Most everyone knows who he is: Sir Edmund Hillary, first to climb Mount Everest along with Sherpa Tenzing Norgay in 1953. And now hopefully you can become better acquainted with what they probably went through on that famous climb. Director Leanne Pooley has given us BEYOND THE EDGE in 3D to do so. The Canadian shot the movie in the gorgeous Southern Alps of New Zealand (NZ is her home now).
Kiwi actor Chad Moffitt played Hillary and Sonam Sherpa portrayed Norgay.
Peter Hillary and Norbu Tenzing, the sons of the famous original pair were able to attend the movie at TIFF which obviously made the night even more spectacular. Would have loved to have met them myself. The media swirl around their fathers back in the day must have been dazzling.
Says Pooley:"Peter Hillary was really pleased with the way we portrayed his father and his achievement. Norbu saw it for the first time and he was very, very happy with how his father's contribution was handled."
Hillary passed away in 2008, Norgay in 1996.
Says the Toronto Star:"(3½ stars out of 4): Canadian-born New Zealand director Leanne Pooley makes audiences feel they are making the tortuous and historic climb of Everest with Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay with her gorgeous film about the first men to reach the summit in 1953. Thrilling and dramatic, Pooley couples rare archival footage and impressive dramatic recreation, aided by both Hillary’s and Norgay’s families. Screening in 3D. L.B."
For you Wellywood denizens down in Kiwi, the movie will be premiering at the Embassy Theatre in Wellington on Oct 22nd. Sources: NZ Herald | Toronto Star
Short film, stop-motion and 3D aficionados pay heed: The award winning 3D short film FOXED! is being released on June 28th at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) Bell Lightbox. It will be opening in front of Storm Surfers 3D - another great project to check out if you are in town for the festival!
Director James Stewart is a good friend of mine and his is exceptionally proud about this project.
Here is the storyline for the short: Emily has been Foxed! in this 3D stop-motion tale of fighting for what you believe in. Filmed in stunning 3D, director James Stewart crafts a humorous tale about growing up in an environment of parental control and how children are often mis-portrayed in the eyes of their parents. In this tale of fighting for what she believes in, Emily is up against the sinister forces of foxes. FOXED! has been enthusiastically received at international film festivals in Stuttgart, San Francisco, Annecy, and Sarasota, FOXED! is a darkly humorous tale about growing up in an environment of parental control in which children are often misrepresented in the eyes of their parents. Beware of what hides behind the mirror. The menacing 3D, stop-motion world of FOXED reveals young Emily toiling in the mines beneath her house, imprisoned by foxes who have duped her entire town into believing children can be replaced. Emily has to grow up quickly if she is to escape and outwit the foxes at their own game. But her daring attempt to get away is met by a stunning encounter above the ground that leaves her lost and confused.
You can check out more details about the TIFF screenings here.
Further, you can also see FOXED! at one of these fine venues in the near future as well:
Check out the first "Making Of" featurettes for the short right here.
About James Stewart and Geneva Film Co.
FOXED! is co-directed and produced by digital 3D filmmaking pioneer James Stewart whose credits include the 3D work for Werner Herzog’s acclaimed Cave of Forgotten Dreams. As the head of Toronto-based Geneva Film Co., Stewart is one of the world’s most active directors and foremost experts in 3D filmmaking. His short film FOXED! – which recently won the Best Animated Film Award at the Yorkton Film Festival - is currently being developed into a full-length feature film.
James Stewart is an award-winning director and the founder of the Geneva Film Co. in Toronto, Canada. Through his production company, Stewart has produced over 30 projects in digital 3D, including cinema commercials, concerts, stop-motion and CG animation. He is a director, storyteller, artist, digital innovator and multi-platform visual designer whose work ranges from mobile to giant screen, from motion graphics to stereoscopic 3D installations.
Recent projects include the stop-motion film FOXED!, the experimental short BÉATRICE CORON’S DAILY BATTLES in collaboration with NYC based French artist Béatrice Coron, Werner Herzog’s CAVE OF FORGOTTEN DREAMS, ONTARIO 4D for the Vancouver Olympics, and live 3D concert films of the Montreux Jazz Festival and Kylie Minogue. In 2012, he produced the world’s first gesture-controlled 3D cinema game for the launch of the Samsung Galaxy S3.
A sought-after director, artist, and expert on 3D, Stewart is a six-time speaker at The Cannes Lions Festival of Creativity and has spoken at TED.
If you're going to the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) and you love 3D movies you're in a bit of luck! TIFF has decided to include two very interesting library movies that have been updated to modern stereoscopic 3D standards.
While Alfred Hitchcock's DIAL M FOR MURDER was originally made in 3D, it will take work to get it remastered for today's digital 3D theaters. Here's the description from TIFF: "Alfred Hitchcock’s devilish drawing-room thriller, about a retired tennis pro (Ray Milland) who plans the “perfect” murder of his adulterous wife (Grace Kelly), is revived in a new, eye-popping 3D digital restoration."
Also being added is Pixar's FINDING NEMO which should be a stunning experience in 3D. As you probably know if you're a frequent reader of MarketSaw or a 3D fan, underwater 3D is absolutely amazing whether it's animation or real life (same goes for space or mid-air shots). The reason is objects are suspended in front of you without being cut off by the end of the frame and therefore can utilize more space to present the 3D. Another way of describing it is that when you take off your 3D glasses you will see a blur on the screen - that blur represents the overlapping visual information for each eye being presented at the same time. Now if those blurs are too close to the edge of the frame they can't be presented without being cut off somewhat, causing issues to be avoided. Suspended objects are no where near the edge of frame and the 3rd dimension can be exploited if so desired.
Here's the TIFF description for FINDING NEMO: "Academy Award-winning film Finding Nemo returns to the big screen in thrilling Disney Digital 3D™ for the first time ever. Teeming with memorable comedic characters and heartfelt emotion, this stunning underwater adventure follows the momentous journey of an overprotective clownfish named Marlin (Albert Brooks) and his young son Nemo (Alexander Gould) –– who become separated in the Great Barrier Reef when Nemo is unexpectedly taken far from his ocean home to a fish tank in a dentist’s office. Buoyed by the companionship of Dory (Ellen DeGeneres), a friendly-but-forgetful blue tang fish, Marlin embarks on a dangerous trek and finds himself the unlikely hero of an epic effort to rescue his son –– who hatches a few daring plans of his own to return safely home."
Looks like TIFF is putting on another great show! Let me know if you're going...
Werner Herzog’s CAVE OF FORGOTTEN DREAMS screened at the Toronto International Film Festival in 3D recently and this is the first review I have seen about it. The review comes from indieWire and it speaks rather boldly about the movie and where the reviewer thought Herzog was going with it at various times.
Here is part of the review: “Cave of Forgotten Dreams” takes a fascinating 3-D journey into the inner sanctum of heretofore undocumented cave paintings in the south of France. Destined to delight Herzog fans for its offbeat ruminations on the evolution of creativity, the movie also derives ample philosophical weight from the sheer beauty and inherent mystery of the subject at hand. Guiding the audience with his typical voiceover narration, Herzog delves into “one of the greatest discoveries in the history of human culture,” the etchings on the walls of the 1,300-foot Chauvet Cave, presumably home to the oldest paintings in the world. Owned by the French government and restricted to a handful of experts, the cave remains as mysterious as the history of its contents.
Herzog naturally plays up the enigma at hand with epic grandeur, occasionally overdoing it but usually hitting the mark. Introducing the setting with a majestic crane shot (particularly immersive in 3-D), his camera soars above the cave and surveys the desolate landscape. Unleashing cosmic observations about “the abyss of time” and the like, Herzog ventures into the darkness with his small team, carefully illuminating the 35,000-year-old artwork within. The profoundly magical aura of the footage ranges from charcoal etchings of animals in motion (“almost like a form of proto-cinema”) to hints of attempts at self-portraiture (“as if the human soul was awakened within them”).
...And yet, given the unprecedented nature of the project, Herzog’s filmmaking efforts are tightly controlled and closer to conventions of the form than his other recent non-fiction ventures. He sticks to the practical goal of exposing the art, and concludes by dedicating the movie to the cave’s discoverers. Apparently, plans are underway to open a replica of the cave for the general public, but Herzog beats them to the punch by putting this natural museum on the big screen.
