Film Festival, Multimedia Performance to Offer Perspectives on Titanic Sinking

A retrospective film festival hosted by the Atlantic Film Festival and a multimedia performance viewable from inside and outside the Maritime Museum of the Atlantic will offer the public different perspectives on the Titanic sinking.

"There are many ways to learn about the Titanic," said David Wilson, Minister of Communities, Culture and Heritage. "Attending the film festival and the multimedia performance, which are public events, can help us better understand the context of the tragedy."

A Night to Remember - Titanic Film Festival, in partnership with Titanic 100, the Dalhousie Art Gallery and the Nova Scotia Archives, will screen a film each evening from April 9 to 13. The festival will show a range of films from In Nacht und Eis, a German film made in 1912 to A Night to Remember, a United Kingdom film made in 1958. The films will be shown at the Dalhousie Art Gallery, Nova Scotia Archives and Empire Theatres' Park Lane location.

As part of the screenings, Ron Foley MacDonald, a senior programmer with the Atlantic Film Festival, will host Lecture: The Titanic on Screen, with guest speakers Stephen Cooke and John Boileau on April 12 at 6:30 p.m. at the Nova Scotia Archives.

The public can attend the festival for free, with a suggested donation of five dollars for films showing April 11 and 12. Donations will go toward ViewFinders: International Film Festival for Youth, a festival geared toward youth, families, schools, filmmakers and film lovers.

"The sinking of the Titanic in 1912 became one of the first iconic moments in the history of film," said Gregor Ash, executive director of the Atlantic Film Festival. "We're proud at the Atlantic Film Festival to be given this opportunity to partner with Titanic 100, Dalhousie Art Gallery and the Nova Scotia Archives to present a retrospective of the Titanic on screen."

The Depths of Sorrow, a multimedia performance in partnership with Titanic 100, will present an abstract narrative depicting the haunting and tragic story of the Titanic's maiden voyage. Two performances will take place at 8 p.m. and 9 p.m. on April 9 at the Maritime Museum of the Atlantic.

The event will use large-scale projection, video processing, layers of animation, music and sound and live dance to draw observers into the emotion of the tragedy. The event is a project developed by Lukas Pearse, audio visual composer, Susan Tooke, visual artist and animator and Veronique MacKenzie, live dance performer.

The performances are free and can be seen in the museum's Small Craft Gallery and from the building's large windows facing the waterfront.

"Depths of Sorrow is a unique interpretation of the voyage of the Titanic as seen through the experiences of a fictional passenger," said Ms. MacKenzie. "With thanks to the support of Titanic 100, Halifax Dance and the Maritime Museum of the Atlantic, this work is an outgrowth of our ongoing video/dance/sound performance collaboration premiered at the Nocturne: Art at Night Festival 2011."

Information on these and other Titanic-related events is available at www.novascotia.com. Access to other Titanic resources, including high-resolution images of artifacts and a link to the Nova Scotia Archives virtual exhibit, is available at www.titanic.gov.ns.ca .