MAY 2000

TUESDAY MAY 2 8:30pm
MAYWORKS PRESENTS.......
WOMEN IN TRADES CABARET
with spoken word artists, music and new video works.
HAMMERING IT OUT! (USA, 2000)
We see women hammering, laying concrete and telling the truth about training, childcare, homophobia, bathrooms and other critical issues. HAMMERING IT OUT! by Vivian Price is the story of a community-initiated lawsuit that resulted in hundreds of women getting trained and working on a billion-dollar freeway in Los Angeles. Many of the women went into union apprenticeships and became active union members. But the film asks, are women construction workers the Rosie Riveters of the present, hired for a short time and then let go when equality is no longer enforced?
Screens with PLYWOOD GIRLS (Canada, 2000) The decades-long story of women workers in Port Alberni on Vancouver Island who bucked the trend in a male dominated woodworking industry. Director in attendance.

WEDNESDAY MAY 3 7 & 9pm shows
MAYWORKS PRESENTS......
7pm NORMA RAE (USA)
An early and rare Hollywood depiction of a working class woman's struggles. Norma Rae (Sally Fields) is a mother of three, and like generations before her, a textile worker in the town mill. Through her day-to-day organising of workers in this southern US town, she confronts the games of the company and the retiscence and fear in her community. Preceeded by brief speaker from U.N.I.T.E. on the situation of garment workers in Vancouver.

9pm THE ORGANIZER
A working classic shot in black and white with the story of turn-of-the-century factory workers who strike and shut down the company. The film chronicles the drama of an organiser's attempts to inspire the workers, and the town, while avoiding arrest by the police. A beautifully shot, compelling film that uses the stark grey surroundings as the stage upon which the destitute working poor struggle for survival. (Italy)

THURSDAY MAY 4 8:30pm
PROJE(C)T Y
IN PERSON FROM MONTREAL!
PROJECT Y is a no-holds-barred best of Montreal Independent Cinema, culled from the finest works out of this cinema-saturated city's Concordia University, UQAM and the University of Montreal. Works include brand new drama, animation, pseudo-documentary, and experimental films. This is the final stop on a cross-Canada tour of this incredible series, with Project Y representatives appearing in person to introduce the work and talk about what makes Montreal's image maker's tick. Included in the program are Fred Fischer's THE LAST BLOKE, a madcap tale of the last Anglophone in Montreal after the third referendum; Robert Swartz' STRUCK WHILE THE IRON WAS HOT; a true story of the filmmakers' mother's brush with bankrobbers as she trips them and becomes an overnight hero; Dan Cadieux and Sebastien Denault's THE HUMAN CONDITION, a documentary on the human animal made by Aliens; Michel Pellan's Shan Mat, a gothic chess match with high stakes... PLUS: Lucie Larin-Picard's RIEN, the incredible animation of Greg Houston and Phil Karew, Adam Gray's THE EXTREMITY, Giulia Frati's SADISINFECTENZ, Michel Simonsen's DANS UN CAFE, RIEN DE MOINS and more!

FRIDAY, SATURDAY & SUNDAY MAY 5/6/7 8:30pm
THE AD AND THE EGO (sound by Negativland)
+ THE SUBVERSIVE NEGATIVLAND VIDEO COMPILATION!
"The Ad and the Ego is the first comprehensive documentary on the cultural impact of advertising in America," says Neil Postman, NYU author of AMUSING OURSELVES TO DEATH. "It should be required viewing for every consumer - which means all of us."

THE AD AND THE EGO returns after a completely sold out show in our last program. Don't miss this chance to see it!
Harold Boihem's stunning THE AD AND THE EGO traces advertising's development from its largely descriptive 19th century origins through today's ads which eschew rational arguments for symbols and imagery playing directly to our emotions. Artfully intercutting clips from hundreds of familiar television ads with insights from Stuart Ewen, Jean Kilbourne, Richard Pollay, Sut Jhally, Bernard McGrane and other noted critics, the film performs a cultural psychoanalysis of late 20th century America and its principal inhabitants: Consumer Man and Woman. Making the critical connections between the rise of consumerism, environmental degradation and our blind commitment to economic growth at any cost, THE AD AND THE EGO "brilliantly dismantles one of the ego's most comforting self-flatteries: that we are immune to advertising. Consider this your first real inoculation." (Leslie Savan, Village Voice Critic and Author, The Sponsored Life)

PLUS: NEGATIVLAND videos including GIMME THE MERMAID featuring astounding re-interpretations of Disney's favourite icon, the now-classic and banned U2 video featuring Casey Casem making a complete ass of himself, and many others!


TUESDAY MAY 9 8:30pm
MAYWORKS PRESENTS....
LABOR BATTLES THE WTO
This compelling picture by Steve Zeltzer of San Francisco's Labour Video Project conveys the anger at the heart of the working class movement. Unlike anything else you've seen from Seattle, this shows the workers who stuck with the protest in the streets to brave the police riot, a highlight of the video as Larry Shaw's song Sold Down the River is cut to footage of the cops in action. Fills a major gap in either mass or alternative media coverage as it gives a vivid image of union participation, whilst revealing the differences in rank and file and union brass attitudes. Preceeded by Pressure Point (Canada, 1999). Discussion to follow.

WEDNESDAY MAY 10 7 & 9pm shows
MAYWORKS PRESENTS....
7pm VOICES FROM THE FRONT LINES
Produced by AgitProps, this video tells the compelling story of Los Angeles' Labor Community Stategy Centre and their groundbreaking work. Their multiracial working class movement has taken on the environmental racism of oil giant Texaco, the down-sizing of General Motors and the loss of jobs, and the anti-people plans of the Metro Transit Authority. Screens with Green Guerillas (Philippines). The New People's Army in the Philippines join with indigenous peoples to protect their land.

9pm ABOVE THE LAW II
With access to 50 hours of RCMP training tapes, the Ts'Peten Defenders have created a damning indictment of the role of the RCMP, the federal government, and former Attorney General Ujjal Dosanjh. The video looks at the 1995 Gustafsen Lake standoff and how the Canadian and provincial governments made the land question and title issue into a law and order issue to serve their own agenda while using land mines and tens of thousands of bullets. Discussion to follow with Splitting the Sky. (Canada, 2000)

THURSDAY MAY 11 8:30pm
SHUJI TERAYAMA'S
EMPEROR TOMATO KETCHUP
Poet, playright, theatre director, filmmaker, essayist, agitator and lover of all things anarchistic, chaotic, and truthful, SHUJI TERAYAMA (1936-1983) is one of Japan's most revered and respected artists. In the heady and extremist Japanese art scene of the late '70s, Terayama created a number of unforgettable and highly controversial films. EMPEROR TOMATO KETCHUP is his epic, sexually revolutionary and hallucinatory work from 1972 in which magical women act as the initiatory, yet protectively maternal sexual partners to children. The children, in revolt, have condemned their parents to death for depriving them of self-expression and sexual freedom; they create a society in which fairies and sex education are equally important and literally combinable. (Amos Vogel, Film as a Subversive Art). Featuring decadent, playful and disturbing episodes which seem to be drawn from the theatrical improvisations of Terayama's troupe, EMPEROR TOMATO KETCHUP is a strange and breathtaking exploration of taboo and self-determination.
PLUS: Rare excerpts from a number of other Terayama works (to be announced). NOTE: As all film prints of EMPEROR TOMATO KETCHUP in existence are so damaged as to be unwatchable (negative reconstruction and new prints are apparently in the works), this screening will consist of video projection. Presented as a part of ASIAN HERITAGE MONTH.


FRIDAY & SATURDAY MAY 12/13 8:30pm
CANADIAN PREMIERE: PETER CALVIN'S SLEEP with DIRECTOR IN PERSON!
SLEEP is Peter Calvin's stunning, restless journey into the feverish nightscapes of Los Angeles, seen through the eyes of four characters: Johnny, an insomniac; Cass, a sleepwalker; Sam, a narcoleptic; and Steve, a compulsive sleeper. Moving through a dark world of sounds and images, SLEEP combines narrative with gritty documentary, interviews with doctors, footage of sleep labs, text, and hypnagogic abstract episodes to create a seamless dreamlike landscape. The result is both sexy and smart, gripping and atmospheric, transcendent and pop. Featuring Bonnie Dickenson (Little Shots of Happiness, Frisk), Tim Innes (Mod Fuck Explosion, Hustler White), and Kerri Green (Lucas, The Goonies). Peter Calvin's first feature SLEEP undoubtedly marks its debut director as a talent to watch.
Sometimes analytical, sometimes abstract, and always laced with ironic humor, SLEEP maneuvers through a nether world of sound and imagery...that all combine to create a fluid dreamlike landscape.
Margot Gerber - American Cinematheque

SUNDAY MAY 14 early show only: 7:30pm
IDERA PRESENTS
FATHER ROY: INSIDE THE SCHOOL OF THE ASSASSINS
This is the story of the struggle to find and expose the truth behind the U.S. tax-supported School of the Americas (SOA) told through the extraordinary life and daring actions of Father Roy Bourgeois, a leading activist in the campaign to close the school. Roy and two dozen others are completing Federal prison terms after symbolically re-enacting the El Savador Jesuit murders on the grounds of Fort Benning, Georgia, headquarters of the school. In El Salvador, those responsible for the killings received amnesty. 'Inspiring story' Grand Rapids Press. 'Persuasive' Boston Globe. Guest Speakers will be in attendance. Call IDERA at 738-8815 for more information.

TUESDAY MAY 16 7 & 9pm shows
MAYWORKS PRESENTS.....
7pm WORKING LIKE CRAZY
The six psychiatric survivors who are profiled by Canadian filmmaker Laura Sky have created their own jobs, training, and support systems. These productive people are part of a unique community overseen by the Ontario Council of Alternative Businesses. Discussion follows, with speaker from Vancouver's Kettle Friendship Society. (Canada, 1999)

9pm DETERMINATIONS
An austere political/poetic/analytic film from the late eighties that denounces the mass media trance and its creation of the illusion of freedom. A driving warp speed dissection of the Squamish Five story, with a soundtrack that alone is worth the price of admission. (Elizabeth Aird) Music by DOA, The Subhumans, and Gerry Hannah. (Canada, 16mm)

WEDNESDAY MAY 17 7 & 9pm
MAYWORKS PRESENTS.....
7pm MY SON THE TATTOO ARTIST
A look into the work of tattoo artists in Vancouver, what informs their creative work, and the function of tattoos in people's lives. An emotional film and a great look into the lives of some of Vancouver's less-recognized artists. (Canada, 1999)

9pm THE TARGET SHOOTS FIRST
A cautionary account of the personal psychological cost of commitment to the recording industry: a riveting hidden-camera diary of director Chris Wilcha's stint with the Columbia Record House mail-order machine - a clueless corporate hell-tower that tapped the ex-punk's sub-cult savvy in order to market... Grunge Rock! Finally SEE and HEAR the sleazy yuppie opportunists who shamelessly capitalize and commodify so-called youth culture. (Craig Baldwin, Other Cinema)

THURSDAY MAY 18 8:30pm
BYO8: THE VOYEUR EDITION
In this tribute to the home-made movie we are asking for your most intimate and up-close home movies: puppet madness, pixelporn, self-analysis, personal obsessions, ego-rants and paranoid personals. Grab your beaten down VHS camcorder or that old Super 8 under the bed and tell us your problems, expose your favorite parts and give us your best profile. We like to watch, and so do you: a fair exchange! NOTE: Under 10 minutes please, VHS, 16mm and Super 8 accepted, and only $3 to get in with a film! (plus membership, but you probably have one by now, right?)


FRIDAY & SATURDAY MAY 19/20 8:30pm
CHICAGO IS A DRAG: THE BLVD
When you're driving your car at 100 mph, you're not really driving it, you're aiming it. - Dept. of Motor Vehicles pamphlet

While ostensibly a documentary about illegal drag racing in the streets of Chicago, Deborah Stratman's THE BLVD becomes much more: a study in the addictive nature of speed, a covert examination of an inherently American subculture, and a display of incredibly potent devotion and emotion. The BLVD defines an addictive lifestyle - the lifestyle of street drag racing in Chicago. Secretive and controversial, it provokes varied responses, from adulation to ardent disapproval. Most people, though, have no idea it even exists. The BLVD is about speed. Speed as the form of ecstasy the technical revolution has bestowed on man. Speed as the great superstition of our age. And it's about waiting. It's about inner-city industrial landscapes and nomadic experiences of place. It's about storytelling as a living medium for determining history. It's about obsession, and respect for anyone who transforms cars or anything else through passion.
The action revolves around Tim's Garage at Fulton and Damen, a West Side meeting place for racers over the past 20 years. Tim is a legendary ex-motorbike racer and frenetic storyteller. Throughout The BLVD, we hear other stories from racers, bystanders, families and gamblers - each with unique reasons for being on the scene. As we filmed, racers began to bring out their own cameras, documenting and defining this profoundly American sub-culture on their own terms. - D. Stratman

SUNDAY MAY 21 8:30pm
THE NARCOLEPTIC VIDEOGRAPHER: SHOOT TO STUN
In this DIY series of over-the-top and from-the-hip videosketches, The Blinding Light's strange-but-friendly next door neighbour Mr. Kevin Spenst takes to the streets with unsurpassed energy and imagination to uncover the random and erratic goings-on of the 'hood. With a Hi8 camera, a handful of volunteers (including the BL's own talented and charming barista Braden Jones, along with Spenst's unsuspecting ESL class!) and the street as his stage, Spenst takes two parts KIDS IN THE HALL, a dash of TOM GREEN, blends thoroughly and drains all liquid in this ever-dry and smart collection of short videos. Featured are THE NARCOLEPTIC JOGGER, MY ROOMMATE THINKS HE'S A CAT, and many more!

TUESDAY MAY 23 8:30pm
SUPER SUPER 8 2000 with MELINDA STONE IN PERSON!
The Super Super 8 2000 Film Festival has spent the last year gathering together the best in startling, striking and stunning small-gauge films sourced in the Super 8 medium. Festival Director MELINDA STONE will be here in person all the way from San Francisco to present these works at the Blinding Light!! for an exclusive night on her west coast tour. Along with the films will be local favorites THE LIDO (Scott Morgan & Steve Woods of Destroyer, Adam Gejdos, and pals) playing LIVE music to a selection of the films in the program. Expect more surprises as well as this touring S8 favorite aims to entertain and edify...one night only!!

WEDNESDAY & THURSDAY MAY 24/25 8:30pm
The first chance to check out the latest new film and video works from the members of Cineworks Independent Filmmakers Society, Vancouver's only filmmakers' co-op and a cornerstone of the independent filmmaking community in this city for the last 20 years!

WEDNESDAY: NEW (Cine) WORKS I
Films and videos in this program include the charmingly quirky Watching Mrs. Pomerantz, by Steve Rosenberg, a short drama set in the 1970s that tells the story of nine-year-old Henry Faber's fascination with the Pomerantz's - the only neighbours in his middle-class Jewish suburb to have an outdoor swimming pool and a mother who looks good in a bathing suit; The Miracle, by Asghar Mossambagi, a stranger in paradise story that revolves around two days in the life of Mahmoud, an Iranian immigrant; Josef by David Jurasek, about an angry young man in denial of a serious health problem who returns home to the bewilderment of his parents; Love Can Bite Me by Faisal Lutchmedial, is a comedy about the intertwining lives of three roommates; Tom and Barbara by Drew Taylor, is a short drama about a modern romance; and BOX by Simon Davidson, is about Andrew, who is waiting for his girlfriend so she can open her present. Bored and curious, he opens the box...

THURSDAY: NEW (Cine) WORKS II
Two of the latest National Screen Institute Drama Prize winners: WHEN I WAS SEVEN by Jessica Bradford, tells the story of one small moment of transformation in a young girl's life; and DISSONANCE by Mitchell Kezin, about an unusual first date between a young professor and a disheveled jazz piano player who just happens to be blind. PLUS: 10 000 DELUSIONS by Julia Kwan, a quirky drama about a new-age multicultural couple seeking self-enlightenment in the suburbs; EATING ME by Paula Montgomery, a satirical docudrama that looks at the diet and fashion industries; TWENTYFOURSEVEN.COM by Jamie Smith, which brings togethe a detective seeking a missing girl in Gastown, Kung Fu and internet pornography; and SPALATO by Zoran Dragelj, a delirious experimental short that uses a variety of filmic techniques to create an intimate portrait of the filmmaker's recent visit to Split, Croatia.

FRIDAY MAY 26 8:30pm
EYE OF NEWT COLLECTIVE WITH
THE HEROIC TRIO
EON return to battle the underworld with their LIVE musical accompaniment to what has been called a Hong Kong combination of Batman and The Three Musketeers. The Heroic Trio is action, sci-fi, fantasy, and police caper all rolled into one. Anita Mui is Tung/Wonder Woman, a mysterious crime fighter who aids the police whenever needed. Michelle Yeoh is Ching/Invisible Woman, an unwilling disciple to an age-old Evil Master, and Maggie Cheung is Chat/Thief Catcher, a runaway enlisted by the Evil Master who is now a bounty hunter for hire. Fantastic sets and impressive wire-strung fight choreography make The Heroic Trio extremely fun to watch. The outlandish and complicated plot seems right at home here, heightened by the moody lighting and the combined screen presence of Mui, Yeoh, and Cheung. Extreme Hong Kong action with a live soundtrack to boot - don't miss it!

SATURDAY & SUNDAY MAY 27/28 8:30pm
HEAVY METAL PARKING LOT AND BEYOND: THE FILMS OF JEFF KRULIK AND FRIENDS
Jeff Krulik achieved cult status ten years agowith the hilariously disturbing HEAVY METAL PARKING LOT. Since then, Jeff has been busy creating even wilder and more astounding slices of real life along with his band of merry friends. We are pleased to present a return engagement of this show featuring a special selection of some of the strangest and most engaging underground films around, including: Chuck (Devo rock video director) Statler's seminal AIN'T WE HAVING FUN?; PUBLIC ACCESS GIBBERISH; KING OF PORN, featuring Ralph Whittington and his incredible collection of Porn; KING OF THE FREAKS, a trailer for the story of Johnny Eck the half-boy who appeared in the Tod Browning masterpiece Freaks; MR. BLASSIE GOES TO WASHINGTON, wherein the loud-mouthed self-proclaimed king of men professional wrestler is set loose on the streets of Washington, DC; ERNEST BORGNINE ON TOUR - behind the wheel of his 40 foot bus traveling across America; HEAVY METAL PARKING LOT, the classic Krulik film of Judas Priest fans awaiting the concert while getting drunk, high, and stupid; NEIL DIAMOND PARKING LOT - ten years later, the follow-up!; I Created Lancelot Link, the trailer for this reminiscence with the creators of LANCELOT LINK, a saturday morning TV show with chimps starring as secret agents! AND MORE!

TUESDAY MAY 30 7 & 9pm shows
MAYWORKS PRESENTS....
7pm PAYING THE PRICE:
KILLING THE CHILDREN OF IRAQ
The Canadian Premiere of a new award-winning ITV (England) feature length documentary on the effects of the sanctions on Iraq. Paying the Price is a reference to US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright's comment that maintaining sanctions are worth the deaths of Iraqui children. A speaker will present the film. (UK, 2000)

9pm STRONG JAMAICANS, STIRRING TIMES
Few of us know the long and stirring history of working class and political struggle by Jamaican workers and their unions. Here is the story, using music (rap, reggae, and traditional jazz), drama and humour. It combines unseen historical film footage and creative re-enactments of major issues in Jamaican labour history. Presented by the Canadian Auto Workers Social Justice Fund. (Jamaica, 2000)

WEDNESDAY MAY 31 8:30pm
MAYWORKS PRESENTS....
DOCKERS WRITING THE WRONGS
With the help of novelist Irvine Welsh (Trainspotting, The Acid House) and screenwriter Jimmy McGovern (The Lakes, Cracker, Hillsborough), a small group of sacked Liverpool dockworkers wrote their own TV show: DOCKERS. This documentary follows that unique experiment as the budding screenwriters learn the rights and wrongs of creating a TV drama - in their own words. (UK, 1999) Screening with MARITIME UNITY, a video about the successful struggle of thousands of Australian workers and their families as they bring a huge company and the government of Australia to their knees. Plus a Speaker from the International Longshoreman & Warehouseman Union about the situation in the port of Vancouver.

JUNE 2000

THURSDAY JUNE 1 8:30pm
ALIENS and STRANGE NORTHERN FORCES:
THE FILMS OF BILL BROWN
FILMMAKER IN PERSON!
We are pleased to have Texan filmmaker Bill Brown appearing in person with his smart, deadpan-diaristic and gorgeously photographed films. Recently awarded Most Promising Filmmaker and the Screening Committee Award at the prestigious Ann Arbor Film Festival this year for CONFEDERATION PARK, Brown has an awe-inspiring visual and temporal sensibility.
In ROSWELL, Brown uses this well-known alien landing strip desert town as a starting point to examine personal philosophies and theories of alien metaphor, time machines and the tranformation of normal into abnormal. CONFEDERATION PARK is an incredible, thoughtful rumination on the nature of whole vs part and where we as individuals might find ourselves at any given time. Brown travels across Canada to explore the meaning of this country's drive to simultaneously shatter and draw itself together. Filming unforgettable moments in St. John's, Regina, Montreal and Vancouver, Brown manages to capture the tone of a traveler excited about his destination as well as confused by its nature.
Canada is not sure it wants to be a country, which is partly what this film is about. An essay on terrorist bombings and bad weather and that whole mysterious field of physics that deals with the undetectable forces that hold things together. Ann Arbor Film Festival
As well, Brown will bring along HUB CITY, his ode to Buddy Holly and tornadoes as well as a few surprise shorts. Don't miss this one opportunity to see these incredible films and meet their maker!

FRIDAY JUNE 2 8:30pm
WESTERN CANADIAN PREMIERE:
STEVE SANGUEDOLCE'S SMACK
Toronto filmmaker Steve Sangedolce creates provocative, smart and ingenious works on film which brilliantly blend the personal and the universal. With family and self-examination as central themes, Sanguedolce mesmerizes the viewer visually but never to the detriment of the overriding thematic of a given film. We are pleased to present the Western Canadian Premiere of his latest film SMACK, an astounding example of the pulsing textural and vivid colour spectrum potential of hand-processing in combination with an intense and jarring tale. Part documentary, part fiction and visually experimental, Sanguedolce's SMACK traces the lives of three brothers as they build their lives around drugs, crime and violence, all of which slowly tears them apart. Ranging from tales of religious transformation to heroin overdosing, these stories are told by the subjects themselves - at once funny, horrifying and all too real. Combined with a surreal and jarring vision of the world through hand toned and processed images, their world is both beautiful and terrifying. The intensity of family relationships, the lure of danger, and the hope for redemption are powerfully present in SMACK, a fascinating, disturbing film, and Sanguedolce's most ambitious work to date. (CFMDC)

SATURDAY & SUNDAY JUNE 3/4 8:30pm
FOUND MEMORIES: THE FILMS OF JOHN PRICE
WORLD PREMIERE: AFTER EDEN
FILMMAKER IN PERSON
We are very pleased to present one of Vancouver's best kept secrets: the intensely personal and visually sumptuous films of John Price. Working meticulously with the surface of the film through rephotography, optical printing, hand processing and tinting & toning, Price has created a body of work that is truly a testament to the power of hand-made films and a prime example of the materiality of the celluloid parallelling the personal nature of the work. Featured tonight will be several of John's earlier works which he will introduce in person, as well as the World Premiere of his latest (and longest at 30 minutes), AFTER EDEN. Culled from materials filmed and collected for nearly a decade, AFTER EDEN begins with a mythic folk tale and then blazes into a travelling portrait of imaginary and remembered ruminations on life, memory, suffering and the road. Portraits range from the junkies and prostitutes right outside the window, to far away lands that promise something more. AFTER EDEN is at once mystifying, mesmerizing and disturbing. Also on the program are REMEMBRANCE, OUTLET, VIEW/WATCH/LOOK/SEE, WEST COAST REDUCTION, plus fresh camera rolls of spectacular colour and black and white hand-processing never before projected! Don't miss this very rare opportunity to see such an overwhelmingly masterful body of work in one sitting.

TUESDAY & WEDNESDAY JUNE 6/7 8:30pm
PICTURES DON'T TELL YOU ANYTHING:
ANN MARIE FLEMING IN PERSON
Fleming makes some of the smartest, most thoroughly enjoyable films in the country. NOW magazine.

We are very pleased to have filmmaker, artist, writer and animator Ann Marie Fleming here in person both to welcome her back to that same old place that she laughed about and to showcase her incredible arsenal of personal, poignant, funny and stylistically varied work. Fleming has been making work since the late '80s and been featured at dozens of festivals around the world, recognized for her original vision and brilliant takes on family and memory. Tonight we are pleased to feature a number of her classic and award winning shorts including WAVING, a poetic rumination on a complex relationship with the filmmaker's grandmother amidst a swirl of grief, YOU TAKE CARE NOW, Fleming's sharp and devastating film about two traumatic events in her life - a rape and a car accident, as well as her funny and deceptively simple ADVENTURES OF STICKGIRL series. Also featured will be IT'S ME AGAIN, an ostensible scientific study of twins a la Peter Greenaway, which is in fact a desperate search for meaning. PLUS: Ann Marie's NOT HAPPY, the badminton and animation music video for now defunct Halifax Sub-Pop band JALE, and other surprises. Ann Marie Fleming will be present to introduce the films as well as surprise you with a live presentation like no other...don't miss it!

THURSDAY JUNE 8 8:30pm
BYO8: DON'T SHOOT THE PIANO PLAYER
This special edition of Bring Your Own Film Night encourages you to bring a musical instrument down to give us some live accompaniment to your latest masterpiece on video or celluloid. Be it saxophone, banjo, harmonica or accordian, bring down that home movie, found footage, bad television or abandoned student film and breath new life into it with your, er, instrument. Only $3 to get in if you've got a film/instrument (plus $3 membership if you haven't already got it), and please - no complicated stage set-ups!

FRIDAY, SATURDAY & SUNDAY JUNE 9/10/11 8:30pm
ROBIN BOUGIE'S CINEMA SEWER SOMETHING WEIRD SHOWCASE
Three eye-popping nights of SOMETHING WEIRD rarities presented by local cartoonist and CINEMA SEWER scribe ROBIN BOUGIE. Get your own copy of the latest CINEMA SEWER at the shows and dig into some true strangeness, with AFROS, MACKS & ZODIACS, BLOOD-O-RAMA SHOCKSHOW, and CLASSIC CARTOON RARITIES, delightfully demented cartoons from yesteryear!

FRIDAY: AFROS, MACKS & ZODIACS
Hide yo' mamas 'cause RUDY RAY MOORE, Mr. Dolemite himself, is fittin' to present some of the best Black Action movie previews to put yo' ass in traction! You'll see Foxy Brown and Cleopatra Jones - two chicks with guts, no ifs, ands, or butts. The dudes stood tall till their asses hit the wall! And what about that badass Fred The Hammer Williamson - shot full o' lead and he still ain't dead! You'll visit The Mack, Super Fly, and Blacula - these brothers have drive and don't take no jive! So light yo' incense, turn on the black light, sit back and dig these Black Action coming attractions from the slick '70s including: Blacula (Dracula's Soul Brother!), Monkey Hustle (Cool as They Come and Twice as Sharp!), Richard Pryor in The Mack, Dr. Black Mr. Hyde (A Monster He Could Not Control had Taken Over His Very Soul!), Pam Grier as Foxy Brown (A Chick with Drive Who Don't Take No Jive!), and MORE!

SATURDAY: BLOOD-O-RAMA SHOCKSHOW
50 Brain Slurp'n, Guts & Gore Movie Trailers from the '60s and '70s including Blood Fiend, She Freak, I Dismember Mama, Mantis in Lace, Shriek of the Mutilated, Invasion of the Flesh Hunters, Basketcase, I Eat Your Skin, Ilsa: She Wolf of the SS, The Gore Gore Girls, Deranged, and a whole lot more gore!

SUNDAY: CLASSIC CARTOON RARITIES
Delightfully demented cartoons from yesteryear including SUNSHINE MAKERS, HAPPY HOBOS, GYPPED IN EGYPT, Betty Boop in NO NO A THOUSAND TIMES NO, LITTLE BLACK SAMBO's JUNGLE JITTERS, THE PINCUSHION MAN and lots more!

TUESDAY & WEDNESDAY JUNE 13/14 8:30pm
8th ANNUAL SHORT ATTENTION SPAN FILM AND VIDEO FESTIVAL
Dissident, humorous, political, whimsical, fancy or meaningless, this is the cream of the crop of films and videos for the attention-span deficient! SASFVF is a program for the channel surfer in all of us. Made up of two minute or shorter non-commercial works, the festival was established in 1991 and is the oldest international showcase of its kind for short, short works. Featuring nearly 70 extremely short films and videos from around the world, This year's SHORT ATTENTION SPAN FILM AND VIDEO FESTIVAL will help you decide if Silenafrin or Berzerkadryl 1044mg are right for you, lull you into a peaceful bliss with Pond or get you the information that counts in My Penis and My Social Security #. Cuddle up next to Anarchy Monkey, a pint-sized mascot ready to pedal punk pleasures to the pop population of rebellious Generation X, Y, and Z and indulge in the Tokyo-made FURI FURI. Other titles include THE BUENA VISTA FIGHT CLUB, THE ANTI-WORRY VIDEO, BACK THAT ASS UP and plenty more.


THURSDAY JUNE 15 8:30pm
EYE OF NEWT COLLECTIVE WITH
THE PASSION OF JOAN OF ARC
EON take on the master filmmaker Carl Dreyer in this sophisticated LIVE musical accompaniment to this classic of world cinema. THE PASSION OF JOAN OF ARC is truly as mythic as any film ever shot, its artistic achievement rivaled only by its turbulent history. Its approach to storytelling, set design, editing, and especially cinematography (by Rudolph MatÈ, who also shot Dreyer's visionary Vampyr) radical then, and still strikingly modern many decades later. Influenced by both German expressionist film and the French avant-garde, Dreyer's huge set was designed with asymmetrical doors, windows, and arches, through which MatÈ's camera moves along equally off-centered, even vertiginous, but fluid trajectories. Dreyer and MatÈ shot their cast in bright light, without makeup, giving each wrinkle, blemish, or tuft of hair sculptural detail.

FRIDAY & SATURDAY JUNE 16/17 8:30pm
FAMILY MATTERS: HYGIENE, SEX, AND GETTING HITCHED!
An astounding collection of rare original 16mm prints featuring lessons in menstruation, bizarre animated sex disease scare tactics, the hazards of hasty marriage, and awkward youth. Films include VD, an astounding animated film made up of iconic graphics warning against the hazards to be found inside and outside the body; NATURALLY A GIRL, the classic geared towards little girls discovering the curse; DOOMED TO FAIL, a thoroughly engaging tale of poor choices in partners featuring a prof doing research in early American Folk music (?!) and afrustrated wife. PLUS VANCOUVER HONEYMOON featuring our lovely city as a '60s backdrop to a brand new marriage, plus more surprises!


SUNDAY JUNE 18 early show only: 7:30pm
IDERA PRESENTS
IN THE COMPANY OF FEAR
Colombia is notorious for its politics of fear. Director Velcrow Ripper (Bones of the Forest, Open Season) and producer Jill Sharpe's IN THE COMPANY OF FEAR explores the power of non-violent resistance to oppose state terror, through the work of 'Protective Accompaniment'. This is a strategy whereby foreign volunteers offer human rights activists the un-armed protection of an international presence. From the film: San Pablo is in a region controlled by the Guerrillas, but the paramilitaries are moving in. Just before the film crew arrived, 4 activists were abducted in a roadblock and turned up the next day, arms, legs and heads cut off by chain-saw. Peace Brigade volunteers stay with a local, activist Marco who is under serious threat. Guest Speakers will be in attendance. Call IDERA at 738-8815 for more information.


TUESDAY TO SUNDAY JUNE 20-25 8:30pm
SHIRKA URECHKO's PineappleHeartOfGoldPeacock

Shirka Urechko, creator of the critically acclaimed MOTH, presents PineappleHeartOfGoldPeacock, a solo multimedia dance performance inspired in part by the philosophy of Anais Nin, in which new dance, sound and visuals - all created/performed by Urechko - are integrated in the portrayal of human metamorphosis. Through love we are refined. Intimate, mesmerizing and highly energetic, PineappleHeartOfGoldPeacock combines subtlety, overt gesture and fluid movement with brilliant imagery and potent sound. Don't miss this exclusive five-day run! Choreography, sound and visuals by Shirka Urechko.

Shirka Urechko works as both an independent dancer and choreographer and has studied at the Royal WInnipeg Ballet, the School of Contemporary Dancers and is a graduate of the Main Dance Professional Training Program where she apprenticed with Kokoro Dance in 1998. Though strongly influenced by her more formal studies in dance, Shirka also derives inspiration from the natural choreography surrounding body language, the motions of nature, as well as architecture and the structure of cities and landscapes.

TUE & WED JUNE 27/28 8:30pm
REASONABLE HAND DRAWN FACSIMILE
We are pleased to present rare classics and contemporary masters of the non-camera made film. Completely ignoring conventional photography, these filmmakers physically alter the surface of the film using everything from the humble ink pen to scratching tools, paints, dyes, and more to create astounding and magical images. Included in the program will be rarely screened classics from LEN LYE including TAL FARLOW, COLOURCRY, FREE RADICALS and PARTICLES IN SPACE, along with master STAN BRAKHAGE's NAUGHTS and AUTUMNAL, Canadian direct-film godhead NORMAN MCLAREN's LINES VERTICAL, MOSAIC, and others. PLUS: Recent works by Pender Island award-winning filmmaker RICHARD REEVES and a special LIVE SCRATCH ANIMATION session by THE LIGHT FANTASTIC (aka JULIAN LAWRENCE). NOTE: Come earlier in the week prior to the show and MAKE YOUR MARK! We will be leaving a lightbox and film for you to scratch, paint and mark up which we will then screen on these two evenings as part of the show. The sky's the limit so get cracking...


THURSDAY JUNE 29 8:30pm
MULTIPLEX GRAND SESSION SIX
For all the uninitiated MG virgins out there, THE MULTIPLEX GRAND is a trio of audio-visualists who engage and astound with their brilliant sound and image scapes which use everything from found 16mm and super 8 footage to the latest audiovisual computer software and instrumentation technologies. This is their sixth evening at The Blinding Light and promises to be their most dazzling yet. Come see and hear solo efforts by veteran manipulators of sound and image 5T-3V3 (of The Battles & Destroyer), ZERO SQUARED (of Solar System & The Miniature Pancake Band) and LOSCIL (of Destroyer & The Battles). Integrated computer generated visuals, film loops, video, and an assortment of sampled and live sounds are sure to boggle all minds present. Come early and enter to win a Multiplex Users Group CD-ROM! Special guests will also be featured (TBA). check out http://members.home.net/multiplex for more info!

JULY 2000

FRIDAY JUNE 30 to WEDNESDAY JULY 5 8:30pm (no show monday)
BACK BY POPULAR DEMAND! BLAINE THURIER'S LOW SELF ESTEEM GIRL
Wickedly funny...engaging...cathartic. The Nerve
A refreshingly honest look at modern morality. Katherine Monk, The Vancouver Sun

Back from a wildly successful Australian tour, The Blinding Light!! Cinema is proud to present the triumphant return of Blaine Thurier and his first feature Low Self Esteem Girl.
A one night stand with Lois (aka Low Self Esteem Girl aka the girl who can't say no) leads a pot dealer to believe that he holds the key to her heart in the form of a magic phrase. He then proceeds to sell the information to his clients, effectively prostituting our heroine without her knowledge. Meanwhile, a demon-possessed born-again Christian falls in love with her and conspires with his youth group pastor to convert her to the faith. Will she be a saint or a sinner? Or both? Or neither?
Pillow fights, excorcisms and back seat make-out sessions propel this first feature from Vancouver cartoonist turned film-maker, Blaine Thurier (Bugs, Grief, Velvets Record). Shot in glorious DV, Low Self Esteem Girl features surprising performances by Vancouver rock legends Corrina Hammond (Maow), Carl Newman (Superconductor, Zumpano), Dan Bejar (Destroyer) and Cindy Wolfe (Tennesse Twin). Buy Nothing Day founder Ted Dave is really damn funny in his screen debut.

THURSDAY JULY 6 8:30pm
EYE OF NEWT COLLECTIVE: THE GOLEM
EON are back for an evening of expressionist entrancement as they play live to the 1920 Paul Wegener classic THE GOLEM. A chilling, visually dazzling story of the supernatural, based on a famous Jewish folktale of the 16th century. This classic of German Expressionist cinema is also a forerunner of FRANKENSTEIN, from the way the golem is brought to life to his attraction to a child. The sets were designed by famed architect Hans Poelzig.



FRIDAY, SATURDAY & SUNDAY JULY 7/8/9 8:30pm
FILE THIS! presents SEX WORKERS UNITE
A three nite extravaganza of sex industry worker positive films and videos. Folks have worked in the sex industry since day one be it stripping, whoreing, escort, internet, magazines, movies, or video - it's a forever booming industry that's always hiring. These three evenings put the spotlight on sex workers at work, play and getting actively organized.

FRIDAY features a selection from FILE THIS' GREATEST HITS as well as Julia Query's LIVE! NUDE! GIRLS! UNITE!, which explores the unionization efforts of strippers at the Lusty Lady strip club in San Francisco. In a largely unregulated industry known for its exploitative and abusive treatment of workers, theirs is the first recognized sex workers union in the U.S. Full or fit, intelligence and kick-ass women, L!N!G!U! cuts right through preconceived notions about sex workers as well as exploring the filmmakers' own coming out as a sex worker to her mom during the shooting of the film!

SATURDAY will feature more of FILE THIS' GREATEST HITS - re-live the lust, the glamour, the urine...! Also Kim Christy's SULKAS NIGHTCLUB, more than just porno (though there is lots of sex) and they're even using condoms in 1989, this is the tale of a tranny nightclub owner and then some. PLUS: Local sex-positive shorts courtesy VIDEO OUT including TTV's THE DOMINATRIX INTERVIEW and Kagan Goh's MIND FUCK.

SUNDAY Features the local classic HOOKERS ON DAVIE, an extraordinary excursion into the world of women, men, transvestites and transsexuals who openly plyed their trade along a strip that - back in the mid-eighties when the film was made - was Vancouver's streetwalker capital of Canada... Also, the flashback Kay Armatage classic STRIPTEASE in which dancers are presented as speaking subjects, constructing a job profile from the point of view of the women who do the work. PLUS other surprises!!

TUESDAY & WEDNESDAY JULY 11/12 8:30pm
HALF JAPANESE: THE BAND WHO WOULD BE KING
Half Japanese was founded by brothers Jad and David Fair in their parents' home in 1976. When they started the band neither could play an instrument; in the subsequent twenty-four years Jad has led countless line-ups of the band, which still prizes amateur enthusiasm over professionalism, and has sung hundreds of songs about monsters, women, and good luck. Taking us on a wildly eccentric journey to the birthplace of punk rock, THE BAND WHO WOULD BE KING unearths incredible early footage of the band and features frank and fascinating interviews with the band and those around them. Reviewed upon its release by most papers as a joke film akin to SPINAL TAP, most did not realize that these guys are for real, producing huge amounts of music, touring constantly and exerting massive influence on the bands around them and in the future.
The funniest rock n' roll movie since This Is Spinal Tap Chicago Tribune
Has the feel of a complete put on -NY Times


THURSDAY JULY 13 8:30pm
BEFORE YEAR ZERO: WESTERN CANADIAN PUNK ROCK 1980-2000
Local musician and filmmaker MARCUS ROGERS has painstakingly researched and compiled an incredible tribute to Vancouver's most revered and memorable musical adolescence with BEFORE YEAR ZERO: WESTERN CANADIAN PUNK ROCK 1980-2000. This evening will feature an astounding collection of extremely rare punk videos hearkening back as far as 20 years ago. See ART BERGMAN and THE YOUNG CANADIANS slamming out classics like Hawaii and Automan, THE POINTED STICKS with Out of Luck, THE BRAINEATERS and Planet X, THE SUBHUMANS and Slave to my Dick, Death to the Sickoids and others, TANKHOG and I Woke Up In Love This Morning, and of course DOA with some incredible early concert footage including It's Our World and The Prisoner. Directors include Marcus Rogers himself, John Armstrong, Peter Lipskis, and many more. Watch for special appearances by luminaries of Vancouver's music scene...wear a safety pin in your ear and get a buck off admission!

FRIDAY & SATURDAY JULY 14/15 8:30pm
HATED: GG ALLIN AND THE MURDER JUNKIES
HATED: GG ALLIN AND THE MURDER JUNKIES is Todd Phillips' behind the scenes view of the man whose punk rock shows included shit-eating, bloody head-bashing, and songs like I wanna rape you. Not for the faint of heart, make no mistake: this is as hardcore as punk will ever get. Filmed just before his death, this profile of GG Allin is a graphic depiction of the shocking punk performer. Come one, come all to the great GG Allin show! See GG eat his own feces! See GG drink from a flowing stream of urine! See GG vomit, run around naked and drag your girlfriend onto the stage by her hair! See GG cut himself with glass! See Dino the Naked Drummer pose for the camera in bondage gear! See Chicken John hit himself in the face! See GG's ambitious high school chums roll up a rotund spliff and yammer incoherent meaningless babble! This flick makes Pink Flamingos look like an episode of Mr. Roger's Neighborhood. (T. Bloomfield)

SUNDAY JULY 16 early show only: 7:30pm
IDERA PRESENTS
LAS MADRES DE PLAZA DE MAYO
A documentary about the protests of the mothers of the 30,000 people who disappeared in Argentina during the wave of kidnappings, tortures, and murders that occurred during the 1970s dirty war of the Argentine military against alleged left-wing subversives. What emerges is an understanding of recent Argentine history, the personal tragedy of the Mothers, and the empowerment of women in a society where women are expected to be silent. Finally, the film exposes a modern day Holocaust in Argentina, and the courageous resistance to institutional terrorism which is a theme recurring in other countries—Peru, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, and Lebanon. Las Madres is a testament to the Argentine mothers and a banner of hope in the international struggle for human rights. Guest Speakers will be in attendance. Call IDERA at 738-8815 for more information.

TUESDAY & WEDNESDAY JULY 18/19 8:30pm
THE SHIELD AROUND THE K
Heather Rose Dominic's THE SHIELD AROUND THE K profiles the birth and growth of influential Olympia-based punk rock DIY record label K Records. Over the years, the scrappy lil' company has launched key indie artists like Beat Happening, Love as Laughter, Dub Narcotic Sound System, the Make Up, Lois, Microphones and Cadallaca, as well as releasing material from Jon Spencer Blues Explosion, Beck and many others.
Co-founders Calvin Johnson and Candice Pedersen are interviewed along with over twenty K artists and peers, including Mecca Normal, Wandering Lucy, Lois, Rose Melberg, Ian MacKaye, Slim Moon, Dean Wareham and many more. The tape includes live performances by Calvin Johnson's Beat Happening, rarely-seen Super-8 music videos by Patrick Maley, and footage of the international Pop Underground Festival. A do-it-yourself video with a zine spirit, THE SHIELD AROUND THE K gives all you always-hungry hipness-junkies a nice fat dose of uncut indie info and sublebrity star-gazing. So take a seat, music friends, and enjoy.

THURSDAY & FRIDAY JULY 20/21 8:30pm
SONGS FOR CASSAVETES
There's always going to be some person making great records that nobody hears about. - Calvin Johnson, K Records

Justin Mitchell's SONGS FOR CASSAVETES is an in-your-face examination of all things underground in the American music scene today and a smart and revealing response to those who think indie rock died when grunge rolled over in its grave. A testament to the power of the independent voice and what a little DIY action can build.

SONGS FOR CASSAVETES takes a look at the do-it-yourself world of underground music from the perspective of those who make it happen. The film documents the underground bands making music in the wake of the alternative media explosion of the early nineties. Shot in black-and-white 16mm film in locations ranging from Los Angeles to San Francisco, and Berkeley to Olympia, WA and Washington DC, SONGS FOR CASSAVETES includes performances and interviews with Sleater-Kinney, the Make-Up, Unwound, The Peechees, Henry's Dress, Further, Tullycraft, Some Velvet Sidewalk, Dub Narcotic Sound System and the Hi-Fives. - J. Mitchell

The perfect narcissistic indulgence for any self-respecting record dork. - Brett Burton, Philadelphia City Paper.

SATURDAY & SUNDAY JULY 22/23 8:30pm
JEFF KRULIK'S TRIBUTE TO THE SCOTT AND GARY SHOW
SEE:
>The Butthole Surfers tripping their asses off in 1984!
>Teenaged Beastie Boys doing hardcore punk from January 1984, with Kate of Luscious Jackson on drums!
>Schockabilly from March 1985 with Dr. Eugene Chadbourne and Kramer and a near-fight in the studio!
>Half of 1/2 Japanese from February 1984! and much more!
Spring 1985. A pal gives me a small review from Option Magazine talking about a NYC show that hosts live music dance parties on screen. Sounded good to me. Weeks after I write the address, a big box of 3/4" tapes arrive. The first one I pull is the Butthole Surfers, circa 1984 (obviously tripping). It was one of the most bizarre public access spectacles I had ever seen. I loved it. What else was in that box? Half Japanese. The early Beastie Boys. Bands I had never heard of. People having fun in the TV studio. It was all perfect material for my quest to dominate the local cable airwaves. Little did I know, a collaboration was born.

See, Scott Lewis and Gary Winter turned out to be guys much like me, and when they got kicked out of every New York studio they taped in, I invited their production down to my studio. The first one, featuring the Velvet Monkeys (with producer Don Fleming) and 75 guests, turned into an American Bandstand from Hell when the live button was mistakenly pushed. Five hours of a live television audience running amuck and management never called. I sure was naive back then and it was a good thing. We hosted five more tapings over a two year period. In my opinion, these guys were way ahead of their time, and I am proud to have collaborated on some of their work. They hung up their television show in 1990. The last episode featured singer/songwriter Ben Vaughn being interviewed in a men's room. Now, ten years later, it is with great pride and pleasure I present to you a retrospective of The Scott and Gary Show. - Jeff Krulik

TUESDAY & WEDNESDAY JULY 25/26 8:30pm
FUGAZI's INSTRUMENT
Well known for their anti-corporate stance as musicians, FUGAZI have managed to maintain their integrity for over a decade as one of America's most impressive indie bands, consistently refusing to make rock videos and remaining on their own independent label all the while. Far from a traditional documentary, the project is a musical document: a portrait of musicians at work. In director Jem Cohen's words: With no desire on my part or the band's to create a factual career survey or any kind of promotional vehicle, the project presented an opportunity to cut things loose. Mixing sync-sound 16mm, Super-8, video, and a wide range of archival formats, the piece includes concert footage, studio sessions, practice, touring, interviews and portraits of audience members from around the country. The project was edited with band members and extensively uses soundtrack elements provided by Fugazi specifically for the film.

SKATE OR DIE HARDER!
New directions in skateboard cinema
curated by Helen Stickler.
Straight from the New York Underground Film Festival comes this incredible collection of skate flicks curated by skate-savvy and Andre The Giant Has A Posse director Helen Stickler.

THURSDAY & FRIDAY JULY 27/28 8:30pm
SKATESHORTS!
Skateboard culture that runs the gamut including: Andre the Giant Has a Posse (Helen Stickler), the seminal treatise on skatepunk iconography, chronicling the rise of a cult phenomenona: the widespread visibility of stickers icon-ifying the pro-wrestler known as Andre the Giant: the source is here.
SKATOPIA (Rick Charnoski) Iis a story about a party held in the spring of 1998. It's a place where people come to party and skateboard and drive 4WD trucks and light fires and shoot guns and get naked. A few times a year people travel from around the US to the hills of SE. Ohio in order to let it all happen at one of the events hosted by Brewce Martin, the man responsible for creating this 'skateboard utopia'. anything and everything can happen at Skatopia, and it does. - R. Charnoski
LIVE AND LET RIDE (Tara Cooper) A documentary all about girls that skateboard. Through skateboarding footage, interviews and music the documentary portrays the girls that are out there skating everyday yet remain largely ignored by the media and sports world...includes interviews and skating of Cara-Beth Burnside, Jen O'Brien, Jesse Van Roechoudt, Jodi McDonald, Patty Segovia and covers events such as the All Girl Skate Jam and The Juice Magazine Five and Alive at Riverside Park in NYC. The video also looks at Rookie Skateboards, the all girl-owned skateboard company based in Chinatown, NYC. - T. Cooper
THORN AND TOAD (Tobin Yelland) Thorn and Toad is two sides of a story about a fight. I basically filmed each story and cut them together. I've known Thorn for fifteen years and Toad for around ten. - T. Yelland


SATURDAY & SUNDAY JULY 29/30 8:30pm
CANADIAN PREMIERE:FRUIT OF THE VINE
Fruit of the Vine is a film about skateboarding in empty swimming pools. It's not a historical documentary but a collection of stories about those who search, find and ultimately glean some use out of a part of the great American wasteland. Shot entirely on super 8 film, Fruit of the Vine is the result of several road trips taken around both the West and East coast in 2000 and features footage and interviews from Tony Alva, Lance Mountain, Steve Alba, Tony Farmer, Steve Bailey and many more.

Pool skating is not hip, Tommy Hilfiger is not using it to sell clothes, no one is getting paid to ride them. It is the element of skateboarding which is overlooked for many different reasons. It's illegal, pools are difficult to find, when they are found it takes a lot of work to empty them, they are difficult to ride and so on. For these reasons pool riding is also the most interesting element of skateboarding and you usually find the most interesting people skating them. - C. Nichols, R. Charnoski.