@ www.theotherpress.ca

 

A PuSh in the right direction

The PuSh festival is back, and bigger than ever

By Angela Espinoza, Arts Editor

pparently there’s a new city
At never sleeps, because

not even two weeks into
the new year and already there’s a
festival coming up in Vancouver.
Next Tuesday, January 17, the PuSh
International Performing Arts
Festival will be entering its seventh
consecutive year as a multimedia
arts festival. As their delightful
promo video states, PuSh is about
“finding that line that some are
afraid to cross, and crossing it
anyway’ —in an artistic sense, of
course.

PuSh began in 2003 as an
effort to put on various theatre
performances throughout the
month of January. By 2005 though,
it became its own charitable festival,
branching out to include artists of
multidisciplinary backgrounds.
From Canada all the way to
Japan, over a hundred shows are
performed internationally as part
of the PuSh festival, which include
works of theatre, dance, music, and
anything in-between.
This year’s festival will be

taking place over three weeks,
again, from January 17 through
February 4. There are 17 main

acts presented, along with a large
number of additional performances,
including concerts at the Club PuSh
venue. Of the main events, the Latin
show Amarillo will be performed

by Teatro Linea de Sombra,

a renowned Mexican touring
ensemble of theatre performers.
Another international theatre
performance includes Hot Pepper,
Air Conditioner and the Farewell
Speech, a deadpan office space dark
comedy put on by the Japanese
theatre group chelfitsch.

Film is explored with
presentations of English films The
Solo and Ensemble, both premiering
in Canada at the same event, which
will be hosted by their filmmaker
Andrew Cross, who will also be
providing Q&A. Another English
production will include Guided Tour,
which will be an artist roundtable
hosted by Peter Reder. There will
also be art galleries, such as The
Pixelated Revolution: a look at the
world through virtual means.

The Lebanese artist Rabih Mroué,

Fe * as ;
@ Aboriginal ae f

who is also an actor, director, and
playwright, will be in attendance
for a meet and greet of the gallery
showing.

Homegrown material, on
the other hand, includes Do You
Want What I Have Got? A Craigslist
Cantata, by Bill Richardson and
Veda Hille. The show, to put it
simply, is a musical comedy about
the odd things that can be found
on Craigslist. Local musician Eve
Egoyan will be part of this year’s
Music on Main, which highlights
post-classical artists, performing

 

Simple Lines of Enquiry on the piano.

To check out the full list of
performances and dates (far too
many than can be covered here),
head over to the PuSh website or
pick up the program guide from
any JJ Bean. Tickets for all shows
are individually priced; if you’re
aiming to see a couple, this can get
pretty pricy, so get in on the PuSh
Pass or Group Sales deals while you
still can.

For more information, visit
www.pushfestival.ca

 

Everyone’s a critic

What exactly does the Vancouver Film Critic Circle offer?

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By Angela Espinoza, Arts Editor

onday marked the 12th
annual Vancouver Film
Critics Circle Awards

ceremony. At the time this article
was written though, they hadn’t
happened yet—not that it really
affected the end result. Each year
the Awards get enough buzz in
local media that it provides for
something to talk about, but other
than that, I can’t help questioning
the concept behind the “ceremony,”
if you could even call it that.

necessarily Canadian; for example,
Watchmen (2009) takes place in New
York, but instead of paying the cost
of filming there, Warner Bros. was
able to achieve ‘New York ona
budget’ here.

With all that in mind, the VFCC
make an annual shortlist of the best
in local and international films. This
shortlist, however, often feels like a
mishmash of greatly varying works,
considering major blockbusters
(almost always filling the
“international” bill) are pitted side-
by-side against “major” Canadian

“With all the prominent film programs offered in BC, not to mention
a pricy little dream factory known as the Vancouver Film School, is
finding an annual slew of quality local films really that difficult?”

It shouldn’t be any mystery
at this point that Vancouver has a
thriving film industry—one of the
biggest in North America. Filming
occurs so often down there (and
throughout BC, for that matter)
that it’s virtually impossible
not to walk into the middle of a
filming site every now and again.
Then of course there are the film
studios, such as the aptly named
Vancouver Film Studios and Lion’s
Gate. In any case, a fair portion
of the productions at work aren’t

films, with separate categories for
BC films. The whole set-up just
feels odd, not aided by the fact that
the nominations and winners are
announced not even a week apart
from each other.

So you’re probably wondering
what exactly my problem with all
this is. Well for starters, an event
where I’d assume the top film
critics in BC gather together for a
ceremony of this type should be a
bigger deal. It’s no question either
that the inclusion of “international”

films (almost always American)
doesn’t really help the cause. For
instance, this year’s nominations for
Best Canadian Film include Starbuck
and Small Town Murder Songs—
exciting for people who recognize
those films, but that excitement

is easily trumped by the Best
International Film nominations,
which include soon-to-be Oscar
contenders Tree of Life and The
Artist.

Don’t get me wrong, I
understand the inclusion of
international films; after all, it’s
whatever the critics liked. What I
think should be of priority though
are the Canadian films, especially
BC films. The VFCC Awards aren’t
going to compete with the Genies
(Canada’s Academy Awards-
equivalent), so why not focus
even closer to home? With all the
prominent film programs offered
in BC, not to mention a pricy
little dream factory known as the
Vancouver Film School, is finding
an annual slew of quality local films
really that difficult? Considering
last year’s Vancouver International
Film Festival had over 30 Canadian
feature-length films to offer, I kind
of doubt it.

Not to end on a sour note, but a
website of some sort for the VFCC
might also be a good investment for
the future.

7