Tag: Musical

[Victoria, BC] This Hallow’s Eve, Let’s Take Two with Once More, With Feeling!

PictureBy Ed Sum
(The Vintage Tempest)

Sept 24-26 & Oct 2-4
Evening performances: 8:30pm ​
Saturday Matinees: 5:30pm

Tickets can be bought in advance here.

Bluebridge Repertory Theatre
2657 Quadra St

Just when folks looking for Halloween themed activities are having a hard go at finding anything locally, Starry Starry Skies is keeping current with virtual performances! They are bringing back their knockout show from last year and using the Roxy as the larger space to truly get their strut on. As with other venues, seating will be staggered to give space between parties of two.

From their website:

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The Vintage Tempest’s Picks of the Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival

“2020 marks the 50th anniversary for visual communications,” said Francis Cullado, Executive Director of Visual Communications. “The organization was born because our founders began searching for visual resources to build a greater consciousness of Asian Pacific history in America ….

Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film FestivalBy Ed Sum
(The Vintage Tempest)

Runs Sept 24 to Oct 31

The complete lineup of the 36th Annual Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival is here! The list is extensive and to figure out what to see for its virtual event took more than days to figure out. Because of this event being region specific, most of these movies are geolocked to those residing in the county to see. However, with a lot of film festivals offering an online component, it’s safe to assume that these films will become available for another region in no time. Failing that, some works are already available on home video for purchase in the country it was made.

Over 225 filmmakers will be featured in the five weeks which starts very soon! There’s three feature film world premieres and plenty of shorts to see.

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Highlights from My First Fantasia

There’s a mini festival within a festival if you spend your time exploring the talents featured here.

FantasiaBy Ed Sum
(The Vintage Tempest)

Playing at Fantasia Digital Film Festival 2020 On Demand till Sept 2. Buy your virtual ticket here.

Fantasia Film Festival may seem short with feature length animated works this year because one title was pulled. My response is to check out the My First Fantasia Programme. There’s more than enough pieces to sate anyone’s appetite! Plus, the other packaged presentations include mini tales of fantasy, sci-fi and experimental works. There’s a mini festival within a festival if you spend your time exploring the talents featured here.

Realistically, the Annecy International Animation Film Festival is the event for fans of this medium. When my love for this genre outweighs Asian works, I had to do a marathon run of this particular set of works this weekend. I’m particularly interested with seeing what emerging talents from around the world are offering. Some are certainly ready to be noticed by Studio Ghibli, Studio Canal, Cartoon Saloon, or even PIXAR.

A few shorts are repeated in the other themed sets; they only help reinforce the concept being presented. Some are animated in CGI, others are hand drawn, a few are stop motion and the rest use a blend of other techniques—which include clay, Adobe Animation (formerly Flash) or otherwise. They are all used to great effect to convey a sense of wonder, whimsy or surreal.

This list highlights the pieces which I found the most engaging from each themed package:

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Fantasia Digital Fest 2020 – The Vintage Tempest’s Top Picks!

Fantasia Digital Fest 2020 PosterBy Ed Sum
(The Vintage Tempest)

The 2020 Fantasia International Film Festival is taking place online! It will run from August 20th to Sept 2nd, and the producers behind this event worked hard with Festival Scope and Shift72 to ensure that for Canadian audiences, they will have an experience to remember.

According to Fantasia’s FAQ: Unfortunately, we can’t make new films available across the world without potentially hurting their future distribution and exhibition options, which is a key concern to us. The only exception is Troma’s latest, an interpretation of William Shakespeare’s The Tempest, which will be available to audiences in Canada and the United States.

Signing up to this event is easy. All anyone has to do is to visit Fantasia’s website and make an account. Options exist to make a wish list, and tickets can be pre-purchased early for those shows with a set time of broadcast, or viewed at leisure, beginning August 20th. The showtimes advertised on Fantasia’s PDF Guide and social media platforms and the like are listed in Eastern Standard Time.

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No Need to be “Gruff” by Kaleidoscope

Kaleidoscope Theatre GruffDates: Aug 22 – Sept 6, 2020
60 Minutes with No Intermission

PERFORMANCE SCHEDULE

Performances Take Place Outdoors at Parks Around Greater Victoria, daily at 2pm and 4:30pm! Dates are:

  • August 22-23 – Dominion Brook Park (North Saanich / Sidney)
  • August 26-30 – Elk / Beaver Lake Park Filter Beds (Saanich)
  • September 3 – Ed Macgregor Park (Sooke)
  • September 4-6 – BC Government House (Victoria)

GET TICKETS

A Bolshevik puppet musical for families about what happens when the grass really is greener on the other side.

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Going From the Streets of Fire to a Road to Hell at 24 MPH

Streets of Fire Movie PosterBy Ed Sum
(The Vintage Tempest)

Although action/sci-fi filmmaker Albert Pyun created a spiritual successor to Walter Hill’s Streets of Fire, not everyone is going to take the Road to Hell right away. It’s a distinct type of film—more confusing than anything else—until the last act, where the connections to the original are made. This director certainly has a fondness for Hill’s work, but I have to ask if the creators would endorse the direction in “part two.” Most likely not when considering they had ideas in place for a trilogy had only the movie been a box office success.

I was reminded of this cult classic not too long ago and found an interview with Michael Paré on Forbes from last year saying he was open to giving new life to this neo-noir wild west romp. Whether Cody and McCoy would both return after riding off to the sunset is debatable. They left “The City on the Edge of Forever,” for a tougher life. In Pyun’s work, Cody went back to serve his country one more time and Ellen became that legend Fish promised. But somewhere along the line, she died. Her musical legacy is remembered when her daughter decided to follow in mom’s footsteps.

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