On Monday, May 9th 2005, there will be a showcase of Experimental and Documentary work from Concordia’s production programme. A $5 donation is suggested.

So, this is Montreal’s new cinema events blog. SYNOPTIC CINEMA MONTREAL (or synopticinemontreal as we affectionately prefer to type it) is part-blog-part-events-calendar: it’s designed as a one-stop-shop for a comprehensive view of what’s happening week by week in Montreal’s cinema community. It is currently maintained by staffers of Synoptique, the film journal that hosts the site. But that’s just for starters. We’re looking for blogger-meisters from all over Montreal. We want different perspectives, fresh perspectives. The idea is to provide a synoptic sense of cinema happenings in Montreal.

If you have a cinema event you’d like posted (including casting calls), please e-mail us at events@blog.synoptique.ca

If you’d like to become a blogger on this site, please e-mail a short letter to info@blog.synoptique.ca telling us why cinema is worth sharing.

We publish in both French and English.

Two things happen on this site:

1. Events posting. Those appear in reddish/pinkish. Clicking on any day on the calendar to the right will list events for that day. Above the calendar is a list of all the upcoming events. Events are “posted” to appear on the day they occur.

2. Announcements/Commentary/Everything else. Our cinema related blogging appears in yellow. We’ll be posting extra information on events, commentary on past events, commentary on current films and DVDs, picks of the week, interesting sites to check out, and just about anything that crosses our minds.

And this will also be a forum for long and hard looks. Funding for the arts, government policy, institutional bottlenecks, stagnant scenes, what-were-they-thinking?. Cinema is art, entertainment, politics. This is a place to keep informed. To keep inspired.

Enjoy. And we look forward to reading your comments. (Click here to leave your comments).

Sunday, May 8th offers a night of Student Narrative Fiction Films at the Hall Building, at Concordia University. It begins at 7pm EDT.

Dan Cross’ Third Year Film Production year end screenings, held on Saturday, May 7, 2005 AD, at Concordia University’s Hall Building beginning at 7pm EDT.

From David Karavechus’s email:

“Home Automation: a combination of cinema, theatre and violent robotics

The most intense robotics show you will ever see…
the culmination of 3 years of work.

A family of crash test dummies react to terrorist color code alerts on a television and smash into themselves in a theatrical walk-in living room.

These fearful crash test dummy robots are building a bomb shelter beneath their living room. Arguments ensue between mother, father and child over who will take responsibility for the work, when their talk is interrupted by the TV informing them of a raise in the color code terror alert.

As the fears and anxieties of the robots increase,their bodies are triggered by color changes on the TV, and the crash-robots begin to musically smash into themselves. Home Automation combines aspects of cinema, music,theatre and robotics into one single violent,
horrific, astonishing display.

It embodies the ideas of “Post 9/11 Crash Test Collective Consciousness”. In the wake of 9/11, we have all become metaphorical crash test dummies, habitually destroying ourselves as we test our collective fears.

May 6-8
3pm – 7:30 pm
with VERNISSAGE PARTY!

May 6th 8pm-midnight
$4 adults $3 students”

MIT in Cambridge, Massachusetts will be hosting it’s first and only Time Traveler Convention Saturday, beginning at 8:00pm EDT on Saturday, May 7, 2005 AD [see link below].

This would be very bad for cinephiles in Montreal as attendance would make them miss the Dan Cross’ Third Year Film Production year end screenings, held on that same Saturday, May 7, 2005 AD, at Concordia University’s Hall Building beginning at 7pm EDT. Given that it takes nearly 6 hours to drive from Montreal to Cambridge, it would be impossible to attend both.

Or would it…? Time travel may present the only viable solution as both the conference and the Year End screenings welcome time travelers (but encourage them to bring some measure of proof).

Failing that, Saturday’s is not the only of the Year End festivities in the film production programme. Friday, May 6th will see Third Year Films from Guylaine Dionne’s class; Sunday, May 8th offers a night of Narrative Fiction Films; culminating in Monday, May 9th 2005 AD, with showcases Experimental and Documentary work from Concordia’s production programme. All shows are in room H-110 of Concordia’s Hall Building at 1455 de Maisonneuve W and screenings begin at 7pm EDT. A $5 donation is suggested.

Not to be outdone, the Animation Students present their 2005 Animation Festival at the same location, Tuesday, May 10th from 7pm to 10pm EDT, although please give generously at the door as they modestly suggest a $2 donation.