This is an article about a new Anne movie--not the typical movie....it looks good. I did paste it below but if you need the citation it is found at and was accessed on Sept 8, 2008: http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/news/arts/story.html?id=444223f9-991d-4c29-935d-f8ca6d4b38c4
"Japan's love of Anne leads to new movie Contemporary tale draws on P.E.I.'s favourite fictional daughter, but goes beyond the books
Marianne White, Canwest News ServicePublished: Wednesday, August 20, 2008
The outspoken and strong-willed Anne Shirley has marked generations of Japanese, known for their devotion to Lucy Maud Montgomery's heroine. A Canadian-Japanese co-production currently filmed in the land of Anne of Green Gables is paying tribute to Canada's best-known literary export.
Finding Anne draws inspiration from Prince Edward Island's fictional daughter, but is far from a remake of the book, says Quebec filmmaker Claude Gagnon, who is producing the movie.
"Don't expect to find Gilbert Blythe [Anne's friend who later becomes her husband] or other characters from the book," said Gagnon in an interview from New Dominion, P.E.I., where the $2.3-million production is being shot.
"We didn't want to do a copy of Anne, but rather something inspired by her philosophy, her way of always seeing things in a positive light. You can decide to be happy or not no matter what happens to you and this idea really became at the centre of the script," added Gagnon, best known for his award-winning movies Kenny (1988) and Kamataki (2005).
The film is co-written by Gagnon's wife, Yuri Yoshimura, and Takako Miyahira, who has worked as an editor and assistant to Gagnon for several years. Miyahira directs the movie.
Yoshimura -- who was responsible for bringing the Anne of Green Gables Musical to Japan 11 years ago -- has been longing to do a movie about Montgomery's heroine.
"Yuri fell in love with Prince Edward Island and wanted to shoot on location to grasp the spirit of islanders," Gagnon noted. The film crew is a mix of Quebecers, Japanese and local technicians.
The contemporary tale follows the journey of Anne Lee, a young Japanese girl who visits P.E.I. to find her grandmother's first love, a Canadian soldier.
"In 1946, the soldier gave her grandmother a copy of Anne of Green Gables and the book changed her life, it gave her the strength to go on," Gagnon explained.
As Lee's quest continues, she discovers why Anne of Green Gables changed her grandmother's life and the lives of many other Japanese women.
Gagnon, who has lived in Japan for a decade, said the country's fascination with Anne dates to 1952 when the Japanese translation was published.
"The Second World War was still fresh and the Japanese women were living in misery. Then when the book was published, suddenly women began to feel hopeful again and were inspired by Anne's dynamism and her model of femininity," he said.
He hopes that with this movie a younger generation will be drawn to the book.
"We want people to rediscover the importance of Montgomery in Canadian literature," Gagnon said.
"It has often been trivialized and it's about time the book takes its real place in our literature," he added.
Anne of Green Gables has sold more than 50 million copies in 17 languages since its first publication 100 years ago.
The filming of Finding Anne wraps up at the end of August and its theatrical release is set for next year.
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