Roadtrips and Railroads

Four trips to four continents in four short films

Friday May 30 | 5:00 pm | Vancity Theatre



When the Cricket Sings

Director: Sara Angelucci, Canada, 2007, 8 minutes

A nocturnal glimpse of Shanghai street life, depicting one of the typical neighbourhoods disappearing under the city’s urban development. The improvised sound track is a duet orchestrated for the guzheng, an ancient Chinese instrument, and the cricket that sings only at night.

Sara Angelucci is a photo and video artist living in Toronto.


Buffalo Farm

Director: John Woods, Canada, 2007, 9 minutes

An experimental stream of consciousness road trip exploring western Canada's vast open spaces. Reminiscent of a '70s era cross Canadian vacation through our nation's beautifully desolate treasures. Are we there yet?

John Woods has lived his entire life in British Columbia. He knows no one famous.


Stop Look Listen

Director: José Luis Marqués, Argentina, 2007, 26 minutes

Recounting the absence of the train, this film takes us on a picturesque journey through the past (and present) of the many people in rural Argentina whose lives revolved around the railroad.

José Luis Marqués has worked on ad filmmaking and production since 1984. In 1999 he directed Fuckland, his first full-length motion picture, followed by a book of the same name in 2000.


A Map with Gaps

Director: Alice Nelson, Scotland, 2006, 26 minutes

An entertaining account of the filmmaker’s late father’s journey through Soviet Russia in the early ‘70s in a van he called “Supervan.” Utilizing a combination of archival audio recordings, still photographs, drama reconstruction and animation, a surreal and comic tale unfolds of 12,000 miles, fourteen countries and 26 very peculiar days. Essentially this is a catalogue of minor disasters, a story that demonstrates that fact can indeed be stranger than fiction and sometimes the grey area between the two is the most interesting place to explore—particularly if you forgot to bring a map.

Alice Nelson is an Edinburgh-based director of creative documentary originally from Dublin, Ireland. She trained as a painter and photographer before moving into filmmaking.


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