       
Indie Game: The Movie is the first feature documentary film about making video games. It looks specifically at the underdogs of the video game industry, indie game developers, who sacrifice money, health and sanity to realize their lifelong dreams of sharing their visions with the world.
After two years of painstaking work, designer Edmund McMillen and programmer Tommy Refenes await the release of their first major game for Xbox, Super Meat Boy—the adventures of a skinless boy in search of his girlfriend, who is made of bandages. At PAX, a major video-game expo, developer Phil Fish unveils his highly anticipated, four-years-in-the-making FEZ. Jonathan Blow considers beginning a new game after creating Braid, one of the highest-rated games of all time. Four developers, three games, and one ultimate goal— to express oneself through a video game.  96min 2012 Pg13 language
http://www.indiegamethemovie.com/about/      Trailer:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GhaT78i1x2M
            (You may recognize this as a past offering. We had an equipment failure at our last attempt, so rolling it out again.)
Plus at 8:30  
KING OF KONG: A Fist Full Of Quarters
A brilliantly elaborate and satisfying doc about the quest for world domination – to be best at Donkey Kong. Two diametrically different personalities; the brash, long-reigning champion, Billy Mitchell, and upstart challenger sincere, Redmond, WA science teacher, Steve Wiebe, square off like Frazier and Muhammad Ali in their heyday. Even if you’ve never touched a console, you’ll find this study of competitive human nature and geeky obsession a treat! Rotten Tomatoes and I give it top marks.   90min 2007 Pg

Trailer http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xMJZ-_bJKdI
http://www.filmthreat.com/reviews/9866/

6:30  Monday Feb 18  A “Mystery Film” from the Victoria Film Fest  TBA after the fest

————————- B

Movie Monday events are by donation at the Eric Martin Theatre (Jubilee Hospital) 1900 Block Fort Street.
Parking on Lee Avenue, north of Fort St, in the “one hour” zone, is not ticketed for our events.
‘Map’ link and details at http/:www.moviemonday.ca    info also on the MM hotline 250-595-FLIC

for weekly notices check out the Movie Monday Facebook Page  We can send you a Thursday reminder so you won’t miss any in the New Year!

6:30 PM  Monday Dec 31  New Year’s Eve        CAT BALLOU                
This lovely spoof on the American Western featured the sweet, wide-eyed Jane Fonda (at 28) as the daughter wanting to avenge her father’s death and deservedly won an Oscar for Lee Marvin as washed up gun slinger, Kid Shelleen, hired to do just that. Propelled along by wandering banjo slinging minstrels, Nat King Cole & Stubby Kaye, it’s great fun. 97min 1965 Pg
http://www.emanuellevy.com/review/cat-ballou-7/   http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/cat_ballou/trailers/

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and coming up in MM’s NEW YEAR, as well as many other wonders:
……….Traveling To The North Country, an our comfy armchairs………..  In Jan – Feb, films about the north will be in heavy rotation at Movie Monday.
We’ll be setting the stage with the film that started it all, the incredible NANOOK OF THE NORTH, followed by PASSAGE an NFB production, a docudrama that tackles the first attempt to find the ill fated Franklin expedition, a story that continues this to this day.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/bones-artifacts-found-from-franklin-expedition-but-so-far-no-ships/article4530590/
Watch for others like People Of The Feather and Vanishing Point to follow.
6:30 Monday Jan 7     NANOOK OF THE NORTH
  Robert Flaherty’s classic film tells the story of Inuit hunter Nanook and his family as they struggle to survive in the harsh conditions of Canada’s Hudson Bay region. In 1975, The Flaherty restored the most complete and authoritative print of Nanook of the North, closest to the original 1922 version, with a new score by Stanley Silverman performed by Tashi (Peter Serkin, Ida Kavafian, Fred Sherry, Richard Stoltzman).
http://flahertyseminar.org/distribution/nanook-of-the-north/      65min 1922  Pg with extras!
http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050925/REVIEWS08/509250301/1023
http://www.criterion.com/current/posts/42-nanook-of-the-north
  6:30 Monday Jan 14  NFB’s PASSAGE
It was news that shook the English-speaking world. Celebrated British explorer Sir John Franklin and his crew of 128 men had perished in the Arctic ice during an ill-fated attempt to discover the Northwest Passage. More shocking, they had descended into madness and cannibalism.
The report came in 1851, from John Rae, a Scottish doctor working for the Hudson’s Bay Company. Travelling thousands of miles on foot and in small craft, Rae had done what six years of searching by the British, Americans, French and Russians had failed to do – discover the fate of Franklin and unlock the final link in the Passage – a 300-year-old dream.
But Rae’s horrific news did not sit well with Sir John’s widow, Lady Franklin, nor with many others in British society….  
With Passage, filmmaker John Walker employs an innovative approach to structuring the incredible multilayered story of John Rae and brings it to vibrant life.     108 min  2008  Pg 13
http://www.onf-nfb.gc.ca/eng/collection/film/?id=54861

   6:30 Monday Jan 21  BOBBY FISCHER AGAINST THE WORLD
(keeping with this Northern theme) Iceland figures in this amazing tale. I don’t even play chess and I was riveted. In ‘72 the Fischer/Spassky game was broadcast live, a Cold War Battle Royal, bumping “other sports” on the Wide World of Sports and in newscasts pushing aside breaking Watergate news. Here’s that exciting match, Bobby’s background and the strange story of his life after the match.  93min 2011 Pg
http://bobbyfischermovie.co.uk/

 6:30 Monday Jan 28 PEOPLE OF A FEATHER  
“People of a Feather is a breathtaking journey into the remote world of the Belcher Islands Inuit people. Uniting this community’s past and present is their cultural connection with the eider duck, a species now suffering massive die-offs. Eider down, the warmest feather in the world, is essential for surviving harsh Arctic winters. But both the Inuit and the eiders are struggling to adapt to changing sea dynamics as seasons and ocean currents are reversed by run-off from hydroelectric dams that power North America’s entire eastern seaboard. Filmed over seven winters, Arctic ecologist and cinematographer Joel Heath’s debut feature employs stunning time-lapse photography and underwater footage to create an authentic and insightful portrayal of a community challenged by a changing environment. This stunning piece of visual poetry weaves past with present to powerfully acknowledge humankind’s relationship with nature and the fragility of our existence.” 90min 2011 G www.peopleofafeather.com/
(hopefully) with first-time director, full time scientist Joel Heath by phone. He’s based at UBC but travelling through the north so we hope to link up with him
http://www.arcticamag.ca/a-documentary-for-more-than-the-birds-an-interview-with-joel-heath/

  6:30  Monday Feb 4 RUBY SPARKS
What happens when your dream-girl creation becomes real? Calvin (Paul Dano) is a young novelist who achieved phenomenal success early in his career but is now struggling with his writing – as well as his romantic life. Finally, he makes a breakthrough and creates a character named Ruby who inspires him. When Calvin finds Ruby (Zoe Kazan), in the flesh, sitting on his couch about a week later, he is completely flabbergasted that his words have turned into a living, breathing person. But like most dreams come true, it’s a little more complicated than that…  104min 2012 R
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ehxa_pA1v5k&feature=endscreen

Hey everyone-The Friends of Music are having a variety of fun , interesting events coming up this November. Check out the link then come along and have some fun!November 2012 events

6:30 Monday Oct 15 DINOSAUR MAKER – an evening with Bill Maylone

2012            1991    1989
Inspired by the fantastic films of Ray Harryhausen, and with a professional career that started in Victoria in the mid-1970s, Bill Maylone ended up directing or creating animated movies and sequences for the likes of Adbusters, the National Film Board, NOVA, the CBC, and Will Vinton Studios.
In the days before computer animation, dinosaurs and other fantastic creatures were brought to life most effectively using the painstaking hands-on technique of stop-motion animation. He came to realize that this odd profession could actually contribute to changing the world.

Maylone, now a Mayne Island resident, will share his stories, images, movies, and models and talk about the challenges, successes, and frustrations involved in being driven by the unusual, but – fortunately – constructive obsession of making inanimate objects appear to be alive.
Approx 2hrs  Pg with clips of Bill’s own work and some classic Harryhausen work too.



 6:30 Monday Oct 22  BEING FLYNN              
De Niro is Flynn, a con man, passionate, self proclaimed ‘great writer’. He’s obstreperous and a serious drinker on his way to homelessness. Paul Dano is the son he left behind but has re-connected with after many years of absenteeism. He has his own issues and is drifting, heading for a job working in a shelter for homeless men. Not an easy watch, revealing of realities that lead to homelessness, insights into dysfunctional family dynamics. Based a real life memoir by son Nick Flynn. Powerful cinema experience and a great fit for MM! Both De Niro and Dano keep it real. 102min 2012 R suggestive scenes, drug use, language. http://focusfeatures.com/being_flynn
         6:30 Monday Oct 29   THE MYSTERY OF SVEVA CAETANI  presented by Victoria filmmaker Agustin Luviano-Cordero*
(*maker of “A Portrait Of Myfanwy Pavelic” shown June 24/12’s at MM)
Her father was a prince of an important Italian dynasty who, when Sveva was 3, settled in Vernon, BC with Sveva’s mother. He thrived in the freedom of this New World frontier, but when he died, Sveva’s mother kept her a captive in their home for the next 25 years. A naturally artistic person, she was denied materials to explore her creativity. When she was finally released from her imprisonment, her pent up artistic energy flooded out in paintings, writing…. especially exploring her origins in ethereal landscapes with figures, rich with meaning about her own life and the universal. “The Mystery of Sveva Caetani by Agustin Luviano-Cordero” penetrates her paintings and written words, the viewers discover, bit by bit, the true story of who really was Sveva Caetani.
56min 2012 Pg   More details on our site!

  WEDNESDAY Oct 31 7pm Hallowe’en  PHANTOM OF THE OPERA - Music Movie Wednesday! with Friends Of Music
Camp it up for Hallowe’en, be “best dressed” for this sumptuously presented version of the musical hit. Set and costume designers jumped the shark on this one! A disfigured musical genius, hidden away in the Paris Opera House, terrorizes the opera company for the unwitting benefit of a young protégée whom he trains and loves. 140min 2004  Pg13 Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=44w6elsJr_I

 6:30 Monday Nov 5  NOTHING BUT A MAN  
A very special film written and produced by Michael Roemer and Robert M Young (the maker of William Kurelek’s The Maze documentary that we featured recently)
“From the era when American films almost never put black characters at the center of a movie, Nothing but a Man stands like a beacon of intelligence and sympathy. It was shot in 1964 at the height of the Civil Rights movement by two Jewish white men, director Michael Roemer and cinematographer Robert M. Young, who wrote the script after traveling through the South and immersing themselves in African American life. Ivan Dixon plays a railroad worker who settles down to marry a preacher’s daughter (jazz singer Abbey Lincoln), only to find that the system is rigged against him. The film is not condescending or idealizing in its approach; some of the problems of the characters are outside the reality of racism. Aside from its status as a landmark social-issue film, it is good to recognize, 40 years on, what a terrific piece of filmmaking this is, with fine acting, lucid dialogue, and a fresh feeling for everyday domestic life.” –Robert Horton        
92min Pg13      We’ll include an extra by the senior filmmakers looking back 40 years on this groundbreaking project.

Lead actor Ivan Dixon on ‘Nothing But a Man’ 40-Years Later – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EDlXQQPgtHc
======================== Other events planned but not set yet:
6:30 Monday Nov 12 EDWIN BOYD: Citizen Gangster  
The story of notorious Canadian bank robber Edwin Boyd, beginning with his return from duty in the Second World War. Dismayed by public indifference toward veterans, humiliated by his inability to provide for his children and his wife Doreen , and seeing only disappointment in the face of his policeman father, Eddie resorts to unlawful activity. What starts as small time bank robberies, evolves over time—and with experience—into a career that turns Boyd into postwar Toronto’s public enemy number one. Electric performances by Scott Speedman as Boyd and Kevin Durand his accomplice. A really riveting film based on real life events.
http://www2.macleans.ca/2011/09/15/nathan-morlando-and-scott-speedman-on-the-making-of-edwin-boyd/
The film took home the TIFF prize for best first Canadian feature 2011    105min 2011 R   
There’s a solid Victoria connection to this story: Boyd settled here and became a model citizen!