Day 1 went from one extreme

to another at the Calgary International Film Festival for my screening schedule.

First up was the Opening Gala:

Deepa Mehta's (Bollywood/Hollywood) WATER.
Set in 1938 Colonial India, against Mahatma Gandhi's rise to power, the story begins when
eight-year-old Chuyia is widowed and sent to a home where Hindu widows must live in penitence. Chuyia’s feisty presence affects the lives of the other residents, including a young widow, who falls for a Gandhian idealist.

WATER completes Deepa Mehta's elemental trilogy (Fire, 1996, Earth, 1998), and the production was not without controversy. In 2000, the project was temporarily abandoned as controversy surrounded the production when Hindu protestors in the holy city of Varanasi disrupted location shootings and vandalized sets. Some Hindu fundamentalists got a copy of the script, and decided that the story was anti-hindu. In 2004, the film was re-cast, filming began, and Water was completed in Sri Lanka.

The story unwinds in a leisurely fashion, but I found the movie to be fascinating to watch. The 8 year old actress that plays Chuyia, we discovered during the Q&A after the movie with the director, could not speak Hindu and learned all her lines phonetically. All in all, a great way to start the Festival off.

No sooner was the opening film over, than it was time for the second screening of the night, a Documentary called Put the Needle on the Record.

Put the Needle on the Record explores the world of dance music and the DJ's that bring it to life. The film features over 50 songs from top artists in the world of electronic music and over 40 interviews with electronic artists. Filmed primarily at the Winter Music Conference, a 5-day, non-stop party held annually in Miami, the film takes a look behind the scenes where the biggest DJ talents in the world come to see and be seen. It features interviews with artists such as Dirty Vegas, Paul Oakenfeld, The Crystal Method and Junior Sanchez.

Put the Needle on the Record has an interesting premise, but is about 23 minutes too long. The movie felt like a PG rated version of a GIRLS GONE WILD video, and I was getting a little bored.

What made tonight's screenings interesting, was the extremes of the Audiences. The opening gala had a rather formal feel to it, where the second screening was a 180 degree turn from that. Going from the red-carpet arrivals of Deepa Mehta and the star Lisa Ray, then entering the auditorium for the second movie with Dance Music blaring, reminded me the array of films I have to look forward to over the next week.