The Skoden Indigenous Film Festival is back for its fourth-year March 31 to April 2, 2022 within the shared territory of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Skwxwú7mesh (Squamish), Səl̓ílwətaʔ/Selilwitulh (Tsleil-Waututh) peoples. Skoden is a three-day student-led film festival which features exclusively Indigenous filmmakers and creatives from across Canada.
Skoden Indigenous Film Festival
- When: Thursday, March 31 to Saturday, April 2, 2022
- Where: Djavad Mowafaghian Cinema – SFU Goldcorp Centre for the Arts (149 W. Hastings St. Vancouver)
- The “Skoden Sampler” March 31st is at SFU Surrey from 6:30pm to 8:30pm.
- Tickets: Purchase tickets online in advance for the program you’d like to attend April 1st & April 2nd.
Used by Indigenous communities from coast to coast to coast, Skoden is a unifying word that transcends a single language. Skoden is slang for “let’s go then”. It’s an attitude and a battle cry and we’ve decided to take it to heart.
Held within the heart of xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Skwxwú7mesh (Squamish), Səl̓ílwətaʔ/Selilwitulh (Tsleil-Waututh), and kʷikʷəƛ̓əm (Kwikwetlem), Kwantlen, q̓íc̓əy̓ (Katzie), Qayqayt, Semiahmoo and Tsawwassen Nations territories, Skoden Indigenous Film Festival celebrates the works of Canadian based Indigenous filmmakers and talent, and features indigenous cultural traditions, including a welcome ceremony and witness.
Founded on the principles of truth and reconciliation, Carr Sappier (Wolastoqew) and Grace Mathisen created the festival in 2019. It’s organized and led by a class of students from all over SFU’s School of Contemporary Arts, and co-taught by Carr Sappier and Kathleen Mullen. This year intern Akira Iahtail will also be assisting with the festival.
Festival-goers are able to attend film programs and Q&As, celebrating Indigenous voices and cultivating more active discussions about reconciliation. The Festival welcomes new traditions and invites anyone who is interested in making the community more inclusive to come, learn, and share with them in the spirit of Skoden.
Follow the Festival on Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok for more info.
Springtime is here and so are all the blossoms! The Vancouver Cherry Blossom Festival kicks off this weekend with self-guided tours, community gatherings and more. There’s a great theatre lineup this month as well, along with outdoor activities and art exhibitions. Find all of these and more events in Vancouver this weekend listed below:
Events in Vancouver This Weekend April 1-3, 2022
Friday, April 1, 2022
Skoden Indigenous Film Festival
The 33rd Annual Festival du Bois in Coquitlam
Michelle Leone Huisman Global Pandemic Art Exhibition
Vancouver Art Gallery: Shakespeare’s First Folio
Early Music Vancouver: Castille to Samarkand
Maisky Plays Dvořák
Six of One: New Play Festival
UBC Department of Theatre & Film: Coriolanus
Nourish at Richmond Art Gallery
Kidd Pivot
Zee Zee Theatre Presents: Men Express Their Feelings
Vancouver Cherry Blossom Festival
LP360: The Magic Hour 360
Don’t You Want Me Project Comes to New Westminster
Hidden Wonders Magic Show
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SPUD.ca and Vancouver Coastal Health‘s Healthiest Babies Possible are fundraising for vulnerable mothers and their infants in Vancouver and Richmond. On spud.ca, locals can toward donate diapers, food, wipes and other necessities these local moms and their babies need to get the very best start to their new life together.
Healthiest Babies Possible Fundraiser
Coming together with vendors such as Caboo who are donating baby wipes (and matching customer donations up to $500), SPUD has also connected Healthiest Babies Possible with bigger names such as Jennifer Garner’s, Once Upon a Farm and Kristin Bell & Dax Shepard’s Hello Bello, with each brand giving 250 products each to the fundraiser.
“At Once Upon a Farm, we believe that when kids have access to nutritious food they’re better prepared for a lifetime of health and happiness. We support the Healthiest Babies Project with our product donation – and believe in their efforts in helping vulnerable moms and babies in BC.”
– Once Upon a Farm
Healthiest Babies Possible (“HBP”) provides nutrition counselling, health education, food access and social support to pregnant women facing challenging life circumstances in Vancouver and Richmond. The HBP staff includes dietitians, public health nurses and support workers fluent in a variety of different languages.
To date, the fundraiser has raised over $3,500 with just one day left! Customers can simply add items to their SPUD cart to contribute to the cause.
Free Workshop to Support Families on a Budget
In times of rising food costs and supply chain issues, SPUD and Healthiest Babies Possible of VCH are also supporting families through a free cooking class and workshop for tasty kids meals for families on a budget online today (March 31st).
Related: Prevent Food Waste at Home & a SPUD.ca Giveaway, Fuel Up School Lunch Program Fights Food Insecurity
SUM gallery and the Flavourcel Animation Collective invite you to crawl down into the dark depths of the Sun Wah Centre basement for Centipede: a three-day pop-up exhibition of queerly macabre experimental animation.
SUM gallery and Flavourcel Present Centipede in Chinatown
- When: Thursday, April 7 to Saturday, 9, 2022 from 12:00pm to 6:00pm daily
- Where: Sun Wah Centre (268 Keefer St, Vancouver)
- Admission: Drop-in. Advanced registration only required for closing reception, Saturday, April 9 from 3:00pm to 5:00pm
Flavourcel’s Centipede exhibition will enchant and spook audiences as it blends multimedia installation, 3D projection and sound experimentation to present a sensory crawl through a haunting landscape of ghouls, guts, creepies and crawlies.
This exhibit is curated by Queer Arts Festival’s Assistant Curator Benjamin Siegl.
About the exhibition: Animation as an industry is not without its binaries: join the prosperous but strenuous industry grind, or resign yourself to outsider status making animations “alone in your basement.” The Flavourcel Collective subverts this binary by choosing the latter, with one significant exception—they’re not alone in the basement. Combining the talents of 10 artists, Flavourcel embraces an alternative approach to animation through collectivist collaboration and resource sharing.
In Centipede, movement is recognized as a principal component of fear. From the sudden movement of jump scares in thrillers and haunted houses inspiring our fight-or-flight instincts, to the agonizing dread of movement’s absence all together. The Centipede, a multi-sectioned organism, moves in unison towards an undiscovered future, encapsulating both the animated image and the bold, collective journey Queer folks undertake when creating space in this world—foot over foot, frame by frame.
For decades, queer movement was restricted to the darkness—in the corners of dark bars and margins of our minds. As queerness moves further and further into the light, there is a ripple both backwards and forwards; towards the future, but not without the intrinsic hauntings of all that’s been shouldered.
Related: Flavourcel’s I Spy a City in Surrey
