Cinema Canada (Sep-Oct 1978)

posed on an image of Zielinska’s face. Also worthy of mention is John Hillcoat’s The Finger. It was the only entry from a secondary school (and about the best entry from the west coast), and, although it exhibited elements of high-school humor and borrowings from Monty Python, it achieved a comparatively high degree of success. The story of a free-living, disembodied finger became a rough account of a creation myth and theogony, with crazy, nutshell encapsulation of many world problems thrown in. The film appeared to have originated from a comic strip, and in its coarse way was funner than many of the other comedies at the festival. There were several good experimental films at this year’s festival, which is a substantial improvement over last year’s. The category winner was L’instant, a 5-minute black-andwhite film by Andjela Milosavljevic of Concordia. The film was beautiful in intent and execution — filmed poetry. Milosavljevic depicted a girl in the time it took for a struck match to burn down. The girl forlornly watched the delicate flame in front of her mirror, her emotion revealed by a series of silent, musically-accompanied scenes of her experiencing solitary anguish. In the intercut scenes she paced, wept, stared out through her curtain at the moving street. The indefinable wave of feeling that moved the girl was communicated; the flame died; the instant passed. Film is a difficult medium in which to represent emotion, as opposed to plot, and Milosavijevic’s unusual film succeeded. An honorable mention was given to Suzanne Naughton’s 6-minute montage Mondo Punk. Punk costume and behavior were cut to music by the Ramones and the Sex Pistols, and the film did not flinch from showing self-mutilation. The film was generally well-cut but suffered from weak transitions between songs. Entymology was a strong contender. LeMoyne told a brief, bizarre tale of an insignificant man who wrote an autobiographical tome, mailed it to a publisher, and shot himself. The manuscript was lost and the lady upstairs accidentally cut herself when she heard the gunshot. The story was narrated with disquieting casualness, and the film was faintly sinister. The man was played well by Michael Riggio, who had two very experimental films of his own in the festival. Best Documentary was shared by Michael Kennedy of Ryerson for Jim & Muggins Tour Toronto and Robert Boyd of Simon Fraser University for Labyrinth. Jim & Muggins was something of a novelty; in a typically relaxed, informal style, Kennedy showed a series of scenes of his ex-roommate Jim, with his bull terrier Muggins, describing various Toronto landmarks. Jim discussed the sites and his personal history with unassuming, ad-libbed humor, adding irrelevant and funny facts about his dog. Shot by John Bradshaw, the film demonstrated the technical facility of this Ryerson team. Whether the film ought to have been awarded Best Documentary is another matter. Labyrinth was entered as a fiction film. The jury changed its category and awarded it. The film was actually a 23minute promotional film for Alpha Cine lab of Vancouver. Stephen Miller effectively played a brash, know-nothing young film director who insisted on escorting his film through all its laboratory work. I learned a considerable amount about the machinations of a film lab, but it wasn’t worth the crass suggestions about Alpha’s courteous, responsible service. A superior alternative would have been Islanders, or Cathy | Barbalinardo’s 13-minute documentary The Mud Dabbler. | Some people at the festival criticized the film for being too cute, too commercial, but it was effective in that the winsomeness of its sculptress subject and her creations showed through strongly, and the film was technically clean and very well organized. I became absorbed in the formation of clay figures before my eyes, and could not help liking the film. A'worthy, if flawed, effort was made by Christopher Whynot of Queens College with Sheila, a 15-minute film about a mentally retarded woman. It was a touching film; Sheila’s personality was developed well, and one could not help feeling admiration for the woman with whom Sheila was staying at the time of shooting. Unfortunately, technical problems got in the way: focus and color balance, and a shooting ratio of 2.5 to 1. Whynot did a good job with the material. Best Fiction was won by Anthony D’Andrea for Nomads. The story of a young trucker haunted by the image of a girl, whom he later meets at a truck stop and pursues, ran into The Winners BEST EDITING The Return, Forrest Taylor (director), University of B.C. BEST SCORE Le percepteur, Jean Fontaine (director), Cegep de Matane BEST ACTOR | Not Another Love Story, Paul Fitzgerald (actor), Ryerson Polyt. Institute BEST ACTRESS Back from Paradise, Patricia Nember (actress), York University BEST SCREENPLAY Conversation, Maxwell Berdowski (director), Concordia University BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY Premeditation, Louis Arthur (cameraman), Algonquin College honorary mention Nomads, York University BEST DIRECTOR Gracie Scott Barrie, Conestoga College BEST EXPERIMENTAL L’instant, Andjela Milosavljevic, Concordia University honorary mention — not unanimous Mondo Punk, Suzanne Naughton, Ryerson Polyt. Institute BEST ANIMATION Madhouse Rag, Dev Ramsaran, Sheridan College honorary mention Child’s Play, Carole Trepanier, University of B.C. BEST DOCUMENTARY Jim & Muggins Tour Toronto, Michael Kennedy, Ryerson Polyt. Institute BEST DOCUMENTARY Labyrinth, Bob Boyd, Simon Fraser University BEST FICTION Nomads, Anthony D’ Andrea, York ccah ne: NORMAN McLAREN AWARD FICTION Gracie, Scott Barrie, Conestoga College Cinema Canada/63