On June 30th, 2010, University of Toronto Press and TIFF Cinematheque got together to celebrate the release of Johanne Sloan’s Joyce Wieland’s The Far Shore, the newest addition to the Canadian Cinema series, with a screening of the title film The Far Shore.
The event, held at Jackman Hall at the AGO, featured an introduction from Johanne Sloan, the author, and Georgiana Uhlyarik, Assistant Curator, Canadian Art, Art Gallery of Ontario. Uhlyarik opened the evening with a talk about Joyce Wieland, the artist, and Tom Thomson; his art and influence on Canada. Sloan then gave a short introduction to the film, and invited attendees to stay for a discussion following the screening.
As the lights dimmed and the curtain rose, we were treated to beautiful scenes filled with Canadian landscape, and the romantic melodrama surrounding the character of Tom McLeod, a painter in love with a married woman in the early twentieth century. Set two years after the real Tom Thomson’s death, the film imagines the story leading up to Tom Thomson’s mysterious drowning in Algonquin Park.
Following the screen, Sloan, a Wieland expert, invited the roomful of attendees to ask questions about Wieland’s film, its production, and her art. Following a lively discussion in the theatre, we moved outside as Sloan continued answering questions as she signed books.
Be sure to join UTP and TIFF again for more screenings and lectures from the Canadian Cinema series as we launch the next two installments: Allan King’s A Married Couple by Zoe Druick and Guy Maddin’s My Winnipeg by Darren Wershler. Watch for these events this September!
