DOXA Documentary Film Festival – Friday, May 13 at 6:30 pm
Vancity Theatre (1181 Seymour Street)
Broadcast Premiere on Bravo! May 16 at 5 pm PT, 8 pm ET
“What a treat… wonderfully well made. Beautifully shot and perfectly edited. The artists are fascinating and their processes engagingly depicted.” – Mark Achbar, Co-Director/Producer, The Corporation
The members of the so-called ‘Vancouver School’ are the biggest art stars to ever come out of Canada, yet they remain little known to many Canadians. Picture Start tells the remarkable—and unlikely—story of the emergence and rise of the original generation of this esteemed group— Jeff Wall, Ian Wallace, and recent Audain Prize winner Rodney Graham.
This unique documentary will have its Vancouver Premiere at DOXA Documentary Film Festival on Friday, May 13 at 7pm, and will be broadcast on Bravo! on May 16 at 5 pm PT. The film had a World Premiere recently in Toronto and Calgary at the Reel Artists Film Festival.
Picture Start is produced by Ric Beairsto (Mixed Blessings, Code Green Canada) of Laughing Mountain Communications, and directed by Harry Killas (Superkids, Stand-Up Samurais). Charlotte Engel is the Production Executive for Bravo! The hour- long documentary is written by Beairsto and Killas, cinematography is by Danny Nowak, editing by Rafi Spivak, with original music by Dennis Burke. The film was shot in Vancouver, New York, Ontario, Paris, Barcelona and Dresden.
Picture Start draws back the curtain on an extraordinary set of artists who met in Vancouver in the late ’60s, formed the UJ3RK5 (“the most uniquely talented line-up ever to form a Canadian band”), did the unheard of and said no thanks to a contract with a major record label, then continued on individually to launch Vancouver on an astonishing trajectory. With their success, they have taken the city from a place of relative obscurity, known more for its surrounding forests than its artists, to a city now at the leading edge of the contemporary art world. The film explores how and why this remarkable emergence occurred, presenting the key artists, their work and the supporting players, as well as many of the events which make up the whole-scale transformation of the Vancouver art scene.
www.laughingmountain.ca, or on Facebook
Tickets: www.doxafestival.ca
Picture Start was produced and developed in association with Bravo!, a division of CTV Limited, Knowledge Network and SCN. Produced with the participation of Rogers Documentary Fund; the Canadian Media Fund; with the assistance of CAVCO, The Canadian Film or Video Production Tax Credit; developed with the participation of BRITISH COLUMBIA FILM, with the participation of the Province of British Columbia Film Incentive BC. Produced by Laughing Mountain Communications Inc. © Laughing Mountain Communications Inc. 2011.