Discover extraordinary films all through the year!

Screen One Monthly Film Series

Screening location: Bayfield 7 Cinemas, 320 Bayfield Street, Barrie

2012 is our 17th year for this popular monthly film series which provides an enhanced opportunity for local audiences to see the finest Canadian, Independent and World cinema on offer. Screenings are on the first Wednesday of every month from January through to December at the Bayfield 7 Cinemas.

Individual tickets are $9 for Adults, $7 for Seniors/Students

Advance tickets are available two weeks before each screening at the MacLaren Art Centre, located at 37 Mulcaster Street, Barrie (during gallery hours) or at the door at Bayfield 7 Cinemas the night of screening.

March Screen One

"Roman Polanski has rustled up a pitch-black farce of the charmless bourgeoisie that is indulgent, actorly and so unbearably tense I found myself gulping for air and praying for release. Hang on to your armrest and break out the scotch. These people are about to go off like Roman candles."
- Xan Brook, The Guardian

"An extremely black comedy of physical confinement and social breakdown from a man well acquainted -- in his life and his art -- with the shifting boundaries of accountability, culpability and freedom of expression and movement."
- John Belfuss, Commercial Appeal

Adapted from Yasmina Reza's 2009 Tony-winning play "God of Carnage" and featuring a top-notch cast, this film is a captivating, razor sharp, explosively comic study in the tension between civilized surface and savage instinct. Set in contemporary Brooklyn, the story centers on two couples who meet to discuss a playground fight between two of their children. After two boys duke it out on a playground, the parents of the "victim" invite the parents of the "bully" over to work out their issues. A polite discussion of childrearing soon escalates into verbal warfare, with all four parents revealing their true colors. None of them will escape the carnage. Unfolding in real time, Polanski nimbly keeps the action flowing with an active camera that avoids the feeling of a play captured on film. Instead, its single-set confinement (the story essentially takes place over 80 minutes in one location) recalls Polanski's similarly claustrophobic studies of urban alienation and psychic disintegration in "Repulsion", "Rosemary's Baby" and "The Tenant". It is also a master class in acting, and it's a pure pleasure to watch the thespian one-upmanship as each character strives to dominate a deteriorating scenario. CARNAGE is ultimately a dark comedy about losing one's manners. Alternately uproarious and devastating, it convincingly lays bare the darker tendencies of human nature.

Awards for Carnage:

• Won, Best Ensemble Cast, Boston Society of Film Critics Awards, 2011
• Won, Little Golden Lion Award, Roman Polanski, Venice Film Festival, 2011
• Nominated, Best Screenplay, Cinema Writers Circle Awards, Spain, 2012
• Nominated, Best Actress (Foster and Winslet) Golden Globes, USA, 2012
• Nominated, Best European Film, Goya Awards, 2012

Official website: www.sonyclassics.com/carnage/

April Screen One

"Director Philippe Falardeau brings a luminous warmth to this affecting story."
- Brian D. Johnson, Maclean's

Directed by acclaimed filmmaker Philippe Falardeau (CONGORAMA, IT'S NOT ME, I SWEAR!) and from the producers of 2010® Academy Award–nominated INCENDIES, MONSIEUR LAZHAR is one of the most gripping Québécois films of the last decade. The film has already received extraordinary attention, including Best Canadian Feature Film at the 2011 Toronto International Film Festival® as well as being named as Canada's submission for Best Foreign Language Film at the 84th Academy Awards. Following the tragic and shocking death of a Montreal schoolteacher, Bachir Lazhar (Fellag) – a middle-aged Algerian immigrant seeking political refuge in Quebec - swiftly pursues the opportunity to fill the sudden vacancy and come to the aid of the overworked principal and students affected by this tragedy. To these children in shock, Lazhar's traditional teaching methods may well provide the structure they need. The fine performances reflect the authenticity of the characters, and the story illustrates how adult hypocrisy and little white lies about death can turn a child's world upside down when fate strikes. Bachir has much to gain from his pupils, and so do we. A complex character study of loss, innocence and imposture, MONSIEUR LAZHAR is a resplendent and tender tale about the lessons we learn from one another, regardless of age.

Awards:

• Won, Best Screenplay/Best Film, Valladolid International Film Festival (Spain), 2011

Official website: wwww.monsieurlazharmovie.com

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