(Toronto Film Scene)

 *Winner of Special Jury Award (Canadian Feature) and Top Ten Audience Award at Hot Docs 2010 (May 2010).

* Invited to screen at Best of Hot Docs 2010 in Ottawa (June 2010).

* Globe and [...]]]>

“An emotional roller coaster of fabulous proportions!”

(NOW – Toronto)

“Incredibly touching, uplifting, heartbreaking and hilarious.”

(Toronto Film Scene)

 *Winner of Special Jury Award (Canadian Feature) and Top Ten Audience Award at Hot Docs 2010 (May 2010).

* Invited to screen at Best of Hot Docs 2010 in Ottawa (June 2010).

* Globe and Mail (Canada’s National Newspaper) list of Top Ten ‘must-see’ at VIFF (out of 340 films shown at this year’s festival).

* Carla Zilbersmith, the hero of LEAVE THEM LAUGHING, was nominated for the Artistic Merit Award by the Vancouver chapter of  Women in Film and TV for her wonderful performance in the film and garnered a Jury Special Mention.

* Winner of the National Film Board Audience Award as the most popular Canadian documentary at Vancouver International Film Festival 2010. 

* Winner of 2010 Mill Valley Film Festival Audience Favorite Documentary Award (out of 27 documentaries shown at this year’s festival).

* Invited to screen at Bergen International Film  Festival in Norway (Nov. 2010).

* Invited to screen at Detroit International Film Festival (Nov. 2010)

* Winner of the 2010 Canadian/ American Grand Prix Peoples’ Choice Award (Windsor International Film Festival/Detroit Film Institute annual film competition).

* Winner of Best of Festival Award and Best Documentary over 30 minutes (as selected by special jury) at Picture This…International Disability Film Festival 2011 (out of 89 films).

* Invited to screen at Whistler Film Festival (Dec. 2010).

* Invited to screen at Gabriola Island Film Festival (Jan. 2011).

* Invited to screen at Documentary Edge Film Festival in New Zealand (Feb. 2011).

* Invited to screen at the Sedona International Film Festival (Feb. 2011).

* Invited to screen at Vancouver Women in Film Festival (Feb. 2011).

* Invited to screen at the Sonoma International Film Festival (Mar.  2011).

http://efilmcritic.com/feature.php?feature=3129

http://www.ptff.org/ptff_main/2011-festival.html

http://www.leavethemlaughingcalgary.com

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 – [...]]]>

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 – this comic-cum-singer does it like you’ve never seen before.

Her son Maclen (she divorced just after being diagnosed) supports her in inspiring ways, as does her team of girlfriends. The insurance companies – surprise – do not.

An emotional roller coaster of fabulous proportions.

NOW | April 29-May 6, 2010 | VOL 29 NO 35

Source URL: http://www.nowtoronto.com/movies/story.cfm?content=174720

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. [...]]]>

Spring has sprung..
It’s high time for some fun…..

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. Can you guess which song it might be?  Many great prizes, including 2 VIP/meet and greet the band at a future concert and meet and greet Academy Award-winning director John Zaritsky at the World Premiere of Leave Them Laughing at Hot Docs in Toronto on May 6/8 or at a future screening of the film.
 
A bit about Trooper:
Millions of records, a couple dozen hits, sold-out coliseums across Canada, a Juno Award (Canada’s Grammy) for Band of the Year. The Vancouver Sun called them “Canadian rock heroes of the first order … the best performing band in Canada.”
The great reviews continue. In 2009, Peter Assaff of the Northern Light hailed Ra McGuire and Brian Smith as “the Canadian version of Mick Jagger and Keith Richards” and Joel Rubinoff of The Record wrote: ” … this frolicking, rollicking showcase for McGuire’s soaring pop melodies and whimsical wordplay is arguably one of the biggest Canadian bands of all time.”
They’ve backed up a who’s who of Rock including Aerosmith, AC/DC, Steppenwolf, Alice Cooper, ZZ Top, Fleetwood Mac, Jeff Beck, REO, Styx, and many others.
It is not an exaggeration to say that Trooper has become a Canadian legend.
For more about Trooper and to research Trooper’s albums and songs, please visit www.trooper.com. You can even have a brief listen and check out future concert details.
 
The rules are simple:
Tell us the title of the Trooper song that’s included in the film. Please include your reason for choosing this particular song. You may enter more than once and feel free to comment on other entries as well. Don’t forget to tell us which grand prize you’d prefer. Both will be awarded as well as a number of additional prizes! Winners will be chosen at random from correct entries. Please note that everyone who has seen the film and knows which song it is is excluded from this contest. (We know who you are!)
 
Grand Prizes:
2 VIP tickets to a future Trooper concert including meet and greet the band
2 VIP tickets to the World Premiere at Hot Docs in Toronto on May 6 or 8 (or a future screening) including meet and greet Academy Award-winning director John Zaritsky.
(Prizes are for tickets only and exclude travel and accommodation. Prizes are not exchangeable for cash.)
 
Additional Prizes:
1 Trooper T shirt
1 Trooper Hot Shots (Greatest Hits) CD
1 autographed band photo
1 autographed copy of John Zaritsky’s recent Gemini Award winning film “The Wild Horse Redemption”
 
Increase your chances of winning one of the additional prizes by becoming a fan of Trooper on Trooper’s facebook page here:
http://www.facebook.com/trooperband
 
and by becoming a fan of Leave Them Laughing on the film’s facebook page here:
http://www.facebook.com/leavethemlaughing

Need some help figuring out which great Trooper song is in the film?
We’ll be giving clues along the way right here, so check back often.
 
1st clue:
This song is played at weddings and funerals alike.

2nd clue:
Lyrics were written sitting on a big log on Kitsilano Beach

3rd clue:
The song is great to dance to (but not the slow smoochy kind).

4th clue:
The song was released as a single.

5th clue: This still of Carla, the hero of Leave Them Laughing, was shot during the glorious scene that is accompanied by the Trooper song in question. Carla’s expression says it all!

Carla Zilbersmith having a blast!

Last clue: :
“And the sun is shining, in this rainy city.” (Hope we didn’t give it away, did we?)

Post your entries as a comment below.
 
Contest closes on April 25. We will announce the winners and post the entire glorious scene right here on April 26!
 
Let the games begin and have fun!

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 [...]]]>

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 this extraordinary woman is an entirely different issue. And there’s no time to do it like the present.

I first became familiar with Carla Zilbersmith and her music more than a year and a half ago. My initial contact was with her CD, Extraordinary Renditions. I thought it was one of the most impressive vocal jazz recordings of the year and reviewed it favorably.

A month later, in October 2008, I met Carla, when she gave a live performance in Los Angeles. This, too, was an utterly engaging effort from a singer and songwriter who brought musical insight, intelligence and interpretive believability to everything she sang.

It was also one of her Carla’s last performances. In December of 2007, she had been diagnosed with ALS (Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis) – also known as “Lou Gherig’s disease.” Which, she said, “sucks, because I hate baseball.”

“I’d really rather have been diagnosed with a basketball disease,” she told an audience shortly after receiving the diagnosis. “Maybe with Wilt Chamberlain Disease. That’s the one where you have sex 20,000 times and then you die.”

That kind of dark humor has characterized the way Carla, who is a writer, teacher and comedian as well as a singer — has dealt with the ALS over the past year and a half. Her blog, Carla Muses, has included a series of remarkable posts, filled with sardonic wit as well as explicit descriptions of the progress of the disease. Each post has been a stunning combination of sheer courage, outrageous humor and a passionate desire to let everyone know she was here. Late last year she was instrumental in creating a 2010 calendar titled “Always Looking Sexy” which featured sexy photos (including one of Carla ) of models with ALS, ranging in age from 23 to 69 – all of them enticing. Her latest blog entry is a pitch to sell more calendars (even though it’s April) via a film clip, created by Richard Ross, in which Hitler rants about the importance of the Calendar. It’s one more example of Carla’s extraordinary bravery under fire.

I urge every one to log on to her blog and read a collection of material that will amaze you and, hopefully, find its way into book form. http://carlamuses.blogspot.com/

Yesterday an email arrived from Carla’s friend, Kathy Sprague. “Carla’s energy level has continued to decrease,” she wrote. “She finds she’s better off when she spends most of her time in bed. In anticipation of her spending more time in her bedroom, her fabulous caregivers have strung up lights there and are decorating it with butterflies. The hospice nurse is most concerned with Carla’s diminishing ability to swallow and told us that she believes Carla has weeks as opposed to months. Carla wanted me to point out to everyone that she has beaten the odds before.”

I hope she does it again. The world is a much better place when a person like Carla is a part of it. But ALS has its inevitability. When asked how her friends would be informed of her passing, when it happened, she jokingly told Kathy Sprague that “she would put it out on her Facebook.” The real plan will be an email distribution to her friends which will include her own obituary, no doubt filled with her typical gallows humor.

When I received my first email from Carla, she described herself as the “jazz singer with ALS.” I wrote back, scolding her, saying her singing and her music stood on its own. We both were right, of course. The ALS was inescapable, and its progress soon made any further music-making impossible. But the singing she recorded while her skills were still in fine form is still available. And it should be heard by all who value pure talent. The title, again, is Extraordinary Renditions, and it’s available, along with others of her recordings, at CD Baby, iTunes and Amazon. A ninety minute documentary about Carla — Leave Them Laughing by John Zaritsky – will have its world premiere at Hot Docs Film Festival in Toronto on May 6 and 8.