MAGPIE PRODUCTIONS
Press Contact:
Karen Rodriguez
607.273.2372
FIRST DEATH IN NOVA SCOTIA PREMIERES AT THE ATLANTIC FILM FESTIVAL IN HALIFAX, NS
Halifax, NS (8.22.2012) — First Death in Nova Scotia, the latest adaptation of an Elizabeth Bishop poem by director John Scott, will premiere at the Atlantic Film Festival in Halifax, NS. The short was filmed in January 2012 in Great Village, NS where Bishop’s maternal grandparents resided. Bishop spent formative years in Great Village and often wrote about her experiences there in her poems and short stories.
The film stars talented newcomer Anneke Stroink as a young Elizabeth Bishop and Zoe D’Amato as her mother Gertrude. Set in the early 20th Century, the film was shot at the period perfect Blaikie House Bed and Breakfast. Cast and crew were housed at the Blaikie House as well as at Bishop’s family home the Elizabeth Bishop House. Director of the Elizabeth Bishop House and Bishop scholar Sandra Barry says the film “is wonderfully atmospheric, evocative, true to the spirit of the poem and to the actual events on which the poem is based.”
“I’m so happy that the Atlantic Film Festival is presenting this film that celebrates the work of Elizabeth Bishop who I believe was the greatest storyteller and poet who ever lived here” said John Scott. “I hope audiences find that this adaptation of her poem lives up to her legacy.”
John Scott has won many awards and distinctions as an independent filmmaker and producer. Recent work includes the widely reviewed feature-length documentary Scouts Are Cancelled and the short Dear Pam both of which premiered at the Hot Docs Documentary Festival in Toronto. Scouts are Cancelled won the Rex Tasker Documentary Award for Best Atlantic Documentary at The Atlantic Film Festival in 2007.
Scott worked as field producer for Street Cents and as a news editor with the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. He has an MFA in Film and Video Production from the University of Iowa and teaches film and video production at Ithaca College in Ithaca, NY.
Scott has produced two other adaptations of Bishop’s poems — One Art and Sandpiper. The short films are part of a long-form documentary in development called, Elizabeth Bishop and the Art of Losing. For more information on the film, visit Scott’s website at http://magpieproductions.com. For information about screening times, please see: http://atlantic.festivalgenius.com/2012/films/firstdeathinnovascotia1_johnscott_atlantic2012
The American Literature Association 2012
Annual conference in San Francisco featured the following panel:
Teaching Elizabeth Bishop in the 21st Century
Organized by the Elizabeth Bishop Society
Saturday May 26
Chair: Angus Cleghorn, Seneca College, Toronto
1. “Teaching Bishop from North to South,” Bethany Hicok, Westminster College
2. “Teaching Elizabeth Bishop in ‘Theories and Morphologies of the Lyric’,” Christina Pugh, University of Illinois at Chicago
3. “The Art of Finding: Adding Bishop Up for the Classroom,” Charles Berger, Southern Illinois University Edwardsville
Elizabeth Bishop Society 