Paul Quarrington Life in Music DVD now available

We are thrilled and elated to report that Paul’s film is now available on DVD!  And we’ve loaded the disc with a range of special features that ought to delight those who know the man, and titillate those who are just getting to know his work.

Special Features

• MUSIC VIDEOS including CLAIRE by The Rheostatics; HEY, HOLLYWOOD by Paul Quarrington; ARE YOU READY performed by Sharon Riley and Faith Chorale
• SHORT FILMS including the award-winning  PAVANE directed by Paul Quarrington; plus ANGEL TAKES ALL and SEVENTH SEAL REDUX
• INTERVIEWS by MARGARET ATWOOD, PAUL GROSS, JOHN KRIZANC, ALISTAIR MACLEOD, NINO RICCI plus a conversation with Booker Prize winning author RODDY DOYLE
• PHOTO GALLERIES from behind the scenes MAKING LIFE IN MUSIC, intimate PORTRAITS OF AN ARTIST and an exclusive collection illustrating Quarrington’s last book, CIGAR BOX BANJO

The DVD can be ordered through Producer Judith Keenan using PayPal by Email.
Paul Quarrington Life in Music DVD w/ Special Features
$20 CAD plus HST includes shipping within Canada

ABOUT THE FILM >> Paul Quarrington Life in Music

Director Bert Kish has done a masterful job revealing the inner life and work of this renaissance artist – writer, teacher, musician, filmmaker – delivering both humourous and poignant insights into what it takes to live a creative life.

… funny, defiant and moving… – James Reaney, QMI Agency

… A fascinating look at an eclectic artist whose impending death led him to embrace both his life and his art.
 – TV Week

… the artist’s last year of life was his greatest work. - The Globe and Mail

… a fitting send-off tribute to a Canadian great – National Post

… one of our country’s leading artists – Calgary Herald

The DVD will be available at each of the screening events taking place this coming fall – subscribe to the RSS feed for this site for updates!

Film Screenings for PQ Life in Music

We’re pleased to announce the first screenings in the Moving Stories Film tour of Paul Quarrington: Life in Music.  Each Festival and venue is combining the film event with wonderful live additions, from musical performances to readings and theatrical presentations.  For details on each, visit each festival’s website – we’ve provided the links below.

Leacock Summer Festival, Orillia – Sun. July 25

Haliburton Forest Festival - Sat. Aug. 21

Thin Air: Winnipeg Writers Festival – Sat. Sep 25

WordFest: Banff-Calgary Intl Writers Festival – Sat. Oct 16 & Sun. Oct 17

Vancouver International Writers Festival – Fri. Oct 22

Paul Quarrington The Songs (CD) and Cigar Box Banjo (book) will also be available at each venue.   More screenings across the country to be announced soon!

Paul Quarrington Life in Music Now On Facebook

All PQ all the time!  We’ve now got enough fans to have our very own Facebook Page URL >>

Paul Quarrington Life in Music

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Judith

Paul Quarrington Life in Music Doc Airs May 29 on Bravo!

Paul Quarrington is an award winning, well respected and much loved author, filmmaker, musician and teacher. Though a very public figure in the field of Canadian arts, and an artist who made himself easily accessible to fans, he was also a complex person. So much so that few in his public or private sphere say they really knew him. With the sudden diagnosis of terminal illness, he is compelled to address this in the best way he knows how – he chooses to make art – to squeeze the juice from life and pour his passion into making this film, into re-writing his about-to-be-published memoir to include his “new thematic material,” and into writing songs, lots of songs, all made more poignant for the absolute deadline at hand.

Through this film, Paul gives us a rare and insightful glimpse into the inner workings of an artist in the act of creating. As he writes, records and performs, you see the heart and soul of a man able to express in music deeply personal issues. We witness the artist, and the man, reach for a resolution to the question that we will all face when our time comes, “what would you do?”

What unfolds is a laugh-out-loud funny, compelling, warm and enlightening story – a journey woven around music, bearing witness to the power of song to elevate, encapsulate and explain the emotions that poured into this artist’s creative endeavors. His story will inspire every viewer to look at life a bit differently – to engage and to be present as if life were to end tomorrow. It is a story of friendship and community – of immersing oneself in the redemptive powers of an audience to find solace and validation.

As a teacher, Paul would always tell students to write about what makes them uncomfortable – to be unafraid of the subject matter. With much of the music in this film written and recorded post-diagnosis, the process of coming to terms plays itself out musically. “All the Stars” – a hauntingly beautiful ballad, tells of one left behind, while “Are You Ready,” written expressly for the film, pulls all that has transpired into a deceptively simple lyric whose impact is made clear in the powerful and surprising denouement.

On screen conversations with some of the most important people in Quarrington’s life amplify the inspiring message, including longtime friend and bandmate Martin Worthy, Roddy Doyle, Dave Bidini, Wayson Choy, brothers Joel Quarrington and Tony Quarrington, daughters Carson and Flannery and their mother Dorothy Bennie. Comments by Nick Jennings and Martin Levin provide context and threaded throughout are live performances by Paul, his band Porkbelly Futures, Dan Hill, Joe Hall, Roberto Occhipinti and many more musical guests.

Producer Judith Keenan, Director Bert Kish and Editor Caroline Christie have done a masterful job of drawing the viewer into the life and work of this Renaissance artist, a gift from the man we finally get to know – the author, musician, teacher, father and friend – Paul Quarrington.

PAUL QUARRINGTON: LIFE IN MUSIC
A Feature Documentary Film
Produced by Judith Keenan, BookShorts Inc., Director Bert Kish

BRAVO! TV Broadcast Dates
Saturday, May 29 at 7pm EDT and Sunday, May 30 at 6pm EDT

DVD Available
June 2010

National Screening Tour
September – October 2010

Richard Lewis: Video Telegram for Paul Quarrington

A comedic tribute to Paul Quarrington by Canadian actor / director Richard Lewis, shot on the Montreal set of Lewis’ next feature film, “Barney’s Version.”? The clip was shot to be screened at the live event “Life in Music, Words, and on Screen” produced by BookShorts on behalf of Humber College and the International Festival of Authors, and took place in Toronto on Oct 24, 2009.? Richard was the director of Quarrington’s multi-award winning feature film WHALE MUSIC, adapted from the author’s own novel of the same name; Quarrington also penned the screenplay. In celebration of Quarrington’s life and work and as inspiration for more brave artists crossing genres, join the Quarrington Arts Society – info at www.quarringtonartsociety.ca .?

Robert Lantos: Video Telegram for Paul Quarrington

A tribute to Paul Quarrington by filmmaker extraordinaire Robert Lantos,? captured on the set of his next feature, “barney’s Version.” The clip was created expressly for screening as part of the live celebration “Life in Music, Words, and on Screen” produced by BookShorts? on behalf of Humber College and the International Festival of Authors (Toronto, Oct 24, 2009). Mr. Lantos has become a seminal member of the Quarrington Arts Society — for more about this initiative to further the careers of multi-talented artists of page, screen and stage, visit www.quarringtonartsociety.ca

Pavane reviewed at NXNE

@ NXNE: Pavane

By Kate Xian

Preceding feature documentary Depeche Mode: They Came From the Posters on the Walls, Pavane, written and directed by Paul Quarrington based off his novel The Ravine is a beautifully simple short film filled with subtext. On the surface, lounge bar piano player Jay and challenging patron Phil seem to be strangers butting heads when it comes to song selection. But as the conversation progresses, and with slight nuances abound, we come to realize that these two have a much deeper and darker relationship than first thought.

With music as its anchor, the film is cut with minimalist yet very telling animation about the brotherhood between Jay and Phil and loss of innocence in a deeply dark way. And the events of that unforgettable day have left an immense weight on the both of them right into their adulthood.

Female patrons Gail and Kim provide comic relief to the heavy themes while the animation gives the film just a touch of lightness among its weighty content. Produced by past JXM Feature of the Month, Judith Keenan of BookShorts and Quarrington successfully create a film filled with backstory and character in a matter of minutes.

See the original review at Jaded Expressions Magazine

NB: There was also a mention of the film screening on “Dutch Touch Radio” on June 13.

Pavane Featured at NXNE June 18

North By Northeast Music and Film Festival, June 17-21, 2009 will screen Filmmaker/Musician/Author Paul Quarrington’s short “Pavane”

Thursday, June 18 @ 7:00pm NFB Studio
150 John St, Toronto, ON M5V 3C3

Screens with
* City Sonic: Barenaked Ladies at Ultrasound Showbar | Peter Lynch 2009
* Depeche Mode: The Posters Came From the Walls | Jeremy Deller, Nick Abrahams 2008, Canadian Premiere, Documentary, Feature

Pavane Wins Platinum Award at WorldFest Houston

Pavane TX Theatrical Premiere – April 18, 2009
WorldFest Houston International Film Festival
PLATINUM REMI AWARD WINNER

“Pavane” has won a PLATINUM REMI AWARD at WorldFest Houston International Film Festival! The film was shown April 18, 2009 in the “Digital Shorts Remi-Award Winning” Program, 3pm, and featured in the WorldFest 2009 program that will be given out to all the attendees, and distributed to film festivals all over North America. For updates www.worldfest.org

Big “Pavane” news! An airing on CBC and an invitation to the Houston Worldfest!

Big news, and you heard it hear first!

On April 5, 2009, “Pavane” will air on CBC’s Canadian Reflections, which–and I quote–features the best Canadian short films from eminent directors across the country. Nice words, indeed, even if I am now something of an eminence grise. (If you check out their webpage, you might notice a little photo of the beautiful Kari Matchett holding up a microphone to the somewhat more grizzled David Fox. That’s a still from my film “Moon & Mann.”)

Also… BookShort producer Judith Keenan and I are very thrilled to announce that the film “Pavane” has been invited to the very prestigious Houston Worldfest! The 42nd annual edition of the festival takes place April 17 through 26. Houston, we have landed! (I suspect I’m not the first person to use those words in this context.)

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