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Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

Over the Rhine hails from Ohio, which is not something that you will ever doubt again after listening to Meet Me at the Edge of the World. What does surprising is that this love letter to rural living comes from a band that took their name from a community which, at the time they were naming their band, was one of the most impoverished urban areas in the country.

Inspired by the purchase of a pre-Civil War cabin in the countryside by Karin Bergquist and husband Linford Detweiler “Meet Me at the Edge of the World” reunites the team behind 2011′s album, “The Long Surrender.” With Joe Henry back in the production chair the music moves like wisps of smoke around the beautiful lyrics. A wall of sound is created where even the faintest background noises sneak in to your mind and bring your senses to focus.

Adam Sekular, Program Director for Seattle's Northwest Film Forum (Nwff), organized the retrospective "At the Edge of the World: the Cinema of Lisandro Alonso", which ran this past week November 11-19, 2009. All four of Alonso's films--La Libertad (2001), Los Muertos (2004), Fantasma (2006) and Liverpool (2008)--received their Seattle premieres and Alonso was present to introduce the films and conduct Q&As afterwards. He likewise led an intimate afternoon "master class."

In his write-up for The Stranger, Sean Axmaker emphasized: "In addition to putting together this Seattle series, Northwest Film Forum has taken up the mantle of distributor for Liverpool in the United States." At Parallax View, Axmaker elaborated: "Liverpool was heralded at both Cannes and Toronto from 2008, proclaimed 'one of the best undistributed films' by both indieWIRE and Film Comment, and 'Best Film of 2008' by Cinema Scope, yet no distribution was forthcoming. So Adam Sekular and Nwff stepped in to...

The Vancouver International Film Festival closed out its run for 2009 on Friday, Oct. 16 with a gala screening of French director Caroline Bottaro's Queen to Play (Joueuse). 

I was happy with the range of films I was able to screen and review (with the sole exception of the awful Forbidden Door). 

There were a few that were on my list, though, that scheduling conflicts prevented my from seeing.

Chief among them the new film from Canadian director Atom Egoyan, Chloe. A good sign, though, that it was so popular that its two screenings sold out.

I had also hoped to catch the Wilco concert film, Ashes of American Flags. I'm a big fan of Jeff Tweedy and his band. 

I'm also disappointed that I ended up missing Roceterrania, a documentary film about Renaldo Kuhler, an artist who has, over the years, created an entire imaginary world that exists along the...

Toronto -- U.S. director Bill Guttentag's "Soundtrack for a Revolution," a film about African-American folk music during the U.S. civil rights movement, picked up the top audience award at the Vancouver International Film Festival, which wrapped over the weekend.

Vancouver audiences also picked the Canadian film "Facing Ali," by Peter McCormack, as the top documentary in the festival, which featured 103 nonfiction films against 134 dramas during its 16-day run.

"Facing Ali" sees retired boxers like George Foreman and Joe Frazier who fought Muhammad Ali pay tribute to his career.

The most popular Canadian documentary and top Canadian film, according to Vancouver audiences, was "65 Red Roses," a portrait of a cystic fibrosis patient undergoing a lung transplant.

The local film earlier won Vancouver's juried artistic merit award for director Nimisha Mukerji and co-producer Gillian Lowry, and came in second in the audience award competition at Toronto's Hot Docs festival.

The 28th annual Vancouver International Film Festival (Viff) concluded its 16-day run today with the closing gala screening of director Caroline Bottaro's Queen To Play, in the Visa Screening Room @ the Empire Granville 7 Cinemas, Vancouver. Director Bottaro was present to introduce the film to the audience. The winners of three juried awards and five audience awards were announced prior to the screening; a fourth juried award was announced previously. Juried Awards: Canwest Award for Best Canadian Feature Film: The jury for the Canadian Images program awarded the inaugural Canwest Award for Best Canadian Feature Film and its $20,000 cash prize to director Xavier Dolan of Montreal for the feature I Killed My Mother (J.ai tué ma mere). The winner was selected from 19 films in competition. The jury included Vancouver-based actor, writer, Ben Ratner, filmmaker Lynne "Kissed" Stopkewich, and producer/writer Kevin Tierney. Robyn Rudolph of Global Television presented the award on behalf of Canwest.

The Vancouver International Film Festival kicks off in earnest tonight after a few days of panels Vancouver Film and Television Forums. The fest certainly doesn’t have the high profile of Toronto International Film Festival or Festival Du Cannes to be sure but its a growing fest in a beautiful city so who’s complaining.

Whether you are in Vancouver or following along at home, here is a menu of resources to peruse and enjoy (unless of course you are instead watching the Canucks hockey season kick-off tonight instead with the rest of Vancouver except for the people at the Whitecaps vs. Timbers soccer playoffs).

Westender’s Precious Spector

Vancouver’s WestEnder arts and culture magazine provides Movies: Top picks for this year’s Viff.

We tag ‘The Agony and The Ecstasy of Phil Spector‘ saying, “He is, of course, a convicted murderer and the proud owner of many ridiculous wigs.

The Vancouver International Film Festival (Viff) will be held October 1-16, 2009. Founded in 1982, Viff's mandate is "...to encourage the understanding of other nations through the art of cinema, to foster the art of cinema, to facilitate the meeting in British Columbia of cinema professionals from around the world and to stimulate the motion picture industry in British Columbia and Canada..." Here is a partial confirmed guest list guest of actors, producers and directors attending the October 1 Opening Night Gala Screening of A Shine Of Rainbows: Vic Sarin, director "A Shine Of Rainbows" Connie Nielsen, actress - "A Shine of Rainbows" Ryan Robbins . "Leslie, My Name is Evil" Christine Solomon, actress, Ahmad Abdella, director . "Heliopolis" Camille Sullivan + Jimmy Sigmund Fiona Forbes Emmauelle Vaugier - ("Two and a Half Men", "CSI NY") Byron Lawson ("Bloodletting") Sonja Bennet Chad Willett Richard de Klerk Agam Darshi Kevin McNulty Gabrielle Rose Paul Skrudland Kristine Cofsky Casey Manderson Bill Guttentag,...

There's no question where director/producer Dan Stone stands on the matter of Japan's incessant drive to kill whales under the guise of doing research in the Antarctic Whale Sanctuary. After discovering the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society's sometimes illegal efforts to stop whalers as the primarily Japanese fleets prowl the southern ice cap for whale pods, Stone placed a set of five alternating cameramen/cnematographers on two ships, The Farley Mowat and The Robert Hunter to make the documentary At The Edge of The World. As the activists searched for the whalers and engaged them in self-described "direct action" (sabotage, vandalism, etc.), his crew faced frighteningly cold conditions to capture the harrowing experiences of the conservationists. The under-trained and under-equipped international volunteer crew, under the command of long-time activist Paul Watson and first-time captain Alex Cornelissen, apply a combination of bizarre and...

The 28th annual Vancouver International Film Festival (Viff) will be held October 1-16, 2009. Founded in 1982, Viff's mandate is "...to encourage the understanding of other nations through the art of cinema, to foster the art of cinema, to facilitate the meeting in British Columbia of cinema professionals from around the world and to stimulate the motion picture industry in British Columbia and Canada..." Over 150,000 people are expected to attend 640 screenings of 360 films from 80 countries. Here is an up-to-date list of directors, confirmed to attend Viff 2009, along with their films : "1428" Du Haibin "1999" Lenin Sivam "65_RedRoses" Philip Lyall & Nimisha Mukerji "Adelaide" Liliana Greenfield-Sanders "The Agony and the Ecstasy of Phil Spector" Vikram Jayanti "Ana & Arthur" Larry Young "The Anchorage" Anders Edström & Curtis Winter "Antoine" Laura Bari "Argippo Resurrected" Dan Krames "The Art of Drowning" Diego Maclean "At Home By Myself... With You" Kris Booth "At The Edge Of The World" Dan Stone...

I was so impressed with Lisandro Alonso’s Liverpool when it screened at the 2008 Toronto International Film Festival that—not only did I write it up right away for Twitch and The Evening Class—but I actively pursued and scored an interview. Since writing up Liverpool nearly a year ago, I’ve read commentary here and there that has deepened my appreciation of the film. Most noteworthy is James Quandt’s ArtForum essay “Ride Lonesome” (available at Highbeam Research Library). “Ride Lonesome” is an especially impressive piece of criticism, tackling all of Alonso’s films, while specifically noting: “Liverpool seems designed for auteurial legibility.” Praising Alonso’s “dilatory style”, Quandt adds that Liverpool “keeps to [Alonso’s] antidramatic ways, attenuating narrative through empty time and withheld information.” Of related interest: Violeta Kovacsics and Adam Nayman’s interview for Cinema Scope; Darren Hughes interview for Senses of Cinema; and R. Emmett Sweeney’s interview for The Rumpus.

I'm a big fan of Japanese food, but after watching "At the Edge of the World," I'll be thinking twice about ordering sushi.

The documentary, directed by New Yorker Dan Stone, shows how a poorly funded volunteer group, the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, does battle with well-equipped Japanese whaling ships that continue to kill the mammals in the Antarctic Ross Sea despite an international ban enacted in 1986.

The Japanese use a loophole in the agreement that allows killing whales in the name of science. In reality, the meat from the slaughtered whales ends up at sushi bars.

In the grand tradition of ineffectual U.N. resolutions, a 1986 ban on whaling, adopted to staunch the slaughter of mammals edging perilously close to extinction, hasn’t been adequately enforced. Three nations in particular—Norway, Iceland, and Japan—have continued the hunt, the latter using a loophole on killing whales for “research” purposes to mask its true mercenary intentions. Save-the-whales activists are divided into two camps: Greenpeace merely “bears witness” to the whaling practice as a way of convincing international bodies to enforce the law. But an eco-radical splinter group called the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, spearheaded by Greenpeace ...

It's amazing how sometimes movies come out in bunches. This particular bunch is extremely small (does two count?) but they bring up some interesting questions. For instance, how far can a group go before being considered the "bad guy" and when and how much vandalism can be justified before it morphs into terrorism? The films in question, At the Edge of the World and The Cove, have been playing the film festival circuit for the better part of a year, and are soon getting limited release. Both are really well done, and try to glorify a group called the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, a private navy that is currently at war with the Empire of Japan over the issue of whaling. Now, let's get this straight right now. I am not a fan of whaling and have long supported the ban,...