Cameo Cinema
A free community movie screening series in Kingston, Ontario where people introduce and present films they're passionate about.
Léolo (May 20, 2010)
Thursday, May 20th, 8:00pm
The Artel (205 Sydenham St, Kingston ON)
FREE ADMISSION. FREE POPCORN.
1992, Canada
107 minutes, French w/ English subtitles
The film has been selected for your viewing pleasure by Ashley Scarlett, who will introduce the screening.
ABOUT THE FILM:
A dreamlike, hypnotic film, in which fantasy and reality inextricably merge, examines an unhappy child's desperate efforts to create an alternative, pleasurable world through his imagination and creativity. A young boy, stuck in an unbelievably neurotic and dysfunctional family, fills notebooks with his fantasies to escape the harsh reality of his life. In the key fantasy, Léolo (his made-up name) imagines he is the offspring of an Italian peasant and a particularly "fertile" tomato brought to Canada in a grocery shipment. These writings provide Leolo with a safe haven where he can forget his painful existence, but this ends when his notebooks are discovered by a local academic who unsuccessfully tries to convince his family and teachers of Leolo's talents. Leolo retreats from writing, and gradually loses himself in a world of his own imaginings. He is hospitalized, but steadfastly impervious to the proddings of the mental health professionals, he sinks further into his imagination, creating for himself a slightly more functional -- and beautiful -- reality than the one his family has provided.
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Past Screenings
About Cameo Cinema
"Feed the Kitty, Please" - Essay about Cameo Cinema (Modern Fuel Newsletter, Fall 2007)
"Looking at cinema through a personal lens" - Article about Cameo Cinema (Queen's Journal, January 15 2008)
contact: wendy.huot at gmail dot com (Cameo Cinema coordinator: Wendy Huot)