A MoMa Moment! The Neighbor!

Telefilm and MoMA bring eighth Canadian Front to New York audiences Montréal, March 2, 2011 – The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), New York, in association with Telefilm Canada, will present the eight annual Canadian Front showcase from March 16 to March 21, 2011. This year’s festival features films coming from a variety of regions in Canada and showcase a variety of genre.
“The 2011 edition of the Canadian Front is a great illustration of the richness and the diversity of Canadian cinema. Canada is presenting eight new films in six different genres coming from different regions of Canada”, said Carolle Brabant, Executive Director of Telefilm.


“This annual showcase has given Telefilm many terrific opportunities to promote Canadian cinema with American audiences and key industry players”, she added. “New York City is the heart of the independent filmmaking and media community in the United States, so MoMA’s continued interest in our movie-making is extremely rewarding.”


“Over the past eight years Canadian Front has introduced narrative, documentary and experimental filmmakers from most provinces north of the border to New Yorkers, bringing to the attention of a discriminating audience eager to spread the word about films it likes beyond The Museum of Modern Art, the works of artists that deserve to be better known in the U.S. The selection of these films may be as personal and idiosyncratic as the curator who makes it, but the organization, the spirit and the commitment to this national adventure is Telefilm Canada's, and its participation in this cultural event is both welcome and critical. Telefilm is an essential partner ,” said Laurence Kardish, Senior Curator, Department of Film, The Museum of Modern Art.


The Neighbor (Canada-USA, Director: Naghmeh Shirkhan; Production Companies: Mehr Studio, British Columbia, Close-Up Videos, British Columbia, Cinemaeidos, New York) In Vancouver’s Iranian immigrant community, an older woman befriends a young mother whose husband spends more time in Tehran than with his wife and young daughter in Canada. Despite its bare-bones narrative, the film is a rich exploration of foreignness, loneliness, and how women adapt to alien surroundings. Shirkhan, who immigrated to America from Iran at the age of five, transferred the setting of her film from the Iranian expatriate community of Los Angeles to that of Vancouver at the suggestion of the film’s producer, fellow émigré Amir Naderi. East Coast Premiere.