“EyeSteelFilm’s The Last Train Home is on a roll.
The China-shot documentary — already a winner at the Whistler and IDFA film festivals — has generated over $17,500 on two screens at Montreal’s AMC Forum and Cinema Parallel theaters, where it opened on Nov. 20 via its Montreal-based producer/distributor.
EyeSteelFilm (Up the Yangtze) released the doc itself in Quebec, while an English Canada release is planned for March through Kinosmith. It follows a Chinese family’s challenge to stay together amid the country’s booming economy which spurs factory migration.
The film, directed by Lixin Fan, was also recently selected to play in competition at Sundance.
Last Train currently sits in second place on the list of domestic titles for the week of Nov. 27 to Dec. 3, just behind E1 Entertainment’s La Donation — named this week as one of Canada’s Top Ten films of 2009. The French-language drama from Quebec auteur Bernard Émond has earned $330,000 since its release on Nov. 6.
Meanwhile, E1′s Vancouver-shot New Moon remains the top film in Canada for the third week in a row, with a total box office of $20 million. In the U.S., the teen vampire sequel was knocked from the number one spot by sports drama The Blind Side over the weekend. Both titles came out on Nov. 20. New Moon‘s domestic total is US$255 million, according to Variety.”
http://www.playbackonline.ca/articles/daily/20091207/train.html
Quebec film wins top honours at Whistler Film Festival.
“The $2,500 best documentary award went to two Canadian co-productions. Last Train Home, a Canada-China co-production which shows the plight of Chinese migrant workers through the eyes of one family, shared the prize with Pax Americana and the Weaponization of Space, a Canada-France co-production.”
Great report on Catherine le Clef’s CATandDocs, our sales agent for Last Train Home:
“After three years with one of the world’s leading international sales companies, Fortissimo Films, nine years with Paris-based Doc & Co, and fifteen years with Films Transit International in Montreal, Catherine Le Clef has finally decided to do it her way by founding her own documentary distribution company, the cleverly-titled CAT&Docs.
Le Clef’s expertise has no doubt been cultivated by her affiliation with some of the most reputable and sophisticated sales and distribution companies across two continents, whose rosters have garnered awards and generated international acclaim. But it seems the time was right to embark on a new stage of her career by narrowing the scope and filtering out the fiction. Le Clef says CAT&Docs differs from the companies in her past by focusing solely on the worldwide theatrical and video distribution of international feature-length documentaries. Along with executive of acquisitions and sales Maëlle Guenegues, Le Clef and her colleagues agree that the editorial choices of CAT&Docs must meet the demands of national and international markets: “Rigor, respect, curiosity, diversity and innovation.”
And it seems they are well on their way. During this past edition of IDFA, the CAT&Docs-distributed Last Train Home by Chinese-Canadian director Lixin Fan through EyeSteelFilm, picked up the Best Feature-Length Documentary Award. The film examines the fractured lives of Chinese migrant families during the Chinese New Year, as they leave the booming coastal cities in which they sought work and return home to their rural villages.”
2010 SUNDANCE FILM FESTIVAL ANNOUNCES FILMS IN COMPETITION | Sundance Festival 2010.
LAST TRAIN HOME – in Sundance Documentary Competition!
WORLD CINEMA DOCUMENTARY COMPETITION
- “Enemies of the People” (Cambodia-U.K.) – Directed by Rob Lemkin and Thet Sambath, which recounts the shocking revelations that ensue when a young journalist whose family was killed by the Khmer Rouge befriends the perpetrators of the Killing Fields genocide. World premiere.
- “A Film Unfinished” (Germany-Israel) – Directed by Yael Hersonski, in which film found in Nazi archives reveals the means used to stage Warsaw ghetto life. World premiere.
- “Fix Me” (France-Palestinian Territories-Switzerland) – Directed by Raed Andoni, in which Andoni seeks different forms of help for a relentless headache in his hometown of Ramallah. International premiere.
- “His and Hers” (Ireland) – Directed by Ken Wardrop, in which 70 Irish women offer insights into the relationships between women and men. World premiere.
- “Kick in Iran” (Germany) – Directed by Fatima Geza Abdollahyan, about the struggles of the first female Taekwondo fighter from Iran to qualify for the Olympic Games. World premiere.
- “Last Train Home” (Canada) – Directed by Fan Lixin, which focuses on the ordeals of a Chinese migrant worker who, along with many others, tries to reunite with a distant family. U.S. premiere.
- “The Red Chapel” (Denmark) – Directed by Mads Bruegger, about a journalist without scruples, a self-proclaimed spastic and a comedian travel to North Korea under the guise of a cultural exchange visit to challenge the totalitarian regime. U.S. premiere.
- “Russian Lessons” (Georgia-Germany-Norway) – Directed by Olga Konskaya and Andrei Nekrasov, which looks into ethnic cleansing in Georgia revealed by an investigation of Russian actions during the 2008 war. World premiere.
- “Secrets of the Tribe” (Brazil) – Directed by Jose Padiha, which examines the scandal and infighting within the academic anthropology community regarding the representation and exploitation of indigenous Indian in the Amazon Basin. World premiere.
- “Sins of My Father” (Argentina-Colombia) – Directed by Nicolas Entel, which delves into the life and times of Colombian drug lord Pablo Escobar through the eyes of his son, who fled Colombia to lead his own life. North American premiere.
- “Space Tourists” (Switzerland) – Directed by Christian Frei, a humorous look at billionaires who pay large sums to travel into outer space for fun. North American premiere.
- “Waste Land” (U.K.) – Directed by Lucy Walker, which reveals how lives are transformed when international artist Vik Muniz collaborates with garbage picker in the world’s largest landfill in Rio de Janeiro. World premiere.
Canadian documentary wins international prize – The Globe and Mail.
Canada’s nation newspaper reports on EyeSteelFilm’s marathon boat party in Amsterdam. And a
prize win.
