The Cinematheque

Curated by Harry Killas

In the fifth year of ​“The Image Before Us: A History of Film in British Columbia,” we take note of and are thankful for the wonderful audiences that have come out to celebrate the films, participate in lively Q&As, and meet the filmmakers, who themselves are appreciative that their work is presented and remembered. It has also been heartening that directors whose work has been shown earlier in the series have continued to make new films, stretching into new genres, and garnering respect. (To wit, recent works such as Bruce Sweeney’s Kingsway, Mina Shum’s Ninth Floor, Julia Kwan’s Everything Will Be, Helen Haig-Brown’s Edge of the Knife/SG̲aawaay Ḵ’uuna, and Keith Behrman’s Giant Little Ones.)

The inspiration for the series is Colin Browne’s The Image Before Us (1986), a short documentary that asks profound questions about how we ​“read” our own films and what stories persist in our imaginaries of here. What other stories are not presented and consequently need to be?

The series begins with a snapshot of where we emerged from as a filmmaking community. From sponsored films celebrating British Columbians as self-reliant hewers of wood, we move into the personal and social introspect of peoples in the province whose perspectives had been glossed over by the media. Important themes this year include repatriation, as B.C.’s First Nations communities seek to bring back home sacred objects removed to faraway countries; a celebration of Black History Month; and classics from the archive that raise profound questions around ideologies presented in media and our shifting cultural mores.

At year five, we recognize that a history of the ​“images before us” is in a constant state of revision. While we continue to honour important local legacies, and pay tribute in January to the contributions of Daryl Duke, we acknowledge, with recent work by emerging filmmakers such as Kathleen Hepburn and Wayne Wapeemukwa, that our cinema culture continues to evolve. – Harry Killas