Walking Tour
STROLLING THE HEART OF THE CITY with John Atkin and Bob Sung
Sunday November 1, 10:30am (1½ to 2 hrs)
Meet at SE corner of Jackson & Alexander
$10; pay what you can for local residents
Join walking-tour masters extraordinaire John Atkin and Bob Sung for an extensive and entertaining tour of the historic areas of Downtown Eastside, Strathcona and Chinatown. Stroll the Heart of the City and explore the sites of Oppenheimer Park, Lord Strathcona Elementary School, Chinese herbal medicine stores, pastry shops, bbq meat stores and the tranquil Dr. Sun Yat Sen Park. After the tour, John and Bob will head to the Jade Dynasty Restaurant for a no-host dim sum lunch ($15 per person).

Film
AN AFTERNOON OF FREE FILM SCREENINGS
Saturday October 31, 2pm – 5:30pm
Djavad Mowafaghian Cinema, SFU Woodward’s, 149 W. Hastings
Free
2pm Part 1 Raising Sh*T: Bud Osborn Film Screenings
Bud Osborn was the poet laureate of the Downtown Eastside and a remarkable, articulate and passionate social activist who left a profound legacy of advocating for social justice- particularly for low-income people and those suffering from addiction. When he passed away last year, over 200 people attended a public memorial for him in the neighbourhood. Bud was involved in many film projects over the years – we look back at some of the work that he was featured in. This afternoon we celebrate and remember Bud and his amazing contribution to the neighbourhood.

For Bruce Eriksen (5min)
A group of film and video makers in the DTES formed the Lifeskills Collective in 2010 to make short videos reflecting the impact of Vancouver’s Olympics. Inspired by Clay Van Sant’s short film on William S. Burroughs, the Collective collaborated with Bud to produce a post-Olympic testimony to the ongoing struggles of the community.

Linda Gains (2014)
Local filmmaker Colin Askey created a film that animates one of Bud’s poems.

Keys to Kingdoms (1998)
A film-poem based on Bud Osborn’s famous poem about living in a run down DTES hotel. Directed by Nathaniel Geary.

Down Here (1997, 52:09 min)
Poet, political activist and former addict Bud Osborn tells his story of survival and how it has inspired his struggle to defend Canada’s most impoverished community where the worst epidemic of HIV/AIDS among drug users in the western world is occurring. Down Here is a sustained cry of pain and rebellion from those who are homeless, those who are being driven from their meager housing by gentrification – those most vulnerable among us. Bud: “…community is care – care for one another care for those least able to care for themselves, care for all, care in action…and there is no one to care, if you do not care and there is no one, no one at all to care – if I do not care…” Produced and directed by Veronica Alice.

4pm Part 2 Documentary Screening
Estate, A Reverie (2015, 83 min)
A spirited celebration of extraordinary everyday humanity. Filmed by director Andrea Luka Zimmerman over seven years, Estate, a Reverie reveals and celebrates the resilience of people who are overlooked by media representations and wider social responses. The film “documents the last days of a London, UK public housing estate and exhibits deep feelings of community and solidarity.” Interweaving intimate portraits with historical re-enactments, landscape and architectural studies and dramatized scenes, Estate, a Reverie asks how we might resist being framed exclusively through class, gender, ability or disability, and even through geography.

Walking Tour
HOUSING CRISIS TOUR with Carnegie Community Action Project
Saturday October 31, 11am (approx. 90 minutes)
Meet on the front steps of Carnegie, 401 Main
$10; free for local residents
Homelessness has been growing in the Downtown Eastside: this year 836 people were recorded as homeless in the neighborhood – the most ever – despite 458 homeless people being housed in new social housing units throughout the city. Next year homelessness could grow by hundreds, and rents in single room occupancy hotels continue to escalate. Herb Varley and other members of CCAP will lead the ‘housing crisis’ tour; they will visit places where homeless people are forced to sleep, the hotels from which they are being reno-victed, and the key sites where, if there was the political will, governments could buy, lease or build housing where homeless people could make their homes.

Films
REVITALIZING JAPANTOWN?
Friday October 30, 7pm – 9:30pm
Carnegie Theatre, 401 Main
Free
The Festival is proud to present two films by award-winning documentary filmmaker Greg Masuda –The Spirit of Nihonmachi and The Right to Remain.

The Spirit of Nihonmachi (2012, 28 min)
Commissioned by the Powell Street Festival for their 35th Anniversary, this commemorative film uses an experiential documentary approach to show the festival through the eyes of two Downtown Eastside volunteers.

The Right to Remain (2015, 45 min)
The CBC documentary looks at the Downtown Eastside residents and the fight to save community from development. Started as an idea five years ago, Greg Masuda accumulated over 300 hours of footage. He says “The Right to Remain is a culmination of my entire career as a filmmaker. As a Japanese Canadian, I could not resist participating in the advocacy for the Downtown Eastside community as it looked down the barrel of the real estate industry in the second most expensive city in the world.”

A talkback panel will follow the films with a discussion about the broader topic of Community Displacement: what is our responsibility to the Downtown Eastside? Panel guests include Wendy Pedersen, Grace Eiko Thomson, Herb Varley, Ethel Whitty and filmmaker Greg Masuda. Members of the Powell Street Festival Advocacy and Outreach Committee will also attend.