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Apr30

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Vancity Theatre: May Cinema Salon

Posted in: Events, Movies, Vancouver

Each month, Melanie Friesen invites a distinguished guest to Vancity Theatre’s Cinema Salon, in order to present his/her favourite film. After the screening, both audience and speaker have the opportunity to engage over drinks and snacks in the Vancity lounge. This month’s film is Jean Renoir’s The Rules of the Game.

The Rules of the Game is a bittersweet masterpiece about French romance, class, manners and hypocrisy on the eve of World War II. André, a French aviation hero, is in love with Christine, who is married to wealthy aristocrat Robert. Robert has a mistress, whom he invites to a weekend hunting party at his estate, along with André. Renoir himself plays Andre’s friend Octave. Underneath the stairs, the servants are also playing musical beds.

Tout Paris was hostile on opening night in 1939, as the upper class is depicted in this film as insouciant and self-indulgent, with little regard for the consequences of their actions. Under Paris Nazi occupation, The Rules of the Game was banned as being morally perilous. Now the film is often named as one of the greatest films in the history of cinema.

This month’s Cinema Salon is hosted by Dr. Ron Burnett. Dr. Ron Burnett has been President and Vice-Chancellor of Emily Carr University of Art + Design since 1996.

In 2010, Dr. Burnett was awarded the Chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres (Knight of the Order of Arts and Letters) by the French government and received the International Digital Media and Arts Association Outstanding Leadership Award. In 2012, he received the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Medal in honour of his significant contributions and achievements.

Vancity Cinema Salon with Dr. Ron Burnett Presents The Rules of the Game
Date: Tuesday, May 14, 7:30 pm
Venue: Vancity Theatre, 1181 Seymour Street, Vancouver
Tickets: $13.00; may be purchased online
Mar27

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My Interview With Shiamak Davar

Posted in: Dance, Events, Movies, Vancouver

Award-winning Indian cinematic and performing artist Shiamak Davar will bring his world-renowned blend of Bollywood Jazz and contemporary dance to two Vancouver stages as the official Director of Choreography and Design at the inaugural 2013 Times of India Film Awards (TOIFA) from April 4 to 6.

Famous for popularizing Bollywood dance around the globe, Vancouver resident Davar will both choreograph and direct lively entertainment acts for India’s biggest stars at TOIFA’s Musical Extravaganza (April 4) at the Pacific Coliseum, and Awards Ceremony (April 6) at BC Place. Participating celebrities will include Shahrukh Khan, Katrina Kaif, Priyanka Chopra, Sukhwinder Singh, Hard Kaur, Sunidhi Chauhan, Mohit Chauhan, and others.

“It’s no secret that I call Vancouver my second home,” says Shiamak Davar. “As you can imagine, I am honoured to be part of this historic event, which fuses together two of my greatest loves – the thrill and excitement of Bollywood with the beauty of Vancouver as its backdrop.”

In addition to choreographing and directing (with Cineyug Entertainment) both the Musical Extravaganza and Awards Ceremony, Shiamak will wow audiences with single performances at each event, showcasing his signature music and dance style. Shiamak will also design glamorous and vibrant costumes and props for each entertainment act he choreographs.

[Bollywood Jazz]

Known as India’s guru of contemporary dance, Shiamak Davar is a much sought-after choreographer known for his trendsetting work in Bollywood blockbusters and for changing the way the world looks at Bollywood dance. I had the chance to interview Shiamak Davar via email ahead of next month’s big event.

Q: What process did you undergo in order to mount and choreograph the upcoming India Film Awards musical extravaganza?

A: Every project that I take up is an extension of my creativity. This particular show is very close of my heart as it brings India and Canada together; my two homes. So the concept and the idea is to demonstrate the two cultures through dance movement and introduce Bollywood to Vancouver in all its grandeur.

The planning process for a show of such magnitude starts much in advance. As a co-director, entertainment designer, choreographer and performer; I’ve been involved in every aspect and the basic idea has been to showcase the best of the Indian Cinema. From music, costumes designing, lights and sound, choreographing to rehearsals, coordinating with other star performers; there is constant activity and things to do. I’ve been working closely with my core team and things are falling into place beautifully.

Q: I understand that you’ve rubbed shoulders with Bill Clinton, Oprah, and Tom Cruise. In meeting some of the world’s brightest stars and thought leaders, which luminary has left you with the greatest impression to date?

A: The thing that touches me the most is that all celebrities globally have such high regard for other cultures and appreciate talent in the true spirit. Of the names that you’ve mentioned and many more, this is the common thread that binds them; music and dance really does speak a universal language. It has always been my mission to reach out and touch people through the performing arts, so whether it is a four year old who attends my dance classes, an eighty four year old who performs at my student shows or an international leader who appreciates my work; the aim is to create a positive environment through performing arts.

Q: You’ll be directing and choreographing two events during Times of India Film Awards: a musical extravaganza and the awards ceremony. Which of the two poses the greatest challenge for your team?

A: Song and dance both are such an important part of Bollywood; it is what we’ve grown up watching. Both the shows are very exciting and they will bring out an essence of what Indian Cinema is about. I see it not as a challenge but a cultural exchange between the Beautiful British Columbia and Incredible India!

Tickets for TOIFA’s Musical Extravaganza and Awards Ceremony are on sale now via Ticketmaster.
Mar25

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Vancity Theatre: April Cinema Salon

Posted in: Events, Movies, Vancouver

Each month, Melanie Friesen invites a distinguished guest to Vancity Theatre’s Cinema Salon, in order to present his/her favourite film. After the screening, both audience and speaker have the opportunity to engage over drinks and snacks in the Vancity lounge. This month’s film is Paul Thomas Anderson’s Punch Drunk Love.

In this 2002 film, small time, nerdy salesman of decorative toilet plungers with a great deal of repressed anger brightens up when he meets a mysterious Englishwoman who actually wants to go out with him. Starring Adam Sandler, Emily Watson, and a harmonium (a reed organ that generates sound with foot-pumped bellows), the film is a fresh new take on the work of both Sandler and director Anderson.

Winner of Best Director at the 2002 Cannes Film Festival, Punch Drunk Love is full of Anderson’s hallmarks: emotion, style, and startling innovation. The film features an extraordinary score by Jon Brion – record producer, film composer, and Los Angeles scenester extraordinaire.

This month’s Cinema Salon is hosted by Steve Dawson, both a multi-award winning musician and indelible fixture on the Canadian musical scene.

As a musician of several string and percussion instruments and a producer of such luminaries as Jim Byrnes, Kelly Joe Phelps, Old Man Luedecke, The Sojourners, and The Deep Dark Woods, VIFF feels very fortunate to be able to have Steve host a Cinema Salon ahead of his upcoming move to Toronto.

On Tuesday, April 2, he will share his love for the music in Punch Drunk Love.

Vancity Cinema Salon with Steve Dawson Presents Punch Drunk Love
Date: Tuesday, April 2, 7:30 pm
Venue: Vancity Theatre, 1181 Seymour Street, Vancouver
Tickets: $13.00; may be purchased online
Feb26

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Vancity Theatre: March Cinema Salon

Posted in: Architecture, Events, Movies, Vancouver

Each month, Melanie Friesen invites a distinguished guest to Vancity Theatre’s Cinema Salon, in order to present his/her favourite film. After the screening, both audience and speaker have the opportunity to engage over drinks and snacks in the Vancity lounge. This month’s film is Peter Greenaway’s The Cook, The Thief, His Wife and Her Lover.

Often described as an allegory for Thatcher’s Britain, capitalism or consumer culture, this cinematic assault on the senses sets out to prove that we are cowardly, puerile animals, choking on our own waste and greed. But what a display of eating and sex, Jacobean drama, Dutch paintings and the theatre of cruelty. The lavish and opulent costumes, sets, and photography result in a style not seen before or since.
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Feb25

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2013 Virgin 95.3 Fake Film Festival

Posted in: Events, Movies, Vancouver

As a fun alternative to the Oscar Awards, Virgin 95.3 FM throws an awards shindig of its own: the Fake Film Festival.

[Popcorn, anyone? At the VIP Lounge]

Last Saturday night saw a full house at Venue on Granville for the weekend’s ‘other’ most talked-about event on social media.

2013 marks the third year that amateur film makers have submitted their 60-second version of a Hollywood film for a chance at $10,000 cash, not to mention a cool trophy handed out by Virgin Radio DJs Drew Savage and Natalie Hunter of Breakfast with Nat and Drew.
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Feb12

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Sips ‘n’ Cinema: Victoria Film Fest

Posted in: Events, Movies, Vancouver Island, Victoria, Whisky

I was recently in Victoria in time to catch one of the Victoria Film Festival’s newly-minted events, Sips ’n’ Cinema. While the Argyle Attic is no stranger to regular whisky tastings, this was the first time that the Film Fest offered it up together with a movie screening at the Empire Theatres.

A fully-packed (not one seat left in the house!) audience took in Chilean director Pablo Larraín’s 2011 film No, followed by the tasting at the Argyle.

Winner of the top prize in this year’s Directors’ Fortnight in Cannes, No stars Gael Garcia Bernal (Motorcycle Diaries) as the brilliant young Chilean adman who helped topple the dictator Pinochet.

Part of Team No’s genius was to use humour in its ads, a quite bold move considering the seriousness and sadness behind the opposition to Pinochet. Besides having the chance to watch Bernal perform his on-screen charm, I was interested in this film from a graphic design perspective.

[Victoria Film Festival Programmer Donovan Aikman]

Festival Programmer Donovan Aikman was on hand to deconstruct the movie’s tone, direction, technology, and nuances, as the Argyle’s General Manager, Andrew Elliott, introduced whisky man Bill Atwood, a representative of Pernod-Ricard spirits company. Andrew also happens to own Smiths Pub downstairs.

[Argyle Attic General Manager Andrew Elliott]

Between sips of three whiskys, Donovan would talk film. It was an enjoyable evening, as film buffs were able to interact with one another while three brands were poured:

- Wiser’s small batch, a third-tier Canadian whisky flavoured with rye at 43.3% alcohol, imparting fruity, nutty notes, and produced in Windsor, Ontario.
- Jameson Irish whisky, the best-selling whisky in the world, now distilled in Cork, Ireland. This one’s triple-distilled with caramel notes and is clean and balanced.
- Glenlivet single malt whisky, a 12-year old nutty-flavoured sipper with a little smokiness to it. Glenlivet was the first legal distillery in Scotland.

[Pernod-Ricard spirits representative Bill Atwood]

We learned that whisky is spelled with an ‘e’ in both Ireland and in the USA; the rest of the world omits the ‘e’.

As well, whisky has three components:
- Corn, rye, wheat (or other grain)
- The process is goes through
- Water (80% of a whisky bottle’s content)

The Argyle Attic is Victoria’s new whisky bar, located upstairs from Smith’s Pub at 777 Courtney Street.

My ticket for Sips ’n’ Cinema was generously provided by the Victoria Film Festival.
Feb1

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VIFF: Festival of New Spanish Cinema

Posted in: Events, Movies, Vancouver

The Festival of New Spanish Cinema has established itself as an exciting and authoritative showcase for the best contemporary Spanish films across North America. For the second year, Vancity Theatre will host this series of films in Vancouver from February 22 to 28.

Co-presented by VIFF, Iberoamerican Images, PRAGDA, and the Embassy of Spain in Ottawa, the 2013 Festival includes some of the riskiest and most original movies of the year.

  The festival line-up will include:
- Madrid, a sensual and intelligent encounter between two very different generations, directed by David Trueba
- Wilaya, a window into the lives of a Sahrawi family living in a Saharan refugee camp, directed by Pedro Perez Rosado
- The Double Steps (Los Pasos Dobles), Isaki Lacuesta’s beautifully shot award-winning film
- Sleep Tight (Mientras Duermes), the latest chiller by mastermind of suspense Jaume Balagueró
- Opening Gala presentation Blancanieves, Pablo Berger’s tribute to silent film – a brilliant retelling of Snow White, propelled by Flamenco rhythms

Blancanieves has received multiple nominations for the 2013 Goya Awards and was Spain’s entry for the Best Foreign Language Film at this year’s American Academy Awards.

Visit the Vancity website for schedules and to reserve tickets.
Jan24

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Vancity Theatre: February Cinema Salon

Posted in: Events, Movies, Vancouver

Each month, Melanie Friesen invites a distinguished guest to Vancity Theatre’s Cinema Salon, in order to present his/her favourite film. After the screening, both audience and speaker have the opportunity to engage over drinks and snacks in the Vancity lounge. This month’s film is Pier Paolo Pasolini’s Mamma Roma.

Anna Magnani, possibly the finest actress of Italian neo-realism, is Mamma Roma, celebrating her break from prostitution by inviting herself to her pimp’s wedding. Now freed from her life of abuse and humiliation, Mamma Roma brings her teenage son back to Rome to give him a better life. But her past returns and the struggle for survival in post-war Italy encapsulates Pasolini’s fascination with the marginalized and the dispossessed.
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Jan17

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Diana Vreeland: The Eye Has to Travel

Posted in: Events, Fashion, Movies, Vancouver

In her own words, Diana Vreeland (1903-1989) had the “extraordinary luck to be born in Paris,” a fitting birthplace for a woman who went on to dictate the sartorial zeitgeist for much of her lifetime. Both the inventor and embodiment of the term “pizzazz“, Vreeland cut a striking figure with a distinctive bob, almost masculine features and an inimitable drawl.

Starting out as a columnist for Harper’s Bazaar in the late 1930s, Vreeland’s flamboyant, tongue-in-cheek column “Why Don’t You?” quickly established her irreverent, extravagant persona. Going on to on to become the magazine’s fashion editor, and later making Vogue what it still is today, she would shape the fashion landscape of the 20th century, and in doing so, reshape the way women thought of themselves.

The Eye Has to Travel features luminaries such as David Bailey, Diane von Furstenberg, Oscar de la Renta, Anjelica Huston and many more. The documentary pays tribute to one of our greatest style mavens, directed by her granddaughter-in-law, Lisa Immordino Vreeland, blending archival material, interviews and animation with a chic, assured hand that would have met with the firm approval of its elegant subject.

Opening night will be introduced by Ivan Sayers, Vancouver’s foremost fashion historian.

The Eye Has to Travel
Screenings: Friday, January 25, 6:30 pm 
Saturday, January 26, 8:45 pm 
Sunday, January 27, 4:30 and 6:30 pm
 Monday, January 28, 6:30 pm
 Tuesday, January 29, 8:45 pm 
Thursday, January 31, 4 pm
Venue: Vancity Theatre, 1181 Seymour Street, Vancouver
Tickets: $9; $7, Cinephile Members; $5 Premium Members; may be purchased online
Attendees must present proof of VIFF membership ($12 per year, which includes one free ticket)
Dec21

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Vancity Theatre: January Cinema Salon

Posted in: Events, Movies, Vancouver

Each month, Melanie Friesen invites a distinguished guest to Vancity Theatre’s Cinema Salon, in order to present his/her favourite film. After the screening, both audience and speaker have the opportunity to engage over drinks and snacks in the Vancity lounge. This month’s film is Wim Wenders’ Wings of Desire.

Against the elegant melancholy of past and present Berlin, two angels wander unseen by humans. Since the beginning of time, they have observed and listened to Berliners’ thoughts, fears and dreams, sometimes trying to give hope and faith to those in despair.

One angel (Bruno Ganz) falls in love with a trapeze artist at a French circus who swings above the crowds like a spirit soaring to heaven. He wants to live a normal life “to be excited by a meal, the curve of a neck…”. Will he give up the eternal?

This month’s Cinema Salon is hosted by Professor Anthony Shelton, the Director of the Museum of Anthropology at UBC since 2004. Born in Britain, Professor Shelton is a distinguished curator, anthropologist, administrator, and teacher. Additionally, he’s a leader in museology, cultural criticism, and the anthropology of art and aesthetics. He has been published on topics from Chinese puppets in the collections of the Brighton Museum and Art Gallery to Western constructions of tropes of otherness: fetishism, primitivism and exoticism.

Vancity Cinema Salon with Anthony Shelton Presents Wings of Desire
Date: Tuesday, January 8, 7:30 pm
Venue: Vancity Theatre, 1181 Seymour Street, Vancouver
Tickets: $13.00; may be purchased online