More on The Available Light Film Festival from the Yukon 2021

 

The Available Light Film Festival from the Yukon 2021 only lasts for two more days.

Yesterday I decided to do some binmovie watching, trying to catch up on the lost days of viewing this week. The hours were spent on other projects, but certainly I missed watching films from this film festival.

I entered my festival watching phase,  and brought the following films to my screen:

Achilles Escape (Charles Officer, 2020). -- In a crime-noir about the urban child-soldier, Akilla Brown captures a fifteen-year-old Jamaican boy in the aftermath of an armed robbery. Over one gruelling night, Akilla confronts a cycle of generational violence he thought he escaped.

No Sign of Trauma  (Marc Serpa Francoeur and Robinder Uppal 2020). The film documents several allegations of abuse of power against the Calgary Police.

Driveways (Andre Ahn, 2019)  A lonesome boy accompanies his mother on a trip to clean out his late aunt's house, and ends up forming an unexpected friendship with the retiree who lives next door. 

Little Orphans
Starring  Patricia Andrews,
Marthe Bernard, and Emily Bridger |

Little Orphans (Ruth Lawrence, 2020). Still struggling with their childhood abandonment, three sisters reunite at a wedding. But coming home and making a new family can come at a high cost.

Crock of Gold: a Few Rounds with Shane MacGowan (Julien Tempe, 2020). A look at the life of Irish singer/songwriter and Pogues frontman Shane MacGowan.

I watched two of the film's Friday night and 3 on Saturday.

Just to get the worst film out of the way, No Sign of Trauma is a CBC production about the Calgary police force, a documentary film that left me sick at my stomach, as it opened my eyes to how systemic racism can enter a police force culture and be so invisible the perfidies at the same time. I told Rebecca I didn't know if she needed to watch that film since she teaches Crim law and comes to these ideas through text and law cases instead of through film. Only the brave should watch this show, or those who needs to be convinced that the term Starlight Tours maybe part of the police culture in Calgary. This should probably be mandatory watching for anyone who can stomach it.

Now getting that out of the way, I watched the other four films with curiosity. I come to the indie films with a different set of expectations, namely knowing that what I am about to see is outside of the high-tech, high gloss Hollywood productions. I did feel a festival charm, sitting there in a comfortable chair with a beverage and a quilt over my knees. 

Little Orphans saves its punch to the end of the show, just as the reviews said it would. This morning I woke up thinking about Crock of Gold because it's the story of Shane MacGowan, an Irish folk singer whose music I don't know but whose band Rebecca recognizes. I think what is curious about this film is that Shane MacGowan is interviewed when but he's very old, not the best place in life for any of us to be seen on film, if our shoulders have started to drop or our speech to slur or where a memory doesn't retrieve facts as it used to. The documentary did give me a chance to sit at the feet of the old and look as though I were still young. If nothing else the movie helped me understand where I may be someday, if I should live so long.

The protagonist in Driveways is an 8, almost 9 year old boy, but the circumstances around his life, make the movie rich and rewarding. I am thinking about that high pitched energy of thrillers, the low emery I am seeing in the films about the early Arctic and now this quiet meditation on a young boy’s life. 

 Film always reminds me of reasons to change gear.

Arta

RBG Face Masks, Limited Edition

 

Wyona saw a picture of the masks that Hebe is making and wondered if she could be Hebe's second grandmother, since she doesn't have anyone making masks like that for her.

Catherine did tell me that these masks are done by Special Order only, and that they are part of a Limited Edition

I could easily identify that the first was an RBG mask, but I couldn't identify the symbols on the second until Rebecca reminded me that Ruth Bader Ginsberg is famous for a collar that she used to wear.

That is when I could see the artful necklace and that iconic pair of glasses.

I may have made a special order, for one of the masks and I hope that by writing this post I am confirming that order.

Thanks for all of that sewing, Hebe.  

I am curious as to how many masks you are going to do in each edition.

Arta or 姥姥  as I prefer to be called.

A Perfect Poached Egg

Steve asked if I had had breakfast that morning.
“No and 'd love to have it with you.”

“Will a crab cake to do?”

“Yes.”

“With a bit of asparagus?” he added.

I'm not going to say no to vegetables I continued speaking with Bonnie on the telephone.

It wasn't long until a toasted crab cake was in front of me, and two spears of perfectly steamed asparagus. Because my eyes aren't quite as sharp as they are with glasses on, and I'm waiting for my new ones from Goo Goo Googles to arrive, I thought Steve had a very large dollop of sour cream on top of the crab cake.

Now I was up for sour cream, and I put my fork to its white glistening surface, only to find that instead I was breaking into a cylindrical poached egg, a small bit of a yellow yolk oozing from its centre.

While I still had my fork and knife and knife in hand, Rebecca arrived in the room with some Frank's Hot Sauce, drizzling it artistically on the side of my plate. What is there to say when a son-in-law delivers such a breakfast except thank you, Steve. You set the bar high.

Later in the day, Rebecca asked him for technique.

“A tablespoon of vinegar to the water, and have it swirling when you drop in the egg,” he shared.

Arta

Arta Lorraine Tucker Gunn (June 3, 1946 - January 21, 2021)

Top:
Bottom: Lorraine at the far right, front row

My cousin, Arta Lorraine Tucker Gunn, who had my name, died on January 21st.  Here is the link to her obituary.

Cousinhood is lived out in peaks and valleys, sometimes depending on where a person lives.  I feel close to my Cardston and Medicine Hat cousins, because they are close and I saw them often growing up, either them being at our house, or we being at theirs.

We didn't see our American cousins as often, but I don't think I felt any less affection for them. 

LtoR: Ken Tucker, Wyora Pilling, Lorraine Tucker

My mother loved their mother and I loved all of my cousins.

And so this simple post to mark her passing.

Arta

Bun Burger Bun

... thawing the frozen bun
while cooking the hamburger ...

I don't go through fast food outlets often enough, to know exactly how to order. One thing is for sure, if a person doesn't want a pickle on their hamburger they shouldn't have one. And it is on the ordering that the burger is made perfect. It's easy to get Duncan's order. He wants bun / burger/ bun. Life couldn’t be more simple than that. In 19 years, his tastes haven’t changed.

Now that we have to make his order at home, there's been a question about what's the best way to get to that burger. Rebecca thinks buying a box of frozen burgers is the best way. I like to buy a chub of meat and then make the hamburger myself. I like to be the foreman on this job. Duncan is not interested in any of the condiments. It is okay if I put a little bit of Worcester sauce in the hamburger and work it in with the salt, before I flatten it into a burger, but that's about it.

David Camps and I worked the method over at the lake, checking out if David could make himself a hamburger. I was glad to see it was true. David Camps can make his own burger. And so can Duncan. I think it is Rebecca who figured out that in order to get the frozen bun fresh, one should put a rack over the frying pan, put the two halves of the bun on and then while it's 3 minutes per side for the burger, that bun is steamed just enough to be perfect.

Last night I told Duncan I would make the burger for him but his mother was wanting to go out shopping and if she came upstairs, then he'd have to finish the job. I finished but then forgot to tell him it was done. A half an hour later I came to him and said Duncan, thank you for coming in and taking the bun / burger / bun from the kitchen., I forgot to deliver it right to your workstation. He really laughed.

Arta

On Plugging in the Jack

I wanted to watch some you tube videos tonight, so I put on my earphones and went to work, taking notes on how to embed pdf files into a wordpress blog. 

I went back and forth, watching a number of videos, taking copious notes. 

After about 20 minutes Duncan came over and taped me on the shoulder, so I took off my earphones. The sound was still the same. 

 That is when I realized I had the earphone on, but I hadn't plugged them in. Nice neighbour, me. 

 Arta

A Walk in the Snow

It snowed for two days, here in Victoria.

That's been pretty exciting in our house with people occasionally just standing at the window, watching the snow fall, or watching the birds land on the tree branches closest to the house.

There is a question as to whether there are enough boots, hats and gloves to go around.

There's no use getting a hat for Dunciun because nothing is going to fit that amazing head of hair

There are other questions.

Does he need to a hoodie under his coat? 

Will Steve’s boots fit him?

When the moment came that he was to go out the door and meet his friend, Seth, I grabbed my camera because a walk in the snow is almost an historic event.

Out into the world of snow covered sidewalks and paths he went.

We, still at home, aren’t used to the bright light shining off of the snow and through the windows, so the house seems to have an otherworldly bright glow without the lights even being turned on.

I was interested in seeing how Duncan would brave the snow since it was falling when he left for his walk.

“Welcome back”, I said, though not wanting him to think I was curious about his walk when the snow was falling and he had nothing on his head.

On the edge of his hair, tiny globes of water hung on the tips of his curls. 

I asked him, “Would you mind if I got close up with my camera? 

He said. “Go for it grandmother. It doesn’t matter to me."

So I caught it on my camera.

Duncan coming home after a walk during the snowfall.

The weight of the snow had laid heavy on his head flattening what is usually a large rounded circular shape. 

The prolonged use of earphones can leave a track across the top of his head.

6But when he takes them off the hair springs back up.

At this moment a lot of snow had landed on him and the top of his head was more like a flat table which made his mother laughed pretty hard when he came inside.

And of course, his head was heavy for it was like a wet sponge, carrying a lot of water.

I was amazed at the glistening of the little drops of water that hung on the edge of every skiraling piece of hair.

He was soaking wet.

I think he took a hot shower before he was revived and spent the rest of his day back at the computer.

Arta