Cross-border treats for Canucks, Yanks

Americans and Canadians – take note of the following films coming soon to a country next door to you....Canadians (since they have less access to US media) might be interested in checking out the Detroit Film Theatre’s (DFT) new winter and spring schedule. Let’s look at the most high-profile event first. The ABC crime series Detroit 1-8-7’s Michael Imperioli, who heads the cast of the filmed-in-Detroit first season show, will be in attendance Jan. 30 at the gorgeously-restored theatre connected to the Detroit Institute of Arts (DIA). He’ll take part in a discussion of his written and directed 2009 film The Hungry Ghosts. The film will have its local premiere that afternoon at 5.30. The film is described as “an unusual and provocative drama of interconnecting stories set over one 36-hour period”.....Meanwhile  on Jan. 27 acclaimed film editor Richard Chew will be in attendance at the DFT to discuss the “invisible art” of his trade. He has been co-editor on such films as Star Wars. And his work includes One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, The Conversation and My Favourite Year. A series of clips from his films will be shown followed by an onstage discussion and then a screening of one of the films he says has been most influential, Michael Roemer's 1964 Nothing But a Man......Meanwhile Orson Welles’s F for Fake, a picture made later in the master’s career, is a doc that examines “the invisible line between art and illusion.” It dovetails nicely with the DIA’s current art exhibit Fakes, Forgeries, and Mysteries.  The film will be shown Jan. 15.....Other films this season of note are Client 9: The Rise and Fall of Eliot Spitzer (Alex Gibney) Jan. 21-23, and Genius Within: The Inner Life of Glenn Gould (Michèle Hozer and Peter Raymont) Jan. 22.  For the complete DFT schedule go to http://www.dia.org/.

Now, for Americans seeking out not only some Canadian fare but  LOCAL Canadian fare, look no further than the WEx3 mini-festival Jan. 21-23 at Windsor’s downtown Capitol Theatre (http://www.wetimes3.com/). It features films by three Windsor directors: Nick Shields and Cameron Hucker’s Planting Vines, Otto Buj’s Primordial Ties and Chris Pickle's Saving Grace. The fest is described as a “hands-on collaborative” effort among the filmmakers, “celebrating the independent spirit, craftsmanship and diversity of their productions.” Each film will be screened twice. There will also be a panel discussion Sunday at 3 pm free to the public. This is the first of its kind festival and provides some profile to Windsor’s burgeoning filmmaking scene. And, oh by the way, Canadians can attend too!