Member Films

DIL PUNJABI (2010)

by Krishnendu Das aka Babukishan

Based on the true stories of new immigrants in Canada

Dil Punjabi is a story of new Punjabi immigrants coming to British Columbia. I myself  immigrated from the Punjab in 1984, I understand the challenges immigrant young people can have, and I welcome Babukishan in presenting a Bollywood style documentary film based on a true story, of how difficult it can be for young people to immigrate, and integrate into Canada successfully.  Canada is a wonderful country with a multitude of opportunity, it is important to know there are resourses, that will assist a young person, when they need help with peer pressure, bullying, drugs or gangs. This is a story of a young man named Happy Singh, who gets involved in fast money, a fast life. It is a story about new immigrants form Punjab India, and the dangers of getting involved in the wrong crowd.. It is a story about racism, peer pressure, about wanting money, respect, and running after false glamour.  As parents we should know where your teens are, ask your teens, and young adults where they are going, who they are hanging out with. Gangs provide a sense of belonging and acceptance. A young person may feel isolated, may act out against bullying, Please talk to your kids and try to understand, they may be going through something that you never considered or had to face in your homeland.

-Sukh Dhaliwal Liberal Member of Parliament for Newton, North Delta, B.C.

Babukishan is a multi-talented Bollywood Film-maker, and Music Director, he is presenting a film as a message to all that this is a beautiful country full of opportunity, try to integrate and be proud to be Indian but also proud to be Canadian, and respect this multi-cultural country, it can give you a better life.

Guido Superstar: The Rise of Guido (2010)

by Silvio Pollio

Screwball comedy fans, your cup runneth over: this movie has fake identities, funny wigs, wacky characters and plot twists galore, all put across with delightful aplomb and infectious humour. Writer-director Silvio Pollio plays Guido, an illegal immigrant from Sicily who has just lost his job as a disco ballet dancer. Facing poverty and possible deportation, he runs into what first appears to be a stroke of luck. Two law enforcement agents approach him with an offer he can't refuse: he can stay in Canada if he agrees to go undercover against the local drug trade, impersonating a Sicilian mobster.

What follows is a madcap romp through the underworld, with enough pratfalls, slapstick and cheeky ethnic humour to fill two movies. Guido isn't the brightest of guys, but he's got a big heart, lots of guts and excellent fighting chops - ingredients enough for a great comic action hero. The film features a colourful cast of con men, cops, dope dealers and dupes, and they're all folded seamlessly into a smooth but surprising story. Performances are top-notch, with Pollio going wonderfully over the top as the hearty, hapless Guido and Terry Chen exuding warmth and menace in scary combination as drug lord Andrew Cho.

I'm in the Mood for Love (2010)

by Jason Karman

A singing telegram worker meets his ex boyfriend while having hot pot and learns to embrace his newfound bachelorhood through popular song.

Poodle Dog Ornamental Bar (2010)

by Julia Feyrer

Julia Feyrer’s Poodle Dog Ornamental Bar was many things: a contingent art space, a film set, a historical recreation, a speakeasy, a party space, a site-specific installation, and a venue for music, readings, and screenings. Feyrer recreated an 1898 Gastown bar by the same name constructed out of cedar bark, flotsam and jetsam. In the present day version, you could buy a glass of homemade apple wine for a dollar. The Poodle Dog functioned as a space for just shy of two months and, while it lasted, it felt revitalizing. Contrary to the rumors circulating, it did not meet an untimely end due of the cruel, yet unfortunately legal, eviction of the residents of 536; the Poodle Dog was only supposed to last for the summer.

The Strange Case of Dr. Victor von Dictor (2010)

by John A. Woods

In this remarkable parody of early melodrama, a snake oil salesman finds money, romance and intrigue in a remote town when his "Miracle tonic" actually cure the Mayor's ailing daughter.

"Dixie’s Death Pool" live at The Railway Club (2009)

by Michael Edillor

A documentary of the band “Dixie’s Death Pool” performing for one night at the Railway Club.

A Man Who Reads A Lot (2009)

by Sebnem Koyuncu

‘A Man who reads a lot’ is an experimental short film which draws attention to subconscious process of being creative.  It is about a writer who is blocked; lost in his favorite writers’ books and styles that he is under influence.  The writer’s fears, concerns and pain unexpectedly transform into his muse. 

Art Show (2009)

by Alex Lasheras

An artist, Rebecca, goes on retreat to a remote cabin with her cousin and daughter, Charlotte and Jess, to finish some paintings for an upcoming art exhibit. She has premonitions of an unsettling woodsman, Dennis, only to later meet him in the forest. Rebecca is disturbed to learn that the man has been spending time with her family.

Bored Game (2009)

by Christopher Fehr

In a dystopian city riddled with government surveillance and anti-social propaganda, the corporate masses perform their mundane daily routines in isolation. Resisting the culture of privacy and paranoia, a lonely office worker secretly takes steps to obtain an illicit multi-player board game. Starring Trevor Mason, Francisco Cano Granda.

Cat Swallows Parakeet And Speaks! (2009)

by Ileana Pietrobruno

A gothic romp through a crumbling hospital.

The last time you saw a tabloid, maybe the headline read “Man Gives Birth to Nine-Pound Baby Girl”, or perhaps “Melt Fat Away As You Eat Your Favorite Foods!”. Taking such absurd claims as its starting point, Cat Swallows Parakeet And Speaks! puts the Arabian Nights saga through a surreal feminist revision.

In the classic tale, a mythical character must tell stories to survive a man who is trying to murder her and all other women. In this version, Scheherazade is a strikingly beautiful model recovering in the hospital after an ulcer operation. She becomes increasingly convinced that her inept doctor, aptly named Dr. Storey, is trying to kill her and the only way to survive is to tell him stories. Yet she is at a loss for words.

As Scheherazade’s stay is prolonged, she grows desperate for tales and seeks the help of Kore, a trashy, tabloid-reading fellow patient. Initially irritated by Kore’s willingness to believe whatever the rags print, Scheherazade gets drawn in by her need for a few good yarns. Slowly the two women grow closer, telling the preposterous tales from the tabloids in an effort to escape Dr. Storey. Meanwhile, the hospital around them is turned inside-out by the very characters whose stories they have been relating.

Beautifully shot in the abandoned building of a former insane asylum, Cat Swallows Parakeet And Speaks! combines B&W, colour, and Hi8 images, along with great performances to stunning results.

RAVE REVIEWS:

An intriguing experimental narrative that explores female body issues within the bounds of expressionist whimsy. The mixed morbidity, fantasticism, and quirky humor works surprisingly well. Pietrobruno has a real eye, with handsomely composed imagery. Atmosphere is dreamlike, often poetical … (with) several oddly sensuous set-pieces. –Dennis Harvey, Variety

A gothic romp through a crumbling hospital. Pietrobruno corrals the many elements into a gorgeous decaying whole using experimental film and video techniques with successful narrative effect. She brings together the female archetypes and lets them run around until the categories delightfully deconstruct. –Zoe Druick, Exclaim

Replete with lesbians, anorexics, necrophilic undertones and a deluge of menstrual blood, Pietrobruno’s febrile fable contains enough raw passion to ignite the sensibilities of even the most faded feminists. –Digmore Graves, Keller Report

Empowerment can come from the most unlikely places. Like, say, supermarket tabloids. Pietrobruno stacks this low-brow deck with allusions to classic fairytales and shuffles the cards thoroughly. As you might guess, Cat Swallows Parakeet And Speaks!  is a visually intense work. –Peter Chattaway, Ubyssey

Takes up issues of female body image in an unforgettable visual spectacle … a skillful parody-pastiche … an amazing new explosion of a film … spins a stylish, nightmare world that lets no viewer escape from its web. –Elyssa Faison, Tokyo Review

Part feminist fable, part surreal dream, and part horror flick … beautiful. –Liz Czach, Toronto Film Festival 

If your diet has been running lately toward the easily chewed, facing a 75 mins. plateful of oddly angled B&W posturing can be a jaw-tightener. But there’s a wise and witty heart beating beneath the initial pallor this film presents. –Kelly M. Brian, Just Out

 Startling, hallucinatory beauty. –Dale E. Basye, Portland News and Culture

One of the most drop-dead gorgeous movies ever made in Vancouver … a dizzyingly ambitious experimental drama … the apocalyptic production design is breathtaking … a filmmaker of decidedly distinctive vision. –Jim Sinclair, Pacific Cinematheque