Village Gamer

Biz Books invites you to join them in supporting The Cinematheque as U.K.-based publisher Intellect Books launches the new book World Film Locations: Vancouver and celebrates Vancouver films and filmmakers by discussing the past, present, and future of the local industry. This free event will be held on May 16th at The Cinematheque, which is located at 1131 Howe Street, with a start time of 7:30pm. World Film Locations: Vancouver is currently available for pre-order ($20.00 CAD).

Attendees will hear a few words from Professor Colin Browne (School for the Contemporary Arts, Simon Fraser University), watch a show reel (edited by Vancouver filmmaker Flick Harrison) of film scenes analyzed in the new book, and join a discussion about Vancouver film led by a panel of film professionals hosted by Diane Burgess (Instructor in Film Studies, UBC) and including Loretta Sarah Todd (director, writer, producer at Nehiyawetan Productions) and Sharon McGowan (filmmaker and Associate Professor of Film Production, UBC).

The evening will end with drinks and conversation and another chance to see Vancouver writer and critic Michael Turner’s On Location 2: Four Double Bills, in which eight well-known Vancouver-made films are edited to remove everything from them but their Vancouver locales.

About the Book:

Vancouver, the fourth largest film and television production center in North America, has hosted Hollywood filmmakers from Robert Altman and Dennis Hopper to Jason Reitman and Brad Bird, and is home to independent talent such as Bruce Sweeney and Mina Shum. World Film Locations: Vancouver highlights the work of such Canadian filmmakers who have received less attention than they merit, whilst bringing insight into how so-called “runaway” productions from Hollywood use Vancouver to stand in for other locations, from Seattle, USA to Lagos, Nigeria.

Analyses of 38 different film scenes reveal the cinematic city in its myriad forms, while spotlight essays provide insight into the creativity and contradictions of Vancouver’s film industry throughout the ages. The essays examine the following topics: the masking of Vancouver’s indigenous stories in filmic representations of the city; Australian screenwriter James Clavell’s Vancouver-set debut The Sweet and the Bitter; Sylvia Spring’s Madeleine Is…, the first female-directed feature in Canada; and, Jonathan Kaplan’s The Accused, for which Jodie Foster won an Oscar. The volume presents Vancouver’s rich diversity and complexity, where magnificent marine and mountain views are both showcased and masked in a number of US television crime series, downtown landmarks provide the backdrop for thrilling sequences, and lesser-known neighbourhoods frame intriguing characters and plot-lines.

World Film Locations: Vancouver offers new perspectives on the west coast city and in doing so sheds further light upon the relationship between the movies and the metropolis.