A scene from Sylvia Button's Sustainability: A Common Unity

Short cuts - October 2

Green Movies

When Open Cinema kicks off their sixth season this week, not only will they be presenting the latest in their always-fascinating and frequently challenging film screenings, but they’ll be entering a new phase by teaming up with local indie-film resource centre MediaNet. “We really turned a corner this past summer and are very thrilled to be joining forces with MediaNet,” says Open Cinema executive director Mandy Leith. After five years of using innovative films as a tool for community engagement, Leith says they found themselves in a situation where Open Cinema’s programming was expanding—56 films screened to over 6,500 viewers since 2003—but the organization itself was still too small to receive core organizational funding. The solution? Team up with MediaNet.

“It won’t change the name or the calibre of the unique experience,” she explains. “And MediaNet has a precedent with Grace Salez’s Dance for the Camera and their Edges festival, so it just seemed like a natural fit; if all goes well, by this time next year Open Cinema will be a program of MediaNet.”

For a taste of things to come, check out this week’s Eco Doc screening, wherein 17 emerging filmmakers have spent the past three weeks mentoring with MediaNet members in creating a baker’s dozen of short environmental films. “The subjects range from personal stories about living a sustainable life to a partial underwater documentary about marine life off Ogden Point,” says MediaNet’s Kirk Schwartz. “There’s even a ‘future documentary’ set in Victoria in 2017, and I’m not quite sure what’s going to come out of that one.” Schwartz says most of them will be about five-to-seven minutes in length. “We’ve put them through their paces in focusing their stories, so they’re not wandering out with gigantic topics that were undoable. We’re expecting compelling documentaries that examine ecology from local aspects but with international ramifications.”

But more than just a screening night, the Eco Doc program will also feature an open-forum discussion featuring Liberal candidate Briony Penn, Green Party candidate Andrew Lewis and possibly an NDP candidate as well, although that was uncertain as of press time. Alas, sitting Conservative MP Gary Lunn—who, as Canada’s minister of natural resources, should welcome the opportunity to attend, had failed to respond to his invitation to participate (what a surprise)—but the evening will be moderated by mayoral candidate Dean Fortin. “The films will be about all kinds of issues, so the audiences can then ask the candidates about that and what we can be doing about it all,” says Leith. “It’s an opportunity for everybody to talk about the issues that are on the tip of everybody’s tongue.”

But if you’re particularly keen, don’t wait until the last minute to show up—Leith says their April event packed out the Victoria Event Centre, with more than 250 people attending. “It was unfortunate in that we had to turn over 50 people away,” she laughs, “but it was a fantastic event.”

Can’t make it this week? Don’t fret—there are half-a-dozen Canadian documentaries on Open Cinema’s playlist this year, including Escape From Suburbia, Tableland, Addicted to Plastic and Blue Gold.

Also worth noting this week is Movie Monday’s Mental Illness Awareness Week and Homeless Action Week screenings and panel discussion. In addition to their regular Monday-night showcase (this week it’s The Schoolhouse and The Devil Plays Hardball), the Progressive Recovery Group will be hosting a screening of Out of the Shadow and in-depth discussion on the causes of homelessness as well as looking at some concrete solutions at 7 p.m. Tuesday, October 7, at St. John the Divine (at Quadra and Mason). The event will feature Vancouver housing advocate and Homeless Outreach Project founder Judy Graves, who has been helping people find a way off the streets for the past 30 years, plus Rev. Al Tysick and CBC’s All Points West host Jo-Ann Roberts, who will be emceeing the event. See moviemonday.ca for complete details.