Celebrate homegrown talent and help create a buzz for BC films at the Vancouver International Film Festival (“VIFF”) September 26 to October 11, 2019. In advance of the festival, the #MustSeeBC campaign invites audiences to preview trailers and promote BC filmmakers across social networks.
#MustSeeBC at VIFF 2019
The Body Remembers When the World Broke Open
Part of the Sea to Sky programming stream presented by TELUS, the BC Spotlight film series sees Vancouver play an integral role in Elle-Máijá Tailfeathers and Kathleen Hepburn’s The Body Remembers When the World Broke Open, and the World Premiere of Anthony Shim’s Daughter (BC Spotlight Gala).
Meanwhile, the Okanagan takes centre stage in Ash, the World Premiere of Andrew Huculiak’s much-anticipated follow-up to 2014’s Violent, and doubles as the Middle East in Red Snow (World Premiere), the first narrative feature by Indigenous creator, Marie Clements.
Two locally produced documentaries examine the devotion demanded of parents: the World Premiere of Ying Wang’s The World Is Bright and Julia Ivanova’s My Dads, My Moms and Me. The complementary When We Walk, directed by former Vancouverite Jason DaSilva, will screen in VIFF’s True North series. Finally, VIFF favourite Charles Wilkinson returns with the World Premiere of Haida Modern, a portrait of the world-renowned artist Robert Davidson.
Until September 25, 2019 use #MustSeeBC across Facebook, Instagram and Twitter and you’ll be entered in daily prize draws for tickets.
The Body Remembers When the World Broke Open
This year Miss604 is proud to be the film sponsor of The Body Remembers When the World Broke Open, starring Violet Nelson, Elle-Máijá Tailfeathers, written and directed by Elle-Máijá Tailfeathers and Kathleen Hepburn.
Discovering Rosie (Violet Nelson), a pregnant teenager, sobbing and barefoot on a rainy East Vancouver street, Áila (Elle-Máijá Tailfeathers) swiftly intercedes, initially offering shelter in her own apartment before working feverishly to get the girl access to proper support networks so that she needn’t return to her abusive home. As these two Indigenous women embark on a revelatory odyssey to a safe house, they must confront society’s assumptions about them, overcome their preconceptions about one another, and reflect on their own respective self-images.
Unfolding in a series of masterful long takes shot on 16mm by cinematographer Norm Li, this deft drama from Tailfeathers and Kathleen Hepburn (Never Steady, Never Still) employs a riveting combination of intimacy and immediacy. The urgency of the “real time” pacing is complemented by the inherent drama of their tenuous bond. A small-scale, high-stakes story shaped by larger socioeconomic and cultural forces, The Body Remembers is one of the most significant narrative films this city has produced.
Win Tickets
I have 2 pairs of tickets to give away The Body Remembers When the World Broke Open on Saturday, September 28, 2019 at 6:00pm at the Vancouver Playhouse. Here’s how you can enter to win:
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Click below to post an entry on Twitter
[clickToTweet tweet=”RT to enter to win tickets The Body Remembers When the World Broke Open – @BodyRemembers #MustSeeBC at @VIFFest #VIFF2019 http://ow.ly/a6vz30pAKXX” quote=” Click to enter via Twitter” theme=”style6″]
Follow VIFF on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram for more information about the festival, its events, special guests, and films. I will draw 3 contest winners at 6:00pm on Thursday, September 26, 2019.
Award-winning Realwheels Theatre has made a national call for submissions for a playwright who lives with disability to participate in a residency beginning in 2020.
Realwheels Theatre Playwright-in-Residence
Are you an emerging to mid-career playwright?
Do you identify with the lived experience of disability?
Do you have an idea for a new play that you are really passionate about?
Would you like support to take your skills and idea to the next level?
Emerging to mid-career playwrights across Canada are invited to submit a package that includes a cover letter, a short biography, a synopsis of their work in progress, and a sample of their best writing. Packages must be submitted online. All submissions must be received between September 15 and 30, 2019.
“We’re excited by the opportunity to further the creative capacity of the disability community. Plays written by individuals with disabilities are still largely absent from cultural platforms. A key strategy toward achieving equity lies in actively supporting the cultivation of stories rooted in the disability experience. We’re proud to be creating structures that nurture playwrights with disabilities to tell their own stories!”
Realwheels’ Artistic Director, Rena Cohen
Through an open application process, Realwheels invites submissions for new, English language, theatre-based projects at various stages of development from emerging to mid-career playwrights in Canada who live with disability.
The selected playwright, who will be announced in December 2019, will receive a flexible package of supports customizable to their needs including dramaturgical support, workshop space, access to professional actors, disability accommodation, and a financial reward of $7000. The selected playwright will also participate in Realwheels’ programming over a period of nine months. Two encouragement awards of $250 will also be announced.
Join the celebrations on September 28th at the first ever World Maritime Day event at the Port of Vancouver. The event will have family-friendly activities including musical performances, exhibitor booths, community activation, speakers, and on-water demonstrations.
World Maritime Day 2019
When: Saturday, September 28, 2019 from 10:00am to 6:00pm Where: Canada Place at the Port of Vancouver (999 Canada Place) Admission: Free. RSVP on Facebook »
Event Highlights:
Exhibitor booths and displays, including terminal operators, port stakeholders, and community partners
On-water demonstrations, including a boat parade
Community activations
Speaker presentations in the Port of Vancouver Discovery Centre
Contest on-site: Enter to win a seven-day cruise for two to Alaska, Canada and New England, Caribbean, or Mexico courtesy of Holland America Line
“[This event] is a terrific opportunity to bring the community together,” said Robin Silverster, president and chief executive officer of the Vancouver Fraser Port Authority, “to celebrate the rich history of Vancouver’s maritime culture and recognize the significant role the maritime sector plays in the daily lives of Canadians, getting goods to and from our port city.”
World Maritime Day was established in 1978 by the United Nations to mark the 20th anniversary of the International Maritime Organization (IMO) Convention’s entry into force. The theme of this year’s event is “Empowering Women in the Maritime Community” which provides an opportunity to highlight the important contribution of women within the maritime sector.
It’s Sea Otter Awareness Week at the Vancouver Aquarium, and you can get up close and personal with these furry, frolicsome residents until September 29th. They are the centre of enrichment sessions, family programs, educational talks and even bookable up-close encounters.
Sea Otter Awareness Week
When: September 21-29, 2019 Where: Vancouver Aquarium, 845 Avison Way, Vancouver Tickets:Available online and at the door
Expect these buddies – named Tanu, Katmai, Mak, Kunik, Rialto, and Hardy — to show off their grooming techniques, paw-holding finesse and their skill at friendly wrestling matches. Aquarium mascot Ollie the Sea Otter will appear on-site every morning of this special week, and you may find a sea otter cookie on the cafe menu.
You might even catch a glimpse of the current otters’ brand new buddy, straight out of Alaska. Taz, short for Tazlina, is – like all six of the Aquarium’s long-time sea otters – a rescue, discovered by fishermen in April as an abandoned newborn. Taz has spent the interim at the Alaska SeaLife Center. She arrived at the Aquarium in early September and is slowly being introduced to her new life.
Event highlights include: Watching a sea otter feed, getting up close during a sea otter encounter, and family activities and programs. You can even symbolically adopting a sea otter, and support the care of the sea otters at the aquarium and the Marine Mammal Rescue Centre.
This year marks the 25th anniversary of Word Vancouver, Western Canada’s largest literary festival! The festival promotes books and authors with free exhibits, performances, and hands-on activities for a wide range of ages and interests.
Word Vancouver 2019
When: Tuesday, September 24 to Sunday, September 29, 2019 Where: Various venues throughout Vancouver Admission: Free
Festival Highlights
September 24, 2019: Pandora’s Collective and Britannia Library Present: Poetic Pairings
September 25, 2019: Italian Cultural Centre: Books and Biscotti Meet Word Vancouver with authors Monica Meneghetti, Anna Foschi.
September 26, 2019: Joel Kroeker – Jungian Music Psychotherapy: When Psyche Sings at Banyen Books and Sound
September 26, 2019: Pandora’s Collective’s presents Twisted Poets featuring Shazia Hafiz Ramji, Kate Braid & Onjana Yawnghweat at Hood 29.
September 27, 2019: Christianne’s Lyceum features local illustrators Aidan Cassie, Karen Holman, Karen Hibbard, Scott Ritchie and Jami Gigot.
September 27, 2019: Joy’s Historic Joy Kagawa House and Pocket Book Publishing invite Vancouver’s Francophone community to launch a new edition of the classic Obasan novel by Joy Kagawa.
September 28, 2019: Carnegie Centre – Various Workshops plus an Opec Mic
September 28, 2019: SFU Harbour Centre – Various Workshops
September 28, 2019: Pandora’s Collective and Word Vancouver Present Still/ed Here – A Transmedia Poetry Project.
September 29, 2019: Main VPL Library 11:00am to 5:00pm multiple stages, exhibitors, workshops, panels, one on one talks, and more.
The final day of the festival at the central Vancouver Public Library is by far the largest event of the festival attracting over twenty thousand book lovers to seven stages and eighty exhibitors.
This year the organizers have made some changes to the Sunday event at the VPL by adding an Indigenous Stage (curated by Russell Wallace) and by bringing many of the presentation stages inside the library.
Outside on the library plaza the festival has added a covered family picnic area with a children’s stage, games, children’s book exhibitors and the Poetry in Transit Bus. Inside the library in the Atrium and 8th and 9th floors, festival goers will find the Indigenous Stage, Fiction Stage, Non-Fiction Stage, Poetry Stage, Community Stage, Magazine Stage along with panels and workshops.
