Loretta S. Todd’s Monkey Beach, starring Grace Dove (The Revenant) and Adam Beach (Windtalkers), will have its Canadian streaming premiere on Wednesday, January 6, 2020, as part of Crave’s 2021 lineup.
Monkey Beach Stills by Ricardo Hubbs
Monkey Beach on Crave
Directed by Loretta S. Todd and based on the novel of the same name by Eden Robinson, Monkey Beach follows a young Indigenous woman who returns to her hometown to face the harrowing visions that have haunted her throughout her life and to claim her ancestral medicine.
Monkey Beach is set in the magnificent forests and waterways of the Pacific Northwest and the Haisla village of Kitamaat and features an all-star cast of Indigenous talent including Grace Dove (The Revenant), Adam Beach (Windtalkers), Nathanial Arcand (FBI: Most Wanted), Joel Oulette (Trickster), Glen Gould (Cold Pursuit), Sera-Lys McArthur (Outlander), Stefany Mathias (Pathfinder), Tina Lameman (Mixed Blessings), Miika Bryce Whiskeyjack (Red Snow), Ta’Kaiya Blaney (Kayak to Klemtu) and Nick Dangeli.
In bringing Eden Robinson’s beloved novel to the screen, Director Loretta S. Todd offers us a modern epic underpinned by themes that have long defined heroic journeys. Todd’s first feature narrative unfolds through a thrilling array of temporal shifts and stylistic flourishes. A film about reconnection with the land, its denizens and the secrets it holds, Monkey Beach is also a testament to Indigenous women’s ability to not just endure trials but emerge from them empowered.
The film was the opening night film at the 2020 Vancouver International Film Festival (“VIFF“), screened at the Toronto International Film Festival (“TIFF”) Industry Selects and was an official selection of the 2020 imagineNATIVE Film + Media Arts Festival. Monkey Beach has garnered awards at international festivals including Red Nation in Los Angeles and the American Indian Film Festival in San Francisco.
The critically acclaimed homegrown feature film was also picked up by Cineplex and Landmark theatres across the country and was the #1 Canadian film at the box office for 4 weeks.
Monkey Beach was made possible with the support of Telefilm Canada, Bell Media’s Crave, CBC Films, APTN, CAVCO, Canada Media Fund, Creative BC and was Produced in Association with and Special Thanks to the HAISLA NATION and the NECHAKO-KITAMAAT DEVELOPMENT SOCIETY.
One week until Christmas and holiday planning for (distanced, virtual) activities is in full swing. Whether you’re looking for online theatre and music, or drive through options, I’ve got you covered with this week’s list of things to do in Vancouver this weekend:
Tickets are now on sale for the Chan Centre’s Spring Dot Com Series, which includes exclusive digital productions filmed both around the world and right at home on the Chan Centre stage.
The Chan Centre’s Spring Dot Com Series
When: January 29, 2021 to May 31, 2021
Where: Chan Centre for the Performing Arts (UBC, 6265 Crescent Rd)
These virtual performances will be delivered 100% online, and traverse musical realms. All eight performances will be available for on demand viewing from designated premiere dates throughout the spring until May 31, 2021. A variety of complementary ancillary events will also become available to watch through the Chan Centre Connects series.
AMIR AMIRI ENSEMBLE Watch online from Friday, January 29, 2021 at 7:00pm
Tehran-born, Montreal-based Amir Amiri’s relationship to the santur is spiritual, almost symbiotic, as he calls upon centuries of tradition with an instrumental voice fluent in the musical dialects of the here and now. He’s joined by Sardar Mohamad Jani (oud), Reza Abaee (ghaychak), Hamin Honari (percussion), and Omar Abu Afech (viola)for a program of his own compositions intertwined with Persian folk and classical pieces.
MAGOS HERRERA AND BROOKLYN RIDER Watch online from Friday, February 12, 2021 at 7:00pm
One of contemporary Latin music’s most expressive voices, Magos Herrera, joins forces with the dizzyingly eclectic string quartet Brooklyn Rider—violinists Johnny Gandelsman and Colin Jacobsen, violist Nicholas Cords, cellist Michael Nicolas, and percussionist Mathias Kunzli—for Dreamers, a project that celebrates music as a political act by imaginatively reinterpreting gems from the Ibero-American songbook alongside new pieces adapted from beloved texts.
LAN TUNG: HAVE BOW WILL TRAVEL Watch online from Friday, February 26, 2021 at 7:00pm
Prolific composer, erhu player, and vocalist Lan Tung “sits at the crossroads between East and West, innovation and tradition” (La Scena Musicale). For this program, she will perform two world premieres for erhu and string quintet by Canadian composer Tim Brady—Concerto Étude and Peripheral Visions—as well as a far-ranging improvisation with Portuguese-born cellist Marina Hasselberg.
SHANE KOYCZAN Watch online from Friday, March 12, 2021 at 7:00pm
Uplifting, crushing, transcendent, and human. Arguably Canada’s best-known spoken word artist, Shane Koyczan’s performances combine electric narratives and spellbinding stage presence. Wherever he puts his seemingly boundless energy, Koyzcan “is at the heart of a Category 5 creative hurricane” (The Vancouver Sun)—a beloved poet whose powerful connection with his audience remains at the core of who he is.
PARĀŚAKTI: THE FLAME WITHIN Watch online from Friday March 19, 2021 at 7:00pm
Parāśakti—the Mother Goddess, the Absolute Divinity—plays a timeless role across geographic and socio-cultural barriers in Hindu traditions. This new production explores the Goddess’ narratives through sublime classical Indian music and dance, featuring Vancouver-based dance artist Arno Kamolika, Hindustani vocalist Akhil Jobanputra, along with some of Canada’s finest instrumentalists including percussionist/mridangist Curtis Andrews, sitar player Sharanjeet Singh Mand, and violinist Kaushik Sivaramakrishnan.
SANSEI: THE STORYTELLER Watch online from Friday, March 26, 2021 at 7:00pm
In an acclaimed interdisciplinary work that is both illuminating and profoundly personal, Sansei: The Storyteller explores the internment and dispossession of tens of thousands of Japanese-Canadians following the attack on Pearl Harbor. With compassion and unexpected humour, creator/performer Kunji Mark Ikeda “dances, and says more with the movement of his fingers than many actors do with reams of dialogue” (Calgary Herald).
MARINA THIBEAULT: ELLES Solo Watch online from Friday April 9, 2021 at 7:00pm
Celebrated violist Marina Thibeault’s “plangent tone and expressive phrasing” (The Strad) foreground a great richness in her playing across genres. Her 2020 JUNO Award-nominated album ELLES honours groundbreaking female and non-binary composers from Clara Schumann to the present day. For this performance, Thibeault presents a wide-ranging program of works for solo viola by composers Ana Sokolović, Dorothy Chang, and Melody McKiver.
SILKROAD ENSEMBLE: HOME WITHIN Watch online from Friday, April 23, 2021 at 7:00pm
An audio-visual performance conceived by Syrian composer and clarinetist Kinan Azmeh and Syrian Armenian visual artist Kevork Mourad, Home Within is an emotional account of home in times of conflict. Using the counterpoint between image and sound, this presentation by Silkroad Ensemble is a stirring, impressionistic reflection on hope and unity in the face of tragedy.
Follow the Chan Centre on Facebook for more information and updates.
Some of my favourite gift guide additions every year are the symbolic gifts of nature that Stanley Park Ecology Society comes up with (like adopting a heron nest) to boost support over the holidays. This year they have a whole roster of funds you can support:
Photo: Greg Hart / SPES.
Give The Gift of Nature with Stanley Park Ecology Society
Wildlife Monitoring Fund: Help SPES better understand the wildlife species of Stanley Park to safeguard their habitat.
Habitat Restoration Fund: Support SPES volunteers in their work to restore habitat to enhance biodiversity in the Park’s forests and wetlands.
School Programs Fund: Help SPES bring their environmental education school programs out of Stanley Park and onto school grounds during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Nature Education Fund: SPES is bringing the wonders of Stanley Park to you with new public online programming. Help SPES expand their program topics and work with more ecology experts.
With your “gift of nature” you will receive a special certificate via email that honours your contribution to the park we all love. Donate in honour of someone special and they’ll personalize the certificate for whomever you wish.
Stanley Park is an oasis for wildlife and Vancouverites alike, and SPES has continued to maintain and enhance the Park’s varied habitats throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, while adapting its education programs online.
At Ronald McDonald House British Columbia and Yukon (“RMH BC”), they ensure that families who are far from home can celebrate together and enjoy the festivities of the season, even while they are going through the most difficult of times as their child receives life-saving medical treatment.
While their activities in the House will look a little different this year, one thing that won’t change is the welcoming home away from home that RMH BC provides for families.
183 families found a home away from home at RMH BC in December 2019.
How to Support Ronald McDonald House for the Holidays
Here’s how you can help make the holidays bright at RMH BC this year:
Fundraise and Light the House from your home, workplace, office or school with RMH BC donor recognition bulbs.
Sponsor a tree in the House and gift a family with the special moment of decorating it together.
Donate to the Virtual Wish List or donate $125 to Gift a Night and help keep a family close over the Holidays.
Assemble your team of colleagues to take part in our various Corporate Engagement opportunities:
Sponsor a Family’s Wish List 400-$500 You will be provided with a wish list for a family to shop for along with a grocery gift card to purchase festive goodies.
Light the House $125-$2,000 This year, when you Gift a Night, you will help fill the House with festive decor such as paper light bulbs, ornaments or a star on our outdoor light display featuring your organization. With a generous $2,000 donation, you sponsor a tree that a family can decorate and can take part in the festivities by sending customized signage or ornaments for your adopted tree.
Grocery Kits $750 Rally your colleagues to shop for ingredients to be assembled into family- sized meal kits for RMH BC families to prepare at the House. Recipe cards encouraged!
Adopt-a-Family $2,500 Your support helps offset the cost of a family’s stay at the House. It costs Ronald McDonald House BC and Yukon $125 for one family to stay for one night, while families are asked to contribute only $12 a night. Your meaningful donation bridges this funding gap and gives our families a caring place to call home while their seriously ill child receives treatment.
Families stay with RMH anywhere from a few days to over a year. The longest consecutive stay by a guest family was 497 nights.
All funds raised will give RMH BC families the simple comforts of home: a comfortable bed, a kitchen to enjoy a home-cooked meal and a place to put up their feet at the end of a long day. Your generosity will also provide a community of support for families who are away from home during the holidays, and help provide joy, tradition and normalcy at a time when their lives are anything but normal.
