Salt Spring Film Festival

2019 Film Festival – Profile: The Issue of Mr. O'Dell

The following article was written by Jennifer Cikaluk as part of a series of articles about filmmakers coming to the Salt Spring Film Festival on March 1-3, 2019. Filmmaker Rami Katz will be attending the festival and leading a discussion about the film following the screening. The Filmmaker series is sponsored by Mid island Co-op. THE ISSUE OF MR. O’DELL: An interview with Director Rami Katz Vancouver based filmmaker Rami Katz’s interest in the visual image first began with still photography. Then in a high school cinematography course, he found his new passion, filmmaking. He enrolled in the Simon Fraser University Film programme and later advanced his studies at UBC to receive his MFA in Film Production. His master thesis film, The Issue of Mr. O’Dell premiered in 2018 and has been very well received. To date he has directed and produced several short length documentaries and his films have been screened at film festivals around the world. The Issue of Mr. O’Dell is…

2019 Film Festival – Profile: Design Canada

The following article was written by Jennifer Cikaluk as part of a series about filmmakers coming to the Salt Spring Film Festival on March 1-3, 2019. Filmmaker Greg Durrell will be attending the festival and leading a discussion about his film following the screening. The Filmmaker series is sponsored by Mid Island Co-op. DESIGN CANADA: An interview with Director Greg Durrell Design Canada is a film which chronicles the becoming of Canada’s identity. When you take a look at Canadian iconic graphic design, it is easy to see Canada is one of the most well branded countries in the world. But where did it all begin? “Did Canadians design these symbols or in fact did these symbols design Canada” (Design Canada) Greg Durrell, a graphic designer and partner of a Vancouver based design firm, first became interested in graphic design in high school. He dreamed about being on the design team for the Olympic Games and eventually that is exactly what he did. Inspired by the de…

2019 Film Festival - Profile: Raven People Rising

The following article was written by Jennifer Cikaluk as part of a series of articles about filmmakers coming to the Salt Spring Film Festival on March 1-3, 2019. Filmmaker Andrea Palframan who resides on Salt Spring will be attending the festival and leading a discussion about the film following the screening. The Filmmaker series is sponsored by Mid Island Co-op RAVEN PEOPLE RISING: An interview with Director Andrea Palframan On October 13, 2016 the tug boat Nathan E. Stewart ran aground off the shores of the Heiltsuk people’s territory in one of the most pristine habitats in the world and one of the last and largest intact temperate rain forests on the planet. The Heiltsuk have been faithful stewards of this territory along the Central Coast of British Columbia for centuries. It’s a place where sea meets the land within the Great Bear Rain Forest. “Heiltsuk territory is a vast and beautiful place. It’s a place which I call home with all my relatives. My home consist…

2019 Salt Spring Film Festival - Program and Schedule

Welcome, one and all, to the 20th Anniversary of the Salt Spring Film Festival! We have a few special things planned for you to mark the occasion, so be sure to take a good look through the program this year. We have added an extra room to allow for more films and more repeat screenings. We know you love the extra value of discussing films with filmmakers. This year for the first time we will give the filmmakers a chance to interact not just with the audience but also with each other at Saturday’s Attending Filmmaker Discussion. The Friday gala is better than ever, with the return of the scrumptious gala hot dinner, plus celebratory wine, beer and special non-alcoholic drink. (And of course we are keeping the wildly popular popcorn, too!) We have also changed the Saturday/Sunday physical layout a little to ease congestion and make it quicker for you to access food and drink. Look for our new food area down the hall past the washrooms. Take a left from there to seek out a comfy …

2018 Salt Spring Film Festival Program and Schedule

The Salt Spring Film Festival Society is a non-profit charitable society incorporated in 2008, whose mission is to educate, inspire and activate our community through a Festival of independent documentary film from Canada and around the world. We present films that explore social justice, the environment, art and culture, politics and food security. Filmmakers are invited to the Festival to present their films and lead lively discussions. The Salt Spring Film Festival presents documentary film from Canada and around the world. We show films that explore social justice and human rights, the environment, LGBT and gender issues, First Nations, education, arts and culture, and more. 2018 Festival Program 2018 Festival Schedule

2018 Salt Spring Film Festival: Lund - End of the Road Filmmaker with Tai Uhlmann

The following article was written by Jennifer Cikaluk as part of a series of articles about filmmakers coming to the Salt Spring Film Festival on March 2-4, 2018. Filmmaker Tai Uhlmann along with Co-Director Theo Angell will be attending the festival and leading a discussion about the film following the screening. The Filmmaker series is sponsored by: Stonehouse B&B, Harbour House Hotel and Hastings House. LUND – End of the Road: Interview with Co-Director/Producer Tai Uhlmann Flash back to the sixties: the counterculture social revolution and a time of rebellion against the conservative norm. Youth were seeking greater individual freedom and exploring new expressions through music, drugs, clothing, and their sexuality. Many were politically disenfranchised and mistrusting of the government, bringing rise to the anti-Vietnam war movement in the United States. “It was a very hard time to be in America at the time. The feeling was either we had to get involved and tr…

2018 Salt Spring Film Festival: Meet Beau Dick - Maker of Monsters Filmmaker Natalie Boll

The following article was written by Jennifer Cikaluk as part of a series of articles about filmmakers coming to the Salt Spring Film Festival on March 2-4, 2018. Filmmaker Natalie Boll will be attending the festival and leading a discussion about the film following the screening. The Filmmaker series is sponsored by: Stonehouse B&B, Harbour House Hotel and Hastings House. Meet Beau Dick – Maker of Monsters: Interview with Co-Director/Producer Natalie Boll Meet Beau Dick: Maker of Monsters is an intimate portrait of a man, an artist, an activist, a father, a mentor and a true Canadian legend. Co-directors & co-producers Natalie Boll and LaTiesha Fazakas have created an authentic film that chronicles the life and achievements of master carver and storyteller, Beau Dick. The film provides an honest, candid and in-depth look at his life, his influences, his accomplishments and his struggles. Through interviews with family, community members, students, and the art …

2018 Salt Spring Film Festival: Amplify Her

The following article was written by Jennifer Cikaluk as part of a series of articles about filmmakers coming to the Salt Spring Film Festival on March 2-4, 2018. Filmmaker Ian MacKenzie will be attending the festival and leading a discussion about the film following the screening. The Filmmaker series is sponsored by Stonehouse B&B, Harbour House Hotel and Hastings House. “We are frequency hunters, vibe shifters…I get to score the soundtrack for those moments of your life” (from Amplify Her) A multilayered, sensorial story telling collaboration, Amplify Her started as a documentary film and grew into something so much more. Emotionally and visually charged, this dynamic film weaves beautiful cinematography with animated motion comics to tell the story of seven female emerging electronic music artists. The music, imagery and energy give access to the colourful world of the electronic music scene. Yet, what lies at the heart of this film are the intimate stories of the…

2017 Salt Spring Film Festival - Last Men Standing

The following article was written by Connie Kuhns as part of a series of articles about filmmakers coming to the Salt Spring Film Festival on March 3-5, 2017. Film subject Jesus Guillen will be attending the festival and leading a discussion about the film following the screening. The Filmmaker series is sponsored by Stonehouse Bed and Breakfast. Filmmaker interview: participant and film representative Jesus Guillen - Last Men Standing By Connie Kuhns It came on the heels of liberation. For gay men, particularly in the creative and political centers of New York, Los Angeles and San Francisco, such radical freedom was hard fought and transforming. It was joyous and sexually charged. Thousands came out from behind closed doors and literary danced in the streets. At first, there was just a cluster of cases. In 1981, a rare lung infection was found in five young, previously healthy gay men in Los Angeles. At the same time, an unusually aggressive cancer was reported in a g…

2017 Salt Spring Film Festival - Spirit Unforgettable

The following article written by Patricia Lockie is part of a series profiling filmmakers coming to the Salt Spring Film Festival, March 3-5, 2017. Director, Pete McCormack, will be leading a discussion following the screening of "Spirit Unforgettable" on Gala Night (March 3). Sponsorship for attending filmmakers is provided by Stonehouse Bed & Breakfast. Filmmaker, novelist, and musician, Pete McCormack didn't have a choice when it came to making "Spirit Unforgettable". The story cried out to be told. So dedicated was McCormack's commitment to telling what he calls "such a worthy story" that he bankrolled the project, spending almost $100,000 until funding could be secured. The film tells what happens when the iconic Canadian band, Spirit of the West, learns their charismatic front man, John Mann, has early onset Alzheimers disease, diagnosed at the age of 51. "I had to go and dive in right away, funding or no funding, because of the disease. Time was of the essence"…

2017 Salt Spring Film Festival - Koneline: Our Land Beautiful

The following article was written by Connie Kuhns as part of a series of articles about filmmakers coming to the Salt Spring Film Festival on March 3-5, 2017. Filmmaker Nettie Wild will be attending the festival and leading a discussion about the film following the screening. The Filmmaker series is sponsored by Stonehouse Bed and Breakfast. Filmmaker interview: Director Nettie Wild. Koneline: our land beautiful By Connie Kuhns One night at a screening in Powell River, B.C. a man left the theatre “steaming mad” at what he had just seen in Nettie Wild’s latest film Koneline: our land beautiful. “Assumptions just keep piling up depending on who is watching and what they bring into the theatre”, Wild tells me in an email. For a woman who has taken her camera behind the scenes of the Zapatista uprising in Chiapas, and filmed the radicalization of drug users on Vancouver streets as they fight to open a safe injection site, her exquisite tribute to the magnificent landscape …

2017 Salt Spring Film Festival - Show Me What You Care About

The following article was written by Connie Kuhns as part of a series of articles about filmmakers coming to the Salt Spring Film Festival on March 3-5, 2017. Filmmakers Brianne Nettlefield and Naomi Mark will be attending the festival and leading a discussion about the film following the screening. The Filmmaker series is sponsored by Stonehouse Bed and Breakfast. SHOW ME WHAT YOU CARE ABOUT: an interview with Producer/Directors Brianne Nettelfield and Naomi Mark By Connie Kuhns Colin Matty’s poem, Show Me What You Care About, was the catalyst. Performed at the Canadian Individual Poetry Slam Championships, his mournful cry for human connection was heard by filmmaker Brianne Nettelfield. She was new in Vancouver, lonely and dissatisfied, and feeling her own absence of purpose and meaning. She sent the poem to her friend and film school alum Naomi Mark and they began thinking about how to answer the poem’s central question. “I think when I saw Colin perform his poem…

2017 Salt Spring Film Festival - Filmmaker Interview: The Memory of Fish

The following article was written by Patricia Lockie as part of a series of articles about filmmakers coming to the Salt Spring Film Festival on March 3-5, 2017. Filmmaker Jennifer Galvin will be attending the festival and leading a discussion about the film following the screening. The Filmmaker series is sponsored by Stonehouse Bed and Breakfast. The Memory of Fish Dr. Jennifer Galvin, scientist and filmmaker, has won international recognition for work that comfortably straddles environmental health, media and storytelling. Galvin holds a doctorate of science from the Harvard School of Public Health. Her documentary, "The Memory of Fish", tells the story of Dick Goin, a man whose life since boyhood was inextricably bound to the life cycles of wild salmon in the Elwha River in Washington's Olympic Peninsula . Over the decades, Goin, a pulp mill worker, master fisherman and salmon advocate watched as salmon numbers steadily dropped, assiduously recording his find…

2017 Salt Spring Film Festival Preview and Trailer: River Blue

The following article was written by Connie Kuhns as part of a series of articles about filmmakers coming to the Salt Spring Film Festival on March 3-5, 2017. Filmmaker Roger Williams will be attending the festival and leading a discussion about the film following the screening. The Filmmaker series is sponsored by Stonehouse Bed and Breakfast. RiverBlue They say a person can predict the subtle hues of next year’s fashion season by the colours of the water in China’s rivers. This is particularly true in Xintang, where the indigo dyes and chemical waste from the manufacturing of blue jeans pour into the Pearl River. China is the clothing factory of the world, followed closely by Bangladesh, India and Indonesia. As a result, the majority of the magnificent rivers flowing through these countries are sick and dying, as are the people who live and work along the river banks. The fashion industry has become the second biggest polluter on the planet. The documentary Riv…

2016 Film Festival: Debris

The following article was written by Robert McTavish as part of a series of articles about filmmakers coming to the Salt Spring Film Festival on March 4-6, 2016. Filmmaker John Bolton will be attending the festival and leading a discussion about the film following the screening. The Filmmaker series is sponsored by Stonehouse Bed and Breakfast. Debris It's not every coastal dweller who keeps an organized library of flotsam and jetsam. But over the years Tofino parks worker Pete Clarkson has seen alot come in and tucked it away for use in his often fun and irreverent artwork. Then, near the end of 2011, something new began washing up on shore. It was debris, and it had crossed the Pacific ocean from the Tōhoku area of Japan, where in March of that year, a 9.0 earthquake and the resulting tsunami killed thousands of people and displaced hundreds of thousands. When Clarkson mentioned the estimated 1.5 million tonnes of incoming marine debris in a talk at the Vancouver Aquari…

2016 Film Festival: Ninth Floor

The following article was written by Robert McTavish as part of a series of articles about filmmakers coming to the Salt Spring Film Festival on March 4-6, 2016. Filmmaker Selwyn Jacob will be attending the festival and leading a discussion about the film following the screening. The Filmmaker series is sponsored by Stonehouse Bed and Breakfast. Ninth Floor At the time of the 1969 riot at Sir George Williams University (now Concordia) in Montreal, Selwyn Jacob was fresh from his Caribbean home attending university in Alberta. He, like the rest of Canada, watched it unfold on the news. Protesting students had occupied a ninth floor computer lab, angry with a full year of university inaction to racism charges against one of its professors. The images echoed those familiar south of the border: riot police, vandalism, fire and racial violence. "Remember, this was the Montreal of Expo '67," says Jacob of Canada's squeaky clean image and how the riot changed that both at home a…

2016 Film Festival: For Our Daughters

The following article was written by Robert McTavish as part of a series of articles about filmmakers coming to the Salt Spring Film Festival on March 4-6, 2016. Filmmaker Daniel Pierce will be attending the festival and leading a discussion about the film following the screening. The Filmmaker series is sponsored by Stonehouse Bed and Breakfast. For Our Daughters The long dusty road to northern Ghana was a good thing for Daniel Pierce. The SFU grad had recently directed his first documentary, about Vancouver's famed "Hollow Tree" in Stanley Park, and had signed on to do sound and production work for a documentary about four teenaged Ghanaian women about to embark on a Canadian speaking tour. But just before the flight to western Africa, the director bowed out. Now Pierce and the associated charity's founder, Shannen O'Brian, were to be co-directors. The slow-going drive offered lots of time to talk it out and Pierce was, as good documentary demands, adaptable: "I gues…

2016 Film Festival: Sea Blind

The following article was written by Robert McTavish as part of a series of articles about filmmakers coming to the Salt Spring Film Festival on March 4-6, 2016. Filmmaker Sarah Robertson and editor Jennifer Abbott will be attending the festival and leading a discussion about the film following the screening. Sea Blind When filmmaker Sarah Robertson began work on a wide-ranging project dealing with the future of the Arctic, she quickly realized her first sub-topic was just the tip of its own iceberg. All of a sudden she was racing to make a different film, about pollution issues in global shipping, and to finish in time to screen at the recent UN Climate Change Conference in Paris. "Some people deep in the emissions talks didn't even know about the issues!" she says, while the industry's huge fleet and increasing impact on the north make it a crisis hiding in plain sight. Sea Blind is the resulting documentary, and it's message is unforgettable. More than 100,00…

2016 Film Festival Program and Schedule

The Salt Spring Film Festival Society is a non-profit charitable society incorporated in 2008, whose mission is to educate, inspire and activate our community through a Festival of independent documentary film from Canada and around the world. We present films that explore social justice, the environment, art and culture, politics and food security. Filmmakers are invited to the Festival to present their films and lead lively discussions. The 17th annual Salt Spring Film Festival will take place March 4th-6th, at GISS (Gulf Islands Secondary School). Check out the program guide and schedule below.

2016 Salt Spring Film Festival: Elder in the Making

The following article was written by Robert McTavish as part of a series of articles about filmmakers coming to the Salt Spring Film Festival on March 4-6, 2016. Filmmaker Chris Hsiung and film subject Cowboy Smithx will be attending the festival and leading a discussion about the film. Elder in the Making Filmmaker Chris Hsiung walked away from a career as a successful software engineer seeking a deeper connection with the world around him. He soon found that, for him, film became one way to make that connection, and the camera "was an interesting tool to share stories people can't experience on their own." But when he finished his first feature documentary, about a consciousness-raising road trip with a young Blackfoot "elder in the making," would the experience translate on screen? Hsiung's parents, emigrants from Taiwan, supplied his answer. As cultural newcomers to urban Alberta, they had no previous contact with the rural indigenous peoples and were now thr…

Film Festival 2015: The Price We Pay

The following article was written by Robert McTavish as part of a series of articles about filmmakers coming to the Salt Spring Film Festival on March 6-8, 2015. Filmmaker Harold Crooks will be attending the festival and lead a discussion about the film. The filmmaker series is sponsored by Harbour House. _________________________________ The Price We Pay At first glance, it seems an unusual career path. Harold Crooks went from McGill University to a fellowship at the Delhi School of Economics before making the jump to the London Film School. In Delhi he studied under the then-head of the Planning Board of India, a mentor with decidedly socialist leanings. But, says Crooks, “it dawned on me that that was not the direction the world was heading in. So I thought I would be more useful in documentary.” That path now makes perfect sense, with his subsequent cinematic output making a strong case for filmmakers steeped in other disciplines. As a producer, writer and dire…