Today at ECU

Off Season is a short film in production by 4 students in their senior year at Emily Carr's Film Screen Arts program. It will be directed by both Mika Shigematsu and Poppy Suro with Bon Suzuki as the film's producer and Sammy Vu as the director of photography.

Synopsis:
In the aftermath of World War III, a broken world teeters on the precipice of annihilation. Amidst the financial ruin and environmental catastrophe, a family of four struggles to survive in a rural landscape. When their mother dies and their father is imprisoned for political insurrection, it falls to the eldest daughter to lead. With no means to hunt or grow food, the family is forced to face a bitter winter with diminishing hope. Forcing them to make the impossible choices, is faced with a world where survival often has a moral cost and where keeping her family alive may mean sacrificing more than she ever imagined.

Why support us/ why it matters:
Canada is a multicultural country, and our cast and core creative team members are all AAPI, bringing each a unique cultural perspective. This film is significant because of the present global and Canadian political landscape—it shines a light on BIPOC issues and holds governmental systems accountable. It speaks to immediate issues such as the present-day Indigenous water crisis, as well as recalling histories such as Indigenous peoples being placed on reserves and Japanese Canadians, after WWII, being deported out of cities or back to Japan. By situating Canadian stories and experiences, the film becomes politicized by default—a conscious attempt at showcasing Canadian storytelling and filmmaking. Its timeliness is also prompted by external forces against the industry, such as recent policy efforts that may impose high tariffs on non-U.S. films brought into the country, which threaten Canadian artists' livelihoods and the dynamics of co-operative filmmaking

Mika Shigematsu, Director, 4th year Film major. Half Japanese, half Iranian artist born and raised in Vancouver BC

Poppy Suro, Co-Director, 4th year Film major. Half Japanese, half German artist born and raised in Vancouver BC

Bon Suzuki, Producer, 4th year Film major, minor in Curating. Film Student representee. Grew up in Japan and Canada

Sammy Vu, Director of Photography, 4th year Film major. Award-winning film featured at the Vancouver Poet Film Festival

A headshot photo shoot fundraiser is a two-for-one—after graduation, a quality headshot can be a huge difference-maker in job interviews, but professional shoots cost money. With Bon's proven track record of experience, even including work published in magazines, we can offer top-shelf headshots for student-affordable prices, putting professional portraits within reach and raising money for our film.

Sept 9-11, 11:00 am to 5pm each day

1st day
1 headshot for 10$
2 for 20$
3 for 25$

Bring a friend get 25% off each

Day 2, same prices. Bring a friend get a free headshot

Day 3
Same price
non headshots, can take any time of it as long as you're within the frame line, 25% off

Location:
Great Northern Way
Main Building
C3253

Contact: offseasonfilmproduction@gmail.com
Instagram: @offseasonshortfilm

Ilze Bebris ('97) and Robin Ripley ('96) are both ECUAD graduates who are interested in moving beyond the isolation of the studio, to share ideas and to work collaboratively using personal visual vocabularies.

ILZE BEBRIS: Collage

I am interested in the provisional and transitory aspect of much that we take to be fixed and normative in everyday life. I am drawn to every day materials that form our built landscape and largely determine how we negotiate it. I see much of my work as small subversions of the authority of the manufactured object – a misappropriation of its use value. My work exists in the gap between banality and modernist aesthetics. I am interested in the essence of material: allowing material to remain true to its self while allowing something else, at times unexpected, to emerge. Through collage I explore the dynamic of ideas that can occur on a 2 dimensional plane. Moving between object, image, I work with varied materials, found and repurposed, creating textures through small gestures and their collision. The works refuse a unity of meaning but through their dissonance point to the fragmented nature of contemporary urban culture, often in conflict with the natural world.

ROBIN RIPLEY: Mixed media/Assemblage

The way in which we respond to the objects that surround us has been a recurring theme in my work. I often explore how vernacular objects not only evoke knowledge and memory but also reflect our nuanced cultural codes. Each work is carefully composed to highlight the formal elements of its components, however commonplace. My use of cast-off materials suggests alternative narratives for both the environment and the creative process, nudging the viewer to consider new meanings as well as non-traditional materials. My amalgams of found and created materials examine the aesthetics of what we collect and display and blur the boundaries between art and decoration.

Date: October 26, 12-5PM
Location: PoMoArts, 2425 Sr. John's Street, Port Moody, B.C.
Contact: Ilze Bebris | Ilzevqa@gmail.com

On Sept. 7, commemorate the anniversary of the 1907 Anti-Asian Riots with 360 Riot Walk, an interactive walking tour retracing the riot’s route.

360 Riot Walk is an interactive walking tour by artist Henry Tsang that utilizes 360 video technology to tell the story of the 1907 Anti-Asian Riots in Vancouver. It traces the history and route of the mob that attacked the Chinese Canadian and Japanese Canadian communities following the demonstration and parade organized by the Asiatic Exclusion League in Vancouver. Participants are brought into the social and political environment of the time where racialized communities were targeted through legislation as well as physical acts of exclusion and violence. The soundtrack is available in four languages of the local residents of the period: English, Cantonese, Japanese, and Punjabi. Sterilized tablets and headphones will be provided. Maximum 10 participants per tour.

Event Details:

• Date: Sunday, September 7, 2025
• Meeting Location: Chinese Canadian Museum (51 E Pender St.)
• Time & Schedule:
  10 A.M. - 12 P.M. - Guided tour retracing route of the 1907 Riot
  12 - 1 P.M. - Discussion & debrief with artist Henry Tsang
• Cost: $20/annual pass holder; $25/general admission visitor
  *GST not included

Exhibition Opening: Fri, Sept 12, 6-8pm
Artists: Jake Kimble, Maria-Margaretta Cabana Boucher, Cheyenne Rain LeGrande and Vance Wright

Four artists create a metaphysical body; one that celebrates the importance of Indigenous joy, humour, and care.

September 13 - October 18, 2025
CityScape Community ArtSpace