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THE OTTAWA STUDENT AND
INDEPENDENT
FILM FESTIVAL 2005
Wednesday, March 9
8:30 p.m.
Alumni Theatre
(Jock Turcotte Building)
University of Ottawa
LIP GLOSS is
a documentary introducing a behind-the-scenes look at
female impersonators.
There's something for everyone:
long legs, swivel hips, stuffed girdles, and bouffant hairdos.
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Writers: Susan
Stranks, Lois Siegel, Ron Allen, Hoda Elatawi
After fifty years
of acting, Plummer's star burns brighter than ever.
In 2002, the legendary actor returns to the Stratford Festival as King Lear
after a career that has spanned film, television and the theatre
A Man for All Stages
 GAPC
General Assembly Production Centre
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Filmmaker
Arthur Lipsett
Special Consultant: Lois Siegel
“Remembering Arthur,”
was officially selected for the
CANADIAN FRONT: NEW FILMS
at the Museum of Modern Art, New York City, March 2007, and it
was also selected as
"FILM: BEST of 2006" by
ARTFORUM
Magazine, December 2006 by Barbara London
Associate Curator of Media at the Museum of Modern Art , New
York City.
MOMA:
Remembering
Arthur. 2006. Canada. Directed
by Martin Lavut.
Arthur Lipsett was a leading Canadian experimental filmmaker
whose
1961 short
"Very Nice, Very Nice"
remains a seminal work of the avant-garde.
A troubled man, Lipsett committed suicide in 1986. Martin Lavut,
who knew Lipsett
and many of his contemporaries, presents a full-bodied,
passionate biography
of one of cinema's neglected masters.
George Lucas wrote, "No one understood the power of image and
sound better than Lipsett." 90 min.
Clips
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Baseball Girls out on
DVD
By Ralph Lucas |
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(June 30, 2008 – Toronto,
Ontario) -- Anyone who has
followed baseball for the
past few decades knows
there's a special place
within its ranks for players
who can most easily be
described as different. Bill
"Spaceman" Lee is one of
them. What I didn't know is
that Bill Lee came by his
major league pitching talent
naturally. His aunt is
Annabelle Lee, who is one of
the people in
Lois Siegel's terrific
documentary Baseball
Girls, which is now
available on DVD from the
National Film Board.
Siegel is an award-winning,
Ottawa-based director,
photographer and musician
who turned her attention to
the role women played in
baseball at a time when it
seemed like everyone was
looking at the sport.
Production began in the
summer of 1992 and continued
over the next two summers.
The $700,000 documentary was
released by the NFB in 1995.
The feature film, A
League of
Their Own had been
released in 1992 and Ken
Burns had released his
multipart TV series,
Baseball, in 1994.
Speaking to
Northernstars.ca, Siegel
said, "I started research
on my film in 1991, before "League"
came out. Ken Burns was also
working on his film at the
same time. There was some
footage that he had borrowed
from the Northern Indiana
Centre for History that I
wanted to use. They told me
he had it. I called Burns'
office and one of the people
working there kindly agreed
to mail me the 16mm film
once they were finished with
it if I promised to return
it to the society. That was
amazing. We both used the
footage. It was documentary
footage of the All-American
Girls Professional League."
But as Siegel is quick to
point out, her film isn't
strictly about girls. "We
covered the history - from
the earliest years,
including the Bloomer Girls
to the Colorado Silver
Bullets, a hard-ball team.
And we filmed during a
reunion of the All-American
Girls Professional League.
A League of Their Own
is based on this league. We
also covered children and
housewives in amateur
leagues."
"Meghan McCready was 7 when
we filmed her. She,
essentially, opens the film
to explain the game and her
connection with it. She's
wonderful. She was the only girl
on her neighborhood all-boys
team. Her dad was a film
director at the National
Film Board of Canada. That's
how I discovered her. We
were at lunch one day, and I
mentioned that I was looking
for a young girl to be in my
baseball film. He said his
daughter played baseball. I
met her and she was
perfect."
Siegel has kept in touch
with some of the people in
her film, and kept tabs on
many others. "And then
there's Julie Croteau who
took her high school to
court in 1989 when the coach
claimed she wasn't good
enough to play in their
all-male league. She filed a
sex discrimination suit
against her high school. In
2004 Croteau was selected as
a coach for the United
States Women's National
team, which captured Gold at
the 2004 Women's World Cup
of Baseball in Edmonton. In
2006, Croteau served as
manager of the 2006 Women’s
National Team that
represented the United
States at the Women’s World
Cup in Taiwan."
Shot across Canada and in
parts of the US, Baseball
Girls gave Siegel the
chance to meet some of her
own interesting people. "In
Anaheim, Gene Autry, though
holding a controlling
interest in the Los Angeles
Angels, was in control in
name
only due to poor health in
his advanced years. Autry’s
wife Jackie, 20 years his
junior, was the
decision-maker. We focused
on Jackie, but Gene was
there too. We were allowed
to film during a game. We
were stationed at the corner
of the 3rd base dugout.
Barry Perles, cameraman,
wore a bicycle helmet for
protection. I can't remember
if I did or if my soundman,
Hans Ooms did. We had to
constantly dodge foul
balls. Very dangerous. I
have one of the balls as a
souvenir." That's Siegel in
the pink cap on location
during the making of
Baseball Girls.
She also got to meet Bill
"Spaceman" Lee who told her
about what his aunt,
Annabelle "Lefty" Lee, had
contributed to his success.
Lee said of his aunt, "She
taught me how to throw
a curveball and screwball.
She kind of refined my
pitches," reports Siegel.
"We filmed him and we filmed
Annabelle at the reunion of
the All-American Girls
Professional League."
Baseball Girls uses
animation, archival stills
and live-action footage to
document the history of
women's participation in the
largely male-dominated world
of baseball and softball. In
its review of the film, Eye
Magazine wrote, "Smart,
strong and snappy, much like
its subjects."
You can order Baseball
Girls
online from the NFB.
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https://www.northernstars.ca/siegel_lois/ |
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