Indigenous royalty of past and present: Jeremy Dutcher and Alanis Obomsawin share powerful stories through music
Jeremy Dutcher and Alanis Obomsawin | VIFF Live | Chan Centre for the Performing Arts | October 4, 2024 “We’re in the presence of Indigenous royalty,” said Jeremy Dutcher. Renowned Abenaki filmmaker Alanis Obomsawin, 92 years young, made a rare appearance to perform songs from Bush Lady, her only record, which has been performed live just three times since its release in 1988. As Obomsawin took the stage in a bright red dress, the crowd rose to their feet to pay their respects. Accompanied by a talented ensemble of musicians, she sang with a depth of emotion that only her
Art, activism, and plenty of intrigue in Secret Mall Apartment
Secret Mall Apartment | Vancouver International Film Festival | September 26 – October 6, 2024 Have you ever wondered what it would be like to live at the mall? It has probably crossed most of our minds at some point. Artist Michael Townsend managed to make it a reality, complete with smuggled-in furniture and a secret entrance. Luckily for director Jeremy Workman, Townsend and seven of his friends documented their experience on film from 2003-2007. This original footage is beautifully woven with interviews that provide deeper context and rich memories. The film is about so much more than pulling off an elaborate
Elisapie’s Uvattini fills the Chan Centre with beautiful language and landscapes
Uvattini | Elisapie | VIFF Live | Chan Centre for the Performing Arts | September 28, 2024 The breathtaking beauty of landscape and language fills the theatre as Elisapie swishes her long, large-shouldered, fringed dress and sings covers of popular songs in Inuktitut while footage of Nunavik fills a screen behind her. The multimedia show is moving, deeply personal, and full of powerful songs, “not just songs I stole from white people,” Elisapie laughs. After opening with “Uummati Attanarsimat” (Heart of Glass by Blondie) and “Taimangalimaaq” (Time After Time by Cyndi Lauper) from her latest album Inuktitut, which was shortlisted
Follow the music: The Tempest Project leads audiences on a journey of discovery
The Tempest Project presented by Music on Main July 17 – 22, 2024 | The Vancouver Playhouse On an island full of magic and intrigue, the characters of Shakespeare’s The Tempest are on a journey of discovery — of the island itself, and of themselves. Audiences that arrive at The Vancouver Playhouse for The Tempest Project will find themselves in a similar position. Although the venue may be familiar, the way in which it’s used for this production is anything but. After choosing one of six colour-coded adventures, groups of up to twenty audience members follow the corresponding glowing wand
The Mirror reveals contemporary circus at its best
The Mirror by Gravity and Other Myths presented by DanceHouse and The Cultch January 24 – 27 | Vancouver Playhouse A hand reaches through the black stage curtain, fumbling as it tries to turn on a boombox. Giving up on that, the body attached to the hand emerges from behind the curtain and moves the boombox, which is perched atop a stand, to sit in front of a microphone. As singer Megan Drury pauses on a catchy song on the radio, the curtains open to reveal the rest of the company performing various dance moves or acrobatic tricks. With an improvisational,