Attention Vancouver Shoppers - John Candy and Michael Moore

Christmas shoppers are out in full force and some have that Don't mess with me! look. I find the best defensive posture is to restrict my reconnaissance of the major Burnaby shopping malls to early morning or well after dusk. It's not that we need that much to make me happy, but as a film buff I need to browse regularly. I find I must satisfy that itch at the back of the eyeballs and the only balm is a good movie.

As a newly minted documentary film maker I am keen to study the work of others. I constantly add to my library of non-fiction DVDs - an expensive genre to build in. Recently I stumbled on a cache of deleted titles in a store at Brentwood Mall in Burnaby. I scooped up ten DVDs including films by Errol Morris, Patrick Creadon, Michael Wilson, Marc Levin and others. My pick of the bunch is undoubtedly MICHAEL MOORE HATES AMERICA - a Mike Wilson film. The 95 minute feature is virtually unknown in Canada... Big Surprise eh!... and more is the pity. I love discussing good cinema but couldn't find anyone who'd seen it. A young friend at SFU film school told me today that he just couldn't get past the abrasive title. But the harsh title is integral to the story, and all is explained to the viewer. Even the elder statesman of Documentary film Albert Maysles approved, and his integrity is legendary.

Michael Moore Hates America - The title is provocative, the content eye opening, and the DVD now extremely affordable: $5 at WALMART and $6 at ZELLARS in the Vancouver area (very limited supply).

What Michael Wilson did was simple enough in concept - he chose to serve Mr. Moore a generous dose of his own medicine. Wilson made a study of every trick Moore employed in BOWLING FOR COLUMBINE and then he spent over a year following Moore's trail. The process of discovery exposes a pattern of outright fraud in Moore's technique and execution, but it is done with tact, wit and humour.

Don't fixate on the title. Wilson is not on a vendetta. He does however, mount an an assault for which there is no defence - and as a result Moore's production company went into lock down while Wilson was on the streets with a camera. Neither Moore or any his staff deigned to respond to an investigation of their film making tactics.
I emailed Michael Wilson to express my appreciation for his film and told him that MOST of Michael Moore's features have been broadcast by Canada's state owned television network - the CBC. I asked if his film had ever been broadcast in Canada. The answer was that it has never been broadcast ANYWHERE. And that, boys and girls, is morality tale in itself.

John Candy does a LIVE remote for CBC and entertains the shoppers at Brentwood Mall in Burnaby, B.C. It was Christmas 1976.

The comedy setup was to get some volunteers to gift wrap boxes, and then... well you know John. Out came the moose antlers, and much more. The six minute clip is an entertaining Blast from the past. Check it out at:

http://archives.cbc.ca/society/celebrations/clips/16149/

The CBC Archives website uses a software which prevents simple screen captures, so I used a digital SLR.

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A CHRISTMAS CARE PACKAGE TO KANDAHAR

JUSTIN is one of the efficient volunteers staffing the Military Family Resource Center at C.F.B. Jericho Beach on West 4th. MFRC - BC offers support to hundreds of military families in Greater Vancouver.

Since our daughter deployed to Afghanistan our family has taken advantage of the free parcel service offered by the Canadian Forces. We sent our third "CARE PACKAGE" on Monday and are amazed that it has taken as little as twelve days for small boxes to be delivered to her at Kandahar Air Field. Damn that's efficient! I guess the term is now universal for boxes of goodies sent to loved ones, often students at university, far from home. I was reminded of the origin of the term yesterday when I was riffling through a fifty year old copy of AMAZING STORIES magazine. The old advert reads:

"CARE FOOD CRUSADE - $1.00 sends a 22-lb. Food Crusade package to the world's hungry through CARE, New York 16."

22 pounds of food delivered for a $1 donation! Today it costs one dollar & tax just to send a two page letter as far as New York!

Nien Cheng - my cherished hero, dead after a long, courageous life

Nien Cheng died on in Washington D.C. on November 2, and the world refused to take notice. I have been feeling a little bitter about that. My instinct is to hurl a few insults at the opinion makers and the navel gazers, but it wouldn't do any good. Nien was a cherished hero, and she was frequently in my thoughts. Though still a newcomer to documentary film, I would like one day to craft a fitting and lasting tribute.

It was actually April Lee of M.S.T.V. in Washington D.C., who informed me by email of Nien Cheng's passing. I am grateful for her kindness. My hero died at home, attended by loyal and loving friends, including Ms. Lee's mother. In an instant I did a Google news search. It was only two days after the death but I was astounded to see how scant was the news of a noteworthy death. I have waited a week for notices to accumulate, hoping to read some fresh anecdotes from her many admirers and friends. Sadly, my wait was in vain and it makes me a bit sour to see how many lazy flacks have gotten paid to plagiarize copy scraped from the web pages of two or three better newspapers.

Nien Cheng - the eyes of a tiger. Anger and a deep sense of outrage kept her alive through years of torture and close surveillance by the Maoists.

Her birth name was Yao Nien Yuan and she was endowed with beauty, intelligence and a work ethic. She became a graduate of the London School of Economics, where she met her husband to be, Dr. K.C. Cheng. She became a diplomats wife when he was appointed, in 1941, the Second Secretary at the Chinese Legation in Australia. It was in Australia that their only child was born, a daughter they named Meiping. Postwar the Cheng's returned to China and would make careers with Shell Oil. Their fatal mistake, one common to many intellectuals of that era, was to give the Communist Party the benefit of the doubt.

Like her contemporary George Orwell, (another great hero of mine), Nien Cheng early in life had chosen to become a committed socialist. And like Orwell she was destined to receive a brutal education at the hands of "comrades". Orwell was denounced and relentlessly screwed over by ankle biters, but Nien Cheng suffered more. She was tortured in a Shanghai prison - subjected to the most bestial forms of coercive interrogation yet devised, and for more than six years. Her torturers, by the dozen, were never prosecuted, but that's another dossier.

Nien Cheng with her beloved daughter Meiping, the budding actress who was murdered by Mao's Red Guards in 1967. [Washington Post photos]
After Madame Cheng was released from political prison, two extremely cold fish (members of a "Worker's Propaganda Team") appeared. Introducing themselves as spokesmen for the "Revolutionary Committee of the Shanghai Film Studio" they informed her that her daughter Meiping's name was on "the suicide list" at the studio, one of many actually murdered by Maoist Red Guards. "According to our Great Leader Chairman Mao, committing suicide is an attempt to resist reeducation and reform. It's a crime against Socialism." Much of the remainder of the book details Nien Cheng's tenacious hunt for the truth about her daughter's killers... another courageous blow for truth and justice by a heroic woman who simply could not be defeated by the black beast of authoritarianism.

The first line of Nien Cheng's memoir reads: "The past is forever with me and I remember it all." She has been a hero of mine since the first time I read her memoir - LIFE AND DEATH IN SHANGHAI (1986). I hope to read her inspiring book one last time before the clock strikes thirteen. You and I still have "that privilege", but for how long?

[I have shared thoughts on Nien Cheng a few times in the past, including one testy piece here in the blog. If you care to jump back two years, you can read the article here.]

Nien Cheng lived in Ottawa while waiting on the Americans to let her enter on her own terms. That's a story in itself. I see no evidence that any Canadian newspaper bothered to run her Obituary but at least a British paper, THE TELEGRAPH, mentioned the Canadian dimension to her story:

Burnaby Arts Council to launch film festival in 2010

One of several benefits I enjoy is the fact that I live and work in Burnaby, B.C., the community which, in July 2009, was designated "The best-managed city in Canada". Those kudos came from MACLEANS, the Canadian news magazine which also ranks our universities. (If interested, you can read "Canada's Best-Run Cities" here.) Even though our population density continues to climb, Burnaby also enjoys the distinction of having more jobs than it does residents. It is a fact that many of the major film studios and software design firms operate from Burnaby, but use Vancouver as their postal address. We often tip our hat to the "Vancouver" Brand, but must continue to forge our own identity.

One cultural event we have sorely lacked in Burnaby, is a festival which could showcase the talents of our emerging filmmakers, those who may not be ready to compete on a national level. Recognizing their need, one of the city's busiest cultural organisations - the Burnaby Arts Council (B.A.C.), has decided to sponsor a film festival which we will launch in April - May, 2010. The details... specific dates, application requirements, sponsor information and more, will be available soon.

DEER LAKE FILM FESTIVAL

I first met Brian Daniel, the B.A.C. President, two months ago. We swapped ideas, he sold me a membership, and before long he had me enlisted for a project he had been working on. It was easy to agree on the fact we must do more to encourage students and other emerging filmmakers. We will start small, but our goal is a festival for the younger talent in the Lower Mainland - high school, post secondary students and the newly graduated, who want exposure for their best film work to date.

I was given the green light to begin the planning and promotion, and my first act was to meet yesterday with Burnaby Mayor, Derek Corrigan and discuss the festival. He was very enthusiastic and it's encouraging to know that we can count on city to play a supportive role. I am seeking volunteers to assist with the processing the submissions, and a myriad of other tasks as they arise. We believe our festival will be a good fit for the James Cowan Theatre at the Shadbolt Centre for the Arts, which is neighbor to the B.A.C. offices in Deer Lake. Press releases will go out soon.

Derek Corrigan, Mayor of Burnaby, receives his copy of the film OAKALLA. The mayor had a long association with the prison and was interviewed for the documentary. [Philip Jack photo]

IMMINENT CONTACT wraps at SFU Studio

"Work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion." So said C.N. Parkinson in 1955, but having just observed something rather extraordinary, I can attest that in the world of student independent film making, the reverse is often equally true. "Work compresses to fit a madly optimistic shooting schedule." From October 12 - 18, 2009 an enthusiastic film crew assembled at Simon Fraser University prepared to work their tails off. They were joined by a troupe of talented actors who collaborated on the production of IMMINENT CONTACT, a science fiction script written and directed by my son, Philip Jack.

Philip Jack directs IMMINENT CONTACT at the SFU studio. This view looks forward over the shoulder of an OMNI trooper at the flight crew of the drop-ship. [a Cedric Yu photo]

My role was logistical - the picking up and delivery of loads of building materials, props, costumes, and assorted consumables. I must admit that on the Monday I delivered the first load of wood frames and paint to the set at S.F.U. I was a tad dismayed. An abandoned set, comprising an entire apartment with bedrooms and furniture filled the studio from wall to wall, and it had to be cleared by the crew before IMMINENT CONTACT even had a floor to work on. And yet it WAS cleared quickly and efficiently so that construction could begin on the large drop-ship, a simple yet effective design which Philip had laboured over for months.

Student filmmaker Cedric Yu rigged an overhead camera to shoot a time-lapse film in HD, capturing the last stage of demolition and then two days of construction of the large drop-ship set. Yu's film makes for four minutes of fun viewing, and is posted on the IMMINENT CONTACT Facebook page, along with dozens of photos of the cast and the film crew.The cast of the movie includes actors Kate Crutchlow and Sam Spear as drop-ship flight crew, with DENYC, Steven Stiller, Donovan Cerninara and Sebastian Bertoli as OMNI's.

Four OMNI troopers featured in the movie IMMINENT CONTACT. They are Gunnery Sgt. Avery (Donovan Cerminara), Petty Officer Shepard (Sebastian Bertolli), Commander Grey (Steven Stiller), and Master C.P.O. Kurita (Denyc).

[a Cedric Yu photo]

Donovan Cerminara plays Gunnery Sgt. Avery in IMMINENT CONTACT.

OAKALLA to get its first screening. Yeah!

I got word today that my documentary short OAKALLA was selected for the Black Box Film Series which is running at the Shadbolt Centre for the Arts in Burnaby. Oakalla will get its first screening on Monday, October 19th at 7 PM, and I am grateful for the opportunity as it contributes to the momentum for the feature length version THE GHOSTS OF OAKALLA, which I am currently researching and writing, and which needs to secure financial backing.

The Black Box Film Series is run in partnership with the Film Circuit, a division of the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF). My ten minute DOC will precede the feature HEAVEN ON EARTH (2008) made by acclaimed director Deepa Mehta.

Post Screening : It was startling to view OAKALLA, which had been edited on a MAC, projected onto a full size theatre screen. Geraldine Parent gave the film a spirited introduction and I was gratified by the interest. I answered nearly a dozen questions from the audience before remembering to yield the floor to Mehta's feature film.

The Ghosts of Oakalla and our Heroes in Kandahar

Gas masks for horses? Too surreal, and yet very real. The old OAKALLA PRISON was also HQ of the mounted troop of the B.C. Provincial Police between WW1 and WW2. The BCPP equestrian troop did practice for crowd and riot control, [I've hefted one of their 4 foot leather truncheons] but did not have teargas hoods for their mounts.

The ghosts of Oakalla are alive and still waiting to be caught on camera. When I began the OAKALLA Doc project I understood its potential, but could not guess so much worthwhile material would emerge or that scores of fascinating people would call me with great stories. After many consultations by phone, email or visits, I have chosen more than a dozen candidates for on-camera interviews. Script development is going well and I'm sure that most of what will appear on screen has never been seen or heard by the general public. Where my initial film, OAKALLA, was largely historical in content, the feature will delve into cases and issues which will make some uncomfortable. Several ex-staff who worked at Oakalla Prison have mentioned the "gag" provision of their employment contract, while others don't care. It is clear we have a common need to get these stories out.

OAKALLA : This is the DVD cover printed for distribution of a preview disc. Only a few copies are in circulation and a few were produced for legal deposit in B.C. and Ottawa. I have been offered a first screening at a Burnaby theatre.

Many unique photographs and artifacts have turned up, and generously offered for my use in the feature documentary. They will amaze even those who worked inside Oakalla, because it is a graphic record which is simply not supposed to exist. That it does exist is a credit to the foresight of a few individuals.

TF 3-09 KANDAHAR BOUND - One of the interests around the Jack household is following Canada's war in Afghanistan. Our daughter, Capt. Elizabeth Jack, left this week with the current rotation of troops which is designated TF 3-09. We are very proud of her and we fervently wish all of the brave men and women of the Task Force the best of luck and great success in their work.

To improvise or to modify? Student director Philip Jack has been spreading cash at TOYS R US, the HOME DEPOT and anywhere he can find bits and pieces needed to assemble props needed for his grad-film. He loves making props. (This bullpup is half completed, and will get a longer barrel and target designator.) The script for his Science Fiction story IMMINENT CONTACT is tweaked, the film is cast, and his crew at Simon Fraser University begin shooting later this month.

Oakalla Prison Documentary - story buried in the heart of Metrotown

Film school kept me busy all summer, resulting in neglect to my Blogs and websites. This Blog article was published in RUNAGATE PICTURES, yesterday. There is no harm cross-posting because Iit's one more chance that other documentary filmmakers in the Lower Mainland might stumble upon my work, and perhaps make contact.
It has only been a week since the BURNABY NOW published a feature on my documentary OAKALLA, and the reporter included a list of minor mysteries which needed solving. For example, the Burnaby City Archives, the Museum nor the Library had a photo or knew of JUBILEE HALL, a landmark I needed to pin down for a location shot.

Much to my delight, a Mr. John Komm nominated an old wooden building he believed is the hall. I had thought the building torn down because it was already described as being "ramshackle" by a Vancouver SUN reporter in 1953. Though the property has passed through a half dozen owners and as many name changes, a few minutes in old City Directories confirmed that Jubilee Hall still exists in Burnaby Metrotown, near the Skytrain line. It seems an amazing example of survival in an area that has been very heavily redeveloped. This squat structure was the site of high drama in the 1950s, when Doukhobor men and women were moved from Oakalla by the busload, to be processed by a magistrate and then sent back to prison. (Photograph by John Komm)

In the photo (above) a Freedomite Doukhobor male and a woman are attempting to disrupt court proceedings by stripping in front of the magistrate. Doukhobor women also conspired to created chaos at nearby Oakalla Prison by burning their mattresses and refusing to eat.

I have enjoyed this very productive week. Well over twenty people got in touch to share stories or simply offer research leads to aid the next project, THE GHOSTS OF OAKALLA. I'm really getting a sense that people in the community want this film to be made. There has actually been a stunning development which has redirected much of my research time and must impact what I choose to shoot and how the story will be crafted. Unfortunately I cannot "give away" the discovery, as making key elements common knowledge would blow the dramatic impact I plan to build into the film.

Dylan Innes directing on the set of his film MANDROID, September 2009. His DOP is Felix Oltean. [Production still - Elaine Gebert]

Yesterday I had some fun playing a minor character in a scene for a futuristic film called MANDROID, written and directed by Dylan Innes. The crew was a talented bunch from S.F.U. film school and the set was located inside the busy headquarters of the B.C. Lung Association on Oak Street in Vancouver. It was only my second opportunity to "act". The first experience was in August when student director Jonathan Pon invited me to play an unfriendly Mall security guard in his comedy REBEL WITHOUT A CLUE. Jonathan's parody of film school actually reflects some of the "stuff" some of us went through at Broadway campus. REBEL will be screened at Langara College on September 27 at 3pm.

The Terrorism Calendar - Yours, Mine and Theirs

How much time should we devote to pondering Islamic radicalism? What will you contribute in the effort to contain, if not defeat the fanatical terrorists of this world? Anything? ... Nothing?

Our family has never shied from the subject before 9/11 or since. Now, as our daughter is about to deploy to Afghanistan with the Canadian Forces, we accept the fact that our interest will be moving to a higher level of concern. The news on Friday that we lost another soldier in A-Stan to a roadside I.E.D. discourages me from my usual topics for Blog articles. Today I feel compelled to pay humble tribute to a few non-combatants who have sacrificed far more than most in the struggle to contain Islamic Fascism, or those who generously work to make life better for the unfortunate.

Dr. M. Zuhdi Jasser is a brave man and a Hero. The doctor has shown great courage and generosity of spirit by setting aside time from his lucrative medical practice in order to disseminate the simple truth: Islamic Fascism is relentless and it will never call a halt to the evil campaign to destroy our way of life.

Doctor M. Zuhdi Jasser is an extremely brave man. I read his profile in the current issue of the Jewish Tribune and was persuaded to look him up. Jasser is a Muslim American who disagrees with the Middle East policies of America's first Muslim President, Barack Hussein Obama. Jasser, though an orthodox Sunni, is a fierce and vocal opponent of radical Islamic militants, men he terms "Fascists" and accuses of wrapping their bloody expansionist political agenda with the green cloak of Islam. Jasser decided to distribute his potent warning in the form of a video entitled THE THIRD JIHAD. I encourage you to at least view the free 30 minute preview which on Google Video here.

Dr. Jasser has been vilified by professional apologists for the Jihadist agenda - no surprise there. Frequently their attempts at rebuttal begin by dismissing his message and his research as "a joke" or "humorous" but in every case that is the precursor to a bitter and personal attack. Jasser, though he looks mild in the photo, has great courage. He openly publishes contact information, including where he works, and shares photos of his family online. Compare that with the cowards at MACLEAN'S magazine who worked to suppress the Jyllands Posten editorial cartoons, or AIR CANADA which refused to carry any magazine which did publish them.

The Hapless Victim Card
If your search for meaningful information is confined to the local newspaper or just listening to an "anchor" reading a teleprompter, you're harming your personal interests. The interests of Big Media does not coincide with your right to unfiltered streams of source information and it never will. For example, why in June did ALL of the Canadian news editors allocate acres of podium space for the "Stranded Canadian" story? Why the sickening determination to shape another "victim" story a la Maher Arar travesty? Well now that Abousfian Abdelrazik has parleyed his passport and his media card into celebrity, the untouchable operative is back in Montreal after cooling his heels for six years in Sudan. What are his views on Al-Qaeda today? Ask him some questions... he'll tell you some lies.

GITMO and the braying donkeys of discontent
For several years we Canadians have endured frequent denunciations of the conditions at the U.S. detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, and the alleged “unlawful” confinement of Islamic militants. Spokesmen for the Islamic resurgence, including publicity addicted parliamentarians and big city politicians brayed like donkeys, demanding that the evil Bush government close GITMO and free the “innocent” detainees. Canadians were fed on little more than recycled ACLU press releases. For a dose of reality, invest five minutes to read this N.Y. Post article published on June 7. It accuses the military, with justification, of allowing GITMO to become "more madrassa than prison camp".

Meanwhile Senator Obama promised voters that he would decommission GITMO if elected President. Well in mid-May we learned (from a leaked document) that many of the released detainees have rejoined the Jihad and are plotting new attacks. The leak made the White House very nervous indeed, and it took the Pentagon several days to confirm what the intelligence breach revealed - “that at least 74 former Guantanamo detainees have resumed terrorist activities after claiming they weren't terrorists.” Why the nervousness? Don’t these ex-detainees confirm by their actions that they are “lying” as well as “murderous” Jihadists? Well yes and no. It turns out that the White House has poured millions of American taxpayer dollars into building a half-way house in Saudi Arabia, where ex-GITMO prisoners might be groomed for release back into the general Saudi population. That high priority program has proven to be an abysmal failure, and as a result a similar facility for Yemen is now on hold. The Obama White House seems no different than its predecessor when it comes to toadying up to the feudal potentates who rule Saudi Arabia. The Saudis will never be held accountable for the mishandling of GITMO detainees released into their custody.

If you can believe it, the critics of counter terror operations are not concerned that tigers have been set loose. They quibble over the news that "only 74" GITMO prisoners seem to have returned to terror cells. "Some argue the alleged 14 percent rate is inflated, as it is based on a definition of "militant activity" so broad as to include merely associating with terrorists." [That's why the Toronto/Montreal media issued Abousfian Abdelrazik a free pass. The suggestion is he merely "associated" with terrorists. He didn't personally blow anyone's legs off.] "Others say the figure compares favorably with the 68 percent recidivism rate for US criminals." Now there's perspective for you!

Which brings me to Said Ali Al Shihri, who was freed from Guantanamo in 2007. This fellow, who denied his crimes and who was provided with an American lawyer, pro-bono, was one of those released into Saudi custody. He and his cohorts then easily slipped away. Al Shihri crossed into Yemen in 2007 to take the post of Deputy Leader of Al-Qaeda on the Arabian Peninsula. He has already participated in fresh terror operations. To make the point, he posed for a staff photo with other regional commanders, which was released to rub Washington's nose in its failure to dissaude him from committing his life to Jihad. Most recently Al Shihri was implicated in the murder of a group of German Christians and a Korean who were abducted in Yemen in mid-June. (They were all members of a Dutch international medical charity.) The bodies of three nurses were found almost immediately and the German intelligence services announced that they believe the others, including children have been murdered.

Why Al-Qaeda? Why German civilians? Because the Germans have deployed troops to fight militant Islam and are committed to standing with the U.S. and Canadian Forces in Afghanistan. The Taliban has no ability to mount acts of terror in Germany or other NATO countries, but they rely on Al-Qaeda to hit us where we are vulnerable - such as targetting the thousands of Christian lay workers who serve in Muslim territories.

German nurses Rita Stumpp, left, and Anita Gruenwald were kidnapped while returning from an outing to a farm in Yemen. As a warning to Christians who believe they have the right to run projects in Muslim countries, they along with their Korean friend Eom Young-san (above) were executed in a field near the Yemeni capital. Each young woman was shot twice in the head. The photo of the Korean woman is taken from the Blog she kept until the week of her murder. I found it rather troubling to view the happy photos of an obviously giving person, who was oblivious of the fact that evil men were planning to take her life.
Terrorist cell in Yeman pose for a staff photo, 2008. Center-left is Abu Hareth Muhammad al Awfi; far right and marked with an (X) is Said Ali al Shihri, one of the released Guantanamo P.O.W.s. (Photo source - Nick Grace) The Yemeni newspaper reports I've read attempt to disassociate Al-Qaeda from the abduction and murder of the nine volunteer charity workers. However the two tribesmen offered as scapegoats do not convince. This was not a kidnapping for ransom. It was murder orchestrated to terrorize foreign charities, and it has worked.