The Canadian Press - …“But my thinking began to change on Sept. 11, 2001. It was the juxtaposition of that date with the Chilean date, which got me to thinking there may be something gained, something of value, in telling my story because it would perhaps provide guidance or at least a different experience on how you can deal with terror, how you can deal with extreme violence.”

Enter Canadian documentarian Peter Raymont, best known for his Emmy-winning film “Shake Hands With The Devil: The Journey of Romeo Dallaire.” Dorfman met Raymont at a North Carolina film festival two years ago, and the pair immediately hit it off.

“When I saw Peter’s film about Romeo Dallaire, I thought here’s somebody who might have just the sensibility and the sensitivity to be able to deal with these issues and accompany me on this journey.”

The resulting documentary, “A Promise to the Dead: The Exile Journey of Ariel Dorfman,” is airing Thursday night on Bravo… [Full Story]

Toronto Star, Canada - It’s the morning of the Oscar announcements, and Jason Reitman could hardly seem more connected. But look closer.

He’s dressed in the casual winter wear that is the mandatory garb of the Sundance Film Festival, currently in session, for which he is on the judging panel for short films.

He has a cellphone that seems surgically attached to his ear, like the Hollywood mogul he’s become, as he fields congratulations and interview requests regarding his Best Director nomination for Juno, one of four bids for his hit comedy at the Feb. 24 Academy Awards – the others are Best Picture, Best Actress (Ellen Page) and Best Original Screenplay (Diablo Cody).

The Montreal-born Reitman, 30, is still on the phone as he sits for a delayed interview with the Star. But who could blame him? He’s just been nominated for an Oscar, for crying out loud, which is as big a surprise to him as it is an honour… [Full Story]

Tandem, Canada - Nobody believes it, but heavy metal also lives in Baghdad, or at least it lived there. It’s what you can see in Heavy Metal in Baghdad, a documentary by the Italian-Canadian director Eddy Moretti and by the Torontonian Suroosh Alvi, which has been presented in the Forum Section at the 2008 Berlin International Film Festival. The rockumentary was also presented at the Toronto International Film Festival this past September. Eddy Moretti and his family live in Toronto; he was born and grew up here. He studied cinema at the U of T and now is the head of VICE Films and the producer of VICE’s online broadcast network VBS.TV). Acrassicauda (which means Black Scorpion) is the name of the only heavy metal band in Iraq, born in 2001. They don’t live in Iraq anymore, along with 2 million other Iraqis. They were forced to escape to Damasco, in Siria, and then to Turkey, where they sold their instruments to pay the rent. The documentary starts with some scenes filmed in 2004, when the four musicians walk on the street with short haircuts and while wearing body armor… [Full Story]

Market Wire (press release) - ”Body of War: Songs that Inspired an Iraq War Veteran,” a double-CD compilation of songs curated by Iraq war veteran Tomas Young, will be released by Sire Records on March 18, 2008 — two days before the fifth anniversary of the United States invasion of Iraq. Young, a 26-year-old veteran, was shot and paralyzed from the chest down after serving in Iraq for less than a week. His heart-wrenching and inspiring story is told in the critically acclaimed feature documentary “Body of War,” produced and directed by Phil Donahue and Ellen Spiro (www.bodyofwar.com).

Young enlisted in the U.S. Army just two days after 9/11 with the intention of fighting those responsible for the attack on our country. He has transformed his personal suffering into political activism. His powerful story and authentic voice serve to question the war in Iraq that cost him his mobility, and convey the moving journey of a young veteran’s survival and adaptation to his new life as paraplegic… [Full Story]

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CBC Prince Edward Island, Canada - After winning accolades in Canada, the New Delhi-set film Amal from Toronto director Richie Mehta has been named the best independent film of 2007 at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival.

“This is a great honour,” Mehta, who is based in Miss., Ont., said in a release Monday of the prize he received on the weekend.

“We made this film because I wanted to tell this story to audiences all over the world. To have achieved that, and now be recognized outside of Canada by a festival as highly respected as Santa Barbara, is thrilling.”

Filmed in New Delhi, Amal explores contemporary life in India through a portrait of a poor but selfless rickshaw driver whose simple act of kindness towards a seemingly homeless man sets off powerful ripples in the community… [Full Story]

Prince George Citizen, Canada - The Genie nominations honouring the best in Canadian film were announced Monday, with internationally acclaimed films like “Eastern Promises” and “Away From Her” getting major recognition.

David Cronenberg’s bloody Russian mob thriller will square off against Polley’s Alzheimer’s drama in the best picture category along with Denys Arcand’s “Days of Darkness.”

“Shake Hands With The Devil” and “Continental, A Film Without Guns” are also in the running.

British actress Julie Christie, meanwhile, is nominated in the best actress category. She’s already up for an Oscar for her turn in “Away From Her,” and is squaring off at the Genies against Anne-Marie Cadieux of the Quebec film “Toi,” Ellen Page for “The Tracey Fragments,” Molly Parker for “Who Loves the Sun” and Beatrice Picard for “Ma tante Aline.”… [Full Story]

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• "Promises," "Devil" each nab 12 Genie nominations - Calgary Herald
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Jam! Showbiz, Canada - The Toronto International Film Festival was confirmed yesterday as Oscar’s favourite launch pad.

Setting a new benchmark, a remarkable 18 of the 39 feature films that earned at least one Oscar nomination were screened at the festival either in 2006 or 2007. Those films generated a total of 48 Oscar nominations.

In addition, a Canadian animated short that had been screened at the 2007 filmfest also earned a nomination, pushing the total to 19 films and 49 nominations… [Full Story]

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Toronto Star, Canada - It was an overwhelmingly emotional moment when Canadian director Ivan Reitman learned his son Jason had been nominated for an Oscar as Best Director for Juno.

“Oh man, he couldn’t form a sentence,” said Jason Reitman, at Sundance as a member of the short film jury. “He was crying. He’s never been nominated and he was pretty shook up. He was over the moon and just so, so proud.”

Juno is the lone sunny offering amongst a Best Picture field crowded with gloomy dramas: No Country for Old Men and There Will Be Blood lead nominations with eight bids apiece, followed by Atonement and Michael Clayton with seven each… [Full Story]

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Jam! Showbiz, Canada - Dusty Cohl, a legendary “accomplice” who made things happen in film circles around the world, died yesterday at Sunnybrook Hospital after a year-long battle with cancer. He was 78.

A monumental icon in Canada’s film and entertainment industry, Cohl was a founder of the Toronto International Film Festival, which began in 1976, as well as one of the driving forces behind Canada’s Walk of Fame that was created in 1998. His devotion to Canadian talent and this country’s film industry had him invested as a member of the Order of Canada in 2003.

Born near Bloor and Bathurst Sts. on Feb. 21, 1929, Murray Cohl (who picked up the nickname “Dusty” at a Bolshevik Jewish camp north of the city where he spent his summers as a youth) was known for his big smile, charming demeanour, quick wit, keen intellect and unique style and ideas — all valuable traits for a man whose strength was said to be putting people together… [Full Story]

Georgia Straight, Canada - …“I always thought that was the worst idea in the world,” Satrapi says with a grin. “To make comics and then to make a movie out of them I still think is not a very good idea. The thing was that I had a friend of mine who wanted to become a producer, and he says, ‘Oh, yeah, let’s make a movie.’ And I was like, ‘Yeah, I want animation, black-and-white. I want to be able to work with my best friend [graphic novelist Vincent Paronnaud]. And I want Catherine Deneuve. And I want total freedom and nobody can tell me what to do.’ So he says, ‘Okay.’ And I was like, ‘Oh, shit, now I have to make a movie.’ ”

The movie, Persepolis, opens in Vancouver on Friday (January 11), and the adaptation clearly wasn’t that bad an idea, because it’s turning up on almost every other film critic’s 2007 top-10 list, shared the Jury Prize at Cannes, scored a Golden Globe nomination for best foreign film, was chosen as France’s official Oscar entry, and has to be the only lock for an animation Oscar nomination aside from Ratatouille. And after grossing more than $9 million in France alone, the movie is making big enough wave