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A film by Anna Kannava
Rated M15+ Adult
Themes, Nudity, Low Level Course Language.
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DREAMS FOR LIFE, the first feature by Melbourne based Greek-Cypriot
immigrant filmmaker Anna Kannava, was released to a national
audience in 2005, to critical acclaim.
The
film started its run as being listed among the Age's Top Ten Films, and stunning reviews. Its individual quality and sense of unique style saw it selected to several international festivals including Brisbane, Cyprus, Annapolis and the prestigious Eurocine 25 (2006) and Eurocine 27 (2007) , for two years running where it played in Rome, Paris, Brussells, Strasbourg, Lyon and Madrid.
During 2005 in Australia it was selected into the Down Under Film Festival
in Darwin which saw it win the award for Best
Australian Feature Film. In addition to this, it
was featured prominently at the Greek Arts & FilmFestivals in Sydney, Melbourne and Adelaide. Lead
actress Maria Mercedes presented a special screening of DREAMS
FOR LIFE at the inaugural Westgarth Film
Festival in Melbourne that same year.
2007/2008 saw it commissioned for several international private screenings and events including in France in both Brittany and Paris, along with its selection into the Sexy Film Festival, screening in Melbourne and Paris.
Following the success of DREAMS FOR LIFE , Anna Kannava's filmmaking affair with Paris, both in that city's appreciation of her work, and her love for the city, saw her complete her second feature, filmed on location in Paris and Melbourne titled KISSING PARIS, selected for the Brisbane International Film Festival in 2008.
Dreams for Life - Original, Cultural, Beautiful
"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)
:: SYNOPSIS
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
::
Sexy International Film Festival
Melbourne, Paris 2008
Eurocine 27 (2nd Selection)
Rome, Madrid, Lyon 2007
Cyprus International Film Festival (2nd Selection)
Selected for Forum; Out of Competition 2007
Eurocine 25
Brussels, Paris, Strasbourg 2006
Cyprus International Film Festival
In Competition 2006
*NOMINATION*:
Best Female Actress Maria Mercedes
Brisbane International Film Festival
Talking Australian 2004
AFC Bigscreen Festival
Regional Australia 2005
Annapolis Film Festival - Maryland, USA
February 2005
Greek Arts & Film Festivals
Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide 2005/2006
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
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DREAMS
FOR LIFE was produced and developed in association with the
Australian Film Commission, Transfilm and Dixons Recycled
Records.
transfilm
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