Documentary tracks Yaletown's leap

From early 2005 up to mid 2007, local filmmakers Florence Debeugny and Lynsey Hamilton kept a video record of some of the dramatic physical and social changes in Vancouver's booming Downtown South neighbourhood. Their hourlong documentary Giant's Leap , coproduced by the two women, bears witness to the demolition of many of Yaletown's older residential buildings, and the dispersion of the little communities that evolved within and around them.

"We interweave photos and footage of the houses with interviews with long-time residents, urban planners, heritage experts, and the like," Debeugny says. "Our film shows how development pressures and the city's planning processes are removing almost all physical evidence of the past, and replacing it with what many of us would question as good choices in architectural and urban design. At one point [architecture critic] Trevor Boddy speaks about downtown Vancouver 'heading towards a fate as a dormitory suburb'. We're alarmed by that process, the lack of diversity, and the growing absence of affordable housing."

After a special screening of Giant's Leap at the Vancouver Museum (1100 Chestnut Street, 7 p.m., $5) tonight (November 15), a panel discussion will follow. Speakers include Boddy, community development consultant Michael Clague, and the president of Heritage Vancouver, Donald Luxton.

> Tony Montague

Local rapper aids Ugandan scene

Before he met Uganda-born, B.C. rapper Silas Sajjabi in 2005, local videographer Aaron Elton couldn't have even placed Uganda on a map. Two years later, the Bowen Island native is one of the driving forces behind the Bavubuka Foundation, aimed at fostering indigenous music and culture in Uganda and in nearby East African nations.

Elton and Sajjabi will be at the Ridge Theatre next Thursday (November 22, 9 p.m.) to present Diamonds in the Rough , a documentary by Los Angeles–based filmmaker Brett Mazurek about the socially conscious rap scene in Uganda. According to Elton, who's twice visited the African country, the film depicts local rappers carving out an identity in a society still struggling under imperialist influence.

"There's an identity crisis there because the schools are still teaching English, not their own language, Luganda," he recently told the Straight by phone. "And the entertainment industry reflects that confusion, because you have hip-hop artists emulating Americans." In Elton's telling, Sajjabi has become a catalyst for change in the hip-hop scene, encouraging his countrymen to rap in their native tongue and to confront the social challenges facing African nations, especially the HIV/AIDS crisis.

More information about Elton, Sajjabi, Mazurek, and the foundation can be found at www.bavubuka.com .

> Martin Turenne

DOXA delves into past

It's not every day that you get to see documentaries from cinema's early years. But this year's fundraiser for the DOXA Documentary Film Festival (May 27 to June 1, 2008) on Friday (November 16) at the Vancouver International Film Centre (1181 Seymour Street) will feature a half-hour program of some of the earliest documentaries made.

Dickson Experimental Sound Film from 1894 was created to demonstrate a new Thomas Edison machine, the kinetophone (peepshow viewers paired with wax cylinder phonographs), which never became popular. DOXA festival director Kristine Anderson told the Straight that another doc, From Zora Neale Hurtson's Fieldwork Footage , was part of the 1928 academic work of an African-American novelist, anthropologist, and folklorist (Hurtson) who was studying African-American rural communities.

While the five short films were selected for their experimentation with filmmaking and documentary making, Anderson also explained that some of the silent films selected were chosen because they will be accompanied by a live performance by musician Jesse Zubot. A post-screening reception will feature a silent auction and music by jazz collective Uncle Bomb.

For info, see www.doxafestival.ca .

> Craig Takeuchi