I Heart Edmonton

Jasper Avenue by emil tiedemann I was sixteen when some friends and I went downtown to the Paramount Theatre on Jasper Avenue to watch Tom Cruise in the original Mission: Impossible movie. I can’t really explain it, but there was something invigorating about that particular night. Maybe it was the big cozy seats, or the flashing lights on the marquee, or perhaps it was a buff Tom Cruise?!  The former Paramount Theatre was a Jasper Avenue highlight. But it wasn’t just the aging Paramount Theatre, it was the Avenue, it was downtown, it was this whole new world I had barely gotten to know yet.  Over the years, Jasper Avenue has been the scene of many of my more memorable moments growing up, getting to know the idiosyncrasies of my hometown’s main drag: the intimate Michael Bernard Fitzgerald concert in a parked van just outside of the Starlite Room with my sister and a few strangers; my goodbye party at The Druid before I left Edmonton to spend far less time in ...

Documentaries from around the world converge in Edmonton for Canada's oldest and finest festival of its kind BY EMIL TIEDEMANN B EFORE we get into Saturday's edition of the 4-day Global Visions Film Festival , I think it's only appropriate to give you a little history of the nation's first and oldest documentary film fest. "We operate from the knowledge that the world is getting smaller, and that all people are interconnected, interdependent citizens of the global village," reads the Mandate & Mission Statement on the festival's official website. The GVFF claims that it "aims to entertain, engage and inspire our audience. We entertain them by bringing original, top-quality documentaries made by talented filmmakers from across Canada and around the world to Edmonton every year." It began in 1981 as the Edmonton Learners Centre's Third World Film Festival, but by 1998 had become a non-profit society called the Global Visions Festival Socie...

Edmonton begins 28th annual docu-film fest with a film made in its own backyard What: Global Visions Film Festival When: Thursday, Nov. 5-Sunday, Nov. 8, 2009 Where: Downtown Arts District T HE opening gala ($20) for the 28-year-old Global Visions Film Festival kicks off at 8:00PM this Thursday, November 5th with the screening of the locally-based documentary feature Broke (2009). Helmed by first-time director Rosie Dransfeld , Broke follows the story of "grouchy old guy" David Woolfson , who runs an inner-city pawn shop in Edmonton, and has been for the last 16 years. The award-winning film has recieved applause throughout the national film community and has already been screened at film festivals in Toronto, Vancouver and Calgary. The GVFF "celebrates the work of passionate, accomplished documentaries from Canada and around the world." It started back in 1981 as the Edmonton Learners Center's Third World Film Festival, and is now recognized as Canada...