The Pitch by Jason!
Another fantastic week at The Civic Theatre, and that’s aside from getting to see the next installment of ‘The Fantastic Beasts’ series.
Reel Canada’s National Canadian Film Day turns 9 this year, and on Weds, April, 20th, communities across the country will celebrate our Canadian film heritage with free screenings of current and classic Canadian titles. The Civic Theatre has taken part in National Canadian Film Day ever since its second outing back when we were but a babe in 2014, with a free screening of the iconic Canadian film, ‘C.R.A.Z.Y’, from director Jean-Marc Vallée, who we sadly lost this past year and whom Reel Canada has prepared a tribute to for this year’s celebration. Even throughout the Pandemic closures, The Civic managed to still take part with a free virtual online offering in 2020 and a drive-in screening of Atom Egoyan’s, ‘The Sweet Hereafter’ in 2021. And now, back in person in 2022, NCFD highlights the explosion of remarkable cinema by Indiginous filmmakers working in Canada. “Celebrating Indigenous Voices’ will be presented in association with imagineNATIVE Film and Media Arts Festival. For The Civic’s selection, we have settled upon a free/by donation 5pm screening of ‘Wildhood’ preceding Fantastic Beasts on April 20th
One of TIFF’s Canada’s Top Ten films of 2021, ‘Wildhood’ tells the story of two-spirit Mi’kmaw teenager Link (Phillip Lewitski) who is just discovering — and asserting — his sexuality when his already volatile home life goes off the rails. His abusive father explodes after the cops bust Link and his half-brother Travis (Avery Winters-Anthony) for stealing scrap metal. When he finds out that his supposedly dead mother may be alive, Link flees with Travis in tow. Sparks fly in a chance encounter with teen drifter Pasmay (Joshua Odjick), who shares Link’s Indigenous roots and offers to help find his mother — but will Link’s (well-founded) mistrust of people ruin his potential new relationship and the group’s mission?
For the rest of the week, Apr. 15 – Apr. 21st, ‘The Secrets of Dumbledore’ get spilled across The Civic’s screen. Professor Albus Dumbledore knows the powerful, dark wizard Gellert Grindelwald is moving to seize control of the wizarding world. Unable to stop him alone, he entrusts magizoologist Newt Scamander to lead an intrepid team of wizards and witches. They soon encounter an array of old and new beasts as they clash with Grindelwald’s growing legion of followers. Mads Mikklesen takes on the Gellert Grindelwald mantle, which should be exciting. I love Mads.
Happy National Canadian Film Day!