Events in Montreal
Diane Broadbent Friedman presented A Matter of Life and Death and ran a Q&A session afterwards at the Montreal Neuro Event, 2013 at the Montreal Neurological Institute and Hospital at McGill University, Montreal.
Invitation to the event
Diane reports:
My husband Marty really enjoyed seeing AMOLAD on a big screen, and I did too. Was I imagining something or is there very faint music during our introduction to Conductor 71...so faint that I thought it might be coming from another room in the building, but then I thought it really was in the film. As you might expect, the audience really liked it--I'd guess about 90% were new to the film. It was pretty cool to be talking in a room that has had some pretty major brain science people at the podium. Afterwards, when the organizer thanked me, I think I detected a little bit of relief in her voice that I could handle the question and answer part.
I STILL think that Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger visited at the Montreal Neurological Institute when they came to the US to find Kim Hunter but I couldn't find any evidence. I even asked the McGill archivist if Raymond Massey had any friends or relatives on the staff in 1945. Alas, no...
I heard a few gasps of recognition in the audience when Dr. Reeve asked his questions in Lee Wood House and he got to the part about smelling something that might not be there. They really liked the part about Dr. Lizar's 1854 brain atlas and the pictures on Dr. Reeve's wall in his examination room, particularly the neuropathologists in the room. They also liked when I pointed out the representations of annoying American behavior, the 5 senators, and how the part in the heavenly amphitheater made a lot of sense to the audience at the time. They also thought it was plausible that the design of the heavenly amphitheater resembles a drawing of a visual field report. They liked hearing about George VI and Prince John too.
They stayed to talk for about 45 minutes after the film was over--so that is pretty great for a Thursday night after work.
I think there were a few film students there--one asked for a correction of the film ratio so that it would project as MP/EP intended.
What I think the audience liked the best was the realization that there was so much depth to the film and to MP/EP's work. They really liked how there were so many layers of understanding all interwoven and yet the beauty of the story is foremost. I think there will be a number of new MP/EP aficionados after last week...
Other P&P trips
