After 2 Years of Covid we are pleased to once again be a Community Partner with the Vancouver International Film Festival 2022
29 Sep – 9 Oct 2022
Our Community Partnered Film in the Altered States Category
Leonor Will Never Die
(Ang Pagbabalik ng Kwago)
Screens Sat Oct 1
6:15pm International Village Cinema 9
Screens Tue Oct 04
3:15 pm International Village Cinema 10
$5 off with Ticket Promo Code on VIFF Connect
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First 5 New Subscribers to our society will receive free tickets to one of the screenings
Synopsis
Once a prominent action filmmaker, Leonor spends her senior years with the ghost of her dead son and the pestering, very alive presence of her younger son. In her cramped apartment, she distracts herself from overdue electricity bills by daydreaming about her movies, until a freak accident causes her to fall into a coma. In this liminal state, Leonor magically finds herself in the production of one of her own long-forgotten, unfinished screenplays, blurring the lines between reality and dream, life and death. Colourful, exuberant, packed with thrills and B-movie nostalgia, writer-director Martika Ramirez Escobar’s debut feature is an homage to the power of stories, the enduring force of grief, and a tender love letter to filmmaking itself. 2022 winner of the Special Jury Prize for Innovative Spirit at Sundance.
Packed with self-reflexive humor and a deep reverence for the art of filmmaking, Leonor Will Never Die establishes writer/director Martika Ramirez Escobar as an artist with a singular voice and bright future in halls of weird cinema.”—Marya E. Gates, RogerEbert.com
Director : Martika Ramirez Escobar
Cast : Sheila Francisco, Bong Cabrera, Rocky
Salumbides, Anthony Falcon
Country of Origin: Philippines
Language: In Filipino and English with English subtitles
Year: 2022 Runtime: 99 minutes
Genre : Action & Suspense | Comedy
Award: World Cinema Dramatic Special Jury Award: Innovative Spirit, Sundance 2022
Our Review of Leonor Will Never Die
Review by Arash Taheri
……..There is so much to love about this film, from the realistic aesthetic on one end to the fantastical world on the other. This is made clear by the filmmaker from early on in the story, about a retired filmmaker, who has been longing to finish one of her beloved scripts from the past. There is a sense of playfulness in the director of the film that I find smart and amusing.
The film begins with a woman stepping on a coffer with just her feet showing.
…….After a while the audience suspects that she is trying to hang herself, but then the shot changes and shows that she is just trying to change the lightbulb. It makes for a great start!
…….Throughout the film there are more moments like this to the point where even the filmmaker herself is as involved as the rest of the characters in the film. So, while the main character, Leonor is trying to bring her script to life, about a typical macho man who is battling with the bad guys in his world over the killing of his brother, it is also a heartfelt homage to the B movies of the 80s and 90s in the action genre. That makes this film more than just a meta-film because it’s stories within stories, films within films.
…….At the core of the film, the mother-son dynamic is highlighted, as the director aims to examine and show from both sides how the reality of the son eventually gets blended with the fantasy world of his mother, Leonor. This film is very much present in the moment and makes various scenes unexpected at times; the viewer is with the heroes of each story.
This is an absolutely enjoyable film, where the filmmaker takes you on a journey that you have not possibly been on, in a long time!
Director : Martika Ramirez Escobar