Where: WOODSTOCK FILM FESTIVAL, WOODSTOCK Town Hall
When: Oct 3 @ 1:45pm

SYNOPSIS:
On the eve of her 70th birthday, Canadian writer Margaret Atwood set out on an international tour crisscrossing the British Isles and North America to celebrate the publication of her new dystopian novel, "The Year of the Flood." Rather than mount a traditional tour to promote a book’s publication, Atwood conceived and executed something far more ambitious and revelatory—a theatrical version of her novel. Along the way she reinvented what a book tour could (and maybe should) be. But Atwood wasn't selling books as much as advocating an idea: how humanity must respond to the consequences of an environmentally compromised planet before her work of speculative fiction transforms into prophesy.
Atwood's odyssey is captured in Ron Mann's new film, "In The Wake of the Flood." Rendered as a fly-on-the-wall cinéma vérité, Ron Mann mixes new footage, archival materials and evocative animation in featuring Atwood on the road and at home as an aging but buoyant literary rock star spreading a message of warning and hope as she staged and participated in the novel production.

BIO:
Ron Mann's exuberant films are anthologies which give voice and vision to an array of articulate artists underrepresented by mainstream pop media. Mann established his international reputation while in his 20s with a series of award-winning theatrical documentaries including "Imagine the Sound," "Poetry in Motion," "Comic Book Confidential," "Twist" and "Dream Tower."
Mann is best known for the 1999 documentary "Grass" which presents a balanced history of recreational marijuana use in the late 20th century. The success of "Grass" was followed with "Go Further," "Tales of Rat Fink" and "Know Your Mushrooms."

In addition to making films, Mann and veteran Toronto film and music promoter Gary Topp distribute films in Canada under the banner "Films We Like."

Tags: Woodstock Film Fesival

FLAK will have its U.S. premiere at the 10th annual Woodstock Film Festival and Ron will be on this years documentary jury.
Made by Ron Mann when he was 16, Flak is a gritty improvised drama screening for the first time in 30 years as part of this retrospective. Influenced by John Cassavetes' Shadows, Michelangelo Antonioni's The Red Desert, and above all, Robert Kramer's classic film Ice, Mann's working title was Viva La Dynamite, a phrase borrowed from Anaïs Nin.

But Flak isn't about blowing stuff up-it's about inaction. The film emphasizes boredom, inertia, and our tendency to talk about problems while being unable or unwilling to act.

As the film progresses, its ragtag protagonists wander the city, work, play street hockey, and sit around debating political change. Suffering because of polluted air from a nearby gypsum plant, one young man registers a protest with his member of Parliament; another advocates bombing. Both efforts appear impotent. For Mann, Flak was a metaphor for the apolitical spirit of the 1970s. Raw, direct, restrained, and impressive,

Flak is a look into an unpolished Toronto of the past, and an insightful window onto current social predicaments. - Astra Taylor.

UPCOMING SCREENINGS:

Woodstock Film Festival - Woodstock Community Center Oct. 2, 2009 at 5:15pm

Planet In Focus (Toronto) - Oct 21 - 25, 2009

BAFICI (Buenos Aires)

Tags: Woodstock Film Fesival, Planet In Focus, BAFICI