The Special Jury Prize – Canadian Feature was presented to Vancouver-based Academy Award-winning filmmaker John Zaritsky for LEAVE THEM LAUGHING (P: Montana Berg, Canada/USA), which follows mother, performer, and darkly funny smart-ass Carla Zilbersmith in her battle with Lou Gehrig’s disease. Jury statement: “The Special Jury Prize goes to a film about an unimaginably horrifying [...]
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This is one of those films that sounds like a drag but winds up being poignant and laugh-out-loud funny. Carla Zilbersmith has been diagnosed with Lou Gehrig’s disease and is determined to make the most of the few years she has left. She also simply will not stop laughing about it. Talk about dark humour – [...] Spring has sprung.. We are proud to announce that Canada’s legendary band “Trooper” likes Leave Them Laughing and we love their music! Carla Zilbersmith, the hero of our film, had already rocked out to Trooper in high school. One of Trooper’s songs accompanies one of the film’s most beautiful, vibrant scenes. [...] Here, There & Everywhere: Carla Zilbersmith April 6, 2010 http://irom.wordpress.com/2010/04/06/here-there-everywhere-carla-zilbersmith/ I’ve written dozens of obituaries for the Los Angeles Times and elsewhere, some for close friends. No one, however, will write a better obituary for Carla Zilbersmith, who is experiencing the advanced stages of ALS, than she will do for herself. But an appreciation of the work of [...] During my career, I have made several films which centered on death and dying. In some of my documentaries, the deaths were slow and painful natural ones. In other documentaries, the deaths were sudden and violent, coming at the hands of criminals or enemies in wars. Up to then, I had found nothing funny about [...] The trailer of Leave Them Laughing is not quite done. At the moment, you can watch a short scene from the film. The actual trailer should be posted sometime next week. Stay tuned! Getting the rough cut completed was a race against time, but we did it and we are proud! The deadline to submit Leave Them Laughing to some major film festivals was last week, so the rough cut needed to get done. A number of screenings with test audiences on the West and East coasts helped [...] |
   Once a nationally-known performer of ballads, skits and self-parody, now fated by Lou Gehrig’s Disease to perish within months, the remarkable Carla Zilbersmith was diagnosed in 2007 and given less than four years to live. She will leave a teen-aged son, a few fans and students who adore her, and this 90-minute pre-mortem retrospective of a life lived fully, but far too fast. »More about "Leave Them Laughing"
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