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A film by Anna Kannava
Rated M15+ Adult
Themes, Nudity, Low Level Course Language.
ENQUIRIES:
(03) 9575 3045
DREAMS
FOR LIFE , the first feature by Melbourne based Greek
immigrant filmmaker Anna Kannava, was released to a national
audience in 2005, to universal acclaim.
The
film started its run at the Sun Theatre in
Melbourne in March of 2005 (where it was extended by popular
demand and listed among the Age's Top Ten Films) and followed
this with enormously successful seasons at the GREEK
FESTIVAL OF SYDNEY in April, the Schonell
Theatre in Brisbane in July, and the CMAX
Theatre in Darwin in August.
The
Darwin theatrical season of DREAMS FOR LIFE
followed it's success at the DOWN UNDER FILM FESTIVAL
in Darwin in May, where it won the award for Best
Australian Feature Film. In addition to this, it
was featured prominently at the Annapolis Film Festival
(USA) in February of 2005, and most recently, lead
actress Maria Mercedes presented a special screening of DREAMS
FOR LIFE at the inaugural Westgarth Film
Festival in Melbourne in November.
"The
grief seeped into Kannava's dreams and instead of rationalising
it away, she decided to recreate it on the screen in the story
of a lonely woman...its Greekness forms the background, influenced
by Kannava's migration to Melbourne at 15."
(MX
CITYBEAT - INGA GILCHRIST)
The
film follows a substantial body of personal and experimental
work by Kannava following her well-known and highly regarded
autobiographical documentary THE BUTLER (ABC Television-Nominated
for AFI Best Documentary 1997), and the award-winning TEN
YEARS AFTER, TEN YEARS OLDER. Along with its Greek
heritage, the film is a uniquely Australian story that speaks
to the sensibilities of a European audience, and the crossover
of cultural identity.
"...her
film is deeply personal and difficult to classify. It
struck me as a kind of poem, an aesthetic construct, beautiful,
elusive, occasionally obscure, but underpinned by a strong
conventional narrative...suggests the work of a deeply serious
film-maker."
(THE
WEEKEND AUSTRALIAN - EVAN WILLIAMS)
Maria
Mercedes plays her first lead role in a feature film along
with newcomer Dai Paterson. An established Melbourne
celebrity with a prominent career in music theatre and television
(named as one of TV Weeks hottest faces for 2005), Maria was
recently the first woman to play “Frankie” in the Melbourne
production of “ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW”. Her 2004
Cabaret show played to sold out audiences in Melbourne.
"Mercedes,
an actor of compelling presence, gives the film its core of
humanity and truth."
(THE
WEEKEND AUSTRALIAN - EVAN WILLIAMS).
Says
Mercedes “What really attracted me to the script was the similarities
between the character of Ellen and my own life. Being the
child of Greek immigrants myself, I went through a very dark
period in my life in which I was in a volatile relationship
such as the one reflected in the film which meant a denial
of the world, friends and my own family. The turning point
was the death of my beloved father and being offered my role
in Dreams for Life. I was able to put the ghosts of
the past away and actually get back to my Greek roots.
The role was challenging and wonderful for all sorts of reasons,
but there is a real treat for me in the film.
As a singer I actually got to sing a song written by Anna
Kannava herself for the film. I sing it acapella in Greek
– it is a beautiful haunting piece.”
"Maria
Mercedes gives a touching performance as a woman facing her
past in this excellent low-budget Melbourne production..."
(THE
AGE - ADRIAN MARTIN)
::
DREAMS
FOR LIFE is about a 39 year old recluse, Ellen, whose lucid
dreams prompt her to revisit her old neighbourhood where she
meets Martin, the much younger brother of her childhood love
who she used to look after as a baby. Martin, who is
now a young man, falls in love with her.
"What lifts
Kannava’s work beyond a kind of suburban neo-realism
is a strongly lyrical aura, and an investment in the realm
of transfiguring desire. Her films are built on dream-sequences,
paintings, music, dance, and a whole, sensual experience of
fabrics and textures—a special and intimate ‘female
aesthetic’ proudly claimed.
Dreams for Life
richly extends and fulfils the promise of Kannava’s
previous work. Cheekily taking its title from a self-help
book, Dreams for Life is not afraid to confront the
ersatz wisdom of the New Age movement in order to dig deep
into the emotional truth of slogans about loving yourself,
or coming to peace with the past.
Adrian Martin
Read
full review
"Unashamedly
arty film is held together by a number of impressive elements..."
MARGARET POMERANZ,
AT THE MOVIES, ABC TV
Read full review
"It's
a delicate, deceptively slight and oddly touching reflection
on love and solitude and the way the past can shape our lives."
"...her film is deeply personal and difficult to classify.
It struck me as a kind of poem, an aesthetic construct, beautiful,
elusive, occasionally obscure, but underpinned by a strong
conventional narrative..."
"Mercedes,
an actor of compelling presence, gives the film its core of
humanity and truth." "...aided by the use
of classical music and recurring images of paintings and artworks,
suggests the work of a deeply serious film-maker..."
Evan
Williams, THE AUSTRALIAN
"Anna
Kannava could probably make the Moscow telephone directory
look like a fascinating objet d'art she has such an innate
sense of cinematic language. She also directs actors
so well that she elicits their deepests personas for her -
and for us via the camera.
This
tender, subtle and complex love story touches on so many private
issues within each of us - lost love and loneliness, new love
and melancholy, dreams that shadow us - that our emotional
synapses keep popping throughout. Yet, for its poetry
and depth, she never loses touch with the real world.
Neither do her actors, who simply seduce us with their honesty
and their feelings.
Fuelled
by the depth of European sensibilities and the earthiness
of Australian culture, DREAMS FOR LIFE is a window into the
possibilities of human nature. And an ending you don't
expect."
ANDREW
L. URBAN, URBAN CINEFILE
Brisbane International Film Festival
Talking Australian (August 2004)
Annapolis Film Festival - Maryland, USA
February 2005
Down Under
Film Festival - Darwin, Australia
May 2005
*WINNER*:
Best Australian Feature Film
Westgarth
Film Festival
November 2005
DREAMS
FOR LIFE was produced and developed in association with the
Australian Film Commission, Transfilm and Dixons Recycled
Records.
transfilm
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