The Alchemy of Art: Music, Words & Movies at AIFF23

Patrick Laba, Marketing & Communications Coordinator

For decades, cinema has been intrinsically linked to kindred artforms, like music and literature, that speak to the human experience. There’s a certain collaboration of these artforms that is unique to film – from the iconic, jagged violins during the shower scene in PSYCHO, to the sprawling, lush world created by author J.R.R. Tolkien that we see in THE LORD OF THE RINGS. Filmmaker Ingmar Bergman once said, “No art passes our conscience in the way film does and goes directly to our feelings” – if you subscribe to this thought, then it is certainly worth acknowledging the divine artistic synthesis that occurs when a film is made.

This year at the Atlantic International Film Festival, we’re excited to have several films that serve as perfect examples of this synthesis: films that bloom from the page, that flutter along to the melody and that examine the trials and tribulations of adaptation itself.

In recent years, Mads Mikkelsen has become one of the most recognizable actors in Hollywood, and AIFF23 will see him take on a historical role in THE PROMISED LAND, based on the novel The Captain and Ann Barbara by Ida Jessen. Stemming from a Danish novel that has been described as a “Nordic western” set in the middle 1700s – this brutal, dramatic story conceived by the award-winning Jessen is brought to life in Nikolaj Arcel’s epic film.

Still from THE PROMISED LAND

From the ruins of World War II came hundreds of books about its destructiveness and evil, but there have also been stories of hope in the face of depravity and survival no matter how inconceivable. THE BOY IN THE WOODS is a Canadian drama film directed by Rebecca Snow and based on a memoir of the same name by Maxwell Smart, a Holocaust survivor. A story of pain, resilience, sacrifice and joy – Smart’s The Boy in the Woods is a bestselling historical document that will bring renewed reflection as it finds itself adapted by Snow and screened at AIFF23.

Our Atlantic Gala film this year is SWEETLAND by Christian Sparkes – an award-winning Atlantic filmmaker of great renown, which is fitting since the film is an adaptation of a novel by one of Canada’s renowned writers, Michael Crummey. The Governor General Award-nominated book paints a stunning picture of Newfoundland (Crummey’s home province), and navigates themes of personal history, belonging and love of one’s land. Sparkes’ adaptation breathes a stunning, haunting life into the source material and serves as a perfect film to represent Atlantic cinema and storytelling.

Still from SWEETLAND

In the Aeroplane Over the Sea has been lauded as a landmark album for indie rock and one of the greatest albums to come out of the 90s, and the history of the band behind the record – Neutral Milk Hotel – is one of complexity, enigma, and reclusion. The band is just one of the many groups that helped form the loosely defined, highly influential musical collective The Elephant 6 Recording Company. Members from Neutral Milk Hotel, as well as from other associated acts such as the Apples in Stereo, of Montreal and the Olivia Tremor Control are featured in C.B. Stockfleth’s examination of this boundary-pushing group of artists: THE ELEPHANT 6 RECORDING CO.

Wim Wenders is an icon of the filmmaking world, and his work often features music that matches his icon-status. His Palme d’Or winning classic, PARIS, TEXAS was scored by the incredible Ry Cooder, WINGS OF DESIRE features a scene set at a Nick Cave gig, and THE MILLION DOLLAR HOTEL is based on a concept story by Bono, and includes a soundtrack filled with U2-penned songs. Wenders’ latest feature, PERFECT DAYS, stays true to his obsession with music. A meditation on the beauty of ordinary life, the film’s main character regularly plays cassette tapes on his drive to work – a man with great taste, these cassettes include selections from Nina Simone, Patti Smith, and the incomparable Lou Reed.

Still from PERFECT DAYS

Closing out AIFF23 this year is a film from John Carney who is known for his musical-tinged work. FLORA AND SON serves as our Closing Night Gala film; it sees Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Eve Hewson flexing their musicianship as they perform original songs by Carney and Scottish musician Gary Clark. The film speaks to the enchanting, transformative power of music and should leave attendees at our Closing Gala with a skip to their step and a tune in their head.

A film can stem from the written word or find its rhythm with the help of song, but what goes into the process of adaptation itself? SWAN SONG by Chelsea McMullan is a documentary that grants the audience a backstage look at a re-imagined staging of Tchaikovsky’s timeless ballet Swan Lake. The film offers an intimate look at Artistic Director Karen Kain on the eve of her retirement from the National Ballet of Canada, as well as the various dancers in the production. The passion, creativity and physical demands of the adaptation process and ballet artform are spotlighted, as are the darker aspects of the culture itself.

SWAN SONG presents a look into the adaptation process through the lens of a documentarian, but beloved Canadian filmmaker Atom Egoyan’s latest feature is a visceral exploration of the opera world and the effects it has on those involved. SEVEN VEILS stars Oscar-nominee Amanda Seyfried as a theatre director who returns to the opera world after an extended absence to mount a production of the opera Salome. The film is inspired by Egoyan’s own experience revisiting Strauss’ opera for the Canadian Opera Company, and weaves a psychological story of uncovering trauma throughout the mounting pressure of art.

Still from SEVEN VEILS

Films are so much more than moving pictures on a screen. They are more than the cameras that capture them and the microphones that listen to them. So, too is literature more than the words on the paper and music more than the melodies it sings. This is the dazzling alchemy that unites these artforms: films, music, literature…these things are dreams brought to life. A 90-minute peephole into that amorphous essence that makes us human; a groove etched into vinyl that gives voice to feelings that sit thick in our throats; a stanza that tells of a time spent by someone, somewhere, but read as though it were for you alone.

It’s all hard to pin down, but can perhaps be encapsulated in this lyric from the Neutral Milk Hotel song “In the Aeroplane Over the Sea”:

“What a beautiful dream
That could flash on the screen
In a blink of an eye and be gone from me
Soft and sweet
Let me hold it close and keep it here with me.”

Browse the mentioned films and more on the full #AIFF23 Schedule here.