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16 saturday march 12 2005 economist sun suntribune anne brodie on movies costner allen shine in womens tale of rage the upside of anger starring joan allen kevin costner alicia witt erika christensen keri russell and evan rachel wood now playing its amazing to think this top notch story of a mother and her four daughters was written and directed by a man mike binder joan allen plays teri a mother of four daughters whose husband has apparendy left her for sweden and his swedish secretary teri lashes out bitterly at everyone who offers the tiniest defiance and thats plenty considering her daugh ters aged 15 to 22 are trying to carve their own way teri nurses gin and tonics day and night as her daughters run the home cook clean and look after their school careers everyones cutting teri slack be cause of the pain shes gone through and no one is harder on teri than teri her prime method of managing is to throw hurtful barbs and outyell every one she sways around in a drunken haze that sadly does nothing to dull her shrewish tongue so why do we care for her her daughters have mixed feelings see costner page 17 forget blockbusters movie clubs bring sophisticated fare to york region by simone joseph staff writer undreds of people gather in newmarket twice a month to defy hollywood schlock sick of the formulaic flick the average and the dull they turn to an artsy couple from east gwillimbury for an escape from inane blockbusters karen and barry dempster formed southlake cinemania film circuit four years ago out of a desire to provide funding for east gwillimburys libraries they teamed up with the film circuit a grassroots project of the toronto international film festival which promotes and oversees screenings of canadian and international independent films in communities across canada and beyond like many new projects naysayers had negative previews a lot of people thought what market is there for independent films for foreign films up here mrs dempster said but the groups first screening innocence sold out the 250seat silver city theatre southlake cinemanias events with door prizes and introduc tions by mr dempster who mrs dempster calls a movie encyclo pedia became so popular they were selling out a month early and leaving frustrated movie fans emptyhanded thats when the group took over two theatres so far about 25000 has been raised for east gwillimbury library literacy programs we show films that would never make it north of hwy 7 mrs dempster said not your regular blockbuster films southlake cinemania is part of a growing interest in small phototom barnett karen dempster formed southlake cinemania with her husband barry its one of several movie clubs giving york residents alterna tives to the usual theatre fare canadian and independent movies more than 180 canadian cities are part of the film circuit last year close to 340000 people attended film circuit screenings attendance at the these films has practically doubled every two years since it began in 1996 film circuit director and founder cam haynes said but he admits success of screenings can be very much dependent on the hype the film received when first released georginas reel gems film circuit a movie group operating out of keswicks gem theatre has found its attendance is often disappointing especially with films that did not initially receive much promotion we dont get a big crowd im not sure why maybe its because of not enough advertising committee member maddy martin said people are often not adventur ous enough to see a movie they dont recognize she said newmarket which has on average 500 people per screening is in the top 10 per cent of cities in the film circuit mr haynes said many groups take as long as two years to develop a market eventually people begin liking films regardless of whether they have heard of them he said its about trusting program ming judgment it takes awhile despite sporadic attendance some people are willing to drive more than a half hour not only for movies but for the extras at reel gems film circuit ms martin said the group offers door prizes and postmovie treats that often relate to the movie for the screening of chocolat for exam ple committee members handed out 300 strawberries dipped in chocolate on silver platters some movies are tied into classes taught at sutton district high school so the theatre would have busloads of students in attendance summer when cottagers flock to georgina is traditionally the groups busy season the group began in 2001 after a screening of crouching tiger hidden dragon ms martin saw the movie at the gem theatre afterward the manager circu lated a questionnaire asking who would be interested in starting a group to bring artistic films to the theatre since then the group has shown films such as the dish the war bride amelie and gosfordpark richmond hills arts and her itage section began regular screenings called the reel thing mini film festival last year at silver city theatre in richmond hill the town teamed up with the film circuit seckeepingpagel7