From satanic panic to true survivors

The year’s DOXA Documentary Film Festival inspires, intrigues, and amazes

look past them, you’ll find a gripping narrative grappling with real questions about power, control, and what counts as a threat to national security. -VW

May 5 | 7:45pm | VIFF Centre

Big Fight In Little Chinatown

Showcasing the people, places, businesses, and history that make up the pillars of Chinatowns in Vancouver, Montreal, and New York, Big Fight in Little Chinatown focuses on the consistent effort required to preserve the essence of the storied communities.

While each city’s Chinatown is facing problems that appear different on the surface, the documentary makes it clear that those willing to put up the big fight are often facing a David vs. Goliath-type task, and are not willing to back down in the face of those odds. - CW

May 4 | 7pm | Djavad Mwafaghian Cinema

May 9 | 5:15pm | VIFF Centre

Not Quite That

Ali Grant’s meditation on breasts and butchness follows Sarah, a queer Jewish mother who discovers she’s at high risk for fatal breast or ovarian cancer. She opts for a preventative mastectomy, unsure how she feels about the decision.

The intimate scenes of Sarah’s friends and family, frankly discussing their relationships to their bodies, anchor a layered and ultimately heartwarming narrative.

“I either got to live and be like ‘here I am, it is what it is,’ or I gotta hide,” Sarah muses at one point. “I think I’m tired of [hiding].” Just as she explains that coming out brought her so much joy, her embrace of her post-surgery body also seems to set her free. -VW

May 5 | 5:45pm | VIFF Centre May 13 | 2pm | VIFF Centre

Manufacturing The Threat

A 2013 investigation into Omar (John) Nuttall and Ana (Amanda) Korody found the Surrey couple arrested on terrorism charges. They were freed in 2016, after an appeal found they had been entrapped—explicitly pushed into the plot to bomb BC’s Victoria Day celebrations by undercover officers. Director Amy Miller examines the shadowy world of police surveillance and infiltration, connecting the operation against Korody and Nuttall to wider monitoring of environmental, Indigenous and racial justice groups. Yes, the action movie-esque tropes that blanket the introduction are a bit cheesy. But, if you

MÁ SÀI GÒN (MOTHER SAIGON)

Stripping away the conventional trappings of a documentary—the talking heads, the chyrons, the narra- tion—director Khoa Lê’s lyrical journey through what’s now known as Ho Chi Minh City paints a portrait of the myriad ways queer and trans love blooms.

A trans woman with flowers in her hair talks of her dawn dates with a new beau; a bickering lesbian couple call each other Mommy and Daddy; a surrogate mother to a house of queer and trans young adults chides her many garment-makers into opening savings accounts. The long conversations into inhabitants’ lives are interspersed with colourful poetry, melodies and music to create a rich, shimmering tapestry.

Through it all is the question of what family means to LGBTQ+ people in Saigon, be it their relationships to their parents, their chosen families, or to their own potential children. The city itself is a loving, lonely mother: here are her offspring, in all their raw reality. -VW

May 6 | 5:15pm | the Cinematheque

Hell And Highwater

BC has been no stranger to severe weather events over the past few years. Hell and Highwater begins by showing the devastating results of the Lytton fire, the investigation into what happened, and the people who are demanding justice and action in the aftermath.

But the documentary doesn’t stop there. Interspersed with news clips, interviews with those affected, and calls for climate action, Hell and Highwater also touches on the flood of 2021, and the perfect storm of factors (atmospheric rivers, record-breaking heat, and clear cut logging, to name just a few) that combined to cause death, destruction, and displacement for those in the area. -CW

May 6 | 12pm | VIFF Centre

May 9 | 3pm | Djavad Mwafaghian Cinema

La Singla

Antonia Singla was once considered the best flamenco dancer in the world. Born deaf in the slums of Barcelona and unable to speak until she was a teenager, dance became the language through which she expressed herself. La Singla’s striking movements—and intense gaze—were seared with passion and revolutionized the art form.

Then, suddenly, at the height of her fame, she vanished without a trace. Fifty years later, a young woman begins to unravel the mystery of what happened to La Singla. Combining archival footage and photography with music and interviews, this beautiful portrait from director Paloma Zapata explores the heartbreak and rage behind La Singla’s performances, while celebrating her incomparable legacy. -YS

May 6 | 12:45pm | the Cinematheque

May 10 | 5pm | VIFF Centre

Satan Wants You

A deep dive into the origins of the Satanic Panic of the ’80s, Satan Wants You shines the spotlight on the bestselling book Michelle Remembers; the result of Michelle Smith and her therapist Lawrence Pazder “recovering” the former’s memories of alleged enslavement by a satanic cult in Victoria.

The documentary presents the snowball effect of misinformation being accepted as truth by a fearful society, the motives of those spreading conspiracies, and the life-changing consequences that result.

While it might be easy to look back now and laugh at the absurdity of baby-eating satanic cults, Satan Wants You offers the frustrating realization that we may not have collectively grown much (if at all) in information literacy in the 40 years since. -CW

May 6 | 7:30pm | VIFF Centre May 12 | the Cinematheque | 8:30pm

Music For Black Pigeons

Like jazz, Music for Black Pigeons doesn’t follow a linear narrative, but improvises to the rhythms of the lives of some of the genre’s most influential and prolific players, anchored by their collaborations with Danish composer Jakob Bro.

Shot across a span of 14 years, the film follows them as they buy soup and do morning lunges, answering existential questions about what music means to them in between sessions, recordings, performances, and all the other things that musicians go behind the scenes.

It honours some of the greats who are no longer with us, like drummer Paul Motian and saxophonist Lee Konitz—who, with his endearingly acerbic sense of humour, is truly the heart of the film. It’s a compelling window into what it means to live a life totally devoted to music. -YS

May 12 | 9:15pm | VIFF

May 13 | 2:45pm | the Cinematheque

King Coal

Sharing a name with the Upton Sinclair novel about coal miners, King Coal looks at how Central Appalachia has been shaped by its relationship to the seams.

MADELEINE

A charming story of friendship between 107-year-old Madeleine and filmmaker Raquel, the short film combines the pair’s real-life conversation with a mixture of video recording as well as beautiful felt model animation. It’s the relationship that drives the heart of the film, with both speaking to one another with a sense of fond familiarity, though with nothing held back. Madeleine captures the curiosity, tenacity, and will still within the titular character as the two go on a road trip out to sea, offering words of wisdom, witty banter, and an incredible perspective on life. -CW

May 6 | 2:45pm | the Cinematheque

May 11 | 3pm | Djavad Mwafaghian Cinema

Director and coal-miner’s daughter Elaine McMillion Sheldon examines how the industry’s influence is king; and how, as coal’s importance diminishes, the king lives on as only a ghost. Sheldon’s lyrical narration explores past, present, and future, meandering through vignettes of a young girl learning what coal means to her community.

At one point, Sheldon notes this place doesn’t just extract coal; it also ships out people, and dreams. Some of the rougher realities of pollution or corporate resource extraction are elided. Viewers ponder, instead, the tensions between pride, loyalty, and reality—and what could happen when the ghost of resource extraction is put to rest. -VW

May 10 | 7pm | VIFF Centre May 11 | 10am | SFU Cinema

The visible spectrum is defined as “wavelengths of visible light.” It’s what five people who have been struck by lightning begin to describe in Le Spectre Visible , the 2022 short from Quebecois directors Sarah Seené and Maxime Corbeil-Perron, as they share stories about the lasting impression the phenomenon has made on their lives.

Shot on 16mm film against a haunting backdrop of black and white, staticky flashes of colourful light emulate the different experiences of the survivors as they share intimate reflections on life, death, and psychic connections to nature. It’s both frightening and beautiful—like lightning itself. -YS

May 12 | 6:15pm | The Cinematheque

30 Free Bands

July 20-23, 2023 | Fort Langley, BC

Immerse yourself in world-class jazz, art and music in a very special setting

Caity Gyorgy Quartet • Gabriel Palatchi Trio

Oliver Gannon & Bill Coon • Celeigh Cardinal

Jasmine Jazz • Apollo Suns• Raagaverse

Curtis Clear Sky & the Constellationz

Dal Richards Orchestra • Blues Hoodoo

Candus Churchill and the “Circle of Voices”

Feven Kidane • Susana Williams • Marois Vocal Project

Alvin Brendan Organ Trio • Doc Fingers

Colin Sankey Trio • Mark Crissinger • Hayley Wallis

Urban Bandscape • Wild River Singers • Jaya Bremer Quintet

RazzMaJazz Ensemble • Monty Biggins - the Little Bigs Band

The Perpetual Jazz Trio • Serengeti • Jake Kostuchuk Quartet

Omianan • Noxious Obs Society Band • The Carnival Band

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May 2023

GREG PUCIATO May 6 Rickshaw Theatre.

Former frontman of Dillinger Escape Plan.

MANNEQUIN PUSSY May 7, Cobalt.

Philly punks in support of latest effort, Perfect.

M83 May 9, Commodore Ballroom.

French electronic group.

THE HEAVY May 9, Rickshaw Theatre.

Guitar rock and neo-soul from England.

WEDNESDAY May 9, Fox Cabaret.

Buzzy indie rockers from North Carolina in support of critically acclaimed album, Rat Saw God.

ELM TREE CIRCLE May 10, Cobalt.

German pop punk, with support from Vancouver’s Big City Germs.

AMANDA SUM May 11-14, The Cultch.

Performing New Age Attitudes: Live in Concert as part of Femme Festival.

ANTIBALAS May 11, Rickshaw Theatre. Brooklyn-based Afrobeat collective.

DEAN LEWIS May 11, Vogue Theatre. Australian singer-songwriter.

VERBODEN FESTIVAL May 12-14, Rickshaw Theatre.

6th annual dark music festival featuring over 40 artists.

HAYLEY KIYOKO May 13, Commodore Ballroom. Rising pop star known to fans as the “queen of lesbians.”

GARY NUMAN May 14, Commodore Ballroom.

English new wave musician best known for 1979’s The Pleasure Principle.

DREAMER ISIOMA May 16, Cobalt.

Chicago artist blending Afrobeats, R&B, and pop.

VIVEK SHRAYA May 17, Fox Cabaret.

Multidisciplinary artist on tour in support of new album, Baby You’re Projecting.

DEVOURS May 18, Biltmore Cabaret.

Homecoming Queen album release party.

MODIFIED GHOST FESTIVAL May 18-21, Rickshaw Theatre.

Metal, punk, hardcore, prog music festival.

TOW’RS May 18, Wise Hall.

Indie Americana from Arizona.

YVES TUMOR May 18, Vogue Theatre. Surreal and boundary-defying.

JOSEPH May 19, Commodore Ballroom. Portland folk band of sisters.

SAMPA THE GREAT May 19, Hollywood Theatre.

Zambian-born, Botswana-raised rapper and singer. SUPERSUCKERS May 19, Rickshaw Theatre.

Described as the “bastard sons of Foghat, AC/DC, and ZZ Top after being weaned on punk rock.”

HOT CHIP May 20, Vogue Theatre.

Widely acclaimed synthpop group from London. THE HALLUCI NATION X FUCKED UP May 20, Commodore Ballroom.

Here’s The Unity Tour, featuring a live wrestling show.

TIM HECKER May 20, Colbalt.

Prolific and celebrated ambient musician and producer from Vancouver.

THE SCHIZOPHONICS May 20, Biltmore Cabaret.

Cali garage rock, featuring support from local bands Bratboy and Stuttr.

YOB & ELDER May 21, Rickshaw Theatre. A night filled with sludge, doom, and heavy psych rock.

BEGONIA May 23, Fox Cabaret.

Solo project of Chic Gamine’s Alexa Dirks.

$NOT May 23, Commodore Ballroom. Florida-based rapper.

BABYGIRL May 25, Biltmore Cabaret.

Described as ““pop songs with sad guitars.”

FRUIT BATS May 27, Commodore Ballroom. Eric D. Johnson’s influential folk-rock band.

TOVE LO May 29, Commodore Ballroom. Rescheduled stop on the Dirt Femme Tour.

TAWAHUM May 30, Fox Cabaret.

Release show for debut album, Bottled Lightning, which protests the Trans Mountain Pipeline.

MICHAELA SLINGER May 31, Fox Cabaret.

Local indie pop singer-songwriter in support of new album, This Can’t Last Forever.

THE QUEERS & TEENAGE BOTTLEROCKET May 31, Rickshaw Theatre. No frills punk rock.

JUNE 2023

WAVVES June 2, Rickshaw Theatre. San Diego surf rock.

DWAYNE GRETZKY June 2, Biltmore Cabaret. Fun nostalgic covers of Fleetwood Mac to Fatboy Slim.

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