Arts in Brief

Chasing Ice at Cinema du Parc
Exclusively on Jan. 11, Cinema du Parc presents Chasing Ice, the award winning documentary by acclaimed National Geographic photographer James Balog. Balog, a one time skeptic about the legitimacy of climate change, discovered undeniable evidence of the changes the planet is undergoing using time-lapse photography. Through revolutionary time-lapse cameras, Balog records the world’s glacier disintegration over a multi-year period. The film combines these stunning time-lapse photographs with Balog’s harrowing adventure as he travels through the harsh Arctic, risking his life and career, in pursuit of answers about humanity’s greatest fear.

→ WildSide Festival returns for its 16th year at Centaur Theatre
Self-touted as the ‘hottest two weeks in winter,’ Centaur Theatre’s annual WildSide Festival is gearing up for its 16th year. From Jan 3-13, Centaur Theatre presents six highly acclaimed plays picked from the best of what Montreal Fringe 2012 had to offer as well as unsolicited submissions received by artistic and executive director Roy Surette. This year’s festival lineup includes A Day in the Life of Miss Hiccup, a 50-minute comedy starring Yanomi as Miss Hiccup, a Tokyo clown whose solitary life is made lively by cacophonous sounds and music. Poutine Masala, a trilingual (French, English and Hindi) comedy and dance theatre production critics loved during its initial run in May, about a Montreal boy meeting a girl from India. As sparks ignite, it’s not all sunshine for this cross-cultural couple. For a complete listing of plays and ticket information visit www.centaurtheatre.com/wildsidefestival.php

Tenth of December by George Saunders out
Concordians will remember George Saunders from when he visited in Oct. 2009 as part of Concordia’s Writers Read program. The off-kilter writer’s latest collection of short stories, Tenth of December, promises to be just as satirical and imaginative as his earlier works.The collection features Home, a 2011 Bram Stoker Award finalist, as well as many stories previously published in various magazines between 1995 and 2009. The acclaimed magazine Booklist (Dec. 1, 2012) writes that Saunders collection is “unpredictable, stealthily funny, complexly affecting stories of ludicrousness, fear, and rescue.” Tenth of December will be available Jan. 8.

Umbrella by Will Self
Shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize, Umbrella by Will Self follows the stream of consciousness of psychiatrist Zachary Busner, his patient Audrey De’Ath, and her two brothers. In 1971 London, Busner arrives at a mental institution where he is to begin experimental treatment on patients suffering from the sleeping sickness, encephalitis lethargica. De’Ath has been catatonic for decades and the narrative moves through several periods of time, exploring the 1900s London of Audrey’s youth, ‘70s London and current-day London when Zachary is an old man come back to the institution to revisit his memories.

→ Law, Literature and Loss: A dialogic series
A five-part series hosted by infamously dismissed McGill professor, Dr. Norman Cornett; this series aims to explore the work of Concordia professor and Governor General award-winning author of poetry, Stephanie Bolster, and that of retired Superior Court of Ontario judge Justice James Clarke through a series of ‘dialogues’. Participants will have a chance to discuss the work of Clarke and Bolster, following which said authors will be invited in to participate in the discussion. Ensuing this, Clarke and Bolster will be joined by Dr. Jaswant Guzder, the head of the McGill division of child psychiatry, who will facilitate a discussion on the implications of the work of Clarke and Bolster. This series is open to the public and is five dollars per session, the first of which takes place on Jan. 13 at St. James United Church, 1440 St-Alexandre from 2 – 4p.m.. The following sessions will take place Jan. 20, 27, Feb. 3 and 10. For more information or to register, contact Professor Norman Cornett at [email protected] or 514-256-2483.

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