PuSh Festival film series covers climate change to transgender issues

While you might think mostly about live performances at the PuSh Festival, there's also a free (yes, free!) film series, comprised of documentaries, that expands upon or accompanies festival content as well.

For instance, if you've seen the live magic show Bullet Catch (which continues until February 7) starring Scotland's Rob Drummond as magician William Wonder, then you may want to check out a screening that complements it.

The biographical documentary Deceptive Practice: The Mysteries and Mentors of Ricky Jay chronicles the life of the titular magician, historian, author, and actor from childhood into becoming a professional magician. It screens on Wednesday (January 28).

In Althea Thauberger's experimental documentary Preuzumimo Bencic (Take Back Bencic), 67 youth performers, who cowrote and improvised the script, take over an abandoned industrial complex (Bencic) in Croatia to address the future of Bencic. It screens on January 29 at 5:30 p.m. and will be followed by a panel discussion.   

For those interested in climate change, Thule Tuvalu takes a look at how Thule, Greenland, is witnessing record ice-melts and the island nation of Tuvalu is vanishing beneath the rising Pacific Ocean. It screens on February 4 at 5:30 p.m.

The last screening in the film series is Chelsea McMullan's creative NFB documentary My Prairie Home, about Canadian singer-songwriter Rae Spoon, which intersperses Spoon talking about growing up as a transgender person with musical vignettes. It screens on February 5.

All screenings take place at SFU's Goldcorp Centre for the Arts (149 West Hastings Street), and all start at 5:30 p.m. on the dates listed above.

For further details about the film series or other PuSh Festival information, visit the PuSh Festival website.