The DOXA Documentary Film Festival, Western Canada’s largest documentary film festival, returns to present a hybrid 21st edition, screening in theatres and streaming online May 5- May 15, 2022.
In a return to form, DOXA will screen its roster of crucial and thought-provoking documentaries in theatrical venues across the city, bringing filmmakers and audiences together for a long-awaited communal cinema experience. And for folks who prefer to view from the comfort of their own homes, most festival films will be available to stream online for select durations between festival dates.
2022 DOXA Documentary Film Festival
When: May 5-15, 2022
Where: Online and in theatres around Vancouver:
SFU Goldcorp Centre, VIFF Centre, The Cinematheque, The Playhouse
General Admission in-person ticket: $15; Student/Seniors/Low-income in-person ticket: $13; In-theatre 5 Ticket Pack: $65; $7-10 sliding scale per individual online ticket; Online Festival Passes: $75
The 21st annual Festival will showcase a total of 55 features and mid-lengths, 24 short films, both pre-recorded and live Q+As, as well as Industry events and multiple opportunities for filmmakers, audiences and industry professionals to connect, both virtually and in person.
Films will be available to stream Canada-wide, through DOXA’s Eventive online platform. In-person screenings will take place at The Vancouver Playhouse (Opening film), The Cinematheque, VIFF Centre and SFU Goldcorp Centre for the Arts. In-person Industry events will be held at SFU’s World Arts Centre.
Enter to Win
I have a pair of tickets to give away to the Opening Night film: Fire of Love, on Saturday, May 7th at 7:00pm at the Vancouver Playhouse (600 Hamilton St). Here’s how you can enter to win:
DOXA will feature two guest-curated programs: The returning FRENCH FRENCH, curated by Thierry Garrel, spotlights the work of two acclaimed French directors (Mariana Otero and François Caillat) in a double retrospective, alongside bold new voices in French-language cinema. A selection of films under the umbrella of GRAND-MÈRE. GRANDMOTHER. BABUSHKA., chosen by guest curator Laurence Reymond, takes the universality of the Grandmother Figure and examines her many cinematic representations.
Beyond the festival’s cornerstone Justice Forum and Rated Y for Youth programs, DOXA 2022 will include two Spotlight programming streams: MEMORY AND ARCHIVES and LANDSCAPES OF RESISTANCE.
The affective and political potential of archival material is the focal point of the Memory and Archives Spotlight program. Landscapes of Resistance presents a collection of films rooted in stewardship and grounded in political freedom. The films in this Spotlight are searing reminders of the ongoing effects of colonialism, systemic oppression and environmental destruction in BC, across Turtle Island and around the world.
Several Canadian filmmakers launch their world premiere at DOXA 2022. In addition to Sara Wylie’s A More Radiant Sphere and Ali Kazimi’s Beyond Extinction, Canadian films premiering for the very first time at DOXA include Teresa Alfeld’s Doug and the Slugs and Me, DOXA’s Closing film; Colin Askey’s Love in the Time of Fentanyl (Justice Forum Special Presentation); Simon Plouffe’s immersive short about a flooded forest on unceded Innu territory, titled Forests; My Friend Jim, Aaron Zeghers’s short about his friend’s kinship with pop star Britney Spears; And Ingrid by Hannah Dubois, a short profile of the conceptual artist Ingrid Baxter; Alixandra Buck’s Beckwoman’s Hippie Emporium, about the legendary Commercial Drive shop owner; and Cypher, directed by Miriam Ingrid Barry and Eva Anandi Brownstein, which follows three Black artists creating safe spaces for youth of African descent in Vancouver.
DOXA’s Special Presentations include Sara Dosa’s Fire of Love (which also finds a place in the Memory and Archives Spotlight), telling the awe-inspiring story of two volcanologists in love; Love in the Time of Fentanyl by Colin Askey, an intimate portrait of a community fighting to save lives through harm reduction; Dear Jackie directed by Henri Pardo, an endearing portrait of Black life in Montreal and a testament to the history and legacy of community-building in the face of segregation and racist urban renewal policies; and Doug and the Slugs and Me by local DOXA alum Teresa Alfeld, which utilizes candid testimonies of the Slugs themselves to temper nostalgia for the band’s glory days with a nuanced look at the complexities of the legendary Doug’s life—from his formative early years to the bittersweet end.
Vancouver Heritage Foundation’s Places that Matter will host a Militant Mothers of Raymur Celebration in time for Mother’s Day on May 7th, featuring the 91st plaque presentation to commemorate the history of the location.
Militant Mothers of Raymur – Places that Matter
When: Saturday, May 7, 2022 from 11:00am to 2:00pm
Where: 600 Raymur, Vancouver
Festivities: Plaque presentation, live music, storytelling. More info here »
When the Raymur housing project opened in 1971 parents were dismayed that their children had no option but to cross the railway tracks to get to school. After months of meetings and no action, mothers took actions into their own hands.
On January 26 1971, newspapers reported that: “twenty five women, the ‘Militant Mothers of Raymur,’ blockade the train tracks between Raymur and Glen demanding a safe crossing for Seymour students who have to cross the busy and dangerous tracks every day to get to school.”
Tents were pitched across the tracks, placards were hoisted with slogans such as “Petitions Don’t Work” and “Children Before Profits” and the news media showed up. In short order the city agreed that an overpass would be built across the tracks at the foot of Keefer Street. Not trusting the City, the “Mothers” kept a vigil on the tracks until construction actually began in March of 1971.
In 2019, the City of Vancouver officially changed the name of the bridge from the Keefer Street Pedestrian Overpass to the Militant Mothers of Raymur Overpass in honour of these women.
The Places That Matter Community History Resource website is an information-rich website that expands on the original Places That Matter plaque program – a project created in 2011 to celebrate Vancouver’s 125th anniversary as an incorporated city. PTM has helped recognize 125 community-nominated sites, covering some of the people, places and events that tell the story of Vancouver’s history. Each of the 125 sites is profiled with their own webpage exhibiting the plaque text, historic research, oral histories, contemporary and historic photos, as well as opportunities for community contribution.
Miss604’s Rebecca Bollwitt was on the Places That Matter to Vancouver selection committee in 2011.
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by Rebecca BollwittDisclosure: Sponsored Post — Sponsored by Urban Roots Please review the Policy & Disclosure section for further information.
In early March of 2020 I was given a plant, and not having the best track record with keeping leafy things alive in my home, I promised myself that this one would make it. I’m happy to report that two years later it’s thriving, and I think I also managed to grow a green thumb in the process. Not really knowing where to go from here, expanding from my office window sill to perhaps my balcony, I was happy to be connected with the pros at Urban Roots Garden Market. They have eleven pop-up locations all around Metro Vancouver this season, open from April to July.
PNE Location of Urban Roots
Urban Roots Garden Market – Community Garden Centres
I arrived at the PNE location, just across from the entrance to Playland on Hastings. Little league teams were playing baseball, there was a random pipe band rehearsing in the field, and families were flocking into the pop-up garden shop on a sunny spring morning. That’s where I met Ron Murphy, Operations Manager at Urban Roots.
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by Rebecca BollwittDisclosure: Sponsored Post — Sponsored by the City of Burnaby Please review the Policy & Disclosure section for further information.
Enjoy activities, art, flowers, talks, tours, and more all month long when Burnaby Blooms returns for the first time since 2019. It all kicks off Saturday, May 7th with a festival at the Shadbolt Centre for the Arts at Deer Lake Park.
Burnaby Blooms – Photo Submitted
Burnaby Blooms Festival
When: Saturday, May 7, 2022 10:00am to 4:00pm
Where: Shadbolt Centre for the Arts (6450 Deer Lake Ave)
Festival highlights include an eco-art installation curated by local Burnaby artist Nickie Lewis, educational and cultural walking tours, gardening workshops and plant sales, a speaker series, roving performers, live music and a fabulous kid’s stage featuring free family-friendly entertainment all day.
Enjoy workshops about everything from felted wool to poetry, natural dyes to en plein air painting. Take a tour around the Burnaby heron colony, hear an Indigenous woman’s perspective of spring on the waters of the BC coast with Rosemary Georgeson or learn food preservation from Lucette Wesley of the South Burnaby Garden Club. There will be over 15 performers on stage throughout the day as well!
Be inspired by stunning art displays made of flowers, plants and natural materials while enjoying the beauty of Deer Lake Park.
Weekend Events
This activity series promotes the long-term sustainability and the ecological health of the community in a fun and creative environment. Enjoy Burnaby Blooms across the city with micro-events each weekend:
Confederation Park
Saturday, May 14: Workshops include beeswax candle making, fish leather tanning, a forest walk and more
Central Park
Saturday, May 21: Make your own terrarium jars, grow your own food, paint en plein air, be sure to pre-register for workshops that pique your interest
Burnaby Mountain Conservation Area
Saturday, May 28: Make pine cone owls, do an eco-sculpture activity or learn the art of Shibori, take a photography tour and learn Indigenous history with John Priessl
Vancouver Opera is hosting a free live simulcast of HMS Pinaforeprojected onto a large screen in šxʷƛ̓exən Xwtl’a7shn (formerly the QET Plaza) on May 7th while the live event is performed inside the Queen Elizabeth Theatre. All are welcome to attend the event which will also feature dance performances and children’s activities.
Free Vancouver Opera Event and Screening of HMS Pinafore
When: Saturday, May 7, 2022 at 6:00pm
Where: šxʷƛ̓exən Xwtl’a7shn (formerly the QET Plaza – 695 Cambie St, Vancouver)
Admission: Free! This event is weather dependent and will not proceed if it is raining
“Presenting this inaugural simulcast of HMS Pinafore at is a great way for us to celebrate opera with a new audience,” said Tom Wright, Vancouver Opera General Director. “Alongside the evening performance of HMS Pinafore, we are hosting entertainers and events accessible to everyone before the performance and during the intermission. Our goal is to make this a fun celebration of the arts and provide new audience members a glimpse into the magic created by Vancouver Opera on the Queen Elizabeth Theatre stage.”
Families will enjoy the stilt walkers and get fun images using nautical themed props in the photo station and purchase food from Mama’s Fish and Chips.
FakeKnot will present a 10-15 minute nautical themed drag set at the intermission of the production. Events will start at 6:00 p.m. and be held at šxʷƛ̓exən Xwtl’a7shn (formerly the QET Plaza). Vancouver Opera encourages attendees to bring blankets or lawn chairs to watch the simulcast.
Gilbert and Sullivan’s comedic tale, HMS Pinafore, is a delightful combination of forbidden love across class divides and the shenanigans that take place along the way. Poking fun at social hierarchies and packed with absurd characters, this wildly popular operetta delivers plenty of laughs and memorable music.
Building on thewitty word play and comedy of this production, writer and comedian JD Derbyshire collaborated with director Brenna Corner to adapt the libretto for a modern audience. Rosemary Thompson makes her Vancouver Opera conducting debut with an all-star cast including soprano Caitlin Wood, tenor Ernesto Ramirez, baritones Jorell Williams, Peter McGillivray and Marcus Nance along with mezzo-soprano Megan Latham. HMS Pinafore is sung in English with English SURTITLES™ projected above the stage.
Tickets to the performance are on sale through the Vancouver Opera box office either by phone at 604-683-0222 or online.
