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Carline - A Mother's Convictions
September 14, 2006 permalink
A film about Carline VandenElsen, stripped of her baby for no reason other than practicing motherhood, then jailed for a standoff with police, is scheduled for a showing in Halifax.
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Halifax Daily News, Tuesday, September 12, 2006
Films get a second chance
Topical doc: Carline VandenElsen is the subject of one of the films. (File photo)Salon des Refuses welcomes films rejected by the Atlantic Film Festival
FILM - Some of the films rejected by the Atlantic Film Festival will get a big screen debut after all.
"As an artist, - filmmaker, specifically - you get pretty used to rejection," said Steven James May, who is holding a Salon des Refuses Atlantique at the Khyber Club tomorrow night.
Now in its fifth year, the one-night film festival is a feel-good chance for people rejected by the Atlantic Film Festival to still have their movies screened.
Five films will be shown at tomorrow's screening, including three works by Halifax directors. They are Mirco Chen's horror The Birth of Serfs, Convivial Daze's documentary Carline - A Mother's Convictions, and Megan Wennberg's comedy My Name Is?
Also being show are the drama Morning Radio, by Winnipeg director Vanessa Loewen, and the drama An Open Door, by Los Angeles director Crystal Us.
Unlike the Atlantic Film Festival, where a committee selects the works which will be shown, the Salon's selection process is all about the luck of the draw.
"Every application is assigned a number, and I write each number on an ibuprofen tablet," said May. "I put that in a jar, and the first one I pull out is the first one I screen. I do it until I have a couple hours of programming."
All you need you need to enter the salon is a film and a festival rejection letter.
The salon has been in existence since 2001 - when May received his first rejection letter from the Atlantic Film Festival.
He named the event after the Salon des Refuses that Napoleon III created in the 1800s to provide a venue for painters refused by mainstream galleries because their art was seen as too progressive.
"Those dudes turned out to be the impressionists, like Renoir, Monet," said May.
Similar salons have since popped up in all areas of art, from photography to film and music.
"I've heard there are people that don't like the salon, but nobody has said anything to my face," said May. "Some people might not like the films, but I don't care if they are good or bad, I just put them out there."
dlisk@hfxnews.ca
Source: Halifax Daily News
