Local Vibe

A forgotten piece of history from Stratford’s past and an acclaimed documentary on the life of pianist Glenn Gould are on the bill as DocFest Stratford launches its third annual documentary film festival on Thursday October 14th.

Genius Within: The Inner Life of Glenn Gould, pierces through the myths to profile this enigmatic musical poet and world-renowned pianist with an unprecedented array of never before seen footage of Gould. The opening night film is programmed alongside a rare film recently discovered in the Stratford Shakespeare Festival Archives showing the construction of the Festival Theatre shot in colour by Dr. Mac Gilmore. The filmmaker’s daughter Betsy Gilmore, will be present for the screening, along with Dr. Francesca Marini, Director of the Archives, film historian Rick Schmidlin and Archives Assistant Nora Polley.

The Stratford Shakespeare Festival is providing additional support to DocFest this year by hosting screenings on Thursday, Friday and Saturday evenings at the Tom Patterson Theatre.

“DocFest is pleased to be partnering with the Stratford Festival to bring top documentary films from Canada and around the world to audiences here,” says DocFest Executive Producer, Craig Thompson. “The Tom Patterson Theatre, with its tremendous acoustics and larger capacity provide the ideal atmosphere for these films.”

On Friday October 15th, the musical theme continues with a presentation of Rush: Beyond the Lighted Stage, which explores the 40-year-career and phenomenon behind what could be the world’s largest cult band.

The gripping National Film Board documentary Life with Murder, by Emmy-award winning director John Kastner, is also on the Friday night line-up. It tells the story of a mother and father from Chatham, Ontario whose lives are ripped apart when their son is accused of murdering their daughter.

On Saturday, October 16th, Academy Award Winning Director Brigitte Berman will be on hand to screen her documentary Hugh Hefner: Playboy, Activist, Rebel, a revealing look at the outspoken and flamboyant founder of the Playboy empire.

Saturday evening also includes a screening of Last Train Home, an emotionally engaging and visually beautiful film from Chinese-Canadian director Lixin Fan, who draws us into the fractured lives of a single migrant family caught up in China’s desperate annual migration of city workers back to their rural villages.

The daytime program on Saturday and a full-day of screenings on Sunday take place in the Auditorium of Stratford Central Secondary School. This year the festival is adding a midnight screening on Saturday with an encore presentation of Rush: Beyond the Lighted Stage.

Once again this year, DocFest is presenting No Boundaries, a filmmaking workshop for high school students. The two one-day workshops presented in association with Fanshawe College will take place at Stratford Central Secondary School. Registration is limited and the registration fee is $35. On Sunday afternoon at 2 p.m, the best films from the student filmmaking workshop will be presented at Stratford Central’s Auditorium.

DocFest Stratford wraps up on Sunday, October 17th with a screening of A Life in Stages, a documentary profiling the extraordinary career of Des McAnuff, artistic director of the Stratford Shakespeare Festival and the creative force behind such hits as Jersey Boys and The Who’s Tommy.

Other documentaries in the line-up include: Winnebago Man, which reveals the story of Jack Rebney, an unlikely folk hero whose outrageously funny outbursts were caught on tape during the making of a Winnebago sales video in 1988; Girls on Top, a new documentary about the eight lovely and talented women in the Soulpepper Theatre production of Top Girls; Paul Quarrington: A Life in Music; The Big Wait, which documents the frustration of foreign-trained doctors in Ontario; and Sweetgrass, a modern-day cowboy film which follows shepherds as they move their flocks of sheep up into Montana’s breathtaking and dangerous mountains for summer pasture.

Tickets can be purchased in person in Stratford at Anything Grows, 235 St. Patrick Street or Fanfare Books, 92 Ontario Street. Tickets can also be purchased on-line at docfeststratford.ca and there will be tickets available at the door. Opening night tickets are $20 and general admission to all other screenings is $15. All prices include HST.

For the full program and more information, visit docfeststratford.ca or the DocFest page on Facebook.