Culture – Page 11 – Nicolas Demers

Vancouver Queer Film Festival Review: To Faro

And we’re off! The VQFF started with… well, not a bang, exactly, but a nice low-key burn. To Faro is a subtitled German film (original title: Mein Freund Aus Faro, or My Friend From Faro) about a young butch lesbian who falls in love with a teenage girl (who thinks she’s a guy named Miguel) while her oblivious family thinks she’s dating a guy. Also named Miguel.

This was an interesting movie, about one-third comedy and two-thirds drama. I almost called it a tragedy, because you can see the shit coming a mile away, but that’d be a little over the top. Still, even though the queer character doesn’t die at the end (hey, progress!), this is not a movie where the girl gets the girl. As much as I hoped for a happy ending*, there was no way Mel and Jenny would end up together.

(* The VQFF site described it as “Boys Donâ€™t Cry with a happy ending”. Yeah. No.)

It wasn’t an entirely sad ending, mind you, just… bittersweet, and very open-ended. Mel decides she’s had enough of her empty life, the go-nowhere job she just quit, the family that doesn’t understand her, the homophobic snots surrounding the love interest who doesn’t love her back, and decides to pack up and move to Portugal. To Faro, in particular, where both her imaginary Miguels come from? Will Nuno, her partner in lies, join her in her travels, or will he talk her into staying? We don’t know, and I suspect we’re supposed to write our own endings.

Which is okay with me, and I have a feeling Mel will be all right. She’s tasted love, and tasted heartbreak, and has something to shoot for besides lying in fields, watching planes take off and land.

PS: And hey, this was my first VQFF opening gala! The movie was preceded by a couple speeches, and a showing of the very very awesome winner of the Out in Schools Anti-Homophobia PSA contest, the very very awesome makers of which were in the audience.

PPS: And then I swung by Club 560 for the opening gala party, but I didn’t stay long. I did enjoy the technicolor cotton candy, though!

Davie Village Walk with Gordon Price

How and why is Davie Village a gay neighbourhood? How did gays shape it? And where is it going in the 21st century? All these questions and more were answered last night in a guided history walk hosted by Gordon Price, city councillor from 1986–2002, writer and consultant, who came to Vancouver in 1978 as a fresh-faced gay man.

We started out by English Bay Beach, which was a gay cruising ground back in 1978, known apparently as “the pansy patch.” It wasn’t the only one, though, and gay territories would shift over the years. Cruising spots like parks, beaches and bars were the first gay-identified spaces; it was in these places that gay men explored and celebrated their sexuality, and connected with each other.

(Incidentally: nowadays you could fairly say that everywhere in Davie Village is gay territory.)

Our first stop was corner of Pendrell & Nicola, near Lord Roberts Elementary, where we addressed the question, why here? What made this neighbourhood one that gay men would choose? Well, there were a few factors: lots of rental space (mostly 1-bedroom apartments), plenty of bars and entertainment nearby, and good transit—perfect for a mobile, unattached population with disposable income looking to hook up. You’ll find similar conditions pretty much all gay ghettoes around the world.

We segued into a discussion of the physical history of the Village’s houses and buildings. That street corner was an excellent vantage point to see all the layers, all the decades side by side: a circa-1890 2 ½ storey house just up the street, a lovely 1920’s apartment building on the corner (the Princess Charlotte), plainer highrises built in the 60’s and 70’s… It’s all there.

The Village saw massive construction in the 50’s, 60’s and early 70’s: many of these old homes were razed to make way for modern apartments, communities were displaced, and it was a very traumatic time. But let’s not romanticise the past: these new apartments had running water, electricity, privacy, and at least a kitchenette. Compared to the overcrowded old heritage houses, pretty and historic though they were, this must have been heaven.

Besides, it’s what made it possible for gays to settle here. Can’t argue with results like that.

Next stop: St Paul’s Church, where we discussed the rise of street prostitution in the West End in the 70’s and early 80’s. Long story short, prostitutes (all genders) and their johns were creating a massive nuisance for residents, many of whom by now had a stake in their community, and perceived a very real risk of the Village turning into a red light district. They formed a group, Concerned Residents Of the West End, which succeeded in driving street prostitution out of the West End through some interesting legal tricks. Here again, it was the gays that took charge and reinvented their neighbourhood.

One last short walk, ending up at Bute and Davie. In the shadow of J Lounge and Hamburger Mary’s—checking out the fierce drag queens and pretty muscle boys—we recapped all we’d seen, and asked ourselves where it was all going. Would Davie Village still stay gay? Will young gay men have as easy a time finding a place here as they did 30 years ago?

Bottom line: it’s impossible to tell. The West End has continually reinvented itself, and will continue to do so as long as it exists. New people, new communities, new ideas will pour in; the neighbourhood will absorb them and weave something from the old and the new.

This morning I took the long route to my bus stop, walking up Nicola to Georgia. It was a beautiful stretch, mostly heritage homes and low-rises, until I hit Robson, and then BAM! Back in the big city. The West End is truly a special place, and I feel more connected to it than ever. I am very, very lucky to live where I live, to be part of something like this.

Not a bad way to kick off Pride Week!

Lock Up Your Sons and Daughters

Bill Taylor put together a collection of old anti-gay propaganda to educate and entertain. easy to laugh, and in fact that’s part of the point. Laughter is the best medicine, and celebrating how far we’ve come is part of Gay Pride. But it’s also important to learn how our enemies think, and what they tell people about us.

Bill Taylor put together this collection of old anti-gay propaganda to educate and entertain. It’s easy to laugh, and in fact that’s part of the point: laughter is the best medicine, and celebrating how far we’ve come is part of Gay Pride. But it’s also important to learn how our enemies think, and what they tell people about us. David C Jones (in one of the many, many introductory speeches) pointed out that Evil wins too often because Good is dumb. Sorry, no, I meant because Evil is organised; Evil hates and fears and is authority-driven, while Good is just out to do good and have fun. Proposition 8 passed in California because of big money and lies propagated in part by the Mormon Church and NOM and a lot of people weren’t worried because, hey, it’s California! Likewise, few expected the Conservatives to get a majority, and now look at us.

Plus, we need to remember that these movies are still being made today. The lines have probably shifted a bit—I haven’t seen any recent anti-gay movie, but I bet they go on against same-sex marriage more than the evils of homo sex per se—but the message hasn’t changed.

Boys Beware

Apparently all homosexuals in the 50’s/60’s wear suits and have little creepy thin mustaches. This infomercial lays out the horrifying truth about how homos prey on good wholesome sports-playing American boys, and they (the boys) need to beware: don’t get in strangers’ cars, don’t accept gifts, don’t spend time with creepy guys without your parents’ permission, etc… It’s as deadly-earnest as you’d expect from a short of that era.

And hey, Boys Beware is available on YouTube!

Soapy The Germ Fighter

Equally old, this one features a boy who’s worried that excessive washing-up will make him a sissy. A talking bar of soap appears to him in a dream telling him that washing up isn’t sissy, cowboys totally do it, and goes on a bit about germs and why it’s important to fight them. This cutesy film is in the same vein as the old educational shorts shown on MST3K, like A Case Of Spring Fever. It’s not anti-gay, though, except insofar as sissiness is perceived as a valid fear.

Highlight 1: the soundtrack from The Nutcracker.

Highlight 2: Soapy recommends that women wash their hair at least every two weeks. But that part is (IIRC) because shampoos were very harsh and damaged the hair. Hence the need for perms.

Watch it for yourself!

William’s Doll

Fast-forward to 1981, and the touching tale (adapted from a book) of a boy who wants a doll for his birthday. Amidst the horrible acting and clunky writing, there’s actually a nice message here: dolls aren’t just girls’ toys, it’s okay for boys to express affection too, and the final scene shows that doll-playing isn’t turning William into a “sissy,” because he’s just as happy playing football and digging up dirt with his Tonka™ truck.

Which makes me wonder why this movie was included, since it’s not anti-gay at all. Mind you, I wouldn’t call it pro-gay, but it’s definitely pro-flexible-gender-roles.

Highlight: The toy train scene, where I’m pretty sure I saw some old Star Wars action figures (Greedo, especially, caught my eye). Ah, that brought me back, I totally played with them back in the day.

Perversion For Profit

Back to the 60’s now, with a deadly serious short going on (with pictures!) about how pornography is ruining the moral fiber of our country. And by “our country” I mean of course “America”. To be fair, this film features equal-opportunity fearmongering, giving equal time to girlie, S/M and physique mags.

Highlight 1: those hilarious little taped bars, blotting out eyes, nipples, asses and crotches of the models.

Highlight 2: the porn industry is controlled by Communism.

Watch it on YouTube: Part 1, Part 2

The Gay Agenda

This film was done in 1992 by some anti-gay group in California (I think), and so can’t be dismissed so easily. It features a couple of talking heads discussing oh so calmly why sexual orientation shouldn’t be a protected status under the law, because it’s a choice and gays are a health hazard, the latter backed up with all sorts of statistics: 95% of homosexuals have enjoyed fellatio, 92% anal sex, 35% have done fisting… Honestly, I forget the exact numbers, I’m making it up as I go along. Just like them.

Also, just to shock those decent church-going viewers, shots from Pride parades. You know the drill: half-naked men humping each other, topless women, leather doms dragging their slaves on a leash, dildo-wearing drag nuns, juxtaposed with pictures of kids at those parades. One little girl looked cranky and crying; Gawd knows what the audience was thinking when they saw her.

In addition we get to hear from a couple of “ex-gays”: what’s interesting is that both these guys are young, pretty and a little flaming, though obviously toning it down, while the stats-spouting talking heads look like regular straight guys. I didn’t realize it at first, but just like the parade scenes, this is designed to visually push buttons with the audience: at best, the producers wanted guys who looked stereotypically gay enough so that the audience would buy their story. At worst, it implies that ex-gays are still not really straight, and no matter what they do or say they can’t be considered normal.

Highlight: one of the “ex-gays” getting just a bit too excited when talking about bathhouses. You can bet that got a laugh from the audience.

Conclusion

Out of these five movies, three are gold, exactly what I signed up for. Two are not. They’re funny and cheesy as all hell, yes, but they’re not anti-gay by any stretch of the imagination. And while googling this show, I found references to a couple of other anti-gay shorts that for some reason were not shown tonight: Neurotic Behavior—A Psychodynamic View (via Hummingbird604), and Red Light, Green Light: Meeting Strangers (mentioned on the event’s Facebook page, and viewable online here). I wish we’d gotten the chance to see those.

Northern Voice 2011

And it’s that time of year again. Time to hob-nob with all sorts of bloggers and assorted geeks in UBC’s lovely Life Sciences Centre, with its gorgeous atriums filled with natural light.

Friday Keynote: April Smith

This was different. Both previous keynotes dealt with high-level politics, how social media intersects with mainstream media and corporate power. But April Smith brought us down to earth for a moment with her stories of living in the Downtown Eastside. We learned about her work as a citizen journalist empowering the residents with access to technology—Nokia handphones, specifically. I forget the exact model, and I’ll forgive the constant product placement, especially if it turns out that they’re as easy to use as she claims. Those phones were donated by some Nokia rep, and it’s a hard reminder that this shit ain’t free, and every social movement must depend on the kindness of sicher strangers.

April was clearly nervous and reading from prepared notes—she admitted to being uncomfortable speaking in front of people—but that didn’t matter. Her stories were raw, straight from the heart, and powerfully moving. The short clip of the man whose cat was thrown out of his 5th storey apartment during a breakin. The simple brief connection that stopped a man from killing himself, just because she showed him a bit of kindness and let him see his own photo. If April hadn’t been there, with her phone, that man would now be dead.

That’s what social media means, in the Downtown Eastside. It’s about connecting with people, telling your story, and changing lives for the better.

Drawing on Walls

Okay, that was kind of a bust. I don’t think I got anything out of it, except yet a reminder that my drawing skills suck. I chose this session just to go a little outside the box (and because none of the other ones really appealed to me), but an hour-long workshop wasn’t going to give me any super-creative power. Ah, well. Live and learn.

Your Blog Is Boring and Your Photos Suck

Syx Langemann and Morten Rand-Hendriksen teamed up to give the audience some tools to make their photos suck less and their blogs less boring. Somewhat disappointingly, they mostly covered the technical aspects (Syx: aperture, shutter speed, ISO; Morten: ALT tags, meta tags, SEO, and WordPress-specific tidbits) but not so much ways to make things less boring or sucky. I guess that part is up to each of us. But I did love the sample photos Syx showed us; nothing like the portfolio of a talented photographer to get you inspired!

The Naked Truth: Canadian Science Blogging Scene

A panel consisting of Rosie Redfield, Beth Snow, Eric Michael Johnson and Maryse de la Giroday discussed science, blogging, and all related issues. Does blogging impact your credibility as an academic and researcher? What are the pros and cons of pay-to-read vs. pay-to-publish journals? What place do non-peer-reviewed blogs have in science education and research? What incentive do researchers have to blog about their work if it means the risk of competitors scooping them out (and their funding)? Why would a researcher blog?

Dr. Redfield (who did most of the talking) answered that last question: she likes the idea of a non-scientist stumbling on her writing, it clarified her thinking, serves as a memory aid, and helps her write. Also, it allows her to critique science in the media.

Good stuff, for sure.

Incidentally, I found it interesting that 3 out of the 4 panelists were women. I wouldn’t have expected that kind of breakdown for science bloggers and academics, but there you go.

Also: the following day at lunchtime, Dr. Redfield took a few of us on a short tour of the labs in the building. Behold the power of social media: there was no big announcement, no signs put up, just a couple of calls retweeted back and forth.

MooseCamp: Five Card Flickr

Five Card Flickr is fun. Our small group spent the hour with Alan Levine getting to know the game, choosing pictures, and coming up with a story. Didn’t go anywhere and it had no plot, but man was it fun. I haven’t taken part in this kind of collective storytelling since… what, my D&D days? Ooo, and check out Pecha Flickr.

Communities That Rock

How do you create kick-ass online communities? Arieanna Schweber and Raul Pacheco-Varga give us the lowdown. Some of their advice applied for blogs, others for forums and community sites, but the bottom line is pretty much the same: engage with your audience, have everything (tweets, photos, videos) point back to a single site, have proper internal linking, know how to tell a story. Pretty common-sense stuff, right? Maybe, but it has to be said. Also, keep in mind that this is hard work, and community building doesn’t happen overnight. Finally, avoid becoming isolated. It’s good to be active both offline and online.

Saturday Keynote: Chris Wilson

Chris Wilson took us on a trip down memory lane, reminiscing about NCSA Mosaic (which I also remember fondly from my early days on the WWW), his early work on Web standards—apparently he’s responsible for overlapping <B> and <I> tags—and adventures in social media. Of course, they didn’t call it that. But games like Nethack (through other people’s ghosts) and other applications allowed connections and interaction between people, mediated by technology. And isn’t that what this conference is about?

Wilson cautioned us: There are people that need to learn how to play well with others. What voice should you use? How much should you share? Sharing feels good. It makes you vulnerable, but you create lots of real connections. I guess it’s up to each of us to choose how far to take it. He closed off with a quote from the late, great Douglas Adams

I may not have gone where I intended to go, but I think I have ended up where I needed to be

A Code of Ethics For The Social Web

Morten R-H again, this time discussing our responsibility, as bloggers, to the truth. This applies much more to journalism-style blogging, and reviewers, but everyone can benefit. Really, it boils down to a few simple principles: be honest with yourself and your audience; admit when you may be biased (e.g.: when you get freebies in exchange for reviews), be critical of your own biases and opinions. It is important to have such a code of ethics, and hold each other accountable, because anyone with a big enough audience has a big influence.

Trust relationships—brought up by an audience member who disagreed with Morten’s basic thesis—will only take you so far. It’s all very well to personally be critical of the blogs you follow and if you find they’re unreliable, well, to just stop following them, but (a) that does nothing to discourage unreliable bloggers, and (b) it doesn’t help people who don’t have working bullshit filters. If the Tea Party, 9/11 Truthers and the Huffington Post* have taught us anything, it’s that popularity has very little to do with truth.

(*Seriously, early on in the talk he lumped all three together. Awesome)

And here’s his code of blogging ethics

Looking Through The Lens

Alan Levine again, taking us through some of the ins-and-outs of taking good photos, both from a technical and creative standpoint. It was great stuff, but hard to summarise.

Stop Apologising For Your Online Life

Alexandra Samuel asks: is online life any less real than IRL? Are those three letters themselves a dead giveaway? She argues that no, life online is just as interesting and meaningful as offline. She proposed a new 3-letter term: RLT, meaning Real Life Too. Kinda catchy, though I’m not really feeling it. Still, who knows? It just might catch on.

Online art is just as valid and meaningful as offline art, just because you can’t hang it on a wall or show it off in a gallery. There is amazing stuff being done online, like the It Gets Better Project (and indeed, for a lot of queer youth, online is the only way to connect with other queer people); I’ll just add Pogo’s fantastic remixes.

But you also have a responsibility to your online life, as much as your offline one. Don’t be passive, invest real attention; give back, and commit to creating something real. Likewise, don’t just friend any Tom, Dick and Harry on Facebook. Friendship means something, online as well as off-. Only connect with people you feel a relationship with, not just faces that’ll increase your friend count.

Conclusion

I left early on Saturday, because I was still feeling a bit under the weather, but I’m so glad I went. Looking forward to next year’s Moose!

Culture Crawl 2010: Why Art?

Yes, it’s that time of year again. On Saturday I went a-crawling, deciding to roam around Strathcona again. There are still many studios I haven’t seen yet, way out past Clark and near the Waterfront, but I enjoyed Strathcona so much! the pretty heritage houses, the rich history, the feel of community similar to what I feel in the queer West End, though with a different flavour, of course.

Yes, it’s that time of year again. Last weekend I went a-crawling, deciding to roam around Strathcona again. There are still many studios I haven’t seen yet, way out past Clark and near the Waterfront, but I enjoyed Strathcona so much! the pretty heritage houses, the rich history, the feel of community similar to what I feel in the queer West End, though with a different flavour, of course.

I’d like to think this poster was an omen, when I saw on the way to my first studio:

Okay, as far as omens go, it doesn’t say much about the fundamental interconnectedness of all things, because the people organising this Free Art event probably timed it to go along with the Crawl. And though I don’t agree with everything this poster has to say (especially in the fine print), it got me thinking. Hence this stream-of-consciousness blog post.

Why free art?
Or, Why art?
Or, What is it that I’m getting out of the Crawl?

Good questions. It’s true that “Art is food” and “Art soothes pain,” as the poster says, but the Crawl is about a lot more than that. It lets us see not just finished art pieces, we get a peek at the creative process. A lot of the studios had tools, paintbrushes, or what have you, out in the open and obviously well used. Artists are not magicians, they are not some refined elite conjuring beautiful things out of nowhere. Art takes talent, yes—and some say that’s overrated—but also work and dedication and passion.

And art doesn’t exist in a vacuum. Around every artist is a whole community to inspire or be inspired by their work. Art and culture don’t (necessarily) belong in galleries, and they’re not disconnected from everyday life. You can find art in paintings and sculptures, but also furniture, clothing, even custom-made panties. No fooling, one of the studios was selling them, but I forgot to get her card. And hey, even painting can brighten up whole communities: about a dozen large public murals were on display in the Downtown Eastside. I only photographed one, the closest to Strathcona, the others being too far out of my way.

I don’t agree with the Free Art people: art, for better or for worse, is not disconnected from money. It’s a business, and one that I’m a little more sensitive to, having taken the plunge into the freelance world. I hope my work will be as rewarding as these artists’.

SkeptiCamp 2010 II

On October 23^rd, 2010, several dozen skeptics descended on UBC for the second SkeptiCamp of 2010: a full day of science, education, questioning assumptions, and rap. Good times.

The Wisdom of Crowds

Jess Brydle had a jar full of candy corn at the back of the room, and attendants were invited to guess the number, with the closest guess winning a prize (an iPod Touch, I think). Though I tried to estimate the volume of a single piece vs. the volume of the jar, my guess (1050) was way off the actual number (around 770). On the other hand, it was almost bang on the average guess. Go me! Conformity over reality!

Google Maps

Jesse Brydle presented an interesting project: displaying bullshit and woo businesses on Google Maps. As you can see, there are a hell of a lot of them. If you look at the comments, (both on the map and Jesse’s blog post), it looks like it hit a major nerve with some of the local witch doctors—as well it should.

Reason Vancouver

Ian Bushfield presented an idea for a new Vancouver political party: Reason Vancouver. Though I approve of its mission statement of “developing policies based on reason and empiricism,” that still doesn’t tell me what those policies are going to be. Ethics (political or otherwise) is only partly based on reason and empiricism. Besides, I’m not convinced Vancouver needs an explicity secular party, since we all know facts already have a liberal bias. Still, it’ll be interesting to see how this develops.

Hamlet: The Skeptic Prince

Joe Fulgham made a good case for Hamlet being a good proto-skeptic. When the guards tell him they’ve seen a ghost that looks like his dead father, he accepts that ghosts may exist, but grills the guards, asks for details, and withholds belief until he sees the ghost for himself and talks to it. Even then, after he’s told explicit details of his father’s death, he decides to get a second opinion and trick the truth out of Claudius. The theme of Hamlet (as Joe explained, I’m only familiar with the basics) was that giving in to his passions is what destroyed Hamlet. If he had stuck to reason (and yes, skepticism), things might have been different.

I’m not totally convinced of his conclusion that Shakespeare himself was a proto-skeptic, and spoke through his characters, though. C.S. Lewis (just to pick one example) wrote a couple of skeptics in his Space Trilogy, but he himself was far from one.

Baba Brinkman’s Rationalist Rap

Meet Baba Brinkman, “the propaganda wing of skepticism.” He brought the house down with his rationalist anthem, “Off That!” Totally awesome.

I got witnessed to!

When I got back to my car in the pouring rain, I noticed a little soggy piece of paper stuck in my car’s windshield. For a second I was afraid it was a ticket (though I hear parking tickets at UBC are only a problem for UBC students), but it was something very different:

Why settle for “OK”?

And if you read the Bible, you’ll see Jesus is the most inclusive person ever.

With love,
A brother.

Sigh. Just like that hip-hop drive-by witnesser of years ago, here’s a guy who couldn’t help reacting to my “Born OK The First Time” and “Celebrate Diversity” bumper stickers. I’m slightly impressed that he took the time to write his note in the rain, but very unimpressed at his blinkered world view. Well, I didn’t get angry this time, just shared the note with my atheist friends at the pub afterwards and we all had a good laugh.

Vancouver International Film Festival Review: The 4th Revolution: Energy Autonomy

The 4th Revolution is a showcase of the future: the technologies, the vision, and the visionaries that will take us away from a reliance on fossil fuels, and towards clean renewable energy for everyone.

Guess I should finally blog about the last movie I saw in the VIFF, and by far the most uplifting.

It’s possible. There are so many bright, dedicated people all over the world, from Germany to China to Mali to Bangladesh, working tirelessly in ways big or small to change lives or change minds: designers making electric cars look sexy, neighbours cooperating to upgrade an apartment building with solar generators, the economist who pioneered microlending, the people installing small solar panels in rural Africa.

Energy autonomy is more than just saving a few bucks on your electric bill. First, it’s about saving a lot of bucks on the electric bill. Solar panels on individual buildings or houses, combined with other upgrades to cut down on, e.g., unnecessary air conditioning, can cut external power consumption drastically. But it also means economic autonomy. The Mali Folke Centre is a case in point: by promoting the use of solar energy in regions where electricity is extremely rare and expensive, they allow people to regularly work after dark. Not a big deal? But as programme coordinator Ibrahim Togola explains, it opens the door for people to create new enterprises, and move Mali away from a purely resource-exporting base for its economy.

The stakes are enormous, and so are the obstacles: lack of political will in many countries, not least being the USA; entrenched interests in the coal/gas/oil industry, and the simple fact that reworking out energy infrastructure will be a difficult process. But the general consensus is that the transition is indeed possible, and so the movie ends with a positive note.

Vancouver International Film Festival Review: Insomnia

More Canadian shorts, but these are more focused on art and the artist’s life.

L’année de l’os

Some weird abstract shit. Pretty entertaining under different circumstances, but it was also fairly hypnotic and I think it put me to sleep. Not kidding, but I also blame the fact that I was tired that day.

The Sapporo Project

A lovely animated short featuring the work of Japanese artist and calligrapher Gazanbou Higuchi.

Lippset Diaries

An imaginary peek inside the tortured mind of experimental filmmaker Arthur Lippset

Madame Perrault’s Bluebeard

A disturbing retelling of the story of Bluebeard, where fiction and reality merge.

Figs in Motion

Two butch daddies put on tutus and prance about. Then they put on horse heads and keep going. Very, very cute.

Ghost Noise

The longest film of the series, this is a look at Inuit artist Shuvinai Ashoona, her life in Cape Dorset, and the strange, wonderful things going through her mind.

Flawed

A long-distance relationship between an artist and a successful plastic surgeon, narrated by the artist herself and illustrated with hand-painted postcards. The resolution definitely counts as a Crowning Moment of Heartwarming

Break a Leg

An aspiring actor rehearses a scene with his grandson in a diner. Better than it sounds.

Labour Laws

Anything a woman can do, she can do pregnant! Wait, even pole dancing? Sure! Why not?

Exposed

An elevator breakdown leads to a moment of passion between a photographer and his surprise subject. Hilarious and erotic.

Ladies and Gentlemen: Biddie Schitzerman

An eightysomething standup comedienne’s last show with her loyal sidekick. Or is it? CMoH #2 of the night.

Vancouver International Film Festival Review: Amnesia

Some fine, fine Canadiana on display in this collection of short films! Touching, funny, or just creepy, but most of all, very bilingual! I’m not exactly sure what amnesia has to do with Canada, and I didn’t see any particular theme amongst the films… But anyway, on to the reviews!

Moi non plus (Me Neither)

The first, and weakest, short. A Concordia (I think) student must deal with a relationship with a powerful politician, who seems to be tangled in shady businesses, and a surprise affair with a charming fellow student. Unfortunately the characters weren’t really developed, and the ending was anticlimactic and predictable.

Mind the Gap

But now we’re picking up steam! This hilarious little film pairs up a beautiful but seriously messed up young woman with a sweet older gentleman. Stuck together on a train, she talks his head off about whatever flashes through her tiny brain. We laugh, we cringe, we want to slap some sense into her. Good times.

Naissances

A teenager who just had an abortion and a lonely handyman bond over lies. Quiet, sad and beautifully done.

Transmission

A tow truck driver just struggling to get by finds his day getting worse and worse. A simple slice of life, with disturbingly believable characters.

La dernière rondelle (The Last Time Around)

An old hockey player suffering from Alzheimer’s goes on the ice one last time. Wordless, and deeply moving.

Au milieu de nulle part ailleurs (Nowhere, Elsewhere)

A little boy who can see the Virgin Mary, a grandmother who might see ghosts, and a mother who thinks she might join them. Weird, crazy, dizzying, creepy.

Original Sin

Choices, order, and control freakery. Weird but hilarious.

Chloe and Attie

An old lady who can… make people kill each other through their iPods? I don’t know what that was about, but it was pretty damn chilling.

A Fine Young Man

A hilarious parody of Cold War paranoia and jingoism (filmed on location in Vancouver! Didn’t recognise the street, though…) What’s more important that beating those dirty Commies to the Moon? The answer may surprise you…

The Closer You Get to Canada

And the black humour continues! In the year 2060, overpopulation is no longer a problem. Running out of animals to hunt used to be a problem, but not anymore…

Vancouver International Film Festival Review: Palimpsest

Gustav Shpet: Russian philosopher, teacher, writer, polyglot and interpreter; born in Kiev in 1879; exiled to Tomsk, Siberia in 1935; executed in 1937.

This movie is mostly narrated by Shpet’s 92-year old daughter Marina in a series of informal interviews, intercut with contemporaneous film reels, photos and music, as well as Shpet’s letters to Marina during his exile.

Gustav Shpet: Russian philosopher, teacher, writer, polyglot and interpreter; born in Kiev in 1879; exiled to Tomsk, Siberia in 1935; executed in 1937.

We follow Marina as she visits the university (much changed) where her father taught, the church she occasionally attended in the 30’s (hardly changed); tries to visit the apartment where she lived (security wouldn’t even let the film crew and her through the front door); tells the story of her husband, who died one year after her father, working to take down the Russian coat of arms from the Kremlin’s Spasskaya tower and replace it with the tacky red neon star that still shines today.

And we visit a Tomsk museum to Siberian exiles. Shpet is just one of hundreds of names that came to Siberia, one face on a whole wall of faces. The museum curator tells visitors that the NKVD actually planned their purges and ethnic cleanses, with expected minimums (quotas?) of roundups for each region per year.

In the end this is not a story about one man, smart and accomplished though he was. It’s a story about memory, connecting with our past the better to understand our present. And it’s about a past that’s always present no matter how much we try to erase it—streets and buildings, phrases, memories. The Soviet regime did their best to erase ideas, thoughts, and people. To a degree they succeeded, but only to a degree. Shpet told his daughter that “culture, culture, not politics” is what will keep us moving forward. Without going into too much detail, I tend to agree. Culture, memory both individual and collective, this is vitally important to identity and progress.

Palimpsest was preceded by the short Heart in the Wrong Place (original title: Tener el corazón en el lugar equivicado), featuring the extremely awesome experimental filmmaker José Antionio Sistiaga.