Windsor, ON / Detroit, MI – Windsor’s internationally acclaimed Media City Film Festival (MCFF) is headed to Hollywood once again, at least a film produced by the Windsor-based organization has made its way into the Academy Film Archive’s collection and will screen at the new Academy Museum of Motion Pictures in Los Angeles this Spring.
Filmed in the Atacama Desert in Chile and Argentina during a commission project spearheaded by producer and MCFF Artistic Director Oona Mosna, Japanese-Canadian filmmaker Daïchi Saïto’s earthearthearth (2021) will make its Los Angeles premiere at the prestigious new venue after blazing a global trail in recent months, garnering unanimous praise from critics around the world during in-person releases at the New York, Rotterdam and Toronto International Film Festivals.
The Academy Museum is the largest museum in the United States devoted to the arts and science of movies and moviemaking. Opening its doors for the first time in 2021, the Academy Museum’s unparalleled permanent collection features objects including Dorothy’s Ruby Slippers from The Wizard of Oz (1939). Daïchi Saïto’s film earthearthearth will screen at the Academy Museum in its originally intended 35mm format from a print produced for, owned and collected by the Academy Film Archive.
earthearthearth screens at the Academy Museum on May 2, 2022 as part of the museum’s Available Space series, curated by Academy Senior Film Preservationist Mark Toscano. In addition to Saïto’s new piece, Toscano’s program Latent Image: Three Films on Space, Time and Change will feature additional work by esteemed directors Tacita Dean and Margaret Honda whose prints also hail from the Academy Film Archive’s collection.
“Daïchi Saïto is an extraordinary director with a singular vision who works exclusively in analogue formats. Beyond MCFF’s initial production tour of the majestic Andean Mountains in the Atacama Desert, earthearthearth took seven years to create. The artistry involved in the film’s production is unmatched, and the global response from audiences and critics is warranted. You’d be hard-pressed to find another director who could replicate the sheer visual mastery that Saïto has managed to harness with this film. MCFF is delighted that the film has found a home at the Academy”, states MCFF Artistic Director Oona Mosna.
In 2020, MCFF was supported with a grant from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to celebrate its 25th anniversary edition. This virtual edition took place this February 8–March 1, 2022 from its head offices in downtown Windsor. More than 100,000+ audience members participated in online streaming events during the course of the festival’s celebrations.
Media Contact: Oona Mosna, MCFF Artistic Director: + 1 226 350 0378 mediacity@houseoftoast.ca
About MCFF: Media City Film Festival is an international festival of film and digital art, dedicated to the creation, exhibition, and dissemination of the cinematic arts. MCFF is funded by the Canada Council for the Arts, the Ontario Arts Council, Knight Arts Foundation, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, and the Ontario Trillium Foundation, along with support from private donors, sponsors, members, audiences, artists, and viewers like you. Visit: mediacityfilmfestival.com
About the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures: The Academy Museum is the largest museum in the United States devoted to the arts, sciences, and artists of moviemaking. The museum advances the understanding, celebration, and preservation of cinema through inclusive and accessible exhibitions, screenings, programs, initiatives, and collections. Designed by Pritzker Prize-winning architect Renzo Piano, the museum’s campus contains the restored and revitalized historic Saban Building—formerly known as the May Company building (1939)—and a soaring spherical addition. Together, these buildings contain 50,000 square feet of exhibition spaces, two state-of-the-art theaters, the Shirley Temple Education Studio, and beautiful public spaces that are free and open to the public. These include: The Walt Disney Company Piazza and the Sidney Poitier Grand Lobby, which houses the Spielberg Family Gallery, Academy Museum Store, and Fanny’s restaurant and café. The Academy Museum exhibition galleries are open seven days a week, with hours Sunday through Thursday from 10am to 6pm and Friday and Saturday from 10am to 8pm.
