The 2nd annual Vancouver South African Film Festival is being held this weekend at Denman Cinemas in the West End. From April 20th until 22nd, films will be screened in order to raise funds for the Vancouver-based non-profit Education without Borders and also to broaden the public’s understanding and appreciation of South Africa’s rich and complex culture.
South Africa’s emerging film scene will be in the spotlight with the opening gala screening of Under African Skies, a documentary about Paul Simon’s return to South Africa. Other films include dramatic thrillers, comedies, documentaries, and more. The closing gala screening will be Spud starring John Cleese. A full schedule is available online.
Tickets are currently on sale for the gala ($35) and regular films (around $12). If the film is not sold out, tickets will be sold at the door as well.
Follow the Vancouver South African Film Festival on Twitter and Facebook, and learn more about Education Without Borders. The Denman Cinemas are located at 1737 Comox Street.
The Royal Winnipeg Ballet presents Svengali at the Centre for Performing Arts in Vancouver this weekend. Choreographed by Mark Godden, the full-length production offer a balletic re-imagining of the George Du Maurier novel, Trilby.
The dramatic story follows Svengali, a young man with hypnotic powers. Yearning for public recognition, Svengali escapes the repression of his mother’s ballet studio to the decadent society of mid-century Weimar, Germany, where he finds the dazzling and malleable young dancer, Trilby. Under Svengali’s entrancing influence, Trilby is transformed into the darling of the ballet world, but her star ultimately rises beyond Svengali’s powerful grasp.
Svengali will only be in Vancouver this weekend, with performances Friday, April 20, 2012 at 8:00pm, Saturday, April 21 at 8:00pm, and a 2:00pm show on Sunday, April 22. Tickets are still available starting at $32.50. I also have a pair to give away for Sunday’s afternoon performance. Here’s how you can enter to win:
- Leave a comment on this post (1 entry)
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This will be a quick contest, ending tonight (April 19, 2012) at 10:00pm. The winner will be able to pick their tickets up at The Centre on Sunday before the show.
Update The winner is Susan!
Update Guest contributor, Britt, attended opening night on behalf of Miss604.com and had the following commentary about the performance:
“I personally was very impressed by the modern choreography, the costumes and the music. The ballet is very dynamic and fast pace and tells the story very well. It was certainly not one of these pieces, where you check your watch after half an hour.
If you look for traditional classical ballet performance this might be not for you. But if you are up for something different and new, you should see this one. I even think people, who usually do not like ballet, will enjoy it.”
Jane’s Walk first took place in Toronto on May 5, 2007 and was lead by friends of Jane Jacobs. 27 free community walks were offered by volunteers that day and hundreds of people set out on foot to learn more about Toronto’s neighbourhoods.
Photo: Clayton Perry Photoworks
I first heard about Jane’s Walk in 2009, when it first expanded to Vancouver and last year, 511 walks in 75 cities in 15 countries around the world were hosted. In Canada, 36 cities participated and hosted 401 walks, with 178 in Toronto alone.
How it Works
All Jane’s Walk tours are given and taken for free. These walks are led by anyone who has an interest in the neighbourhoods where they live, work or hang out. Jane’s Walks are meant to be fun, engaged and participatory – everyone’s got a story and they’re usually keen to share it.
Volunteer walk leaders pick a neighbourhood and perhaps a theme like gardens, social history, planning, or architecture. The walk gets listed on the Jane’s Walk website with a map and details such as the meeting time and place, accessibility, and a short description.
There are already quite a few listings for Vancouver this year including The “West” West End, Stanley Park’s Forgotten History: Where Human and Natural History Met, Fraser Street: Past, Present and Future, Walk the Bee-Line in Kitsilano, and Home: An Exploration of What Makes Marpole Unique.
Jane’s Walk will take place the weekend of May 5th and 6th, 2012. All walk start times are posted on the individual listings. Follow Jane’s Walk Vancouver on Facebook and Twitter for more information and to learn more about walks in your neighbourhood.
99 years ago, on April 16, 1913, Athletic Park was dedicated on Hemlock and West 5th.
Chuck Davis writes: “The park was built by Bob Brown, who would come to be known as Mr. Baseball here. Brown had purchased the Vancouver Beavers club of the Northwestern League for $500 in 1910. He was the club’s owner, president, manager and shortstop… …The Beavers went on to win the league pennant. Alas, the club disbanded at the end of the 1922 season, and the city went without pro ball for 15 years.”
Athletic Park hosted football games, lacrosse, bike races, and rallies on top of the regular baseball season. It’s also where Nat Bailey, at the age of 18, began selling peanuts to fans. Continue reading this post ⟩⟩
I don’t think I’ve laughed so hard while watching Shakespeare as I did watching Twenty-Something Theatre’s The Bomb-itty of Errors, a hip-hop-rap adaptation of Shakespeare’s farcical tale of mistaken identity, The Comedy of Errors.
The original story tells the tale of two sets of identical twins that were accidentally separated at birth. Antipholus of Syracuse and his servant Dromio arrive in Ephesus, home of their twin brothers — another master-servant combo — conveniently also named Atipholus and Dromio. In Bomb-itty, there are two sets of twins born from the same parents, some of the outlandish changes made to the original story that make this performance that much more hysterical.
The raps and rhymes were outstandingly clever and there were even some Vancouver references (Henrik Sedin, the PNE) and the acting was good and probably the best live comedic acting I’ve ever seen.
Jameson Parker gives a strong, solid performance as Antipholus of Ephesus and his wife, Adriana. Niko Koupantsis was adorable as one of the Dromios and Luciana. And though I did find him quiet at times, it might have been the fact that it was hard hearing him over all the audience’s laughter. Major props go to Brian Cochrane his sometimes politically incorrect and hysterical characterization of the Jewish jeweler MC Hendelberg…I saw this the day before a Passover seder and told everyone about it.
I loved Vanessa Imeson’s costumes—the neon colours, the over-the-top shapes—they were sometimes were reminiscent of the Fresh Prince of Bel-Air (in a good way).
There isn’t an intermission during the show, which is good, because there doesn’t need to be — you won’t want a break from the all the laughter and fun this show has to offer.
The show runs until April 22, 2012 at Studio 16 (1545 West Seventh Avenue) and tickets are still available for $15-$25. Find Twenty Something Theatre on Twitter and Facebook for more information.
