Product Description

Monet: Shadow and Light presents a rich portrayal of the trials of a struggling but stubborn Claude Monet and how a boy with budding talent shows him the importance of family. Set in 1869, five years before the Impressionist movement was recognized, 29 year-old Monet paints his view of the world while trying to support his young family with his art. Settling on the Seine near Paris, Monet discovers landscapes and people that inspire his art. Unfortunately, he also has to deal with a lack of understanding from his father, his creditors, and especially from harsh critics whose narrow-minded attitudes thwart acceptance by the art world.

Created and produced by David Devine and Richard Mozer from a screenplay by Susin Nielsen (Degrassi Junior High), Monet: Shadow and Light was shot entirely in and around Montreal. Scenes depicting the village of Saint-Michel were shot at some original 17th century houses in Montreal^Rs Cap St-Jacques. La Grenouillhre was scrupulously rebuilt in Parc Angrignon, where the narrow lake stood in for the Seine and the surrounding woods for Fontainbleu. Even Monet^Rs famous studio-boat was recreated with exact accuracy using fishermen^Rs dorys. The film follows HBO's presentations last year of Degas and the Dancer and Mary Cassatt: American Impressionist, the first two productions in THE ARTISTS' SPECIALS series. Degas and the Dancer was recently awarded the prestigious Humanitas Prize in the Children's Writing category. Future programs in the series will feature Rembrandt, Goya and Winslow Homer.

Claude Monet was nineteen years old when he left home for Paris. He was quickly disillusioned by the rigid principles of the art establishment, preferring the relaxed art classes given by Charles Gleyre, where he met Pierre-Auguste Renoir and Alfred Sisley. They formed an immediate attachment through their intense dedication to their new art.

Between 1869 (the year the film is set) and 1874, when the first Impressionist show was received poorly by the critics, Monet, Renoir, Sisley and the other members of the Impressionist movement painted every aspect of rural and urban life. Monet's favourite locales included the Fountainbleu forest, La Grenouillhre, on the Seine and the unusual studio boat. Monet was poor and completely unaware that within these five years the Impressionist movement would evolve to its peak. Even in this "starving artist" period, Monet's paintings never became sombre. Monet finally achieved financial independence in 1890. He is best known for showing the world the fleeting effects of light and shadow. Monet is arguably the greatest of the Impressionist painters.

Review

The Artists' Specials are six sensational new hour-long family dramas from Devine Entertainment, the folks behind the award-winning children's drama Beethoven Lives Upstairs and other graceful profiles of historical figures.

Normally, the term 'children's drama' would send your average 10-year-old screaming from the TV room. Children's dramas based on the lives of famous painters? Pass the Nintendo. However, my 10-year-old daughter was completely enthralled by this series, which profiled Impressionist masters such as Degas, Monet, Renoir and Mary Cassatt. What hooks this almost impossible to hook young audience is Devine's device of revealing these historical figures through the eyes of a child.

Obviously, liberties are taken; Rembrandt and Goya didn't really pal around with tweens. "The fictional characters are always the young people," says David Devine, president of Devine Entertainment. "But often they're based on young people found in some of these artists' more famous paintings."

Monet: Shadow and Light stars Stuart Hughes as the 19th century French Impressonist. He and his starving artist pal Pierre Auguste Renoir (Richard Clarkin) stay one step ahead of their creditors with the help of Daniel, a budding young artist (Trevor Blumas).

Next time your child is looking to try something new, steer them towards these excellent Artists' Specials. A 2000 Parents' Choice® Gold Award.

Reviewed by Bill Brioux, Parents' Choice® 2000 -- From Parents' Choice®

Each of The Artists Specials revolves around a life-altering encounter between a famous artist and a child, both of whom are at a personal or professional crossroads. Through the course of each story, not only do the artist and the child learn more about themselves and each other, one helps the other to overcome a series of difficulties and, ultimately, to succeed^E So well-crafted, thoughtful and intelligent are these hourlong specials that parents are likely to enjoy them just as much as their kids. Although the programs seek to teach younger viewers that even the greatest artists faced major stumbling blocks on the road to success, adults will find many of their own quandries reflected in the artists' dilemmas. -- The Los Angeles Times, May 11, 1999

From the Contributor

"I think it's great to have kids meet up with their heroes in movies. It's a pathway to their experiences," says Trevor Blumas, star of Claude Monet: Shadow and Light. "I was in art school from grades 4 to 8 and it helped me. I learned a lot about Monet." The young hero, Daniel Fontaine, who Trevor plays in the movie is determined, like his mentor Claude Monet, to succeed as an artist no matter what it takes. Trevor is no stranger to perseverance: he attended over twenty auditions before he landed his first job at age twelve, and he has been working steadily ever since. Right after he finished filming "Claude Monet: Shadow and Light," Trevor went on to full-time filming for "Little Men" (based on the book by Louisa May Alcott). He plays the orphan Nat in the thirteen-episode series that will be completed in early 1999, with perhaps nine more episodes in the offing. The series is filmed by Alliance and was released in the fall of 1998 in the U.S. on Paxnet. "I'm getting fan mail already!" he enthuses. What more could a good-looking fifteen year old boy want?

About the Actor

Stuart Hughes has performed in repertory at the most prestigious regional theatres in Canada, starting with four years at the Shaw Festival in Niagara-On-The-Lake. He went on to create many roles at The Citadel in Edmonton, the Manitoba Theatre Centre in Winnipeg, a year at Stratford, Ontario, and a further two years at the Shaw. He is a familiar figure to theatre-goers in Toronto, having performed in many lead roles at the Tarragon, Canadian Stage and Toronto Free Theatre, among others. For the past three years he has concentrated on film and television, starring in films as diverse as "Kung Fu - The Legend Continues" and "PSI Factor." He co-starred in "Soir Bleu" with Alan Arkin (directed by Norman Jewison), "We The Jury" with Kelly McGillis, and "Bogus" with Girard Depardieu. He has just moved to Los Angeles with his wife Megan Follows and their two children.

About the Director

David Devine was born and raised in Toronto. After earning an Honours B.A. in English from Victoria College at the University of Toronto and his Masters of Fine Arts in film production from the prestigious UCLA Film School, he established his own company, Devine Videoworks, in 1982. Devine's commitment to family-oriented musical entertainment started in 1985 with A Young Children's Concert with Raffi, which he produced and directed. Video sales are certified multi-platinum in the U.S. and Canada. In 1989, Devine produced and directed a second video, produced with his partner Richard Mozer, Raffi in Concert with the Rise and Shine Band. This musical special was an even bigger success, winning a Gemini Award and receiving Grammy and CableACE nominations in the United States.

Devine's next project as producer/director, Beethoven Lives Upstairs, won the 1993 Primetime Emmy Award for Best Children's Program in the U.S., while its broadcast on CBC earned four Gemini nominations. It was selected for the Permanent Collection of the Museum of Radio and Television Arts in New York, and the film won its category at numerous film festivals. Devine himself won the International Monitor Award for Best Director of a Children's Program.

In 1994, Devine Entertainment launched the CableACE Award-winning series The Composers' Specials, six hour-long films and CDs featuring Bizet, Bach, Strauss, Handel, Liszt and Rossini. Devine produced the six films and directed two of the six. Rossini's Ghost and Bizet's Dream were subsequently voted Best Children's Video of 1996 by Parenting magazine, and Best English Language Drama by the Alliance for Children & Television. For The Inventors' Specials, David produced the six films and directed the Einstein, Galileo and Edison episodes.

In 1999, David and Devine Entertainment were nominated for 9 Emmy Awards; 5 for Edison: The Wizard of Light and 4 for Galileo: On the Shoulders of Giants. Happily, Devine Entertainment won three Emmys.

Devine is now producing THE ARTISTS' SPECIALS, six new HBO original programs for families. He will direct three of the six films: Monet, Degas and Rembrandt. When not in Europe filming and recording, Devine makes his home in Toronto.

From the Back Cover

Monet spends a glorious summer painting in a revolutionary style aboard his odd-looking studio-boat and with his friend Renoir at La Grenouillihre, a popular riverside park. The bliss ends when his father cuts his allowance, creditors try to confiscate his belongings, and a pompous critic attacks his work. Without money for rent and his paintings seemingly worthless, Monet runs off to spare his family more pain. Luckily, Monet has an ally in young Daniel, an aspiring artist. Daniel has his own demons including a hard-working mother who opposes his artistic ambitions. Abandoned by his father, Daniel refuses to let Monet do the same to his son. While Monet shows Daniel a new way of seeing the world through his new Impressionist art, Daniel helps Monet see the importance of family. As seen on HBO.

• Is Discontinued By Manufacturer ‏ : ‎ No
• Package Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 7.6 x 4.2 x 1.1 inches; 7.36 ounces
• Director ‏ : ‎ Blumas, Trevor
• Run time ‏ : ‎ 54 minutes
• Release date ‏ : ‎ October 31, 2000
• Date First Available ‏ : ‎ September 29, 2006
• Actors ‏ : ‎ Clarkin, Richard, Masten, Gordon, Huculak, Maggie, Hughes, Stuart
• Studio ‏ : ‎ Repnet