A Weekend at The Salt Spring Film Festival

I attended a Film Festival this weekend on the lovely Isle of Salt Spring. I was lucky enough to have been aloud to volunteer my time and I must say it was worth it. I met some fantastic folks, saw an old friend and saw some amazing films. Ganges turns out to be an inviting, warm and welcoming community.

Film Festivals, I have realized over the years, are not always the place you want to spend a weekend if you are looking for an uplifting experience. They tend to deal with Social and Environmental Justice. Now for someone like myself that believes that the only way to find solutions is through a thorough understanding of the problems, then it is definitely an interesting place to spend the weekend, and there like in all areas of life is always a bright Dandelion in the patch of Blackberry Bushes. Hope and solutions are created through knowledge. Please do not misunderstand me. Every moment of the weekend was thoroughly enjoyed and the movies were out of this world.

One thing I do find uplifting are the people at these events. The woman that sat next to me, brave enough to shed a tear as we where mesmerized by the film Letter from Masanjia, or the woman and I that concluded we were soul sisters, before we even realized that we are born a day and 35 years apart. Her birthday being on the 12th of December and mine being on the 11th. I was so surprised to learn that she would be 80 this year that I almost choked. She is looking for someone to take her living space over this summer to watch her sons disabled Granddaughter while she cycles and attends Music Festivals this summer. Colourful soul and a true joy to talk to.

We enthusiastically took a photo of each other for the soul purpose of my blog.

Now she looks like the wise Diva she is and well I have learned in life, that some days, "I is what I is." I know from my end I sure enjoyed speaking with this Cycling Music Lover.

So what did I see and what did I do. Lots and Lots.

Saturday morning I was the projectionist on the Film, "Do You Trust This Computer".

http://doyoutrustthiscomputer.org/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aV_IZye14vs

After watching the documentary, my conclusion would be a strong, "NO." The most terrifying part was when in 2015 they had built a small three legged AI machine that after working with a group of people for a week, or so, began to develop its own neuron pathways. Yes I said neuron pathways, just like you and I have in our brain. What, you may ask where these neuron pathways for? The mapping and facial analysis of the humans it was coexisting with. Brrrr. Sent chills up and down my spine.

A very insightful and information filled documentary, with the likes of Elon Musk getting their two sense in. One I would recommend to watch with someone you can have a very invigorating positive conversation with after the fact. Yes, it was that chilling. Great one for the youth to understand where we are headed.

Lunch time and let me tell you! Over the years I have worked in some pretty Fantastic Greek Restaurants. The Victorian Steak House in Port Alice, BC, Il Greco, in Victoria and, Andreas in North Vancouver. Needless to say I have eaten my fair share of Filo Pastries over the years, and I had the best Filo Pastry, up to this point in my life, this last weekend. If you know me you know how I feel about my food, and you know that my buds are the buds to trust. I have 0 clue which of these business, Jana’s Bake Shop, CocoLoco Bakery or Laughing Daughters where responsible for those Filo Pastries but I MUST say FANTABULOUS!

My next movie was Sharkwaters: Extinction.

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6026818/

It was fantastic! Absolutely amazing. The footage was breathtaking; the bravery of the film Crew and the lead, and director of the Documentary was astounding, Rob Stewart, but I had forgotten. When the lead doc guy went missing after a dive, my stomach fell, I had fallen for him. His passion, his zest for life, his love of the ocean, and his love for his sharks. By the end of the movie that was how it felt to me, the sharks of the ocean where his. But I had forgotten, and slowly as I prayed for them to find him alive, it crept in from the back of my brain like a nightmare fire being lit. I remembered the search for him on the news. He went missing January 31, 2017 and they found his body on the Ocean floor on February 3, 2017. The end of the movie left a slow stream trickling from my eye.

To be brave and strong, and then to fight for what you believe in is not always a simple task and rarely an easy journey. Even harder for the family, friends, and spectators is when a young life, so full of courage is taken from the world so soon. He has left an amazing legacy and big shoes to fill, and this is well documented in this film. Made me proud to be a Canadian.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RQYHBrtYsnk The Trailer to Sharwaters: Extinction

https://www.cbc.ca/cbcdocspov/features/autopsy-report-canadian-filmmaker-rob-stewart-died-of-hypoxia

After this film I needed a breather, so I watched and manned the elevator and the front desk which left lots of time for chatting with the locals, and visiting with the visitors, to the Isle of Salt Spring, such as myself, and yes I am aware it is called Salt Spring Island. Poetic License. Met a gentlemen from France, living here now. He was actually the second France import I have met in my short stay here. We discussed the days movies, the LNCV controversy, and I believe Trump graced our tongues.

Then I wandered over to the mother, daughter team manning the bags and Nick Knacks from a Third World Country. For the life of me I can not remember her name the name of the not-for-profit on the island, or the country the goods came from. In my defence the weekend was packed full of Intel. I must say though this lady was amazing. Her 91 year old mother was knitting at the stand, when I walked by the first time, and wandered down to buy my scrumptious Filo Pastry. As I was standing in line I realized I was a dollar short and there was no cash machines on site. This kind lady gave me a dollar. Well the next time I wandered by the stand, the I believe African knick knack and fantastic bag stand, there was my loonie angel. The daughter that runs the company. We had a chuckle, and she suggested I pay it forward, which I will do of course. I tried to give her a twoonie but she refused, and two grown ladies wrestling on the floor of a film festival over who is going to be more altruistic I thought would appear silly to those that have 0 understanding of women such as ourselves, hence I accepted the pay it forward suggestion. This was also the lady that sat next to me at the Letter From Masanjia and was brave and strong enough to show the world that she cared.

My volunteer time was then over and off I went to the Film Makers Discussion Panel. A treat. Lots of great questions and even better answers. I think my favourite where the two gentleman from a film I had opted not to see and wish in hindsight I had. I will get it in before this life that I already know will be to short is over. There do not even seem to be enough hours in the days at present let alone enough days in a lifetime. Hopefully I have another forty years here, but still, where is the time going? That duo was from a production company in Victoria Cody Graham and Carey Newman. They produced and directed a documentary called Picking Up The Pieces: The Making Of The Witness Blanket. I opted to not see it as I have paid alot of attention to The Truth and Reconciliation Movement, but listening to these two men, I realized I yet have more to learn.

The trailer for a documentary that I will be seeing someday soon.

http://witnessblanket.ca/#!

Then it was Sunday, and I found my church. Church is where you find your authentic self, correct? Be it in the boat, walking the trail, eating dinner with your children, holding your wife, or in a building with stain glass windows....well I found myself, and it just happened to be on a Sunday morning.

The first movie on the agenda was.....after the weight of the previous day......all I can say is, "Ohhhhhhhh..." To anyone that loves an adventure, has experienced loss and the joy of surviving it, and life on the edge, you must see this. The pure joy of life, living, and some days experiencing gratitude for the gift of sheer survival is captured in this film in such a stupendous way that it moved me to tears.

A story about a mother and daughter team ,60, and however old her daughter was that ski toured from Squamish to Skagway in 6 months, originally from the Columbia Valley, a place that has become a second home for me over this last decade. This epic journey reminded me of how much living and life I have left at the young age of 44. Of how many more adventures await on my glorious horizon, and that I am capable of dreaming still and making those dreams come true. I needed the reminder.

The story was broken up by a tale from another Motley Crew of Adventures, of death and rebirth in an avalanche near Fernie. Another periodic interlude throughout the epic journey of the mother and daughter team through the Coastal Mountains was an old man and his wife that live in complete isolation in the mountains, and a group of nuns living in a "mountain retreat to be closer to God."

The movie is called This Mountain Life.

I felt my tribe wherever they are, gathered next to me and felt them holding my soul as I ventured through this epic tale. I need them, I hope they know that. I think that was the biggest gift I was given through that film, and really in a long time. The memory that I need my tribe, and regardless of the battles, and the losses we are better together than we are apart. Anyways a must see.

Sunday was the day I was waiting for. I specifically wanted to attend this Film Festival to view the documentary Metamorphosis. An 85 minute film about how humanity will be transformed by the global environmental crisis we have created, and what is being done through creative new innovative strategies entailing underwater art that is now birthing new corral and new way ways to build ourselves self sustaining homes. This documentary also hosted a Workshop on Monday night which was where my excitement stemmed from. The idea of watching a film, created by two award winning directors, that possibly I have waited my whole life to imbibe in; and then to be able to meet and discuss about our thoughts and ideas after the fact was intriguing to me. I was a definite yes to the movie, and yes to the workshop.

After this I ran into my friend of 30 years, and his dog Emma The Great Dane, and the two of them snuggled up in the back of the last movie that I watched, unbeknownst to me.

The final documentary that I saw on Sunday afternoon and my final movie for the Salt Spring Island Film Festival was Letter From Masanjia. A fascinating story about a man who smuggled a letter out of a forced labour camp in China in a Halloween decoration ordered by a North American Kmart. He had been imprisoned for multiple years for the crime of practising Falun Gong; a peaceful meditation and exercise practice. In 1999 The Falun Gong had more members in China than the Communist Party; it was seen as a threat. Those that practised were rounded up and imprisoned for as long as four years. The letter that the main character of this documentary smuggled out was not found for two years and the story begins here documenting his time in prison through animation that was actually created by the "convict", the destruction of his marriage and his eventual escape.

When you buy your Mardi Gras Beads this year please remember where they come from, or better yet how about you make your own Mardi Gras Decorations. Together there is a solution.

https://www.letterfrommasanjia.com/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Persecution_of_Falun_Gong

This being said I would like to finish this blog post as it is 10:45 on said Monday night. After my weekend full of gaping depth, taking me to the bottoms of oceans and to the tops of mountains, to China and into the mysterious future of Artificial Intelligence. The final act being the Metamorphosis workshop that I attended this evening creating a very harmonious sense of closure to a weekend that was full of information, thoughts, and emotion.

Please click on the links through out this blog post to check out the trailers and or the movies that I enjoyed this weekend. Well worth your while. Here is to understanding the social and environmental injustices of the world, Without fulling knowing the problems we will never find solutions. Do not be scared, be brave. Let us replace our fear with faith, and move forward.

Please join me tomorrow for my next blog about the amazing workshop that I attended this evening hosted by the director and producer of Metamorphosis Velcrow Ripper and Nova Ami. The structure of the workshop is based on the movie and was inspiring and uplifting, but I will leave that until tomorrow.