The Leader-Post from Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada • 23

Entertainment C7 The Leader-Post Regina Monday. July 5, 1999 Jazz Festiiwau eiraels Fans, festivals artistic director agree it was great By BRIGETTE JOBIN Saskatchewan Sterling Network SASKATOON With the river backdrop, rustling tree leaves and a herd of bodies lying on the grass, Shake the Shack tuned out as the last band of the millennium to grace a free downtown jazz festival stage Sunday. Many jazz and non-jazz fans who have taken in the different acts of the 13th annual SaskTel Saskatchewan Jazz Festival say theyre sad this years event is coming to an end. Ill miss it, said Rod Klashinsky of Saskatoon. I like coming down here.

It's a good way to spend an afternoon. Its good relaxation. Klashinsky said hes been attending the jazz festival for the last 10 years, and this year he found the free acts at The StarPhoenix stage to be better than be Will Sanford, who set up the food tent along the river, said if the festival will have them next year, theyll be back. Sanford herself would love to take in next years festival. The festival was fabulous, she said.

I can say its been really good. Im not a jazz listener, but I really enjoyed it She said the people really enjoyed it, too. Ive seen a lot of repeat people who come every day rain or shine. The 10-day festival ended Sunday night with the final act, The Cotton Club Revue, playing at Centennial Auditorium. SASKATOON STARPHOENIX to be the most popular attractions.

The festival had a beer gardens behind the Delta Bessborough Hotel. This year the festival also combined the opening ceremonies with a house party, that Courtney said went extremely well. The festival also extended to Prince Albert for a one-night jazz concert. Courtney said fans in Prince Albert are begging organizers to send more performers their way next year. As soon as this years festival has been cleaned up, Courtney says shell be working on next years festival.

The Voyager Club of Saskatoon, sponsored by the Gateway Cafe, also hopes to be back next year. people enjoying the bands. I love tb see that I like to know the kids are out there. It indicates the parents have taken them out to expose them to jazz, said Courtney. That helps ensure future musicians and a future audience." Its Courtneys first year with the festival, and she said despite three days of bad weather, when bands had to be moved indoors, the festival went great The numbers for how many people attended ticketed events and free entertainment wont be known until the end of the month.

This year Courtney tried out some new ideas, and she said they turned out fore. Elaine Klassen, also from Saskatoon, said shes disappointed she won't be able to go to the downtown riverbank today to listen to jazz. Ive come every day, she said. In the afternoons and the evenings. I didn't think I was a big jazz fan until this week.

I came to the festival one day last year but I didnt seem to enjoy it, said Klassen. But this year, not even the rain could keep me away. Those are things Carole Courtney wants to hear. The artistic director of the festival especially likes when she sees younger Customer Appredaftm Day Tuesday, use this (ca(iflA Canadian small film a huge hit in France TORONTO (CP) Cube, a Canadian movie made on a shoestring budget by a student director and widely ignored in its home country, has become an enormous box-office hit in France. An existentialist thriller in which six characters find themselves trapped in a mysterious and deadly box, Cube was shot on a tiny budget of $350,000 and lasted only a few days in Canadian theatres in 1997.

In recent weeks, though, it has become one of the most popular films in France, where it has collected an estimated $10.3 million at the box office to date. Its strange I never even expected it to get a theatrical release outside of Canada, said 29-year-old director Vincenzo Natali from a forest in central California, where he was relaxing on the weekend while considering a variety of projects he has been offered. Cube was produced by the Canadian Film Centre in Toronto1 as part of the Feature Film Project, a first-time filmmakers training program. It won a prize at the 1997 Toronto International Film Festival for best Canadian first feature. In a way, its a home movie, said Natali, who lives in Toronto.

I made it with people Ive been making films with since I was 11 years old. Although it went virtually unseen by North American audiences, it soon developed a cult following on video, attracting slasher-film aficionados, who enjoy its grisly visuals (characters are literally sliced into cubes), and poststructuralist critics and academics, who appreciate the ontological and psychoanalytic puzzles faced by the characters. This seems to be a recipe for success in France, where Cube leapt from art-house cinemas to neighbourhood multiplexes. It is currently playing on more than 220 screens there, and audience interest does not appear to be waning. Theres a buzz about this film thats going to last If you havent seen it, youre not in, said Samuel Hadina, the films French distributor, in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter.

It was an instant cult film. I cant explain what its about, but its great Hadinas company, Metropolitan Filmexport, recognized the films potential and spent $12 million marketing it in France, plastering posters all over cities and flying the cast none of them familiar names to France to meet moviegoers and journalists. The success has been good for Natali, who has spent the past few weeks fielding offers from Hollywood studios. He is working on a number of projects; his favourite is Splice, a screenplay he has written about what he calls the Bonnie and Clyde of geneticists. Like his first film, it is both an action film and a movie of ideas.

Cube is indicative of the type of thing I want to do, he said. Its not mainstream commercial cinema, but its not what people would consider an art film either. Cube is currently available on video in Canada. It will be released theatrically next week in Italy, where Natali hopes to see another cult success. and you will get tins on your grocery purchase of $25.00 or more! Its flu easy This Tuesday get 10 off your grocery bill with your Safeway Club Card when you spend a minimum of $25.00 worth of groceries.

And Best of all there are no coupons to clip. Its that easy. Excluding tobacco, prescriptions, diabetes merchandise, postage stamps, transit passes, event passes gift certificate sales and custom ordered specialty department items. Your 10 Customer Appreciation Discount cannot be combined with any other offer. Baby boy born to supermodel Cindy Crawford LOS ANGELES (AP) Supermodel Cindy Crawford and ner husband Rande Gerber are over the moon following the birth of their first child.

Presley Walker Gerber was born Friday at an undisclosed hospital in the Los Angeles area, publicist Annett Wolf said Saturday. The boy weighed eight pounds, four ounces and was 20 inches long. Crawford and her son are in great shape, and the parents are over the moon, Wolf said. Crawford, 33, and Gerber, 36, were married in May 1991). FOOD BRUJG.