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Thursday 7pm
Lee Demarbre, Solo Screening
(filmmaker in attendance)

The Dead Sleep Easy, Canada, 90m

The Champ (Thunder Bay’s Ian Hodgkinson, who wrestles in Mexico as El Vampiro Canadiense), a washed-up wrestler who once made a fatal mistake and is now stuck working for the mob. When a pollero (human smuggling) run goes disastrously wrong, The Champ is set on a collision course with powerful forces on both sides of the border as he seeks justice for a group of migrants — and redemption for himself.

Lee is a “genre” filmmaker. In 1998, his short film trailer/martial arts movie spoof Harry Knuckles garnered attention and led to longer form versions featuring the Harry Knuckles character. This led to a debut full-length feature film, Jesus Christ Vampire Hunter which featured many of the actors from the earlier films. His films have screened at numerous international festivals, garnering several awards, including the Spirit of Slamdance Award and have had television broadcasts with IFC, Scream and PrideTV among others.

Lee received his film & video training through local cable access and the Independent Filmmakers Cooperative of Ottawa where he made numerous short films ranging in forms from documentary, experimental and comedies, before jumping into feature length production. Through his Ottawa based production company, Odessa Filmworks, Lee has produced an accomplished body of work and has developed a loyal, cult-like audience for his work.

Friday, 1-5 pm @ SOVA (3rd and Queen)
Master Class with Lee Demarbre.

Lee will show an unfinished preview of his new documentary Vampiro: Angel, Devil, Hero. Using his own experiences and examples from his films, Lee will review how he approaches the various phases of production, from pre-production to the shoot to distributing and marketing his films.