It’s a film that had an R-rated beginning because of profanity, but it’s still a film that every kid and their parents should see.
One of the films being shown at the Vernon Towne Cinema as part of the Vernon Film Society’s 10th annual Fall Film Festival this coming week is Bully, a documentary that follows five children and their families over the course of a school year.
The film confronts bullying’s most tragic outcomes, including the stories of two families who have lost children to suicide, and a mother who waits to learn the fate of her 14-year-old daughter, incarcerated after bringing a gun on her school bus.
With rare access to Iowa’s Sioux City Community School District, the film also gives an intimate glimpse into school busses, classrooms, cafeterias and even principles’ offices, offering insight into the often-cruel world of children, as teachers, administrators and parents struggle to find answers.
After some controversy about the film’s rating when it was first released, Bully received a PG rating in B.C. in March.
The film, which contains coarse language, will be shown at the Vernon Towne Cinema on Thursday, Nov. 15 at 5:15 p.m.
With films supplied by the Film Circuit, the outreach program out of the Toronto International Film Society, the Fall Film Festival starts this Monday at 5:15 p.m. with Canadian film, The Stories We Tell. In the film, Oscar nominated director Sarah Polley (Away from Her) directs and investigates the secrets behind a family of storytellers.
It will be followed by Italian film, The Salt of Life (Monday at 7:30 p.m.), about a middle-aged retiree who tries to fit in with his younger, and sexier, counterparts while navigating the cobblestone streets of Rome.
American documentary, First Position (Tuesday at 5:15 p.m.), which won audience awards at the Dallas and Portland International Film Festivals, follows the physical intensity and passion of young dancers taking part in the Youth America Grand Prix, one of the world’s most prestigious ballet competitions.
Indo-Canadian filmmaker Deepa Mehta returns to her country of birth for the film, Midnight’s Children (Tuesday at 7:30 p.m.).
Based on the Booker Prize winning novel by Salman Rushdie, the film is set on the day India broke away from the British regime, and follows two newborn babies who are switched by a nurse in a Bombay hospital.
India is also the setting for Canadian documentary, The World Before Her (Wednesday at 5:15 p.m.), winner of Best Canadian Feature at the 2012 Hot Docs festival and Best Documentary at the 2012 Tribeca Film Festival.
The film follows 20 young women from across India who take part in an intense, month-long beauty boot camp to prepare them for the Miss India pageant and contrasts it with another camp for young girls, run by a militant fundamentalist movement, to learn what it means to be a good Hindu.
Based on the Norwegian bestseller Hodejegerne by Jo Nesbø, Headhunters (Wednesday at 7:30 p.m.) follows a successful headhunter for Fortune 500 inductees who lives in an opulent modern home, has a wife and mistress, but has a crippling Napoleon complex that forces him into a life of crime.
The festival wraps up with the story of China’s most famous and outspoken artist, Ai Weiwei, in Ai Weiwei: Never Sorry (Thursday at 7:30 p.m.)
Winner of the special jury prize at this year’s Sundance Film Festival, Beijing-based journalist and filmmaker Alison Klayman gained unprecedented access to Ai Weiwei following his artistic process in preparation for major museum exhibitions, his intimate exchanges with family members, and his increasingly public clashes with the Chinese government.
Tickets to all films are $7 each or $30 for a five-film pass, available at the Bean Scene or the Vernon Towne Cinema. For more information, visit www.vernonfilmsociety.bc.ca
