Special Screening of VAMPIRO
January 28th, 2009 by Gilbert Seah
Award-winning Canadian documentary
Vampiro: Angel, Devil, Hero
A film by Lee Demarbre
gets Toronto premiere run at The Royal - 608 College St.
Friday January 30 + Saturday January 31, 9:30pm
(Ottawa – January 21, 2009) Our boy-scout rep notwithstanding, Mexicans consider “the Devil” to be Canadian. And that’s but one paradox in Vampiro: Angel, Devil, Hero, the acclaimed documentary about Canadian-born Mexican wrestling star Ian Richard Hodgkinson better known as Vampiro.
The movie - which chronicles the messy and ultimately redemptive life of the man Mexicans call El Vampiro Canadiense - was an official selection at the Dawson City International Film Festival, the Monterrey International Film Festival (where it won Best Editor) and the Austin Film Festival (where it was named one of the festival’s must-see films)
Vampiro: Angel, Devil, Hero will have its Toronto premiere engagement Friday, January 30 and Saturday, January 31 at TO’s home of independent film, The Royal, 608 College St.
Directed by Ottawa filmmaker Lee Demarbre, the film tells the true tale of a Thunder Bay, Ontario boy, whose unlikely struggle up the wrestling ladder led him to the “lucha libre” leagues of Mexico, and a self-made career that is one of the great stories of the wrestling world – left untold until now.
Hodgkinson is a man who has endured more bodyslams than most people could survive: childhood abuse, homelessness, exploitation at the hands of unscrupulous promoters, injury, addiction, love found and lost, and friendships shattered.
Vampiro: Angel, Devil, Hero exposes the seamy underbelly of fame in the world of professional wrestling and traces one man’s heart-of-darkness journey from the top rope to rock bottom and back up again – a man who is an angel to his daughter, a devil to society and a hero to his fans.
“But it’s not all serious,” says director Demarbre. “Vampiro has had a strange life. One example: he spent time working as a bodyguard for Milli Vanilli – an experience he talks about at length in the film. You can’t make this stuff up.”
The film’s mix of wrestling world exposé, human drama and propulsive storytelling has been winning over audiences across North America, including the Monterrey International Film Festival, where it won the Best Editor award.
“It’s definitely not just for wrestling fans,” says Demarbre, who recently returned from the Austin Film Festival, where Vampiro was named one of the event’s must-see films by Austin 360 Magazine. “I’m not really a big wrestling fan – none of the key crew are. So we wanted to make something with broader appeal – something that would pin you to the mat whether you like wrestling or not.”
View the Vampiro: Angel, Devil, Hero trailer at http://www.vampiromovie.com .
Latest news from Demarbre and the crew at Zed Filmworks is a DVD release of The Dead Sleep Easy, through Anchorbay on May 5, and Lee’s next film, titled Lot Lizard, a term used for prostitutes hanging at truck stops, will surely be another anticipated feature from Canada’s own King of the Killer B’s.
Demarbre is currently also running Ottawa’s historic Mayfair Theatre, programming to his heart’s content, an eclectic mix of movie joy, the way only Demarbre could.
About director Lee Demarbre:
Born in Chicoutimi, Québec, Canada, Lee attended Carleton University’s Film Studies department, graduating with a Bachelor of Arts in Film Studies in 1994. Lee continued his education with a steady diet of Chinatown laserdiscs, discount-bin and mail order videos, and some of the world’s hardest to find (and watch) DVDs. This, combined with practical workshops at the Independent Filmmakers Cooperative of Ottawa (IFCO), prepared Lee to direct, shoot and edit a slew of self-financed independent films that became staples of the international festival circuit.
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