Magpie Productions

2011-09-07T22:12:00.002-04:00

John's short films "One Art" and "Sandpiper" are featured this month at the fabulous Coolidge Corner Cinema in Brookline, MA.

http://www.coolidge.org/programs/coolidge-shorts

Interview with John about "Notes on Liberty"

2010-09-07T20:34:00.002-04:00

A short interview published in the Ithaca College student run paper "The Ithacan."

http://theithacan.org/2010/08/26/professors-political-short-chosen-for-showcase-3/

View Scouts Are Cancelled FOR FREE!

2010-03-22T23:04:00.003-04:00

"Scouts Are Cancelled" is now available FOR FREE in the new Hot Docs Online library. Now you know where to go on those nights you can't get to sleep!

John

"Notes on Liberty" to screen with American Documentary Showcase

2010-03-22T22:14:00.005-04:00

The American Documentary Showcase

"Notes on Liberty" has been selected as one of 30 documentaries to screen with the prestigious American Documentary Showcase.

We are delighted to be selected alongside some terrific American independent documentaries like "Trouble the Water," "King Corn" "No Subtitles Necessary: Laszlo & Vilmos" and "A Village Called Versailles."

The Showcase sends recent American documentary films, filmmakers, and subject area specialists to audiences around the world. Karen will be traveling with the film sometime this year. Last year the Showcase sent films to Ecuador, Czech Republic, Poland, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyz Republic, Belarus, Turkey, Indonesia, Jordan, Israel, Afghanistan, and Pakistan.

More info about the Showcase here, here and here.

Check back for more details about Karen's travel with the Showcase!

The Showcase is administered by the University Film and Video Association. The program was funded in part by a grant from the United States Department of State.

"Notes on Liberty" and "Notes on the Fair" to screen

2010-01-03T22:49:00.002-04:00

Two of our films will screen Jan. 22-23 at the Strange but Beautiful Film Festival in Durham, NC. Check out the delightful promo video for the festival.

Karen

www.strangebeauty.org

New Video on Current.com

2008-10-10T12:28:00.000-04:00

Dear All:

Shot a short doc on the Obama campaign in Las Vegas -- young idealists trying to get the vote out in a swing state and in America's most cynical city -- 7 min.

Here's an initial pretty visually degraded version -- mix off in places (sorry working quickly.)

http://current.com/items/89389383_this_time_will_be_different

Looking to air it on Current TV -- if you watch it let me know what you think -- or just post comments on the site.

Oh yeah and vote it up. Currently at #8.

Thanks,

John

Rhode Island and Canada's Best

2008-05-31T20:36:00.002-04:00

Scouts has been accepted to the Rhode Island International Film Festival -- yay!

And since I have yet to get a single response to anything on my blog -- here's a list that raised some controversy among some of my friends. Anyone got an opinion about this?

J. Scott's list of Canada's best songs:

Helpless, Neil Young
If I had a River, Joni Mitchell
Taking Care of Business, BTO
American Woman The, Guess Who
Heterosexual, Man The Odds
Powderfinger, Neil Young
Her Naked Body, Leonard Cohen
Four Strong Winds, Ian Tyson
The Weight, The Band
You Oughta Know, Alanis Morissette
The Famous Blue, Raincoat Leonard Cohen
Look Out for My Love, Neil Young
Coldest Night of the Year, Bruce Cockburn
Smoke , Crash Vegas
Bury My Heart atWounded Knee, Buffy St. Marie
No Sugar Tonight,The Guess Who
I Might as Well Be on Mars, The Pukka Orchestra
For the Turnstiles, Neil Young
Summer of 69, Bryan Adams
I’m Your Man, Leonard Cohen
Coax Me, Sloan
Summer Wages, Ian Tyson
First We Take Manhattan, Leonard Cohen
Up Where We Belong , Buffy St. Marie
Blackfly , Wade Hemsworth

Scouts digital download

2008-05-23T08:26:00.001-04:00

Dear Everyone:

Kinda cool.

Digital download of the entire 72 minute version of SCOUTS ARE CANCELLED for 2.99 online available at b-side:
http://www.bside.com/films/scoutsarecancelled

Filmmakers -- check out the b-side site -- they are super great and maybe you want to distribute your movie there.

Yeah internet!

All my best,

John

PS An article by film scholar Dr. Darrell Varga on Scouts and another doc called Ahead of the Curve was recently published in Cineaction Magazine.

Online version available at: http://www.thefreelibrary.com/Voice+and+body:+ahead+of+the+Curve+and+Scouts+Are+Cancelled.-a0178268107

Scouts US Premiere

2008-03-22T22:30:00.002-04:00

Dear Everyone:

Please mark your calendars for Saturday April 5th at 4pm and join us
for the US premiere of SCOUTS ARE CANCELLED (72min) at The
Cinemapolis Theatre in downtown Ithaca. This is part of the Finger
Lakes Environmental Film Festival.

Lots of great stuff at the fest -- check it out here.
Yours,

John
magpieproductions.com

Globe and Mail Critic's Pic

2008-01-11T17:44:00.000-04:00

A nice review in today's Globe and Mail

Scouts are Cancelled is "a literary portrait you won't soon forget."

- Henrietta Walmark

Scouts Premieres on The Doc Channel!

2008-01-05T14:21:00.000-04:00

Dear Friends:

The TV deal for Scouts are Cancelled finally came through and it's debuting on THE DOCUMENTARY CHANNEL Friday, Saturday & Sunday at 8pm the 11th, 12th & 13th of January. Those of you in Canada please check it out and tell your neighbours! If you're not Canadian it's not your fault -- but go ahead and call one up and let them know.
http://www.cartt.ca/pressreleases/PressReleaseDesc.cfm?ReleaseNo=3870

And Scouts had it's best screening to date at THE ATLANTIC FILM FESTIVAL in Halifax in September. People laughed. Phewww! (Everyone was SO quiet in Toronto.)
Also it won a $1000.00 prize THE REX TASKER DOCUMENTARY AWARD.

We also got probably our best review yet from the venerable Nova Scotia film critic RON FOLEY-MACDONALD who called it one of the best literary docs he's ever seen!
http://halifax.infomonkey.net/nova.scotia.news.events.php?e=scouts-are-cancelled

And THE NEW YORK TIMES site wrote up a nice overview of it:
http://movies.nytimes.com/movie/395714/Scouts-Are-Cancelled/overview

Oh yeah and Scouts was a finalist for CANADA'S TOP TEN MOVIES for 2007! But didn't win.
Damn you David Cronenberg & Dennys Arcand!
Here's what they chose: http://www.topten.ca/default.aspx

Those of you in Ithaca or nearby watch for the New York premiere coming in early April with THE FINGER LAKES ENVIRONMENTAL FILM FESTIVAL.

Thanks for your support and patience!

All my best in 2008!

John
www.magpieproductions.com

Ottawa

2007-10-25T21:38:00.001-04:00

Upcoming Scouts Screenings--Toronto and Ottawa

2007-10-11T20:14:00.000-04:00

Dear Friends,

Please let local people know about two upcoming screenings in Toronto and Ottawa. I'll be there!

Toronto at York University on Thursday Oct. 18th at 7pm

We're screening your films in one of the lower level screening rooms
in the spanking new Accolade East Building, room 004 (building no 92
on the map):

http://www.yorku.ca/yorkweb/maps/keele-webmap-large.html

You can't miss the building. It's right on the main commons across
from where the 196 express bus stops and looks like it's covered in
bacon strips (the innards are actually quite lovely though!)

In Ottawa at the Canadian Film Institute on Friday Oct. 19th at 7:30pm

Presented in collaboration with SAW Video. Café eX features Canada’s most acclaimed experimental image makers in the ‘intimate and interactive’ environment of Club SAW.

Since its creation in 1999, Café eX has hosted such filmmakers as Garine Torossian, Wrik Mead, John Kneller, Su Rynard, Phil Hoffman, Gary Popovich, Barbara Sternberg and Richard Kerr.

We are pleased to welcome John D. Scott to the spirited space that is Café eX.

CAFÉ eX @ CLUB SAW
67 Nicholas Street
Admission is pay-as-you-can.

THE FILMS OF JOHN D. SCOTT
Fri./ven. Oct. 19 oct., 19:30

The tenth season of Café Ex kicks off with the engaging and experimental documentary works of John D. Scott. Based now in Ithaca, New York, Scott was raised in Canada and has been making work for over a decade. John D. Scott will attend the screening to introduce and discuss his work. He will be joined by his wife and filmmaking collaborator, Karen Rodriguez. Presented in association with SAW Video.

The filmmakers will present:

DEAR PAM (2003, 25 minutes) is a multi-genre experimental docu-comedy that compares major events in Canada’s history with major events in Pamela Anderson’s life.

“Dear Pam plows through pop culture and its vacuities with a tender and leveling hand.” Nick Twemlow, Filmmaker Magazine

“Fascinating” Geoff Pevere, The Toronto Star

followed by

SCOUTS ARE CANCELLED 2007, 72 minutes !
This inventive portrait-of-the-artist-as-marginal-man, SCOUTS ARE CANCELLED is Scott’s utterly absorbing portrait of his friend and poet, John Stiles. Having worked as a telemarketer and teacher, Stiles is an eccentric writer whose work captures the textured voices of his rural Nova Scotia roots. To develop his own poetic voice, over the years Stiles decided to turn out to open mike readings, developed a cult following, then published two books with Insomniac press. Director John Scott, who has known Stiles for 20 years, intelligently crafts a non-linear approach that plays with the medium of documentary film itself as much as Stile’s writing plays with the formal aspects of poetry. Stylized colour and black-and-white film, alteration of the frame size and vérité highlights of Stile’s book tour through Nova Scotia reveal a man whose very being resists order and predictability. A fascinating film about a fascinating subject.

Thanks,

John

Wow!

2007-09-22T10:09:00.000-04:00

We just won the Rex Tasker Documentary Award for Best Atlantic Canadian Documentary at the Atlantic Film Festival yesterday!

And in August 'Scouts' won the Best Doc award at the UFVA conference in Texas.

We're hot!

J

Atlantic Film Festival

2007-08-10T13:51:00.000-04:00

A local review!

Halifax's own Ron Foley-MacDonald reviews Scouts here.

BTW, The homecoming for "Scouts are Cancelled" will be at the Atlantic Film Festival in Halifax, scheduled for Saturday September 22nd.

For tickets to Scouts and other info, to the Atlantic Film Festival site

Check out the other great film's at the festival site here.

Scouts Update

2007-08-10T13:44:00.000-04:00

“It’s Brilliant.”
Glenn Sumi, Now, http://www.nowtoronto.com/blog/view_post.cfm?post=160

“Scouts are Cancelled is …. one of the best filmed poetry books ever …”
Todd Swift, Eyewear, http://toddswift.blogspot.com/2007/08/stiles-council.html

Just before our initial screening at Hot Docs, Scouts got a very nice full page review by the Toronto Weekly, Now and another one just recently in the Blog/Zine Eyewear.

A National Arts Program on CBC Radio in Canada did a 10 minute piece on Scouts. In it John Stiles (the subject of the doc) calls me a “wind-up artist.” VERY INTENSE interview where Stiles and I duke it out on National Radio.
http://magpiemd.tripod.com/scoutsMovie.htm

Also there are some ONE MINUTE POEMS from the movie on my site and today I will put them on YouTube. (So modern!)
http://magpiemd.tripod.com/scoutsMovie.htm

At the screening at Hot Docs a handful of Ithaca College students braved the border police and came to one of the screenings. It was great to have a cheering section!

After a zillion unreturned calls, letters and emails I have been promised a National Broadcast Deal on Canadian Television. (Yay!) Though there’s still plenty of room for me to mess this up.

If you still haven’t seen it I will send out my last 6 dvds as loaners to the first 6 people who email me back and promise to review & rate it online at The New York Times site. (So far only one rating and no reviews there.) And yes you have to review it even if you hate it!
http://movies2.nytimes.com/movie/395714/Scouts-Are-Cancelled/overview

Those who have seen it already -- the world awaits your insight!
http://movies2.nytimes.com/movie/395714/Scouts-Are-Cancelled/overview

Strange but true the movie is being TRANSLATED INTO ITALIAN for the Festivaletteratura in Italy in September – apparently the biggest literature festival in Italy that also has a film component.

And in recent news I’ve been invited to present Scouts and an older movie Dear Pam in the fall as a guest filmmaker at THE CANADIAN FILM INSTITUTE in Ottawa. Director Tom McSorley called Scouts “masterful.”

(Not quite true.)

And to top it off the movie got a very gracefully worded rejection letters from a couple of high profile film festivals, a not so gracefully worded rejection from an arts program on Finnish Television (Finland!) (she hated it!) and a surprising invitation and then a prompt but complimentary rejection note from The Weinstein Company (formerly Miramax.) The Sundance Channel also said “no thanks.”

Toronto Star's review

2007-04-17T23:11:00.000-04:00

Scouts Are Cancelled is one of the Toronto Star's 13 recommended films for the Hot Docs Film Festival."

Toronto Star, April 13th, 2007

Scouts Are Cancelled: Watching John Stiles performing his poetry – which largely evokes his childhood growing up in Nova Scotia's rural Annapolis Valley – is like watching someone lost in a trance. He squeezes his eyes shut, channels the voices of his speakers and loudly emits the sounds of growling dogs, wailing sirens and non-verbal whoops of joy and despair. An original artist with an unsurprisingly obtuse relationship with the world, he has become the subject of a film – made by his close friend John Scott – that is both true to the poet's art and understanding of the person's idiosyncrasies.--Geoff Pevere

See the actual article here:

http://www.thestar.com/article/202665

Synopsis of the film

2007-03-23T20:54:00.000-04:00

Introduction to Scouts Are Cancelled. © 2/2007

Middle aged, way broke and with nothing to lose, Toronto telemarketer John Stiles hears the exasperated “hello” on the other end of the line:

“How yah doon anight?” he quips …

and with that simple phrase, Stiles invents an inspired rural-roots call centre performance art that changes his life dramatically. This new voice, first used to woo his cold calls, develops and evolves into energetic performances that he gives at Toronto’s open mike readings. Then comes two published books of poems and literary tours throughout Eastern Canada and New England.

And people love it! Whether he’s conjuring the work on stage or improvising it in the midst of a cold call, audiences fall in love with Stiles’ energizing performances that are animated with the sounds he makes of sirens, dogs, horns and the distinct characters and dialect of his home community in rural Nova Scotia.

Mainly in the moment, and on the road, SCOUTS ARE CANCELLED is a surprising and cinematic story of an underdog character who finds “his voice” as a telemarketer – and from there, his story takes us on a revealing journey, far, far away from that careful script that we are all supposed to follow.

We're In!

2007-03-23T20:49:00.000-04:00

I’m very happy to announce that SCOUTS ARE CANCELLED, my first feature length documentary has been accepted to screen at North America’s largest and one of the world's premiere documentary film festivals.

SCOUTS will premiere on Wed. April 25th at 9:30 and screen again on Saturday April 28th at 7:45 as a part of The Hot Docs Documentary Film Festival in Toronto.

If you are nearby: PLEASE COME.

If you can’t PLEASE LET YOUR FRIENDS WHO ARE NEARBY KNOW.

Please visit our still developing website:

http://www.magpieproductions.com/

and

http://hotdocs.bside.com/?_view=_films&category=Canadian+Spectrum

to check in with the project.

Soon I will have short films and audio recordings available on the Magpie web site -- so bookmark it and check back.

All My Best,

John