Eye Candy Friday and more

There are lots of things that might make interesting photos in the Downtown Eastside, but I am not bold enough to take pictures of them. I was down near there for Doxa films, and found this painted wall, which was much easier to capture. 

I also found the big W from Woodwards! There is a bright red W in the sky, but the original is on the ground in a courtyard near where I was watching movies. 

Great movies seen since I last wrote: Singing Back the Buffalo, about, uh, the return of the buffalo to the prairies of both Canada and the US. Red Fever, so good! About the influence of Indigenous people on fashion, sport, politics and environmental issues in North America and beyond. And, a bunch of shorts, especially Am I the Skinniest Person You've Ever Seen? and The Archive: Queer Nigerians.

This is the problem with blogging: I spent all day watching these movies, and I just don't have the oomph to do more than find a link here. But, you should really try and see Red Fever, it was good! 

Just like the old days

I was standing in line to get in to a film festival movie last night, and thought back to the lineups at TIFF or HotDocs in years gone by. I was even knitting a hat.

This festival is Doxa, a documentary fest. It happens a week or so after HotDocs in Toronto, and on the edge of the continent. I am not sure how these festivals work, but there is very little overlap in content. (Everyone here is looking forward to Yintah, which won the audience award at HotDocs.)

I was ushering, and able to watch the Zola Experience. It's the story of a woman putting on a play, but it's also the play, and the movie, and the rehearsals, so the lines between documentary and fiction are blurred. Is she really in love with him, or playing that on stage, or both? 

Another ushering shift gave me Union, which was one I had been hoping to see. It was a great story, and well told without narration or experts chiming in, but I was not as gripped as I had anticipated. The leader of the gang working to unionize is not especially likeable, and people going to work doesn't make for stunning visuals. I couldn't stay for the Q&A because I was supposed to be working, so I didn't hear the latest news. 

Yesterday I got to use two of my volunteer vouchers and saw movies back to back: The Movie Man and Années en Parenthèses 2020-2022. (You can click something on the top of that page to get English text.)

The Movie Man was the best so far! My Toronto-area friends might know of the Highlands Cinemas, a 5-screen cinema in the middle of nowheres-ville, Ontario. This movie, started before Covid messed everything up, shows us the man behind the crazy idea to build a theatre in a town of 300 people. We all love a single-minded, cat-loving guy, dealing with the unforeseen troubles we each had to deal with in our own little ways. Really fun, and of course locals should take the drive to Kinmount to watch it. 

Années en Parenthèses 2020-2022 was a mish-mash of visuals, poetry, politics from around the world, beautiful images... The director was locked down in Montreal during the pandemic, and unlike a painter or a writer, a movie-maker needs someone else to film and interact with to make a movie. So she asked friends and acquaintances from around the world to send her images or texts, and she carefully edited things down into a pretty cohesive movie. I was expecting something about Montreal, but I got Lebanon and Algeria and Portland, Oregon, Black Lives Matter, Jean-Luc Godard and more. Worth seeing. 

Today, no volunteer shifts and no movies. I am back in action tomorrow morning at 8:45 am!

Art on Friday

Today Stephen set up his booth at the local community centre art show. 

Tonight is a reception (actually, I believe they call it a vernissage) and then the show is on all weekend. 

He invited lots of people to come tonight, so that should be fun. A bit of free wine and cheese and check out everyone else's art, and then perhaps dinner out somewhere. 

I'd better link to his art pages, right? Here is Flickr and here is Instagram. 

Back in town

We started off our last day on Galiano at Bellhouse Park, a little provincial park near the "town." There were gorgeous rocks to wander over, great views of Active Pass and hidden in those trees, an eagle's nest. 

We took our bubble wand. Bubbles are hard to photograph but fun to look at. 

Our next stop was Bodega Ridge, which looks like a straight line on the map but while it may be straightish in one dimension, it goes up and down quite a bit! 

This is a camas lily. A bit rare, quite lovely. 

And this is the view from up top! Beautiful sea and sky and clouds and trees and all that. Even a few birds were hovering around off the cliff. 

A lilac in the ferry terminal parking lot, and then home. 

Things are heating up here: Stephen will be at the Art In The City show down the street this weekend, and next week is the DOXA festival. Stay tuned!