Racism and Cultural Appropriation in the Arts: Screening, Workshop, and Panel with Simone Blais

On March 24-25 2021, Vancouver Short Film Festival is partnering with the CineVic Society of Independent Filmmakers for our first event in the VSFF On The Road series:

Racism and Cultural Appropriation in the Arts: Screening, Workshop, and Panel with Simone Blais

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Wednesday March 24th / 6:30pm via ZOOM
Short Documentary Screening and Discussion with Simone Blais
In this workshop, watch the 30 minute film Dance Like Everybody’s Watching, which explores the lives of Black dancers in Victoria, BC (Songhees, Esquimalt, W̱SÁNEĆ territories). After this private viewing, participate in a facilitated discussion with the director and other participants. This is the perfect opportunity for people looking to work though themes of cultural appropriation and inclusion in the dance community and is ideal for artists and non-artists of any background. If you are interested in community-building and anti-racism, this workshop is for you!

REGISTER VIA GOOGLE FORMS: https://forms.gle/V89FDvUwyrxsR8cE9

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Thursday March 25th / 6:30pm via Facebook Live
Filmmaker Panel featuring Peruzzo, Andy Hodgson, Adhel Arop
Moderated by Simone Blais, this panel will further the conversation begun in the screening and workshop, and explore the intersection of these themes with the work and career of local filmmakers.

ACCESS ON MARCH 25TH VIA FACEBOOK LIVE: https://www.facebook.com/events/2632082723748643/

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Simone Blais is a dancer, doula, director and aspiring midwife. She is a recent UVic Gender Studies graduate whose work focuses on decolonizing the dance community and reproductive justice for marginalized communities. In the past 5 years, she has worked with the Nesting Doula Collective, and the Native Youth Sexual Health Network, delivering workshops about reproductive justice. She is also the director and producer of the documentary Dance Like Everybody’s Watching, which highlights the experiences of Black dancers in ‘Victoria’. Find about more at simone-blais.com About Dance Like Everybody’s Watching: Dance Like Everybody’s Watching follows three Black dancers in Victoria, BC as they expose their worlds of flamenco, hip hop, and dancehall. While the dancers grapple with racism, tokenism, and stereotypes, we are reminded that dance is always political. This short film deals with themes of cultural appropriation in dance and is uniquely a BC production. 100% of the production, cast and crew are based in Victoria, BC. Dance Like Everybody’s Watching is funded by Storyhive and Creative BC.

About VSFF On The Road: The Vancouver Short Film Festival is excited to announce VSFF ON THE ROAD: an online event series connecting filmmakers across the province while staying apart. Sponsored by Creative BC. VSFF is proud to partner with film organizations province-wide and connect with communities outside of Vancouver as we create unique educational and professional development opportunities for filmmaking in British Columbia.

Matt Stern at OUTstages After Dark

Raucous cabaret numbers. Fabulous performance art. High camp. Heartfelt music. This weekend, we’re back at the theatre bringing OUTstages After Dark | Cabaret Livestream Series to your screens. Join us at 8pm on Facebook and Instagram as we go live from the stage at The Metro Studio.

Friday night is singer/songwriter Matt Stern with an intimate solo set, performing an all-request livestream. Matt Stern is known for infectious melodies, uplifting energy, and an ability to inspire a sense of community in a diverse crowd. Published for Precious and Sacred, a book dedicated to Indigenous children, and featured twice on Queerty.com, Matt performs in Japanese, French, English and Spanish and has been featured in Exclaim!, Italy’s Periodico Daily and on Let’s Go There (Channel Q) in Los Angeles. His new album, Take It or Leave It, was released in January 2020 on all platforms and its first music video, Full Moon, was screened at the Victoria Film Festival in February. That same week, the first single Don’t Tell Me was syndicated on CBC and picked up by shows across the country while French singles Dans mes rêves and Droit devant were broadcast on Radio-Canada. A recent feature in Addicted Magazine characterized Matt’s new album as “beautiful music that makes you feel seen and safe.”

Edie Daponte’s Valentine to You – Hermann’s Jazz Club

Live streaming from Hermann’s Jazz Club in Victoria, join celebrated singer/songwriter, Edie Daponte and her band for a heartfelt concert featuring originals and love songs from around the world. Edie brings the element of surprise to every show! Her range and repertoire travel far and wide crossing musical genres and spanning multiple decades and languages. With Ashley Wey on keys, Damian Graham on drums, Joey Smith on bass and guitar and Richard Moody on violin you’ll fall in love.
You can donate directly to the musicians and this venue at ArtsOnView.ca/Donate

How to (Safely) Shoot Your Indie Film During a Pandemic

Have you been chomping at the bit to get cameras rolling on your next film project, but feel bogged down by isolation and public health guidelines?

CineVic presents How to (Safely) Shoot Your Indie Film During a Pandemic — an informative panel of local Victoria talent who have tackled the challenge of film production during Covid-19 restrictions over the past several months. Five experienced filmmakers will divulge the trials and tribulations of managing a distanced cast and crew without sacrificing the quality of your cinematic storytelling. They’ll also give some hot tips on how to follow protocols and resources published by WorksafeBC, ActSafe, DOC, CreativeBC, and others (hint: it’s more than masks, sanitizer, and six feet of space!)

Wednesday January 20th 2021 @ 7:00pm on Zoom

FREE for CineVic Members
(Email us at office@cinevic.ca to get the Zoom link)

$25 for Non-Members
(Register on Eventbrite – the Zoom link will be sent in your ticket confirmation email)

Meet our panelists:

Tamara Tulloch is currently serving as a Covid Compliance Officer/Health and Safety Supervisor for Air Bud Entertainment and Lighthouse Pictures inc. With 10 years as a set medic/craft service and the last 4 years as a paramedic and dispatcher for BC Ambulance – being able to tap into “insider knowledge” in the early days was vital to understanding the path and transmission of this virus in our midst. With an extensive education background in OH&S, in May 2020 she was asked to be at the forefront of covid protocol creation and implementation for the film/television/performance art industry and by late June was boots on the ground building Compliance and Enforcement teams all over the province. She is currently completing her 17th show in the Covid Era as lead for Covid Health and Safety with 3 more productions trained, crewed and beginning in the next month.

Libby Kaul has been involved in the indie film scene on Vancouver Island since 2016. She has a background in corporate administration and education but was drawn to the intense team environment of a working film crew while chaperoning her son to film sets in Vancouver and Los Angeles. She produced her first UBCP Ultra Low Budget short MIA in 2017 which won an Award of Distinction at the Canada Short Film Festival. She also produced Bump in the Night which debuted at the Telluride Horror Show in 2019. ​Libby was Location Manager for the short film version of All-In Madonna and worked as Second Assistant Director on the feature film Open for Submissions. During the pandemic, Libby has been advising on Covid Safety Plans and monitoring on-set regulations on local indie film productions.

Lukas Hanulak is a writer and director for film & television based in Victoria, BC. He was born in former Czechoslovakia, where his longtime passion for visual and emotional storytelling began, and where he has directed a dozen crime/drama series for major film and TV producers. As a writer, he co-created the award-winning film The Good Death, a story about voluntary assisted dying, that aired on many worldwide TV markets. He is a member of the Directors Guild of Canada, and his first Canadian production – the short film Empty Spaces – was made in December 2020, right in the middle of the pandemic.

Joyce Kline is a 2017 Leo Award winning Production Designer with a passion for visual storytelling. Formally trained as a visual artist, she draws on wide-ranging experience as a writer, playwright, dancer, home stager, theatre designer and storyboard artist. Joyce has exhibited across Canada and in Finland, had theatre pieces produced and workshopped in Victoria, Vancouver, and Toronto, received Ontario, Toronto and Canada Council visual arts grants, danced in Canada, England and France and taught drawing and visual narrative at Victoria College of Art. Her short film Cancelled Stamp, which she wrote, directed and co-produced in the midst of the pandemic, is currently in post production.

Justus Lowry was born to independent filmmakers and grew up exposed to cinema and making videos. After a Computer Animation program at The Centre For Digital Imaging and Sound (now the Art Institute of Burnaby), he spent half a decade doing freelance graphic design and photography before starting his own freelance media company in 2007, producing websites, advertisements, music videos, corporate videos, and TV commercials. Since then, he’s produced a variety of short culinary documentaries and two short documentaries about cacao. In early 2020 the international production of his first feature film about the chocolate industry was interrupted due to the pandemic, but he pushed through and the project is currently in post-production.

Hermann’s Jazz Club’s Virtual Christmas-Concert Gathering

Hermann’s Jazz Club from Victoria, BC, is hosting a Christmas Eve/Christmas Day multi-artist show by live cast! Featuring over 50 musicians pre-recorded from the club through-out December, the segment will be live streamed on YouTube. Musicians, families and audiences across the globe will be able to share the spirit of the holidays together in this virtual gathering and message their love to family/friends in distant (or down the block) living rooms through YouTube chat.

You’ll hear world-renowned musicians such as pianist Pablo Cardenas, whose varied styles are influenced by his Latin and Cuban heritage; David Vest, five-time winner of Canada’s national Maple Blues Award for Piano Player of the Year; Black Canadian Award’s Best Jazz and Soul Artist winner, Maureen Washington, and many more! In the spirit of giving and sharing music, viewer donations will go directly to Music Heals – a worthy charity dedicated to raising funds and awareness for music therapy in Canada.

Connect with our community this holiday on YouTube live stream and share in a musical experience from wherever you are.

Tune in at https://www.youtube.com/c/HermannsJazzClubLive/videos

We’ll Meet Again: Edie Daponte & Joey Smith

Livestream Concert from Sid Williams Theatre in Courtenay, BC
featuring Edie Daponte and Joey Smith duo

During the Second World War, the voices of singers Vera Lynn, Edith Piaf, and Marlene Dietrich offered comfort and hope to forces and civilians alike.

Vancouver Island singer/songwriter Edie DaPonte pays homage to their classic songs with her soaring and stirring vocal renditions. With the versatile and remarkably talented Joey Smith on guitar, together they will transport you to the 1940s, promising a memorable musical journey into the past.

Join Edie and Joey for this intimate musical tribute to honour our veterans.