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DISAPPEARANCES Hosted by Director, Jay Craven Friday, March 7 at 8pm (Tickets: $8 in advance; $10 at the door) Vermont filmmaker Jay Craven will present his new independent feature film, “Disappearances,” in a special screening 8pm, Friday, March 7 at the Regent Theatre, 7 Medford St., Arlington. Writer/director Craven will introduce the film and lead post-screening discussion.
“Disappearances” tells a spellbinding North Country tale of high-stakes whiskey-running along the Vermont-Canadian border. The film is based on the award-winning novel by Howard Frank Mosher and stars Kris Kristofferson in his first lead role in twenty years. The picture also features Academy Award nominee Genevieve Bujold (“King of Hearts,” “Anne of a Thousand Days”), Gary Farmer (“Smoke Signals”), “William Sanderson” (“Deadwood”), Lothaire Bluteau (“Black Robe”), Luis Guzman (“Traffic”), and 15 year-old Charlie McDermott in his debut role. The Arlington screening of “Disappearances” comes as part of the film’s national United States release that Kingdom County Productions is managing to 200 New England cities and towns, as reported in January in a special feature story on National Public Radio’s All Things Considered. Disappearances has also played major American cities including New York, Los Angeles, Minneapolis, St. Louis, Philadelphia, Chicago, Seattle, San Francisco, Boise, Denver, Dallas, Ithaca, and many more. “Disappearances” was shot in Vermont’s Northeast Kingdom and northern New Hampshire.
“Disappearances” completes a film trilogy of what director Jay Craven calls, “Vermont frontier films” that includes “Where the Rivers Flow North” (starring Rip Torn, Tantoo Cardinal, Michael J. Fox) and “A Stranger in the Kingdom” (starring David Lansbury, Enrie Hudson, Martin Sheen). Set during Prohibition, the film tells the story of Quebec Bill Bonhomme (Kristofferson), an impossible dreamer and schemer who needs fast cash after a freak lightning storm destroys his barn. Despite forebodings from his skeptical and mystical sister, Cordelia (Bujold), Quebec Bill hatches a plan to steal twenty cases of liquor from feral Canadian whiskey pirate, Caracjou (Bluteau), and smuggle it back across the Vermont-Canadian border. He takes along his 15 year-old-son, Wild Bill (McDermott), his inscrutable brother-in-law (Farmer), and his cranky hired man (Sanderson). Together, they cross the border into Canadian wilderness – and a haunted and elusive past -- for three unforgettable days "full of terror, full of wonder." What they find is the stuff of genuine legend. Boston Phoenix called “Disappearances” “an extraordinary accomplishment…a Peckinpah-style Eastern Western.” The American Film Institute wrote, “Palpable, intimate and magical…operates on powerful metaphorical levels.” Variety called it as “mesmerizing,” “poetic,” and “stirringly acted." Reuters calls it “impressive,” “graceful,” and “eerily beautiful.” Yankee calls it “stunning.” The Boston Globe adds, “wild adventure…pure fun.” New York Times critic Stephen Holden calls “Disappearances” “beautiful and raw,” “lovingly handmade” and “imbued with a robust charm.” The film is rated PG-13.
“Disappearances” and Craven have been selected as one of eight U.S. films and 11 international films to travel to Asia, Africa, and Latin America as part of the American Film Institute’s (AFI) first-ever AFI Project 20/20 for 2007 international cultural exchange. Already, Craven and the film have traveled to China, Kazakhstan, Israel, and South Africa as part of the AFI program—and February screenings in Venezuela have recently been announced. Project 20/20 is co-sponsored by the AFI, The National Endowments for the Arts and Humanities, The President’s Commission on the Arts and Humanities, the U.S. State Department, the Institute of Museum and Library Sciences. Craven and the film have also been selected to play the 2007 “Southern Circuit” for fall screenings in North Carolina, South Carolina, Florida, Mississippi, Louisiana, Kentucky, and Tennessee.
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