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Whistler Film Festival in joint screenwriter lab with SFU's Praxis

National competition for Canadian screenwriters to start during 2014 festival in December
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Support for Screenwriters Whistler Film Festival executive director Shauna Hardy Mishaw is working with Praxis Centre for Screenwriters. Photo by David Buzzard/www.davidbuzzard.com

The Whistler Film Festival and Vancouver-based Praxis Centre for Screenwriters, part of Simon Fraser University, are creating a new national screenwriting lab for film writers.

The WFF/Praxis Screenwriters Lab will develop scripts by Canadian screenwriters that align with Praxis' flagship annual feature screenplay competition. This year's WFF/Praxis Screenwriter will feature a five-day workshop to take place during the Whistler Film Festival from Dec. 1 to 5, 2014.

Eight independent Canadian screenwriters will have the opportunity to work intensively with the support of established writers. Writers who complete the Whistler lab will have the opportunity to apply for round two of the program, the Summer Reading Series in Spring 2015 in Vancouver.

"The alignment with Praxis to co-produce the Screenwriters Lab and connect it to the festival serves to further enhance our existing project development programs for Canadian filmmakers, while leveraging Praxis' leadership in the development of Canadian screenwriters," says Shauna Hardy Mishaw, executive director of the Whistler Film Festival Society, in a release.

"The ultimate goal is to (have) completed projects premier in Whistler."

Patricia Gruben, director of the Praxis Centre for Screenwriters, says: "It's an ideal site for our writers to connect with directors and producers who can actually get their scripts made."

(Full disclosure: Pique arts editor, Cathryn Atkinson, was a winner in the 2013-2014 Praxis feature screenplay competition.)

Cairns, Carter win RMOW's Poet's Pause competition

Sandra Cairns and Caroline Carter are the winners of the 2014 Poet's Pause competition run by the Resort Municipality of Whistler.

The poems, The Way of the Listeners by Cairns and Drew Drive by Carter, will be displayed for one year at Alta Lake Park, at the southwest corner of the lake.

Poems submitted for the Giant Chair location of the park take the theme of togetherness, while poems displayed at the Timber Chimes are for the theme of listening.

Pemberton Spring Gala for community barn

A fundraising spring gala is being held in support of the Pemberton Downtown Community Barn.

The Pemberton Spring Gala features the musical talents of Suzanne Wilson, D'Ale and the Coolers, and The Hairfarmers.

The gala takes place on Saturday, April 26, from 6 p.m. until midnight, at the Black Squirrel Restaurant. Tickets are $35 and are available at Pemberton's Rona, Esso, the Village of Pemberton Office, and the community centre.

There is also an afternoon golf tournament, a cocktail party menu and silent auction.

More information can be found by searching "Pemberton Spring Gala" on Facebook.

Classic theatre at Quest

Quest University students are performing Six Characters in Search of an Author by Italian playwright Luigi Pirendello on April 23 at 8 p.m.

The play depicts the relationship between authors, their characters, and audiences and was first performed in Rome in 1921. The play will be performed by Quest students, as part of their April Block theatre class.

As with all Quest Arts Series events, this event is free and open to the public.

Refresh Market celebrates festival style

Squamish's biannual handmade and vintage market is back.

Refresh Market has its largest selection to date of handmade, vintage and curated wares for homes and wardrobes.

This year, there is a festival-friendly fashion show curated by Sarah Johnston and Diane Rudge of Wild and Heart. Indie designers are also celebrated. The market takes place at the West Coast Railway Heritage Park on Saturday, April 26, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Admission is $2, with proceeds to the Squamish Helping Hands Society.

For more information visit www.refreshmarket.ca/