Donating to The More the Merrier: What's In It For You?

Me with writer/director, Ruba Nadda
 (Inescapable, Cairo Time, Sabah).
I love supporting Canadian Talent!

CIUT's Fall Fundraising Campaign is in full effect and I've got a few goodies to sweeten the pot if you donate to The More the Merrier on or before October 20th.

Ways to Donate:

Call: 416-946-700 Toll Free 1-888-204-8976

On line (secure server): http://www.ciut.fm/ (be sure to include The More the Merrier)

In Person at 7 Hart House Circle (3rd Floor

What You Could Win by Donating to The More the Merrier!

BOND, JAMES BOND! I've got several pairs film of tickets to Shaken, Not Stirred: Bond on Film. See Classic Bond films on the big screen at the TIFF Bell Lightbox at King and John Street. Value $24/pair (courtesy of www.tiff.net).

image courtsey of www.tiff.net

1 pair of tickets to The Spy Who Loved Me  (Sunday, November 4 at 12:00pm)

2) 1 pair of tickets to For Your Eyes Only (Tuesday, November 6 at 9:00 PM)

3) 1 pair of tickets to Live and Let Die (Saturday, November 10 at 12:00pm)



Art Gallery of Ontario Passes

image courtesy of
http://www.ago.net/4854

• 2 complimentary general admission/exhibition tickets to FRIDA & DIEGO: Passion, Politics, and Painting at the Art Gallery of Ontario. 

Value $50.00 (anonymous donation) 

• 2 complimentary general admission tickets to the Art Gallery of Ontario. Value $39.00 (anonymous donation)

Why You Should Donate?

• I called my show The More the Merrier to INclude not EXclude people. 
• As a child I couldn't afford to go to a lot of arts events. I relied on radio and television shows to take me to places I couldn't attend, and to introduce me to things I wouldn't have the opportunity to learn about. I'm paying that forward with The More the Merrier. Every show that I do, I'm talking directly to listeners so that we ALL learn and, most importantly, feel included in what's happening on the arts scene. 
• I also enjoy giving air time to guests who have no marketing/publicity budget. Air time for the arts has steady disappeared over the years. Many of the shows I used to watch/listen to as a kid are GONE! It's harder and harder for emerging as well as established artists to get air time to showcase their talent/work.
• Whenever possible, I try to get giveaways to foster audience participation. Sometimes, all we need is someone to say, here are some tickets, try something new/different for us to step out of the house and experience the arts. 

I listen for free, so...

Like Big Bird, The More the Merrier can be killed if there isn't enough community support (aka donations) to justify having a time slot on CIUT. If feathers fly, are you okay with less talk on CIUT, and no talk about the arts on community radio?

If you've read this far, thank you so much for hearing me out. Fundraising is a necessity that CIUT does only twice a year, the other 50 weeks are for YOU!

Walk Good,

donna g

More Please: Mysteries of Lisbon (Nov. 14-17@TIFF Bell Lightbox)

Master director, Raul Ruiz must have been well-pleased that his last work, Mysteries of Lisbon, is such an inviting and engaging piece of cinema. Ruiz died this summer, but this 4 hour melodrama, along with his long list of film credits will endure. Ruiz is never in a hurry to tell this story (based on the novel by Camilo Castelo Branco) of a boy searching for his roots. Why is he called simply João, with no last name? Who are his parents? Are they alive? How did he end up in a convent school? We, the audience, wonder about these questions too as we are introduced to João, played by João Arrais, whose solemn brown eyes echo the void in his character's life. This young actor is an equal match to the actor, Adriano Luz, who plays the sympathetic Pardre Dinis, the keeper of many secrets. Also noteworthy is the performance of Ricardo Pereira who style is reminiscent of Errol Flynn, but with Pereira's own brand of unbridled sexuality.

More than a costume froth, Mysteries of Lisbon, is an intricately layered puzzle piece of a melodrama; just when you think you've begun to understand a central character, aspects of their nature and glimpses of their personal histories are revealed. With the legato pacing style, the smooth transition from one mystery to another, and actors that fit the period scenes this journey that takes us from Portugal, to Spain, France and Italy, seems much shorter than its actual running time of 274 minutes.

If I have one criticism, it is that I would have liked to have seen the entire 6-hour version that Ruiz completed, and which ran on Portuguese television. As good a job as is done condensing the film into a 4-hour version, you do get the feeling that there are stories that remain untold. So, like João this version leaves us with a bit of mystery. I'm not sure if a longer film version is available, but this 4-hour version is the one that played to positive crowds at TIFF 2010, and which the Lightbox is screening until November 17th. Yes, this version is worth seeing on a larger screen, I just wish that I could have viewed the remaining hours on a large screen as well.

SCREENING TIMES
TIFF Bell Lightbox
350 King West (corner of King and John streets)
Monday, Nov. 14, 6:15pm
Tuesday, Nov. 15, 12:00 noon, 6:15pm
Wednesday, Nov. 16, 12:00 noon, 6:15pm
Thursday, Nov. 17, 12:00 noon, 6:15pm

Get Tickets:
http://tiff.net/contact/gettickets
416.599.TIFF 1.888.599.8433

Prizes. Prizes. Are you in?

That's me with Mamma Gógó director, Friðrik Þór Friðriksson. TIFF is one of many film festivals that I cover and bring to you via The More the Merrier, every Saturday at CIUT 89.5 FM.








Support The More the Merrier and you might win a prize from the show prize package or win one of CIUT 89.5 FM's daily draws during the Fall Fundraising Campaign. Donate now by clicking on this link: http://www.ciut.fm/index.php/about/membership/ or by calling 416-946-7800 or Toll Free at 1-888-204-8976. Or call in Saturday, October 22nd between 1:00pm - 2:oo pm to donate during the live broadcast on 89.5 FM or at www.ciut.fm. Be sure to mention The More the Merrier as the show you wish to support!

Thank you and good luck!


Donate to The More the Merrier on Saturday, October 22nd bewteen 1:00 - 2:00 and you will have a chance to win a Family or Dual Membership . Courtesy of TIFF Bell Lightbox. Prize valued at $150

Other prizes include:

A VIP Pass courtesy of the Ontario Science Centre. Includes entrance to the Ontario Science Centre and Leonardo Da Vinci's Workshop: The Exhibition.




A pair of tickets to Chagall and the Russian Avant-Garde at the Art Gallery of Ontario. Courtesy of an anymous donor.

You DO Know Jack: Jack Cardiff Retrospective at TIFF Bell Lightbox (until Feb 21)

JACK CARDIFF. More than likely you have seen at least one film photographed or directed by Jack Cardiff. The legendary cinematographer has worked such diverse pictures as the Bogart/Hepburn classic, The African Queen (screens Sat. Feb. 19th, 4:30 pm) and Sylvester Stallone’s Rambo 2. Admired by many cinematographers for his black and white photography and his innovative use of the Technicolor camera, Jack Cardiff, is the man behind the lens, the man often requested by top directors and box office stars.

I can’t think of a better place in Toronto to see his work than in a place called The Lightbox. Beginning February 13th and running until February 21st, you will have the opportunity (and please do take it!) to experience the world created by Jack Cardiff. It doesn’t matter in which order you see the films in the TIFF Bell Lightbox retrospective, but if you can only see one film then I suggest you see the Craig McCall’s documentary Cameraman: The Life & Work of Jack Cardiff, which features conversations with the cinematographer as well as clips from the many films he has worked on or directed.

To learn just how influential a photography talent Cardiff was (he recently died, by the way, at age 94), then you might want to attend In Person: John Bailey and Paul Sarossy (Wednesday, February 16th, 6:30pm) and listen to the award-winning cameramen talk about the impact of Cardiff on their respective works (demonstrated with film clips). Once you hear the talk you just might want to stick around that night and see the fine-art lighting compositions in Black Narcissus (screens at 9:00 pm). The film is so beautiful and told so well cinematographically that you could turn the sound off and still follow the emotional plot of the film.

Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger’s A Matter of Life and Death (Feb. 17th, 6:30 pm) stars David Niven as a “dead” bomber pilot pleading his case to return to Earth (and love, Kim Hunter) against Afterlife authorities. The film is best known for its early Technicolor achievements (Cardiff was a pioneer in this field) and its use of black and white photography for scenes on Earth and colour for Heaven. Not an easy editing feat in those early days in England.

Whether or not ballet is your thing, if you recently saw the driven world of the dancer in Black Swan, or just love photography, you should see The Red Shoes (Feb. 20th, 6:00 pm-FREE!). It was so audacious in its day (1948) that the directors, Powell and Pressburger, (as well as Cardiff) never worked for their studio again, and their indie style that had been such a success was quashed. While the The Red Shoes did not do big box office in its day, it has gone on to become a favourite of many including Martin Scorsese, who was involved with the film’s restoration.

I am a huge fan of Ava Gardner. No one today smolders the way she did on screen. (If you can name an actress who does, please leave a comment to this post because I am stumped.) I credit Jack Cardiff for my love of Gardner, and you will too after you have seen her photographed in Joseph L. Mankiewicz, The Barefoot Contessa (Feb. 18th, 6:30 pm) and Albert Lewin’s Pandora and the Flying Dutchman (Feb. 19th, 7:00 pm). Garner’s Contessa is earthy, passionate, and naïve in The Barefoot Contessa, a tragic Cinderella/Hollywood insider film about a poor girl’s rise to stardom, her search for love and her inevitable death. (The film starts with a funeral, so I am not giving anything away.)

Cardiff’s trademark use of light and shadows on Gardner’s face is just as stunning as his earlier photography work on her in Dutchman (1949). Cardiff’s lighting of a moonlight scene in which Garner’s wet head and shoulders rises from the water to climb about James Mason’s yacht is shear sensuous magic.

Jack Cardiff Retrospective
Feb. 13th - 21st
TIFF Bell Lightbox
Reitman Square
350 King Street West (corner of King and John Streets)

Complete details and screening dates/times:
http://tiff.net/
416-599-TIFF (8433) or toll-free at 1-888-599-8433

Credits: Film stills some source material courtesy of http://www.tiff.net/