PRESS RELEASE FROM MAGPIE PRODUCTIONS
Halifax, NS (8.22.2012) -- First Death in
Nova Scotia, the latest adaptation of an
Elizabeth Bishop poem by director John Scott, will premiere at the Atlantic
Film Festival in Halifax, NS. The short was filmed in January 2012 in Great Village, NS
where Bishop’s maternal grandparents resided. Bishop spent formative years in Great Village
and often wrote about her experiences there in her poems and short stories.
The film stars talented newcomer
Anneke Stroink as a young Elizabeth Bishop and
Zoe D’Amato as her mother Gertrude. Set in the early 20th Century, the
film was shot at the period perfect Blaikie House Bed and Breakfast. Cast and
crew were housed at the Blaikie House as well as at Bishop’s family home the
Elizabeth Bishop House. Director of the Elizabeth Bishop House and Bishop
scholar Sandra Barry says the film “is wonderfully atmospheric, evocative, true to
the spirit of the poem and to the actual events on which the poem is based.”
“I’m so happy that the Atlantic Film
Festival is presenting this film that celebrates the work of Elizabeth Bishop
who I believe was the greatest storyteller and poet who ever lived here” said
John Scott. “I hope audiences find that
this adaptation of her poem lives up to her legacy.”
John Scott has won many awards and
distinctions as an independent filmmaker and producer. Recent work
includes the widely reviewed feature-length documentary Scouts Are Cancelled and the short
Dear Pam both of which
premiered at the Hot Docs Documentary Festival in Toronto. Scouts are Cancelled won the Rex Tasker Documentary Award
for Best Atlantic Documentary at The Atlantic Film Festival in 2007.
Scott worked as field producer for Street Cents and as a news editor with the
Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. He has an MFA in Film and Video Production
from the University of Iowa and teaches film and video production at Ithaca College
in Ithaca, NY.
Scott has produced two other
adaptations of Bishop’s poems -- One Art
and Sandpiper. The short films are
part of a long-form documentary in development called, Elizabeth Bishop and the Art of Losing.
For more information on the
film, visit John Scott’s website at http://www.magpieproductions.com/
For information about screening times, please
see:
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