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Lighting by Victor Turco

Canadian Grand Masters Fiddling Championship

2010 winners
 Eric Provencher (third place); Julie Fitzgerald (first place); Kyle Charron (second place)

Bytowne
 325 Rideau St.
(613) 789-Film
Ottawa

September 3-9, 2010

Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work
Directed by Ricki Stern and Anne Sundberg



A Year in the Life of a Legend.

No one is as funny or X-rated as comedy icon Joan Rivers.  If you are easily insulted,
this is not the film for you. Rivers is the Queen of Political Incorrectness.
The result:  wall-to-wall laughter. There's never a dull moment.

Rivers on Halloween
A kid complains when he's given an apple instead of candy.
Rivers tell him,
" If you don't like the apple,
eat the razor blade."

At 75, Rivers is still a workaholic, taking any gig she can get.
For her, a full agenda is happiness. She'd like to be busy all day.

The film is about growing older and what happens to you when you are no longer 'hot.'
 You have to re-invent yourself and fight back.
 Rivers works at this every day. She was at the top of her game at one point,
 but when you are over the hill, no one wants you.

Now she plays the Bronx at 4:30 in the afternoon where the backstage decor is low rent:
grimy and decrepit, with peeling walls and bad lighting.
For her, the show must go on.  She wants to keep up her life style:
an apartment with chandeliers and fancy furniture.
"No one lives like this - maybe the Queen of England."
Rivers thinks it's ridiculous to live carefully.



She works at her trade, keeping index cards of jokes in separate boxes by subject,
like those old file trays you would see in the library in the 50s. 
Rivers was before her time, shocking audiences with racy remarks about abortions,
saying things you weren't supposed to say.

One of her books is called "Men are Stupid - and They Like Big Boobs."
She tells it like it is.
 "No man has put his hand up a woman's dress to get her library card, " Rivers insists.

Interspersed throughout the film are clips of Johnny Carson, Ed Sullivan, and Jack Paar.
She was a regular on the Carson show.

Rivers is also the Queen of Plastic Surgery.  Every inch of her face looks preserved.
She tells photographers, "Be kind, not too close."

Her real fear is losing ties with the past - when there is no one left to remember her experiences.
Nothing is yours permanently; you must enjoy it when it's happening.
She's only truly happy on stage. "I'm a performer."

This film is terrific.

Trailer

Review by Lois Siegel

Do you ever look up in the sky and think about what might be out there.
"Hubble 3D" allows you to experience a journey into space like you've never seen before.

In May 2009, the crew of the space shuttle Atlantis launched a mission to make vital repairs and upgrades to the Hubble telescope, the first space-based observatory, 550 kilometres above the Earth.

It took 10 years and 10,000 people to build the telescope.

Viewing the launch of the space shuttle is absolutely amazing because of the powerful sound. To film this, a remote-control IMAX 3D camera was secured on the launch pad in a blast box drilled into the cement and covered with sand bags, 57 meters from the base of the solid rocket boosters. The "sacrificial microphones" get fried soon afterwards. In the IMAX theatre, you are right there... seeing and hearing it all.

On board, the shuttle astronauts operated an IMAX 3D camera.  To prepare for this, they took an eight-month course of basic cinematography. There is no room for error because the camera holds only eight minutes of film.  We see them working inside and outside the shuttle.

In space, the sun rises and sets every 90 minutes, and there are 100 billion galaxies, and each has billions of stars. 

"Hubble 3D" is an adventure in space you won't forget.
 

Review by Lois Siegel

"Boxing Day"

Jonathan Hobin
Dale Smith Gallery
Ottawa

Jonathan Hobin - In the Playroom

DVD Now Available

Canadian residents can order directly from the NFB or call 1-800-267-7710.
In the U.S. call 1-800-542-2164.

The film is also available through the Ottawa Public Library, Canada.

Gambling Boys
Directed by Laura Turek, 45 minutes, Canada, 2010
CBC News Network "The Passionate Eye"

"Gambling Boys," a documentary produced by EyeSteelFilm, delves in to the world of teen gambling, a world that offers excitement, the potent allure of making big money, and as many are discovering,
the potential for serious addiction problems. 

With the barrage of marketing campaigns, television coverage of poker tournaments, and easy access to online gaming, it is no surprise that teens are increasingly affected. Experts are finding that the rate of problem gamblers among young people is two to four times higher than for adults. 

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