Suspension Of Disbelief Film Society

Shameless Self Promotion!

2010-03-25T15:59:00.001-07:00

Lets try and find our place on this internet bandwagon and join together to create more traffic for our work.

Add your videos to our new Vimeo Channel!

SDFS board member featured in Georgia Straight!

2010-03-25T14:40:00.000-07:00

http://www.straight.com/article-299453/vancouver/women-take-crazy8s-dare

Check out this weeks Georgia Straight to see an article featuring SDFS's own Elizabeth Van Allen Cairns. Quick make her your BFF before she gets famous!!! Yay Liz!

Art Strike Wednesday Sept. 9th at UBC Robson Square

2009-09-04T19:41:00.000-07:00

On wednesday September 9th there will be an art strike. Come to Robson square at noon dressed in grey to show your support.

Protestors will stand in a giant silent square for 30 minutes.

http://thetyee.ca/ArtsAndCulture/2009/09/04/FlexYourMuscles/

It's been a while...

2009-08-18T14:53:00.000-07:00

Wow, it's been so long since I posted I actually couldn't remember the password to sign in... Doesn't look so good does it?

I blame it on the good weather and summer. But it's come time again for our Annual General Meeting. Almost a year since this ball got rolling and it's been a slow start... But I have faith.

A few of our members are starting to get those post-university films under their belts and we're starting to have something to show for ourselves.

So lets get back in the game, come out to the AGM and bring your thinking cap. Date and location TBD... I will get back to you on that shortly.

Money and Equipment

2009-05-05T13:01:00.000-07:00

We need money and equipment. Any ideas?

Seriously though, we need to be helping each other out more, cause it's becoming clear no one else is going to until we can prove that what we're doing needs to be seen.

so far so good

2009-03-04T21:40:00.001-08:00

Just wanted to let you know that our first script group meet went very well, and we look forward to many more as they come up in the future... look for the next one in about a months time, or if you have a script you'd like to discuss let us know when/where.

2009

2009-02-17T13:38:00.000-08:00

Well tis a new year and with it come many plans.

First things first: Script workshoping group. Anyone interested in being a part of this please contact me. Right now we've got about 5 or 6 people which is a good start.

Secondly: There is talk of us having a screening. If you have some new work that you might want to show, let me know so we can figure out how we want to tackle this screening/party. The original plan, as you can see in the post history on this blog, was to make it a little festival. But upon further discussion it was agreed the most important thing for us to do right now is show our own work, rather than trying to find submissions and have a juried selection. So that's what we'll do. You make it we'll show it. We're aiming for late spring of this year.

Also I personally (with Glass Curtain Pictures) will be hosting a celebratory screening/party in April to premiere our first short produced together. We are hoping that some of you might be interested in showing some of your own work there as well.

Again, just let me know.

Thirdly: Our black dog DVD has been rented every time I went in! Wahoo!

Lastly, I have become involved in a wonderful little project with the Purple Thistle that you guys should come check out. We will be organizing a multi-projection installation in Strathcona Community Gardens in the spring. For more info just throw me an email. (ifromsmall@gmail.com)

DVD is officially out there

2009-01-20T16:07:00.000-08:00

Hello

So, as of today, Black Dog Video has possession of our film collection and will have it on their shelves as soon as they can.

I had the DVD's printed at the tape house, so they look pretty great, but cases themselves could use some work... i kind of mucked up the size for the dvd sleeve so it looks a bit amateurish... Also I think the image i chose for the cover may be a bit too depressing. I was hoping someone who is super savvy at desgining stuff like this could take a crack at it, and then I'll just go replace the sleeve at black dog with a newer, brighter, slicker version.

any volunteers? I'll send you the photoshop file of the one i did (which is about 0.5" too small all around) and you can use that as a starting point.

Script development shizzat

2009-01-12T17:21:00.000-08:00

Hey you,

So as of February things are starting to roll! Sunday Feb. 1st at 7pm will be the second of our now monthly general meetings. All are welcome. The location is TBA closer to the day. The meeting minutes for our last meeting are available on the forum which you can check out via the link on the sidebar of this site.

Second order of business:

Script development group!!! YAY! Meeting once a month starting in February, we're going to be holding discussion groups to talk about people's scripts/ideas for projects. This can be anything from a cold reading group to a brainstorming session, to a script critique. This group will be hosted at people's houses or the Purple Thistle if need be. Please let me know if you're interested so I can start an email list.

Hope the holidays were great! That's all for now.

kaki

Shows are fun!

2008-12-03T22:40:00.000-08:00

Hey guys,

So a couple of successes this month:

1. The show last weekend at East Van Studios "Some Assembly Required" went really well!
We had a great response from so many people, it was really cool to see. Also we managed to sell all of the DVD's! So for those of you who brought your film over to me, keep an eye out for your share of the profits in the mail... Unfortunately it seems like not all of the DVD's worked completely so I'm a bit nervous about pounding out a bunch more. We have had some requests for them though so I may look into getting some done at Finale if the cost is covered by the sales.

2. This tuesday was the second week of Stephen Wichuk's animation class at the Purple Thistle, and so far theres been a pretty good turn out. Also there will be another hand processing workshop with artists Yunlam Li and Chris Brabant this Friday at the Thistle from 4-10pm. Both artists are really nice guys and have a lot of knowledge of analogue film techniques and photography. I feel good that I've had a chance to work with all 3 of these artists (Yunlam, Chris and Stephen) now, knowing that it will be so useful to have that knowledge to draw on for SDFS and for future workshops/projects.

So that's the news this week. I have some other possible excellent news that I'm going to hold under my hat until I know if it's for sure or not... but know that there are good things a-brewing.

A few things:

2008-11-19T16:30:00.000-08:00

Hey guys,

Just a couple things to mention. Firstly if anyone is interested in learning how to use the oxberry animation stand at the purple thistle, please be in contact with Liz (elizabeth.cairns@gmail.com).

Secondly please come out and check out the first SDFS event, a little show called "Some Assembly Required" at East Van Studios on Nov. 29th, 8pm-2am. It's a showcase of some of our members non-film work... so should be interesting! There will be drinks and music and much fun.

Thirdly, in relation to that, if anyone would like their film to be showcased at this event in our compilation DVD, please get a copy of it to me before the 25th of November. DVD's will be on sale at the party and all the profits will be split among those whose films are on them.

Also if you are coming out to the culture crawl, it's a good opportunity to check out both the Thistle and Cinework's future film annex down in the ironworks building. If you go down to ironworks, the section of the basement currently under construction will soon be home to Cineworks new processing machines, contact printer and optical printer as well as installation and workshop space... also a good place for SDFS to take advantage.

that's all for now.

Check it yo!

2008-10-27T17:44:00.000-07:00

Hey guys, check out our sweet new google groups forum, courtesy of Mr. Scott.

http://groups.google.com/group/suspension-of-disbelief-film-society

Also a bit of an adjustment on times at the Thistle. We'll now be there every Sunday from 2-7pm, rather than from 5-10pm. If you need to get in at another time, there's usually someone there everyday from 4-10pm, or give Liz or I a call and we can figure something out.

Black Dog Video

2008-10-13T12:50:00.000-07:00

So I just talked to the fellow at Black Dog, and apparently they will rent out local filmmakers work (for free). If you bring in a pro-looking DVD they will put it on their new release shelf as a free rental for "quite a while". He suggested we bring in a compilation DVD. I think that's a swell idea. Any takers? I volunteer to make up a super-pro DVD if you guys bring me your work.

Meetings/Hangouts/Getting stuff done

2008-10-13T11:02:00.000-07:00

Please come to the Purple Thistle on Sunday's between 5-10pm... Liz and I will be there doing lots of cool shit. Next week we're going to be doing some animation using photographs and string... Also if anyone wants to try and figure out the darkroom with me I'm going to try and re-learn film developing.

I'm also going to try doing animation through the video tap of my SR camera...

What are you working on?

2008-09-30T13:59:00.000-07:00

Hey guys,

Just wanted to start people talking about their own projects, what you've been up to, what you'd like to be up to, who you've been doing... cough. Seriously, tell us what you're working on so we can all keep our heads up as to what's going on with our own generation of filmmakers.

As an update on me, I've been spending some more time at cineworks at board meetings and orientations etc. and am very excited about the talk that's going around of a new analog film space that might be happening as soon as November... I'll keep you posted on that, but so you know they're talking about all kinds of cool workshops and artist residency things that you should keep an eye out for.

I also sent a letter of interest to the Vancouver Foundation for a grant for our launch party... If that goes through the selected filmmakers would recieve artist fees in exchange for having their work shown, so that would be cool.

That's all for now.

Things that have happened:

2008-09-15T19:49:00.000-07:00

Soo...

Last Friday night I attended the AGM for Cineworks (Annual General Meeting) in which I was able to sneak into a spot on the board of directors... What does this mean exactly? Well I'm not entirely sure yet, I'll get back to you after my orientation, but basically I think it means I have a hand in the decision making that goes on behind the scenes of Cineworks, so that's pretty cool. Also it gives me a good example to follow (or not follow) of how a non-profit society should function, how funding is dealt with etc.

News number 2 is I attempted to go to the Purple Thistle board meeting, but could not get into the building... Either there was no meeting or I had the wrong day... So I will instead try and contact the coordinator by email to talk about collaboration etc.

News number 3 is that if anyone wants to shoot something on Super 16 or VHS you're in luck. The VHS camera (Wahoo) has been donated to the society along with a projector and a 35mm splicer. The Super 16 is my own so if you've got something you want to shoot, lets chat.

Tell us what you want!

2008-09-08T19:03:00.001-07:00

Hey guys. So the idea here is that you have to let us know what you want so we can do what we can to make it happen. Give us something to work towards that you think would be valuable to you.

We are currently undergoing some discussion about collaboration with organizations such as the Purple Thistle and Cineworks to get things started. This Monday I will be going down to the Thistle to their board meeting to assess how a relationship with them would work. If all goes well we could start using their space for our own needs. Regardless everyone should go check out their space down on Vernon Drive near Clark. They've got a pretty sweet (albeit cramped) setup with a free darkroom, screen printing room and animation stand. I added a link to their extremely outdated website on the links section of this page.

On Friday I will be doing the same with Cineworks board meeting to see what I can do about getting their film processing machine up and running and perhaps how our collective can have a hand in that for super cheap processing.

So again, what would you like to see happen here if anything? Script discussions? Workshops? Critiquing? Events? Please give us some feedback so we know you're interested. Even the vaguest of ideas is something.

thanks!!

kaki

FILM FESTIVAL

2008-09-07T17:12:00.000-07:00

Hi there folks.

So as you may know Suspension of Disbelief is now an official non-profit organization... which is important to you for the following reason:

In order to qualify for Canada Council and BC Arts Council grants you must have produced a work outside of school that has been shown in a "professional context". In other words, you must screen it somewhere... anywhere that you can reference on your grant proposal. So, how is SDFS going to help you? We will provide for you the professional context.

What am I trying to say you ask? SDFS is having a film festival!!! YAY!!! If you have something you've made or are making something and want to qualify for the spring grant deadlines, send us your work!! If you have not get cracking and make some work!!

It does not have to be expensive or elaborate but you will still want to make it good, cause people are going to see it.

Submissions will be accepted starting now, up until Dec. 31st 2008.

If you're hoping to apply for the fall deadline of BC or Canada Arts Council (or other) grants and need a work to be screened sooner than that, let us know and we'll see what we can figure out.

Mail/Drop submissions off at:

SDFS Film Festival
2045 Kitchener St.
Vancouver, BC
V5L 2W6

Welcome

2008-09-07T17:06:00.000-07:00

Hey guys. So until the funding starts coming in, things are going to happen slowly and in bits and pieces. This blog is as an alternative to paying for a website, so until we can afford that, all info can be found here. If you want to be able to leave posts instead of comments, please email me at sdfilmsociety@gmail.com, and I will add you as an author. Please feel free to post anything you like, as long as it has some relation to film, new media art, Vancouver, or this collective...