Just prior to winning a best female lead performance award at the Leo Awards at the Westin Bayshore on May 9, actor Babz Chula explained to the Straight that making the improvised feature Mothers&Daughters was significant for how it empowered local storytelling.

“It was important to me because we decided to explore a new model for making films in B.C.," she said, "a model much like the way films were made in Australia and New Zealand a number years ago when people like Nicole Kidman and Judy Davis who weren’t stars in our country were making films in their own country, in their own voices, about their own experiences that were similar, of course, to other English-speaking countries but not identical, instead of trying to copy an American model, which we can’t possibly compete with.”

Chula added that the cast forfeited pay until the backend and  stated that  “we decided not to wait for the American movie star to carry our film for us, or a name.”

Another local filmmaker, Baljit Sangra, zeroed in on local issues for her Leo-nominated documentary Warrior Boyz, but she had no idea that a massive outbreak   of gang-related murders  would ravage  the Lower Mainland soon thereafter.

At the awards, Sangra told the Straight that she made the film to understand what made gang membership attractive to youths who seemed to have many  other opportunities and privileges in life. “If you look in the paper, I think what makes our situation quite unique here in Metro Vancouver is a lot of the kids that are getting into this lifestyle are from middle class families.”

What she discovered is  that social technology has complicated and accelerated  social problems. “I learned of issues around belonging, alienation, racism, wanting to fit in, being bullied, and coupled with a technological age where bullying can escalate so quickly with MSN or Facebook and that sort of thing, kids sometimes will gravitate to a group for protection”¦and things can quickly spiral out of control.”

She added that more positive outlets are needed for youths to deter them from joining gangs.

The film is now being shown in high schools, and will be screened at Hollywood 3 Cinemas (7125 138th Street, Surrey) on May 30 (4 and 7 p.m., with a panel discussion). It  will also  be aired on Knowledge (June 2, 10 p.m.).

At the Leos, Sangra received the $10,000 Omni Television Diversity in Cultures Award for her and director Nimisha Mukerji’s forthcoming film The Coconuts (a slang term for assimilated South Asians).    Sangra called it a “flipside” to her previous film as it’s a “lighthearted look at identity” and a survey of “artists who have made it into the mainstream”.

The big winner of the Leo Awards was the Stargate franchise. Stargate Continuum and Stargate Atlantis won a total of  twelve awards altogether.  Sanctuary  garnered four awards, and Corner Gas scooped up three.