CitizenShift
Updates from the basement, courtesy of the CITIZENShift team.
Archive of August, 2007
Written by
Nika
August 22, 2007
Rebecca Levere is the producer of Umoyo (Life): Through The Eyes of Young Women. Check out the new Umoyo website here. Talking about what she’s up to right now, she says:
My ‘day job’ is as a research fellow and teacher in global education at the University of Toronto Schools, a lab high school that is part of the University of Toronto. My work consists of trying to engage young people in social justice awareness and activism. Dipping my toes into film-making with my students, on both ‘Crash Course: Canadian Teens in Zambia’, and ‘Umoyo(life)’, was a part of this larger enterprise, using film as a tool for social change.
She is currently working on a companion piece to ‘Umoyo (Life)’, talking to teenage boys in sub-Saharan Africa about relationships, sex and HIV/AIDS. Her goal is to start filming the project in the summer or fall of 2008.
Rebecca is sitting at the far left
Rebecca is interested in developing a cross-disciplinary global issues program at UTS which would ‘feature social issues documentary film-making as an integral part of the program.’ She explains that ‘the idea would be to have the film be both a culminating project for the students involved, and a vehicle for peer education – a tool for starting a dialogue with other young people across the country.’
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Category : Where Are They Now?
Written by
Nika
August 20, 2007
Sara St. Onge, who created the film Final Fantasy: This is a Dream as part of the RESFEST: International and Original Media Art! feature on CITIZENShift, has now just finished up two new music videos, for Jill Barber and Ghettosocks.
Still from Jill Barber video, by Sara St. Onge
Sara says she is in “pre-production for a short film funded by Bravofact and Canada Arts Council, titled Lobotomobile. It’s a musical about a travelling lobotomy salesman. I’m very excited about it.” Check out Sara’s website, Awesomology.
Photograph of Sara St. Onge, by Sara St. Onge
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Category : Where Are They Now?
Written by
Nika
August 20, 2007
Riaz Mehmood and South Asian Visual Arts Collective made the film Peace Taxi: A Documentary that is featured in the Work For All: Stop Racism in the Workplace chapter of CITIZENShift. Riaz is mostly doing freelance web design and will be attending a two-month artists residency at Banff this September. He hopes to use his time there to create new works.
He recently participated in AlleyJaunt in Toronto, what he describes as ‘an outdoor art festival that has artists creating installations in garages and won the Children’s Choice Award for the Most Meaningful work!’ AlleyJaunt: Local Art in Local Garages takes place every August in the back alleys and garages surrounding Trinity Bellwoods Park as a collection of art exhibitions, installations, and performances. Riaz’s website is currently under construction, so please check back in the future. He will be moving to Montreal at the end of the month.
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Category : Where Are They Now?
Written by
David
August 19, 2007
As I dangle from the end of this rope after an immense crevasse fall, I am able to ponder the fact that the cold blue ice in front of my face is perhaps several hundred years old. Perhaps I should be thinking of more important things- such as how will I get out of this mess, this black abyss, this bottomless hole. Did I hit my head in the fall- perhaps that is why I am so philosophical right now.
Sometimes the best stories don’t gel right away- they happen in fits and starts. At the Banff Television Festival I tapped on Alan Bibby’s shoulder. He liked my film idea and I knew he’d be able to bring a level of professionalism to it that I could not with my limited experience. We hatched a plan and took off to the icefields. I started my trip over again but this time I would be doing it right. It would also be a father and sons affair- both his sons, Ken and Andrew, are accomplished mountaineers and helped tremendously with the logistics of such a complex shoot on a remote icefield. Their friend Scott joined us as well.
The Japanese have a proverb- he who never climbs Mount Fuji is a fool. He who climbs Mount Fuji twice is an even bigger fool. With this in mind we started up to climb to the hydrographic Apex of North America a second time. As I walked towards its summit in flat light and poor visibility, I failed to notice that the ground beneath my feet wasn’t as solid as I had anticipated. I punched through a weak snowbridge and fell 50 feet down a black hole before the rope snapped tight. Up top my rope team grasped and clawed away at the snow to arrest my fall, slamming in ice axes and bracing urgently. Nivea took the brunt of the fall, self arresting in time to stop the team from plunging down the hole.
Once down there you have lots of time to think. I looked down at the black abyss- was that China I could see through there? I looked up at the Dave shaped hole, Wile_E coyote style, that marked my entrance into this netherworld. Up top the rescue was underway- the load was being transferred and the pulley system set up. At times like these you’re extremely happy to have a competent, well-oiled team saving your bacon. To the left and right we’re ice ledges I had narrowly missed on my descent- a broken femur if ever I’ve seen one.
There was of course some discussion on our working title- The Big Drop perhaps.
My biggest concern- was Alan getting the shot? Turns out he was- in terms of dramatic narrative structure that might make a good hook I think. They plucked me out in record time.
We continued our journey down to the headwaters of Columbia Lake, the headwaters of the mighty Athabasca. It was quite an experience to go from the frozen source of the Athabasca to the flowing one. This lake sits at the base of Mount Columbia, the tallest mountain in Alberta. We then began the long trip out to silly-visation- 60 kms and three blisters later, we popped out at Sunwapta falls to the sounds of American accents and the sights of German tourists in funny pink and blue shirts. From one world to the next!
Now, let the river trip begin. I’ve had my fill of ice and large holes for the time being. Stay tuned!!!
David
p.s. photos to follow
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Category : Uncategorized
Written by
Lisa
August 15, 2007
Farmlab’s successful NOT A CORNFIELD project is now evolving into initiatives to create sustainable urban parks in the Los Angeles area.
Farmlab’s latest project is installing ‘agbins’
to ‘skidrow’ in downtown L.A, attempts to provide a way to get the community to come together tending flower beds and vegetable gardens.
In a world where a large portion of the earth is getting covered in concrete – there’s HOPE!
Watch Diversidad , and see the folks in the LA community, Watts, make a difference.
“I am not a revolutionary; I am a SOUL-utionary!”
Watch the artist Roadsworth making the streets on Montreal way more interesting!
Art can change the world.
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Category : Uncategorized
Written by
Nika
August 15, 2007
Roderick Taylor, who is the director/founder of Mask Removal Productions, the production company that created the movie Hide and Go Homeless on CITIZENShift, is now working as a mental health clinician for children and youth with the Ministry for Children and Family Development in Kitimat, BC. He says that ‘[his] job is to assess, provisionally diagnose, and treat children and youth for their mental health concerns.” He recently helped a group of youth, all of whom had personally experienced living with mental health issues, make a film about the realities of such called The Lonely Chair, which may be obtained through The Child Development Centre in Kitimat, BC.
Roderick says he has been “working on a documentary film project with a group of 12 and 13-year-old girls” since February 2007. The film is about how female body image is perceived among pre-adolescent girls and how it correlates with eating disorders. They are hoping to have the film project completed by February 2008. He explains,
In typical Mask Removal Productions fashion, the youth themselves are involved in all aspects of the film’s production. For this film project, and likely future filmmaking projects, I have teamed up with Suki Athwal. She is proving to be an amazing asset when it comes to working with the youth and coordinating the project.
Talking about future plans, Roderick says,
My plans for the future are to hone my clinical counselling skills and apply them within the context of filmmaking projects. I’ve never considered myself to be a filmmaker of any sorts and likely never will. I really just consider myself to be nothing more than a frontline social worker, turned clinical counsellor, who knows how to operate a camera and navigate his way through some ripped editing software.
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Category : Where Are They Now?
Written by
Nika
August 14, 2007
Brett Story previously contributed Canada’s Security Measures to the Read section of our feature about Measuring Security Measures and Brett Story @ World Social Forum to our blog.
She is now directing a feature documentary film called Injury to One and working at Eye Steel Film as an assistant editor on a documentary called Basement Tapes, the website for which is called OpenSourceCinema.org. Brett will be doing an internship at The Nation magazine in New York this winter and will continue to be making documentary films. You can read Brett’s bio on the British Council Canada site.
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Category : Where Are They Now?
Written by
Nika
August 13, 2007
The Access to Media Education Society who made the movie Racism for Reel: Media for Change in the YOUTH: Towards Tolerance feature on CITIZENShift has recently completed a project called Smoke Screen 2: Through the Eyes of New Canadians. Before that, AMES created The Smokescreen Project: Anti-smoking Ads By and For Girls.
Deblekha Guin, Project Manager of Smoke Screen wrote to us with some information about the project described as ‘a tobacco prevention/cessation resource to help teachers and community leaders to keep youth smoke-free.’ The project ‘builds upon the successes and significantly extends the learning potential of a ‘by and for youth’ counter-marketing campaign of the same name (funded by the Mass Media branch of Health Canada’s Tobacco Control Program) that was launched in early 2006.’ Smoke Screen 2 is made up of a series of documentary youth-made ads and interviews with young people about their perspectives about smoking and ‘the reasons they feel compelled to create media messages to discourage their peers from picking up or continuing the habit.’
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Category : Where Are They Now?
Written by
Nika
August 13, 2007
Shani Kipang (formerly Carter), who collaborated with and coordinated the collective of youth that produced Revolution Underground on CITIZENShift, is now living in Toronto and working in a holistic drop center for street involved youth. She is still writing and performing spoken word and working on several projects aimed at engaging marginalized youth in arts based social action initiatives. She is completing a Masters degree at OISE/UofT in Adult Education and Community Development. She writes,
…right now I’m working on my thesis exploring the connections between critical youth work, spirituality and transformative social action.
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Category : Where Are They Now?
Written by
Nika
August 10, 2007
Derek von Essen’s film Horizons and Intersections of the RESFEST: International and Original Media Art feature on CITIZENShift was a video project that began in 2004 and has developed into a multimedia installation comprising of photography and video by Derek von Essen, sound by Don Pyle, paintings and drawings by Val Nelson and an accompanying essay written by Dr. Aron Vinegar. Derek says that its debut was in May of ’07 at the Bau-Xi Gallery in Toronto.
Talking about Horizons + Intersections III, Derek says:
Recently featured in the Vancouver Review art centrefold, with an upcoming outdoor screening on September 7th at Cathedral Park (Vancouver) as part of the New Forms Festival, [it] embodies the raw landscape as it develops into a human-conceived realm, then regresses back to its natural form through digital metamorphosis.
Further information can be found here.
Derek says that he plans to “continue to paint, design and work on a multitude of photo-based projects depicting [his] own response to the surrounding reality of social and environmental currents.”
Check out his blog here.
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Category : Where Are They Now?
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