Award-winning filmmaker Tracy D. Smith will present her popular directing workshop the weekend of Aug. 9. Smith’s sophomore feature Everything and Everyone nabbed Best Director and Best Film at the 2011 Women in Film Festival BC, and her workshops are a favourite among cast and crew who crave hands-on, low-stakes experience directing actors and handling grip and lighting gear. The weekend intensive kicks off with Directing for Beginners: in less than four hours, learn everything you need to know to direct your first film. Course and fee information at TracyDSmith.com. Register at 778-228-0840.
Actor, director, and one-time Beverly Hills 90210 heartthrob Jason Priestley will be honoured at Celebrate WFF, a benefit for the Whistler Film Festival at Blue Water Café and Raw Bar on Aug. 14. Celebrate WFF marks the 16-week count down to Whistler’s 14th annual cinematic celebration. Tickets at WhistlerFilmFestival.com.
They’ve conquered the small screen, and now East Vancouver’s Nerd Corps Entertainment is going big: their latest production, Slugterra: Return of the Elementals, hits 56 Canadian theatres on Aug. 21 and 23. The 70-minute movie continues the story of Slugterra, Nerd Corps’ hit original series that premiered on Disney XD Canada in September 2012. The kid-centric action-comedy – about the adventures of a 15-year-old boy in an underground world populated by critters that transform into ammo when shot out of a blaster – airs in 170+ countries. Check out Cineplex for showtimes and tickets for Slugterra: Return of the Elementals.
If barbecues, parades and food fests aren’t your idea of long weekend fun, The Cinematheque offers an attractive indoor alternative. On Aug. 3, the art-house cinema screens a trio of film noir classics: The Maltese Falcon, Double Indemnity, and Mildred Pierce. It’s all part of their month-long celebration of the film noir genre, characterized by chain-smoking thugs, saucy dames and hardboiled detectives. Tickets and screening info at TheCinematheque.ca.
The 26th edition of the Vancouver Queer Film Festival runs Aug. 14–24 at venues across the city. For more than a quarter century, VQFF has showcased films that illuminate the transformative moments in the lives of queer people – telling stories of the journeys they have taken to find themselves, each other and their place in the world. For festival details, visit QueerFilmFestival.ca
