Basketball, hockey and weightlifting - these three very different sports and the dynamics of some of the people who have competed in them are featured at Reel Wednesdays at the Adventure Centre next week (Oct. 18).
Hardwood, a film by former Vancouver director Hubert Davis, tells the story of the complex love affair between his parents. His mother, a Canadian, met his father, renowned Harlem Globetotter Mel Davis, when the basketball stars were on tour in Canada in the 1970s.
The resulting affair and Hubert's own birth resulted the final collapse of Davis's marriage in the U.S. and his eventual move to Canada. The director investigates how his father's families coped and is a testament to the complexities of love and relationships. He uses personal interviews, archival footage and home movies to delve into his father's past and in doing so creates a new direction for his own life.
The film was well received both here and in the U.S., where it gained a nomination for an Academy Award in 2005.
When Hockey Came to Belfast will be an eye-opener for anyone who likes our national game, and possibly even more so for those who don't.It tells the story of Andrew and Paul, two teenage hockey players in Northern Ireland whose love of ice hockey has led to their friendship, despite one being Catholic and the other being Protestant. It is easy for those who don't experience sectarian divisions here in Canada to underestimate how important it is for kids from divided communities to meet in neutral territory. In this case, that territory is the white, smooth surface of the ice rink.
Both teens talk about how hatred divides their communities even now, after the 1998 Good Friday Agreement was supposed to bring about a thawing in relationships and politics. They fully acknowledge that without hockey they would have never known each other. "When you're on the ice, you don't really think about Protestants and Catholics," said Andrew in the documentary, "You just get on to play the sport with whoever's there."
The film so moved players and the board at the Vancouver Canucks that they brought over the two teens and their families earlier this year to learn more about amateur hockey and meet some of their NHL idols.
is about a group of teenage boys who take up weightlifting and do everything wrong. In order to become like their muscle-bound heroes, they get involved in supplement use and steroids.
They are brutally honest about their motivations and temptations and why they will do anything to get that "ideal body shape".
This film is meant to provoke teenagers and those who care about how they see themselves, their esteem and their place in the world.Tickets to all three short films are $7 and can be purchased at the Adventure Centre on the night.
