Vancouver Web Fest 2015 spotlights vibrant web-series scene

Single & Dating in Vancouver and Vancouver Cycle Chic among official selections

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      As Sheri Rabold puts it, Vancouver’s dating scene is a “notoriously hard nut to crack”.

      The actor plays one of four friends looking for love in Single & Dating in Vancouver, a comedy web series that’s garnered more than 25,000 views on YouTube.

      “Living here, we don’t know so much about it,” Rabold told the Georgia Straight during an interview at a café near Granville Island. “But if you talk to people from outside of Vancouver, they say that it is the most impossible dating scene here—that the girls are stuck up and the guys are all douchebags.”

      Rabold is nominated for the best-actress award at the second annual Vancouver Web Fest. From March 6 to 8, VWF 2015 will screen 64 web series—TV–style shows whose episodes are released online—and bring together content creators and viewers to celebrate this burgeoning medium.

      For March 6, the festival schedule includes screenings of Vancouver’s Foodists, Kiss My Incoming Abs, Parked, and Standard Action, as well as two Seattle-made web series, plus five industry-focused workshops and a launch party.

      Four screening blocks, featuring web series from as far away as Australia and Italy, are planned for March 7. Bernie Su, cocreator of The Lizzie Bennet Diaries, will give the keynote speech, and the Super Geeked Up crew will put on a live show. One of two Saturday panel discussions, Insider Advice on How to Make a Successful Web Series will feature CollegeHumor executive producer Spencer Griffin. Local digital-entertainment studio Frostbite Pictures will throw a party to cap off the day’s events.

      The lineup for March 8 includes four more screening blocks—one featuring Tom Skerritt’s Stroller Gangs—and a panel discussion about working with animals on set. A buzzard, falcons, a tortoise, and a wolf will be on hand for a photo session afterwards. The Sunday-night gala will see awards presented in 22 categories, including best overall series, best director, best original score, and best science-fiction series.

      Vancouver Web Fest founder Suzette Laqua promises free popcorn.
      Stephen Hui

      Suzette Laqua, founder and executive director of VWF, told the Straight hundreds of people attended last year’s festival at the Imperial theatre. The New Westminster resident, who cocreated the comedy web series Last Chance Casting, asserted the VWF experience is “like nothing you’ve ever had before”.

      “Truly, it’s about networking,” Laqua said in a South Main café. “It’s about constant interaction with other creators. But one of the big things that we’re focusing on this year is getting the public in as well.”

      According to Laqua, VWF attendees will enjoy free popcorn and comfy red leather chairs while they watch web series on a big screen. She pointed out that web series, whose episodes are often shorter than those of TV shows, are convenient to watch—whether on a smartphone or desktop computer—and easy to share with friends.

      “Honestly, web series are amazing—how well they’re done now,” Laqua said. “You get addicted to them. You can’t wait till the next season.”

      "Balance" is an episode of Vancouver Cycle Chic.

      In May 2014, Vancouver Cycle Chic won the VWF award for best documentary or nonfiction series. This year, the web series, which is now in its second season, is once again an official selection.

      David Phu, director of Vancouver Cycle Chic, told the Straight every episode offers a “portrait” of a local cyclist. Between casting, pre-interviews, preproduction, shooting, music composition, and editing, about two weeks’ worth of work goes into each episode, according to the East Vancouver resident.

      “What we look for is a good story,” Phu said by phone from his workplace. “We don’t often know what we’re looking for in a story until we’re going through the pre-interviews. That story just has to complement the existing series. If there’s already five episodes, the sixth one just has to round out the variety. And cultural diversity—we try very hard to represent the population in Vancouver.”

      Phu’s web series is a project of the Vancouver Cycle Chic Society, which promotes alternative transportation through its blog and events. He noted the series has opened up opportunities for its creators, and he called VWF an “excellent idea”.

      “Especially in the creative world in Vancouver, I think we need to do more things to not necessarily put Vancouver on the map but to build community, to congratulate each other, and to support each other,” Phu said.

      Vancouver Web Fest 2015's official selections.

      Other locally made VWF official selections include The Abs•Tract: Core Philosophy, Behind the Rock, Food Flix, Fools for Hire, Garage Sale Diaries, Nightwing: Prodigal, Relationsh*t, and Stricken.

      A three-day pass to VWF costs $120, and includes all screenings, panels, workshops, and parties. Admission to an individual screening is $10. Tickets for the awards gala are $35.

      The pilot episode of Single & Dating in Vancouver.

      Rabold, who has appeared in the TV shows Sanctuary, Stargate: Atlantis, and Stargate SG-1, was nominated for best performance by a female in a web series at the 2014 Leo Awards for her work in Single & Dating in Vancouver. Nevertheless, she maintained she was surprised to receive a VWF nomination for best actress.

      “There’s some pretty amazingly talented ladies in that lineup and some amazing content—some of the web series that are up for various awards,” Rabold said. “So I’m honoured and really, really excited to be part of that whole thing.”

      Vancouver Web Fest 2015 takes place March 6 to 8 at Performance Works (1218 Cartwright Street) on Granville Island.

      Comments

      1 Comments

      Vancouver Web Fest

      Feb 24, 2015 at 5:16pm

      Thank you Stephen for a fantastic article on Vancouver Web Fest and the Vancouver web series and their creators & teams. See you at the festival! Cheers VWF2015 Team!