Please join us for a special screening of The Painted Life of E.J. Hughes on March 26th in the Reliance Theatre.
The Painted Life of E.J. Hughes, written, directed, edited by Jenn Strom (whose previous films include: A Golden Voice, about Bill Reid; and the hand-painted NFB short Assembly); produced by ECU alumnus Kevin Eastwood (Wildfire, Haida Modern) for Optic Nerve Films; and commissioned by Knowledge Network. The film was inspired by the award-winning E.J. Hughes books by Victoria author and artist, Robert Amos. A panel discussion will follow, moderated by Assistant Dean + Professor Harry Killas, Faculty of Design + Dynamic Media.
For 70 years, E.J. Hughes, graduate of the Vancouver School of Decorative and Applied Art (now ECU), captured the landscapes of British Columbia in vivid, dreamlike detail. Too shy to attend his own art openings, he struggled in poverty until a twist of fate helped him become one of the most beloved—and highly valued—artists in Canadian history.
BIOS
JENN STROM – Writer/Director/Producer/Editor
Jenn Strom is a filmmaker, editor and animator based in Vancouver. Her previous credits as director include the hand-painted NFB animated film, Assembly; the short documentary, A Golden Voice (co-directed with Patrick Shannon); and the Nick Bantock artist profile featured in the series 12 Takes (Gemini Award nominee). Her feature editing credits include: back home (VIFF 2022), Stuffed (SXSW & VIFF 2019), and the musical NFB documentary, The Road Forward (Leo Award winner for Best Editing).
KEVIN EASTWOOD (BMA 1999) – Producer/Executive Producer
Kevin Eastwood is an award-winning producer, director and writer. Most recently he was the executive producer, co-creator and showrunner of Wildfire, an acclaimed five-part documentary series about people who work on the front lines of wildfire fighting. Previous documentary credits as producer include the award-winning features Part of the Pack directed by Mike McKinlay & Isabelle Groc (Winner: Best Documentary at the Chilliwack Film Festival); Haida Modern (Leo Award-winner for Best Feature Length Documentary), Haida Gwaii: On the Edge of the World (Winner: Best Canadian Documentary at Hot Docs) and Oil Sands Karaoke, (Yorkton Golden Sheaf Award winner for Best Documentary) all directed by Charles Wilkinson; Eco-Pirate The Story of Paul Watson directed by Trish Dolman; and Do You Really Want to Know? Directed by John Zaritsky. Previous credits as writer/director include The Society Page (Leo Award winner for Best Direction), the doc series British Columbia: An Untold History (Leo Award winner for Best Direction & Best Documentary Series) and Emergency Room: Life + Death at VGH (Leo Award winner for Best Documentary Series), and the CBC documentaries, Humboldt: The New Season and After the Sirens (both nominated for Best Documentary Program at the Canadian Screen Awards).