Winners Judged Virtually at Truncated Miami Film Festival /  by Karen Harnisch

By Jeremy Kay

The Miami Film Festival, which elected to continue with virtual judging after cancelling screenings and events towards the end of its 2020 edition in response to the novel coronavirus pandemic, has announced its winners.

…

Festival executive director and director of programming Jaie Laplante said, “I’m very grateful to all our jurors. This is a time of anxiety and uncertainty for the entire world, and everyone’s personal world is changing dramatically. Yet even while our jurors were dealing with what that all meant for them back in their homes (some of them are as far away as Tbilisi, Montevideo and Seoul), they took the time to continue watching the rest of the films in their sections via secured private links.”

Laplante continued, ”Deliberations were done by Zoom or other similar platforms, and the conversations that the jurors need to have ultimately happened just the way they would of if they had been sitting at dinner together in Miami. My gratitude is for their dedication, and how determined they were to honour the films with their full and serious attention and carefully select those that they felt were most deserving of recognition. In doing so, they helped to bring a sense of closure to the truncated 37th edition of Miami Film Festival.”

The Audience winners were chosen from 45 narrative and 21 documentary feature films in official selection that had screened publicly before the festival’s 37th edition was closed on March 12, three days ahead of the scheduled close.

… the Rene Rodriguez Critics Award to Yonah Lewis and Calvin Thomas’s White Lie from Canada…

Source

Miami 2020 Review: WHITE LIE, The Finer Details of the Con /  by Karen Harnisch

By Shelagh Rowan-Legg

Everyone wants to be loved. Many people also want attention and love from strangers. In our social media age that gives us access to strangers around the world, the allure of the like, the retweet, the reply, can be irresistable. The validation that can with strangers' support can be intoxicating; so can their money. In White Lie, writing-directing team Yonah Lewis and Cavin Thomas bring a story of a young woman whose entrancement with that fame and love has caused her to do dangerous and illegal things, which are quickly coming to a head with a vengeance.

…

White Lie walks a janned but straight line as Katie' world inevitably crumbles, even in a final scene when she doesn't even realize that the jig is up. With a terrific central performance, it's enough to make you question your own self and how you present a truth (or a lie) to world, and what you yourself might do to keep the world in your embrace.

Source

2020 Canadian Screen Awards Nominations /  by Karen Harnisch

Schitt’s Creek Leads the Pack with 26 Nods

by Victor Stiff  

The Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television (the Canadian Academy) released its full list of nominations for the 2020 Canadian Screen Awards. The list includes 141 film, television, and digital media categories selected by the Canadian Academy.

The Canadian Screen Awards takes place in Toronto during Canadian Screen Week and includes the Canadian Screen Awards Broadcast Gala, which airs live on CBC and the CBC Gem streaming service on Sunday, March 29, at 8:00 PM.

“A celebration of Canadian visual storytelling and the people who bring these stories to life, the Canadian Screen Awards recognize and champion the authentic voices and universal themes that resonate in Canada and beyond.”

CBC’s hit show Schitt’s Creek leads the Canadian Screen Award nominations with a staggering 26 in total (including Best Comedy Series and Best Writing).

Anne With An E also made off like a bandit, scoring a total of 17 nominations. Trailing close behind in the drama category is the police procedural Cardinal, which grabbed 14 nods.

François Girard’s The Song of Names leads the film categories with 9 nominations but isn’t nominated for best picture. Instead, The Song of Names grabbed a host of nominations in the technical categories (including Achievement in Costume Design, Original Score and Achievement in Visual Effects).

Beth Janson, CEO, Academy of Canadian Cinema & Television had this to say:

Whether our nominees are household names or not as well known, we are privileged to celebrate their achievements at the Canadian Screen Awards.

Supporting these voices has never been more important, and we are proud to be at the heart of those efforts.

CANADIAN SCREEN AWARDS FILM NOMINATIONS

Best Motion Picture

Annie at 13,000 ft.
Antigone
The Body Remembers When the World Broke Open
The Twentieth Century
White Lie

Best Lead Actor (Film)

Gilbert Sicotte (And the Birds Rained Down)
Ryan McDonald (Black Conflux)
Mark O’Brien (Goalie)
Marc-André Grondin (Mafia Inc.)
Dan Beirne (The Twentieth Century)

Best Lead Actress (Film)

Deragh Campbell (Annie at 13,000 ft.)
Nahéma Ricci (Antigone)Elle-Máijá Tailfeathers (The Body Remembers When the World Broke Open)
Violet Nelson (The Body Remembers When the World Broke Open)
Kacey Rohl (White Lie)

Best Supporting Actor (Film)

Rémy Girard (And the Birds Rained Down)
Matt Johnson (Annie at 13,000 ft.)
Andy McQueen (Disappearance at Clifton Hill)
Daniel Stern (James Vs. His Future Self)
Douglas Grégoire (Kuessipan)

Best Supporting Actress (Film)

Leanna Chea (14 Days, 12 Nights)
Nour Belkhira (Antigone)
Larissa Corriveau (Ghost Town Anthology)
Alison Midstokke (Happy Face)
Yamie Grégoire (Kuessipan)

Best Feature Length Documentary

Alexandre Le Fou
If You Could Read My Mind
Invisible Essence: The Little Prince
Nîpawistamâsowin: We Will Stand Up
Prey

 

CANADIAN SCREEN AWARDS TELEVISION NOMINATIONS

Best Drama Series

Anne with an E
Cardinal
Coroner
Mary Kills People
Vikings

Best Comedy Series

Jann
Kim’s Convenience
Letterkenny
Schitt’s Creek
Workin’ Moms

 Best Reality Series

The Amazing Race Canada
Big Brother Canada
Blown Away
The Great Canadian Baking Show
Top Chef Canada

Best Lifestyle Series

Home to Win
Island of Bryan
Mary’s Kitchen Crush
Property Brothers
Where to I Do?

Best Lead Actor (Drama Series)

Peter Mooney (Burden of Truth)
Billy Campbell (Cardinal)
Jerry O’Connell (Carter)
Roger Cross (Coroner)
Shawn Doyle (Unspeakable)

Best Lead Actress (Drama Series)

Amybeth McNulty (Anne with An E)
Karine Vanasse (Cardinal)
Serinda Swan (Coroner)
Lauren Lee Smith (Frankie Drake Mysteries)
Caroline Dhavernas (Mary Kills People)

Best Lead Actor (Comedy Series)

Paul Sun-Hyung Lee (Kim’s Convenience)
Jared Keeso (Letterkenny)
Jason Priestley (Private Eyes)
Daniel Levy (Schitt’s Creek)
Eugene Levy (Schitt’s Creek)

Best Lead Actress (Comedy Series)

Jann Arden (Jann)
Jean Yoon (Kim’s Convenience)
Michelle Mylett (Letterkenny)
Annie Murphy (Schitt’s Creek)
Catherine O’Hara (Schitt’s Creek)

The Canadian Screen Awards encompasses film, television and digital media. For a full list of nominees, head to Academy website.

Source

Canadian Academy Announces 2020 Nominations /  by Karen Harnisch

(February 18, 2020 – Toronto, ON) The Nominations for the 2020 Canadian Screen Awards have been announced and there are a few surprises. 



…

White Lie also has 4 nominations including Original Screenplay and Achievement in Direction shared by Yonah Lewis and Calvin Thomas.

…

Gilbert Sicotte, Ryan MacDoanld, Mark O’Brien, Marc-André Grondin and Dan Beirne will compete for Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role. 
Deragh Campbell, Nahéma Ricci, Elle-Máijá Tailfeathers, Violet Nelson and Kacey Rohl will compete for Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role.

“Whether our nominees are household names or not as well known, we are privileged to celebrate their achievements at the Canadian Screen Awards,” said Beth Janson, CEO, Academy of Canadian Cinema & Television. “Supporting these voices has never been more important, and we are proud to be at the heart of those efforts.”

The 2020 nominations were chosen by nominating juries and members of the Canadian Academy, with iconic Canadian filmmaker Deepa Mehta serving as chair of the film jury alongside representatives from production, acting, and media industries. The membership will place their votes between February 18 and March 6, 2020 to determine the winners.

A complete list of 2020 Canadian Screen Awards nominees is available online.

Source

'Schitt's Creek' leads 2020 Canadian Screen Awards nominees /  by Karen Harnisch

by Wade Sheridan

Feb. 18 (UPI) -- Schitt's Creek has earned a leading 26 nominations for the 2020 Canadian Screen Awards, which honors both film and television.

…

On the film side, Anne at 13,000 ft, Antigone, The Body Remembers When The World Broke Open, The Twentieth Century and White Lie are nominated for Best Motion Picture.

…

Performance By An Actress In A Leading Role nominees include Deragh Campbell for Anne at 13,000 ft, Nahema Ricci for Antigone, Kacey Rohl for White Lie and Elle-Maija Tailfeathers and Violet Nelson for The Body Remembers When The World Broke Open.

The Canadian Screen Awards will take place on March 29 with the gala set to air on the CBC network. Jeopardy! host Alex Trebek is set to receive the Icon Award.

The complete list of nominees can be found on the official website of the Canadian Screen Awards.

14 films we can't wait to see in 2020 /  by Karen Harnisch

Including a remake of a horror classic, another adaptation of a sci-fi epic and a movie musical that doesn't rely on CGI fur

So many movies are coming out in 2020 that it’s a practical impossibility to see all of them. (More accurately, one could watch them all, but one wouldn’t have time to review them.) So what should you be sure not to miss? Here are a few titles – some of which we’ve seen, and some we’re looking forward to seeing – to get worked up about. If available, we've provided release dates, which are subject to change.

White Lie

Chasing the next Uncut Gems? Yonah Lewis and Calvin Thomas’s latest – one of TIFF’s Canada’s Top Ten selections for 2019 – has a similar ticking-clock tension, and an equally enigmatic protagonist in Kacey Rohl’s Katie, a Hamilton college student trying to keep her friends and family from finding out she’s faked her cancer diagnosis. It’s both an incisive character study and a relentless psychological thriller, and with any luck it’ll build the same word of mouth as the Safdies’s current hit. February/March

Source

VFCC 2020 Nominees Announced /  by Karen Harnisch

Calvin Thomas and Yonah Lewis’ WHITE LIE has been nominated for the Best Screenplay category alongside ANNE AT 13,000 FT by Kazik Radwanski and THE TWENTIETH CENTURY by Matthew Rankin.

WHITE LIE’s other nods are for Kacey Rohl in the Best Actor, Female category, which also includes Deragh Campbell for ANNE AT 13,000 FT and Violet Nelson for THE BODY REMEMBERS, and Amber Anderson in Best Supporting Actor, Female, which also recognizes Chelah Horsdal for ASH and Catherine St-Laurent for THE TWENTIETH CENTURY.

Source Source

TIFF announces Canada's top 10 films of 2019 /  by Karen Harnisch

Cementing the idea that Canadian cinema is in a really good place these days, TIFF announced the features and shorts that made the organization's annual list of Canada’s Top Ten films… and it’s a really solid selection.

…

Rounding out the list [is] … Calvin Thomas and Yonah Lewis’s White Lie, a psychological thriller starring Kacey Rohl as a Hamilton college student who convinces her classmates and her girlfriend that she has cancer.

…

Canada's Top Ten Features

And The Birds Rained Down by Louise Archambault, Quebec

Anne At 13,000 Ft by Kazik Radwanski, Ontario

Antigone by Sophie Deraspe, Quebec

Black Conflux by Nicole Dorsey, Newfoundland/Quebec

The Body Remembers When The World Broke Open by Elle-Máijá Tailfeathers and Kathleen Hepburn, British Columbia

Matthias & Maxime by Xavier Dolan, Quebec

Murmur by Heather Young, Nova Scotia

One Day in the Life of Noah Piugattuk by Zacharias Kunuk, Nunavut

The Twentieth Century by Matthew Rankin, Quebec

White Lie by Calvin Thomas and Yonah Lewis, Ontario

Canada's Top Ten Shorts

Acadiana by Guillaume Fournier, Samuel Matteau and Yannick Nolin, Quebec

Cityscape by Michael Snow, Ontario

Delphine by Chloé Robichaud, Quebec

Docking by Trevor Anderson, Alberta

I Am In The World As Free And Slender As A Deer On A Plain by Sofia Banzhaf, Ontario

Jarvik by Emilie Mannering, Quebec

No Crying At The Dinner Table by Carol Nguyen, Ontario

The Physics Of Sorrow by Theodore Ushev, Quebec

Please Speak Continuously And Describe Your Experiences As They Come To You by Brandon Cronenberg, Ontario

Throat Singing In Kangirsuk (Katatjatuuk Kangirsumi) by Eva Kaukai and Manon Chamberland, Quebec

Source

Films of the Future Presented at TorinoFilmLab /  by Karen Harnisch

2019 has proved a significant year for the TorinoFilmLab. Now at its 12th edition, the Turin-based laboratory, which supports talent from all over the world with the development, production and distribution of their films (first and second works in particular), has exceeded the threshold of 100 feature films completed since its 2008 inception (the current tally is 107); works directed by filmmakers hailing from 49 different countries and wielding numerous trophies from international festivals. At the Locarno Film Festival alone, no less than 7 works bearing the TFL hallmark walked away with awards.

Eva Michon’s Mizeria is included as one of the film’s presented at part of the 12th TFL Meeting Event FeatureLab.

Mizeria - Eva Michon (Canada/Poland)
Production: Film Forge; co-production: Opus Film
First work

Source

Brandon Cronenberg’s New Films /  by Karen Harnisch

By Sonia Shechet Epstein

PLEASE SPEAK CONTINUOUSLY AND DESCRIBE YOUR EXPERIENCES AS THEY COME TO YOU, the new short film written and directed by Brandon Cronenberg, premiered at Cannes, the Toronto International Film Festival, and the New York Film Festival this fall. It tells the horror story of a psychiatric patient fitted with a brain implant which forces her to relive her dreams in waking life. After the film’s Toronto premiere, we spoke with Cronenberg about his interest in neuroscience, inspirations for the short, and his upcoming feature film POSSESSOR, which will star Jennifer Jason Leigh and Andrea Riseborough.

Science & Film: How did the idea for PLEASE SPEAK CONTINUOUSLY come about?

Brandon Cronenberg: There was a Spanish doctor named José Delgado who did some very strange and interesting experiments on animals and people in the 50s and 60s in the United States. He wrote a book Physical Control of the Mind Towards a Psycho-Civilized Society, in which he goes into great depth about the experiments. It was that era of neuroscience when it was a lot of like psychiatric patients [that were being experimented on, who] would be consenting to have literal wires be put in their brains.

He [invented] this thing called a stimoceiver which was a brain implant that had a wire that would go to a specific part of the brain, and by stimulating different parts of the brain he would control a surprising array [of things in the patient]. He could control hand movements to turn a knob, control the iris elevation, and that kind of thing. There’s this great line where he writes that he got the patient to make a fist and said, “try to open your hand.” They couldn’t do it and said, “well doctor, it seems your electricity is stronger than my will.” This is in his book, which he is writing essentially as an argument for more funding. The last few chapters are like, this is why great experimentation is so great, you should really give me more money. It’s fascinating. It’s totally dystopian.

S&F: What was he trying to prove with these experiments?

BC: It seemed pretty exploratory. He could control emotions. He talks about making patients fall in love with doctors by turning up the electricity; they would start by saying, “I really don’t like this doctor” and by the end they’d be proposing marriage. He could control limbs—they would do a series of movements and then think that they chose those movements. They would get off a chair, walk around in a circle, and sit down, and then Delgado would say, why did you do that? They would say, oh, I heard a noise. And then he’d press the button and they’d go through the same motions again and he’d say, why did you do that? And they’d say, I was looking for my shoes—all sort of terrifying, but philosophically really interesting stuff.

I’ve been working on a feature for a number of years—which I just finished cutting so hopefully that will be done next year—and it’s a bit of a sci-fi extension of that reading. That got pushed last year and I was really eager to make something. I had this dream that I wanted to turn into a film and so I folded that into the brain implant idea. Delgado didn’t talk about triggering dream memories but I already had a dream idea that I wanted to try out.

S&F: In the film, the brain implant device looks very similar to some real implants that I’ve seen people have for spinal cord injury, for example. Did you take inspiration from real life for the design?

BC: I did a bit. The Braingate work is very interesting, but it was more based on the Delgado stuff and a lot of photos. Human patients tend to be fairly bandaged, but cats and chimps usually have a pretty big protrusion.

S&F: There is a dynamic in the short between doctor and patient in which the doctor is a very controlling figure. Some depictions of scientists in films is of people with dubious ethics—was that something you were interested in playing with at all?

BC: No. That’s interesting, but I would hate to represent scientists as somehow inherently evil. I think when you get into a certain vein of science fiction, where, narratively, lines are being crossed, then it’s hard to completely avoid dubious scientists as characters, but I’m not in any way anti-science. As a person I think it’s great. I think there have been horrible things done in the name of science, but I’m not anti-science. I’m really very pro-science. I guess there’s a kind of danger there when you get into science fiction because you can possibly, inadvertently, play into that, but it certainly wasn’t my intention.

S&F: How does the feature film differ from the short?

BC: The feature is conceptually a little different but it is still rooted in the same stuff. In the book, Delgado talks a lot about how he could never control people like a puppet. But then he talks about controlling them exactly like puppets. The feature is a sci-fi assassin, thriller-y film rooted in the idea that someone could be controlling someone else’s body. Aesthetically [the short and feature] are related because the visuals came out of a bunch of experiments I was doing with my cinematographer Karim Hussein for the feature. Alicia Harris, the production designer, did a great job.

S&F: What is the feature called?

BC: POSSESSOR.

S&F: Do you have a distributor yet?

BC: Yes. I’m not sure if I’m allowed to say. It’s almost finished. It’s been sold to a few territories.

Brandon Cronenberg's feature debut ANTIVIRAL premiered at the 2012 Cannes Film Festival. His short PLEASE SPEAK CONTINUOUSLY AND DESCRIBE YOUR EXPERIENCES AS THEY COME TO YOU is his second film. POSSESSOR, his next feature, will star Jennifer Jason Leigh (EXISTENZ), Andrea Riseborough (BIRDMAN), Christopher Abbott (GIRLS), Tuppence Middleton (THE IMITATION GAME), and Sean Bean (GAME OF THRONES).

Source

Brandon Cronenberg's Short is Screening at the Chicago International Film Festival /  by Karen Harnisch

Today at the Chicago International Film Festival: A love triangle in 1973 Chile in ‘Spider’

Also, a weird short by Brandon Cronenberg.

‘Shorts 3: Up at Night — After Dark.’’ Deragh Campbell, from the weird 2013 feature “Stinking Heaven,” stars in a really weird short by Canadian filmmaker Brandon Cronenberg (yes, son of David). “Please Speak Continuously and Describe Your Experiences as They Come to You” echoes tech motifs from his 2013 feature “Antiviral.” Electrical implants spark meta-dreams at an asylum recalling Dr. Caligari’s. One of nine shorts programs in the festival, this one includes work from Argentina, Finland and the U.S. Noon Oct. 21; 10:30 p.m. Oct. 26.

Source

Film festival marks five years of bringing the world to Sarnia /  by Karen Harnisch

A weekend packed full of award-winning films, in-depth cinematic discussion and cutting edge music awaits attendees to this year’s South Western International Film Festival.

The festival, now celebrating its fifth year, will be showcasing a wide variety of Canadian and international filmmakers with 14 feature films being screened at the Imperial Theatre as well as 12 short films set to be shown at the Judith & Norman Alix Art Gallery Nov. 7-10.

Every film to be screened truly reflects the festival’s original mandate, Srinivasan said, which was to bring culturally diverse films made by a disparate group of storytellers to Sarnia-Lambton.

Fans of the silver screen will also get a chance to speak with rising Canadian star Kacey Rohl and directors Calvin Thomas and Yonah Lewis, who will be screening their 2019 film White Lie on Saturday, Nov. 9.

A compelling drama about a young Hamilton undergrad who becomes a minor celebrity after faking a cancer diagnosis, the dark and complex story was nominated for Best Canadian Feature Film at TIFF.

“It’s a really fascinating character study and it’ll be great to have them here to engage the community,” Srinivasan said.

All in all, SWIFF’s fifth will be wall-to-wall bliss for film and music lovers, Srinivasan said.

Asked whether he ever thought the festival would last five years and be so pervasive in the community – during this past year SWIFF hosted indigenous film workshops at Walpole Island, Aamjiwnaang and Kettle and Stony Point First Nations and started up a monthly winter series SWIFF Selects – Srinivasan said that he didn’t have an inkling that it would get so big or last so long.

“I didn’t know how long this would last, to be honest,” he said. “But the community is still very supportive of it and we’re still getting recognition from provincial bodies who think what we’re doing is worthwhile. And audience members are still coming out to watch the films. So as long as we continue to have that support, we’re going to continue offering these programs and this type of art and culture to Sarnia-Lambton.
“In Sarnia-Lambton there are definitely a core of people who buy all access passes before we even announce the films, they’re locked in and they’re dedicated,” he added. “And then it’s up to us to add in films which will attract other members of the community who might just want to see one or two films. So I really think this year, our fifth year, is by far our strongest year in terms of offering quality content from around the world. I hope more people will come and see just what we’re doing.”

IF YOU GO

What: South Western International Film Festival

When: Thursday, Nov. 7 to Sunday, Nov. 10

Where: The Imperial Theatre, the Judith & Norman Alix Art Gallery and Altspace (CineGaze).

Tickets: www.swiff.ca, www.imperialtheatre.net or the Imperial Theatre box office

Source

L'Etrange 2019: Brandon Cronenberg's Please Speak Continuously... wins Grand Prize /  by Karen Harnisch

Hooray for Canada because Brandon Cronenberg of the family Cronenberg took home the Canal+ Grand Prize for best international short film with his short Please Speak Continuously And Describe Your Experiences As They Come To You.

INTERNATIONAL SHORT FILM COMPETITION

CANAL+ GRAND PRIZE

PLEASE SPEAK CONTINUOUSLY AND DESCRIBE YOUR EXPERIENCES AS THEY COME TO YOU

Brandon Cronenberg – Canada – 9’23 - Drama / Sci-Fi

Source

WHITE LIE - 6 of the best Canadian films at the Toronto International Film Festival /  by Karen Harnisch

“If you go to film festivals long enough… it becomes clear that for political reasons, programmers are often pressured to support filmmakers from the country where the fests take place,” Peter Debruge, chief film critic for Variety, wrote in a review of Jasmin Mozaffari’s Firecrackers earlier this year. “Venice is the wrong place to see Italian films. And when it comes to Toronto, don’t waste your time on Canadian fare.”

Many took offence to Debruge’s dismissive attitude to local programming, finding it an insult to the integrity of the programmers and the calibre of the films we make in this country. But as recently as three years ago, Debruge’s truism had merit—as any critic who had actually sat through some of those Canadian films at TIFF could tell you. The industry was truly beleaguered by expensive mediocrities and a lot of big, splashy movies that premiered in Toronto, almost as a courtesy, and went on to play nowhere else.

Things have changed. Radical new policies at Telefilm and other funding bodies have completely redefined how money is awarded to filmmakers across the country; instead of bankrolling two- or three-million-dollar epics by washed-up directors who have been phoning it in since middle age, they are now giving a few hundred thousands of dollars to dozens of different projects each, a shake-up that is already transforming the landscape of Canadian film in a fundamental way.

We have entered an era of Canadian cinema, where it’s finally possible for new and exciting voices to emerge with strange, dynamic, interesting, or otherwise compelling independent features. As a result, for the first year that I can remember, the Canadian films at TIFF are not only not to be avoided, but they are some of the best films at the festival, period.

White Lie

A robust drama that shifts slowly into tense, throat-tightening thriller, White Lie, by Toronto-based directing duo Yonah Lewis and Calvin Thomas, plays like The Talented Mr. Ripley for present-day Southern Ontario. This rousing film concerns Katie (Katie Rohl), a college undergraduate in Hamilton who has become the star of a lucrative crowd-funding campaign to raise money to help her fight malignant melanoma, a disease we quickly learn she doesn’t actually have. When we first meet Katie, the sympathetic cancer-faker is in way too deep already with her scam, and is justly terrified of being exposed as a liar and a fraud. Compelled to buy black-market meds from a local drug dealer (Connor Jessup) to help maintain the pretence, she soon resorts to having ersatz medical documents mocked-up and side effect-inducing injections procured, a process Lewis and Thomas relish with morbid interest, which we watched with clenched teeth and through laced fingers. As the desperation mounts, and as the cunning young woman’s efforts to prolong the charade become increasingly outrageous, the movie cleverly challenges our desire to identify with and root for its complex anti-hero. The directors calibrate the tension perfectly, and without moralizing indict an age in which, thanks to the internet and social media, the line between public and private lives has blurred, and we are all trying our best to keep up appearances.