SUNDANCING IN RAINY VANCOUVER
You may be a kabillion miles away from the Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah (you may not even know where that is), but you can still get a piece of the action back in Vancouver. Video clips of coverage from the streets of Park City, along with films from the festival’s shorts programs, can be streamed on-line for free at www.sundance.org/ . And as of Monday (January 22), you can buy festival shorts for $1.99 each at www.itunes.com/sundance/ and listen to free podcasts from the festival’s panel discussions, thanks to a deal struck between iTunes and the Sundance Institute and Sundance Channel. “The idea is kinda like creating your own film festival,” says Joseph Beyer, Sundance associate programmer and on-line producer. “That price point is fantastic because it makes it accessible to even the low ­iest, poor filmmaker.”

The best part is that the filmmakers get to pocket the majority of the profits from sales on iTunes. And for viewers, you can avoid lining up in subzero temperatures to see the films. It’s freezing here!

> Sarah Keenlyside

GONGED NIGHT OF THE SOUL
Three new short-film scripts— The Rules of Engagement by Kathy Leung and Matt Yoshikazu Gates, Suerte by Aileen and Camilla Laurel, and Family Business by Jeffrey Mah—have been selected for readings at the CineCity Cold Reading Series at Ironworks Studios (235 Alexander Street) next Thursday (February 1). Actors will be cast on the spot (casting starts at 7:30, readings at 8). Sarah Nixey of the CRS, which has been running for 14 years, says that it can sometimes be a “nerve-racking experience” for the writers so, appropriately, there are drinks and a DJ afterward to encourage mingling and feedback.

But for abrasive reality-show-style judgment, check out the second BYODVD (Bring Your Own DVD) Gong Show tonight (January 25) at 8 p.m. at the ANZA Club (3 West 8th Avenue). Filmmakers can bring short films under 20 minutes to be screened. Don’t like a short? Hit the gong. Three strikes and the DVD is out. If it survives, prizes (from sponsors such as Reel West and Videomatica) will be awarded. It’s not easy; producer Paul Armstrong says only three or four of the 20 DVDs made it through the last round.

Ken Hegan’s “Remission Impossible” and trailers for Mount Pleasant and Partition will also be screened. Admission is $5.

> Craig Takeuchi

MASTER ON THE MOUNT
The Canuck-lovin’ First Weekend Club is presenting a master class on the actor-director relationship on Saturday (January 27) at the Granville 7 Theatre beginning at 12:45 p.m. Actor-director Mackenzie Gray will interview actors Ben Ratner ( Da Vinci’s City Hall ) and Camille Sullivan ( Intelligence ) and director Ross Weber ( No More Monkeys Jumpin’ on the Bed ) in order to examine such elements as rehearsal and script breakdowns. Following the class will be a special presentation of Mount Pleasant , which features the work of all three. (See Ken Eisner's feature on the film.) Tickets are $10, and space is limited—RSVP to anita@firstweekendclub.ca .

> Craig Takeuchi

SAYONARA TO SHOHEI
Shohei Imamura is the latest “drop” to evaporate from the ever-shrinking pool of Great Filmmakers. (He died in May of last year, aged 79.) Imamura’s sociological interest in prostitution is manifest in many of his films, including Zegen and A History of Postwar Japan As Told by a Bar Hostess , both screening tonight (January 25) as part of a retrospective at the Pacific Cinémathí¨que running until February 5. Homicide plays a conventional role in Vengeance Is Mine (January 26 and 27), and Warm Water Under a Red Bridge (February 3 and 4) and 11’09”01—September 11 (February 5), the filmmaker’s final works, are also recommended. If you missed earlier standout documentaries and features from the series, such as Profound Desire of the Gods , a three-hour look at love and death on a Pacific island, and The Ballad of Narayama , you owe yourself a trip to the video store.

> Mark Harris