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British Columbia (6)
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Cold FrontsMurray Siple 2010 5 minDirector Murray Siples' love/hate letter to Vancouver weather captures both the mundane and the thrilling experience of living on the West (wet) Coast. The winter rain colours every aspect of city life, but people cope, wielding umbrellas like swords, clutching coats and hats against the constant deluge.
A personal take on one man's experience of the winter, Cold Fronts is a kaleidoscopic view of the collision point between nature and the city. -
Chairs for LoversBarrie Howells 1973 28 minIn this documentary short, Vancouver architect Stanley King demonstrates his method for involving the public in urban design. Called the "draw-in/design-in”, the method is applied to a downtown Vancouver area slated for redevelopment. How can it be made to best serve the needs of the people who will use it? Here, sketches prepared by students and refined by adults are used to guide city planners.
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Everything Will BeJulia Kwan 2014 1 h 26 minJulia Kwan’s feature-length documentary Everything Will Be captures a significant moment of time in Vancouver’s Chinatown, with the influx of condos and new, non-Chinese businesses. The film follows a year in the life of several Chinatown denizens, including a 90-year-old Chinese newspaper street vendor and a second-generation tea shop owner, as they navigate this community in flux.
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Some People Have to SufferChristopher Pinney 1976 42 minThis film documents a community's struggle to survive in the face of government indifference and the political and financial clout of industrial developers. In 1953 the residents of Bridgeview, British Columbia, were promised sewers; following years of debate, frustration, meetings and verbiage, construction started in 1977. The film interviews some of the residents, who state their opinions frankly both to the camera and at meetings. When the film was shown at the Habitat conference in Vancouver, 1976, press coverage noted: "The Third World is merely twenty miles from the site of Habitat."
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Whistling SmithMichael Scott & Marrin Canell 1975 27 minThis film is a revealing portrait of a tough cop with a big heart. Sergeant Bernie "Whistling" Smith walks the beat on Vancouver's Eastside, the hangout of petty criminals, down-and-outs and a variety of characters. His policing is unorthodox. To many drug users, petty thieves and prostitutes in this economically depressed area he is more than the iron hand of the law, he is also a counsellor and a friend.
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Wild in the CityGordon Fish 1985 16 minThis short documentary films some of the wild animal species that have adapted to the city of Vancouver, from the familiar pigeons and starlings to the less familiar herons nesting in Stanley Park and a coyote in a farmer's field.
