Calfornia Typewriter: Playing this Sunday at City Cinema!

Coming up this Sunday, December 9 at 1:30 p.m. at City Cinema is a screening of California Typewriter that I’ve arranged.

I have a soft spot in my heart for typewriters.

I wrote all of my high school essays and reports using my mother’s Smith Corona electric typewriter, becoming schooled in the ways of liquid paper application and various other dark arts that have been long forgotten by most.

In 1989, somewhere in the Trent University crowd you can watch here, I was pecking away on an antique manual typewriter, selling “one minute novels” for $5.

And, of course, typewriters are spiritual cousins of the letterpress, using ink, paper and pressure to make words come to life.

So when I caught word of the film, I was immediately intrigued. And when my proposal to bring it to Charlottetown was greeted warmly by a small cabal of local typewriter aficionados, the die was cast.

If you look at the listing on the City Cinema website, you’ll notice that the film is presented The Charlottetown Festival of Paper, Ink & Pressure; this is a festival, at least right now, that exists entirely in my own mind. A festival of fancy, if you will. Somebody had to be the presenter.

Please spread the word to your typewriting friends and family. Tickets are $10 at the door; doors open at 1:00 p.m.

Here’s the film’s trailer to whet your appetite: