“Docs on Bay” is a monthly screening series of award-winning documentaries. We often bring filmmakers to present their films, conduct workshops or participate in post-screening Q&A’S. The series is supported by the Ontario Arts Council and local businesses and organizations. Screenings take place at 314 Bay Street above the Hoito Restaurant. The hall is accessible. Tickets are $8.00 or pay what you can.
NEXT SCREENING
ARCTIC DEFENDERS
13 November 2014 | 314 Bay Street | 8pm
Director: John Walker | 89 min | Halifax, NS
Arctic Defenders tells the remarkable story that began in 1968 with a radical Inuit movement in Canada. It led to the largest land claim in western civilization, orchestrated by young visionary Inuit with a dream – the governance of their territory – the creation of Nunavut. The story reveals the dark side of Canada’s attempt at sovereignty in the north and finds hope and inspiration from determined Inuit who changed the rules of the game. The film’s writer and director, John Walker will join us for a post-screening Q+A.
MASTER CLASS WITH JOHN WALKER
14 November 2014 | Confederation College Room 351, Lecture Theatre | 10am
Join us for a free, public Master Class with John Walker, one of Canada’s most prestigious documentary filmmakers
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UNDER THE RED STAR
9 October 2014 | 314 Bay Street | 8pm
Director: Kelly Saxberg | 79 min | Thunder Bay, Canada
The Finnish Labour Temple at 314 Bay Street was the epicentre of community, culture and labour politics when it opened in 1910. This compelling docu-drama, in English and Finnish integrates archival footage, photos and fictionalized scenes shot on 16 mm film to bring to life the dramatic early years of Finnish immigration to Canada.
“A tremendous achievement! This beautifully crafted and utterly absorbing recreation of one of North America’s most extraordinary working-class movements is immaculately researched and elegantly presented”
- Ian Mc Kay, Department of History, Queen’s University
Post-Screening Q&A with Director and Writer, Kelly Saxberg
Plus, live Music with Damon Dowbak and Poetry with Rauli Pohjolainen as Aku Paivio.
2013/14 SCREENINGS
WHEN JEWS WERE FUNNY
10 April 2014 | 314 Bay Street | 8pm
“For me a good documentary story is anything that has a whiff of honesty or authenticity about it. Humanity will shine through the screen. I don’t think it’s hard to get that, but you have to decide you want to get it.” – Alan Zweig
What’s humour? What social function does it serve? Is the history of American humour over the last century tied to Jewish comedy? Independent Toronto writer, producer, director and actor Alan Zweig says that When Jews Were Funny isn’t about history but why sadness, anger and complaining are funny. What Mark Breslin calls “Jewish Jazz”.
The film was awarded Best Canadian Feature at the 2013 Toronto International Film Festival. Director Alan Zweig will be here for a Q&A at the screening.
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SYMPHONY OF THE SOIL
13 March 2014 | 314 Bay Street | 7pm
Dense, graceful and passionate, Symphony of the Soil is a loving portrait of soil. Packed with information, the feature-length doc surveys four continents and connects with scientists, farmers, activists, policy makers, historians and entrepreneurs to show soil as a complex living organism.
Director, Deborah Koons Garcia has dedicated her filmmaking career to food security issues and will be in Thunder Bay for the screening and a Q&A . Her 2004 film, The Future of Food helped bring issues of GMO’s to mainstream media and inspired movements in organic agriculture in the USA. With over 70 people interviewed or involved with the making of Symphony of the Soil , Deborah is sure to motivate film lovers, filmmakers, growers and gardeners to take a little look at the ground beneath our feet.
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SPECIAL ED
6 February 2014 | 314 Bay Street | 8pm
“Special Ed”, the latest film by award-winning Winnipeg filmmaker John Paskievich. The film follows artist Ed Ackerman as he embarks on a legacy project to complete a 25-year-old NFB animation project designed to help kids read and write by converting three derelict houses in a struggling neighbourhood into a film studio. Resistance to his maverick vision inspires Ed to take unorthodox measures to save his properties from demolition.
“In many ways, “Special Ed” is a classic story about the individual at odds with his surroundings. While it’s clear to see why the City of Winnipeg’s authorities would take issue with Ackerman’s slap-dash methodologies, many of us can identify with the trouble he has reconciling his ambitions with his abilities. At some point or other, we all see ourselves as the exception to the rule.” – Vanda Schmockel, Prairie Dog magazine.
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Master Class with Jeff Mc Kay
8 February 2014 | 2-4 pm | Free and Open to the Public
The film’s editor, Jeff McKay was in Thunder Bay for the screening and conducted a workshop, “Editing and Directing Documentary Film” on Saturday, February 8th at the Bay Street Film Festival Office at 4A Court Street South – Room 19C from 2:00 p.m. – 4:00.
Jeff McKay has been making films since 1986, working mostly as an editor and director. He work has included “40 Years of One Night Stands – The Story of Canada’s Royal Winnipeg Ballet” (2008), “Crapshoot: The Gamble WithOur Wastes” (2003), and the Genie nominated, Peabody award winning, “Fat Chance” (1995).
2013/14 Screenings
NFB VINTAGE HOLIDAY PROGRAM
12 December 2013 | 314 Bay Street | 7pm
Let it snow! On December 12 th , Bay Street Film Festival’s Docs on Bay geared up for the holidays with delightful, loopy and provocative treasures from the National Film Board of Canada’s animated film collection. Kids and kids at heart enjoyed an evening of award-winning NFB classics, some surprise guests from the world of film and family entertainment, fun activities and delicious treats. Yup, was more exciting than getting up on Christmas morning at the crack of dawn!
Master Class with Shayne Ehman
Saturday, December 14 | 3-5pm | Free and Open to the Public
Artist and filmmaker, Shayne Ehman shared his knowledge and experience of art, animation and filmmaking at the old Bay Street Film Festival Office on Court Street . Artist and filmmaker Shayne Ehman made his directorial debut with Seth Scriver in “Asphalt Watches”. The animated feature film won Best Canadian First Feature Film at the 2013 Toronto International Film Festival. Using flash animation and synth soundscapes, “Asphalt Watches” elevates the cross-Canada road trip experience to the bizarre and hilarious.
AI WEI WEI: NEVER SORRY
21 November 2013| 314 Bay Street | 8pm
An examination of the complex intersection of artistic practice and social activism as seen through the life and art of China’s preeminent artist, Ai Weiwei – architect, photographer, conceptual artist, social critic, blogger, tweeter and provocateur. Klayman documents Ai Weiwei’s artistic process, his exchanges with family members and his increasingly public clashes with the Chinese government.
“Watching “Ai WeiWei: never Sorry” is like experiencing A thrilling unfinished Symphony: the Story is enthralling, but it’s not over, and there’s no telling Where it’s going. Which makes what we see on screen all the more involving.”
Kenneth Turan Los Angeles Times
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THE BIG BLUE
Thursday October 24 | 314 Bay Street | Doors 6:30 | Program 7pm
First Screening of the new Season | Free
The event featured Canadian writer, Charles Wilkins’ book launch and two films about his sea-faring adventure. Plus, live music with Danny Johnson and Dylan White.
“The Big Blue”, a feature documentary (65 min) directed by Thunder Bay’s Kelly Saxberg documents how the boat crewed by 16 dreamers, stargazers and minstrels tried to break a Guinness World Record. Saxberg and Damien Gilbert documented the launch and arrival of Big Blue while Canadian, Dylan White, filmed the ocean footage. The film premiered at the Waterfront at the City of Thunder Bay’s Movie Nights in the Park in September 2013.
Wilkins’ 5,000 kilometre, 53-day row across the Atlantic Ocean in 2011 was on a 40-foot technologically advanced catamaran with no support vessel, no stored water, no sails or motor. The boat’s crew of 16 included several veterans of U.S. college rowing, a pair of triathletes, and a woman who had rowed both the Atlantic and Indian Oceans.
An “Extreme Videography Workshop” was held on Thursday, October 24, 2013 from 2:00 p.m. – 4:00 p.m. at 314 Bay Street. Canadian rower and Big Blue crew member, Dylan White discussed the challenges of shooting in extreme conditions.
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2012/13 SCREENINGS
WE ARE WISCONSIN
18 April 2013 | 314 Bay Street | 8 pm
WE ARE WISCONSIN is a feature documentary film that follows the day-to-day unfolding of public outcry against Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker’s controversial budget-repair bill, focusing on the human story behind a remarkable popular uprising forged on the floor of the Madison Capitol. The film asks the question “Why should we care about what’s going on in Wisconsin?” on multiple levels, through an in-depth profile of six leading individuals central to the story: a UW- Madison student leader, a state-employee social worker, a nurse, a high school teacher, a police officer and an unemployed electrician who come out to protest what they saw as a direct attack on their livelihood. They all meet inside the capitol over the course of what became an historic twenty-six days, February-March, 2011.
The film also amplifies why Wisconsin has become ground zero for so many disparate groups, awakening a sleeping giant of collective voices, alarmed and angry at the new Corporate-funded, hyper-conservative wave of local government sweeping the country. The Wisconsin spirit of peaceful resistance spread powerfully in waves from the Capitol Rotunda to the streets outside and beyond, winning hearts and minds and sparking what is now known as the Occupy Movement, led by the 99%.
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KUMARE
14 March 2013 | 314 Bay Street | 8 pm
American pundit, Stephen Colbert told Vikram Gandhi he would follow Kumaré anywhere. Gandhi documented “the spiritual placebo effect” of Kumaré, a fake guru who’s a manifestation of the New York director’s true self. The feature film is an elaborate hoax that’s entertaining and strangely enlightening. The film begins by poking fun at a few outrageous gurus and their followers then transforms into a complicated personal journey for Vikram Gandhi. He says, “As Kumaré, I rediscovered my country.
America is a lonely place. Technology both connects us and distances us. We outsource our teachers, our dreams, our identities. We need desperately to bond with others.” People had no problem bonding with the false prophet and searching for the blue light of his wisdom. Along the way Kumaré realizes that his followers are not silly at all. Gandhi’s journey at the heart of this social experiment gives gripping tension to what becomes a humerous conversation about faith, belief and truth.
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STORIES WE TELL
14 February 2013 | 314 Bay Street | 8 pm
Keeping secrets can be a way of keeping a family together. Revealing secrets is a very unpredictable risk. In 2007, Canadian actor/writer/director Sarah Polley decided to find out her family’s story through a feature length confessional documentary.
“Stories We Tell” is produced by the National Film Board and recently won the Rogers Best Canadian Film from the Toronto Film Critics Association.
“What I wanted most was to examine the many versions of this story, how people held onto them, how they agreed and disagreed with each other, and how powerful and necessary creating narrative is for us to make sense of our bewildering lives.” she said.
Polley successfully depicts the intractable subjects of her family’s secrets and learns about herself in a way that celebrates storytelling with the real and imagined – just as we all ultimately recall and reveal our own memories.
A DRUMMERS DREAM
17 January 2013 | 314 Bay Street | 8 pm
Seven of the greatest drummers in the world are filmed at a music camp in Westport, Ontario. Nasyr Abdul Al-Khabyyr, Dennis Chambers, Kenwood Dennard, Horacio El-Negro Hernadez, Giovanni Hidalgo, Mike Mangini and Raul Rekow are talented and passionate artists representing rich music styles and influences including rock, jazz, Latin fusion and soul. The film captures the musicians tuning up, jamming, and sharing their thought processes.
Walker, an award-winning documentary director and cinematographer has credits on over 60 films including, “A Winter Tan”, “The Fairy Faith”, “Passage” and “Men of the Deep”. His reputation has added cache. As a 16 year old drummer and avid photographer, his band refused fronting for Frank Zappa and Walker started a job in a film studio.
John Walker will be conducting a Master Class, free and open to the public on Thursday, January 17th from 2 p.m. – 4 p.m. at 314 Bay Street. The theme of the Master Class will be Walker’s approach to being both a director and a cinematographer and how that’s linked to the retrospective of his work.
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THE CARBON RUSH
6 December 2012 | 314 Bay Street | 8 pm
Hundreds of hydroelectric dams in Panama. Incinerators burning garbage in India. Biogas extracted from palm oil in Honduras. Eucalyptus forests harvested for charcoal in Brazil.
What do these projects have in common? They’re all receiving carbon credits for offsetting pollution created somewhere else. What impact are these offsets having? Are they actually reducing emissions? And, what about the people and the communities where these projects have been set up?
“The Carbon Rush” takes us around the world to meet the people most impacted. The people who are the least heard in the cacophony surrounding the “green-gold” multi-billion dollar carbon industry – the Indigenous rain forest dwellers whose way of life is completely threatened, the dozens of Campesinos assassinated, the livelihood of waste pickers at landfills and more. This groundbreaking documentary brings us up close to projects working through the United Nations Kyoto Protocol’s designed Clean Development Mechanism and asks fundamental questions like, “What happens when we manipulate markets to solve the climate crisis?” and “Who stands to gain and who stands to suffer?”.
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BIG BOYS GONE BANANAS!*
November 2012 | 314 Bay Street | 8 pm
BIG BOYS GONE BANANAS!* has been called a classic David vs Goliath story – but it is more about freedom of speech and what happens to a documentary filmmaker when he goes up against a large corporation such as Dole Foods. How far will Dole go to shift the focus off of them and onto the filmmaker even after their own CEO has admitted wrong doing in a court of law and was captured on film. Media spin, PR scare tactics, dirty tricks, lawsuits, and corporate bullying come into play to try and destroy the filmmaker. But, it is the people who ultimately prevail, thus creating a cautionary tale and a real life lesson learning experience.
Bart Simpson is a Canadian producer and director of documentary and fiction films. Simpson is best known for producing the feature documentary The Corporation with his former production company in Vancouver, Canada. He’ll be traveling to Thunder Bay for the first of DOCS on BAY screening series.
Award winning local director of BANANA SPLIT, Ron Harpelle, will be introducing Bart and will lead the Q&A about the true cost of Bananas and corporate bullying.