Skip to content
Join our Newsletter

Arts Briefs

Daydream Nation to open Whistler Film Festival

The 10th annual Whistler Film Festival is opening to a dreamlike state, with the B.C. premiere of Daydream Nation , by Canadian writer and director, Michael Goldbach.

The film, which stars Kat Dennings, Reece Thompson, Andie MacDowell, Josh Lucas and Rachel Blanchard, tells the story of a city girl (Dennings,  Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist ) who moves to a small town and becomes entangled in a love triangle between her high school English teacher (Lucas,  Sweet Home Alabama ) and a stoner classmate. Featuring a range of genres and tones,  Daydream Nation is a 21st century coming of age story that was produced by Christine Haebler ( Hard Core Logo ), Trish Dolman ( Year of the Carnivore ), Jennifer Weiss and Simone Urdl.

"Emerging with the next generation of Canadian filmmakers, Michael Goldbach's debut feature invigorates our perception of Canadian film," Stacey Donen, WFF's Artistic Director said in a recent release. "As entertaining as it is culturally significant to the evolution of Canadian cinema,  Daydream Nation portrays small town Canada in a way that viewers will find strangely recognizable."

The film will be screened as part of the opening night gala on Wednesday, Dec. 1 at 7 p.m., with the director in attendance.

The full festival lineup will be announced Thursday, Nov. 4. Check out www.whistlerfilmfestival.com for more information.

 

A night at the circus

The circus is coming to Whistler this weekend - well, minus the lions and clowns.

Vancouver's acclaimed InnerRing circus production group is bringing their exhilarating and innovative acrobatic performance to the stage at Dusty's on Saturday, Nov. 6 as part of a fundraiser for Whistler Gymnastics Club. On top of all the flips and tricks that InnerRing has in store, the event will feature live music from Rachel Thom and Phil-T-Beats, as well as a silent auction and light appetizers. Tickets to the fundraiser are $65; the event starts at 7 p.m.

The following day, the Vancouver Circus School will be leading two workshops, one for kids from kindergarten age to Grade 4 and the other for Grades 5 and up. The workshops are an introduction to circus performing and include the basics of juggling, Diablo, flower sticks, acrobalancing and other skills. The fee to enroll in the workshop is $15 for club members and $20 for non-members.

To sign-up for the workshops or purchase tickets to the fundraising event, visit the Oros Whistler Gymnastics Centre or visit www.whistlergymnastics.com.

 

Updating our Olympic history

The Whistler Museum was closed this past Saturday, Sunday and Monday as staff members were busy installing a new portion of the Whistler's Olympic Journey exhibit.

Sarah Drewery, collections supervisor for the museum, explained that the new portion of the exhibit, dubbed Hosting The World, includes new Olympic artifacts, interactive displays and panels, all designed to capture the community's recent Olympic history. They began collecting "artifacts" from the Games as soon as they ended in March, and have apparently been very successful, snagging an impressive array of items, including the Paralympic cauldron, for their display.

"I think there's 13 Olympic athletes and five Paralympic athletes in the Sea to Sky area, and we invited them all to donate things," Drewery explained. "Thirteen of them donated something from the Games, including Maëlle Ricker, who amazingly donated her uniform that she won the gold medal in!"

Other donations include helmets and racing gloves, which will all be on display in cases with background information. But there will also be displays for visitors to interact with, including an Olympic and Paralympic torch for people to hold, and a racing bib to try on.

"We've tried to make it as interactive as possible," she added.

The museum reopened to the public on Tuesday, and a reception will be held to officially unveil the display once it's completed in early December.

 

Whistler kid wins at Tofino film fest

Local filmmakers need to be on the lookout for another up-and-comer in the industry: 14-year-old Zac Moxley. The Grade 10 Whistler Secondary School student has only been making films for about two years, but he managed to beat out 13 other entries at the Tofino Film Festival's third annual Guerilla filmmaking competition.

His five-minute film, dubbed Braedon Wheeler Skate 2010 , features footage of another talented Whistler kid, 13-year-old Braedon Wheeler, as he skateboards in and around Whistler, Squamish and Vancouver. The end product is a polished short that has solid filming as well as crisp edits and pacing.

But this wasn't Moxley's first project; the aspiring filmmaker has actually made about 14 films to date.

"I guess I started about two years ago when I picked up my mom's little digital camera and started to film, just cause my friend wanted a video, so I decided to make him a video," Moxley said.

Last January, he went out and invested in some real equipment - a Sony handycam - and went to work.

"Then I actually started getting serious about it this January, like actually wanting to become a filmer.

"...I try to film as much as possible," he added.

Moxley decided to enter the competition after hearing about it during a trip to Tofino in early October. He sent in his submission the night before the deadline. Last week he received word that he had won, taking home top honours and a $250 cash prize in the process. He plans to use his prize money to pay off his video camera.

"I'm pretty stoked on that!"

And Moxley's good news doesn't end with his win in Tofino: a gyrostabilizer company just sponsored him a few days ago. He's also already working on two new projects: an entry in Whistler Brewing's Brewski's short film competition and is thinking about making a ski and snowboard film this season.

To check out Moxley's work, visit his Facebook page, DownToFilm, or visit www.vimeo.com/downtofilm.