East Van Vodville Cinema

the tiny theatre with short shorts

Author: East Van Vodville

  • “FRENCH LESSONS” by STUPID CO

    We’re excited to welcome these two delightful films from Stupid Co to our little big screen, and we very much look forward to collaborating with Off-Viff later this year.

    THE FESTIVAL-LAUDED SATIRE OPENS THE EAST VAN VODVILLE CINEMA ON JANUARY 20TH AND KICKS OFF A PARTNERSHIP TO SUPPORT MORE SHORT FILM EXHIBITION AS PART OF OCTOBER’S OFF-VIFF 2026 FESTIVAL

    STUPID CO, the artistic label from filmmaker/distributor duo Anna Maguire & Kyle Greenberg have announced their second co-directed short film, French Lessons (2025) will open theatrically in Vancouver at the East Van Vodville Cinema for a weeklong *qualifying run starting January 20, 2026 following a 2025 festival campaign with the likes of New/Next, The Downtown Festival, SXSW Sydney, OFF-VIFF and more.

    The hybrid-documentary short follows Greenberg who fittingly plays a film distributor, secretly meeting with real-life director Arran Shearing (co-director of King Baby and co-founder of OFF-VIFF) to practice French ahead of going to the Cannes Film Festival. A satirical take on the industry vs. artistry divide, the weeklong theatrical announcement advances Stupid Co’s commitment to non-traditional releasing, with Greenberg & Maguire saying in a joint statement:

    “As we work to circumvent the archaic pitfalls and/or gatekeepers of the independent film landscape and combat the perceived limitations of short films in the marketplace, this weeklong run of French Lessons and partnership with the EV Vodville Cinema is an exciting step forward to find another new and rare physical pathway for short exhibition. By finding a new physical space to exhibit our short for a week in Vancouver, we feel more than ‘qualified’ to ask for your consideration! Looking further ahead, we can’t wait to expand upon our festival OFF-VIFF, by working with EV Vodville to provide another key satellite location for short exhibition as well!”

    ​​Screening with French Lessons at the East Van Vodville Cinema will be Stupid Co’s first short, Hi! You Are Currently Being Recorded (2024), a selection of the inaugural OFF-VIFF in addition to festivals such as Fantasia, SXSW Sydney, Chattanooga and more. On April 20th last year, Stupid Co released Hi! You Are Currently Being Recorded as a “never-ending loop” on their own website hiyouarecurrentlybeingrecorded.com. Now, audiences who are not in Vancouver can also find another way to watch French Lessons online, as part of Stupid Co’s live-streamed loop (with French Lessons playing after Hi! You Are Currently Being Recorded only at): hiyouarecurrentlylearningfrench.com

    To submit a short film to OFF-VIFF 2026, visit FilmFreeway, but be aware… OFF-VIFF only accepts up to 50 short film and 25 feature submissions so time is of the essence! https://filmfreeway.com/OFF-VIFF 

    *The weeklong theatrical run of French Lessons is not actually a qualifying Academy run, nor is EV Vodville considered a real theater, nor is Vancouver considered a qualifying theatrical market as it pertains to the Academy, despite much of Hollywood shooting their studio films in Canada, British Columbia and Vancouver (and Academy winners or nominees such as Juno, Titanic, Five Easy Pieces, The Accused, The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus, First Blood, Godzilla (2014) and many more shot fully or partially in the city). French Lessons was not submitted to any awards by Stupid Co nor did it win any awards at a ‘Qualifying’ festival in order to ‘Qualify’ for any awards! 

  • Public Domain* Day 2026: Films of 1930 * if you‘re American

    From Soup to Nuts and Marxists to Marxes! 
    On January 1, all films published 95 years ago lose their copyright restrictions and enter the public domain. This year, the crop of 1930can now be freely used to display, remix, and build upon. In the USA. Here in Canada, due to a legal Gordian Knot involving the Bern Convention, a series of treaties, and the “rule of the shorter term” possibly being exempted for works from the USA and Mexico… Public domain American films may still be copyrighted here, specifically if, (due to CUSMA, 2020) the “authors” (and it’s legally a bit vague who all this is for a motion picture) of the work died after 1971. It’s a mess.Result: a 20 year public domain hiatus in Canada, with no new works entering public domain until 2042. So unless that changes, we at the Vodville look forward to celebrating a real public domain day in Canada with you then.THAT SAID, we get around all this by exercising our rights as granted by the Fair Dealing provision of the Copyright Act (1985). Here’s some non-substantial portions of possibly still copyrighted films presented non-commercially, and for educational and critical purposes. *jazz hands*

    • First up, some good ol’ fashioned Marxist propaganda from Animal Crackers, it’s the memorable numbers Hello, I Must be Going and Hurray for Captain Spaulding. [3:23]
    • Some reflections on man’s mortality from Alexander Dovzhenko’ Earth. [2:56]
    • *after 8 pm The aerial camera work by Winnipeg’s own Osmond Borradaile sets the dogfight scene from Hell’s Angels amid towering clouds, bringing the viewer directly into a landscape that’s usually only seen from a distance, far below. [2:24]
    • Next we go to Just Imagine which looks 50 years into the future and imagines a 1980’s Dr Frankenstein. No one appears to have imagined a social safety net though. Fun fact, the electrical effects in this were by Kenneth Strickfaden, they entered the collective imagination of moviegoers a year later when they appeared in 1931’s Frankenstein. [3:28]
    • Speaking of fever dreams of the imagination, check out this airship-borne ode to all things electricity from Cecil B. DeMille’s  Madam Satan. [3:29]
    • Rube Goldberg (of ‘Machine” fame) was a real guy, and he wrote a movie, and it’s amazing. Check out the burglar alarm from Soup to Nuts. [2:07]
    • Scythes vs combine in Earth. This film was created in response to the collectivization of Ukraine and it was banned by Soviet authorities 8 days after its release. In the following years the Soviets extended government control over the film industry, strangling its creative output. In totally unrelated news, Hollywood’s Hays Code debuted in 1930, although it was un-enforced until ‘33. [2:55]
    •  Speaking of banned films, Luis Buñuel & Salvador Dalí’s surrealist masterpiece L’Âge d’Or managed to get banned from exhibition for 50 years, by the French no less. Here is a charming scene with a cow. [0:55]
    • Back to Animal Crackers for a friendly card game with absolutely no tricks. [4:47]
    • Ub Iwerks’ Fiddlesticks is his first animation after leaving Walt Disney’s Studio. Featuring Flip the Frog, and a suspiciously familiar looking cartoon mouse. [2:36]
    • Animal Crackers again with a quick lesson on musician rates negotiations, gig workers take note. [2:56]
    • Dizzy Dishes notable for the first appearance of Betty Boop. [1:37]
    • Aside from it being the most whitewashed Jazz show I have ever seen, it does have some glorious two strip technicolor production pieces. Here is one from King of Jazz. [1:24]
    • Back to the rigid airship party in Madam Satan, now with some cats on the catwalk, which seems like a recipe for static electricity and explosions. [2:22]
    • That awkward moment when you get the government letter marrying you to your backup plan. 1980’s romance problems in Just Imagine. [3:15]
    • *after 8 pm Director Howard Hughes himself was flying the camera plane for much of this aerial duel in Hell’s Angels. [3:43]
    • Some Groucho asides on love and marriage from Animal Crackers. [3:30]
    • You know the party is going to be good when there is a beer cart, L’Âge d’Or. [0:41]
    • Some disembodied heads singing about lower extremities in King of Jazz. [0:43].
    • More Rube Goldbergian genius from Soup to Nuts. [1:37]
    • I love how pretty this movie is; Earth, with a series of scenes that will stir the heart of any child of the prairies, but chill the soul of any celiac. I’m conflicted. [1:52]
    • Ever been so angry you just have to throw some things? This guy too, L’Âge d’Or. [1:43]
    • Soup to Nuts is also known for being the first screen appearance of the Four Stooges (who, minus Ted, would go to work as a trio). Here they help out with a fire. [2:29]
    • The perils of food service from Dizzy Dishes. [1:11]
    • Coburg Ontario’s own Marie Dressler gives an oscar winning performance as dockside innkeeper in the film Min and Bill. Here is some yacht chaos. [3:34]
    • 7 years before the Hindenburg, and 87 years before the Fyre festival, there was this disaster of a party from Madam Satan. [3:17]
    • More zeppelin crashes! from Hell’s Angels. [1:28]
    • More Four Stooges firefighter shenanigans from Soup to Nuts. [1:25]
    • King of Jazz with a meditation on monarchy. Personally I feel that you shouldn’t expect to wield supreme executive power just because a chimpanzee hucked a coconut at your head. Also this was  the first technicolor cartoon. [2:38]
    • Animal Crackers Groucho Marx at his best, giving a pitch to an investor. [2:00]
    • Everyone loves a good munitions dump explosion or 47. Hell’s Angels. [1:58]
    • Just Imagine, launching on a mission to Mars. [1:46]
    • A short animation to celebrate 2026 by local stop-motion animators Brongadoo productions.

  • ‘Tis the Season TV

    Mariah Carey has been back on the radio for at least a week, so we figure it’s time to find the gold pipecleaners and warm up the old seasonal programming.

    We’ve hooked up with Christmas film and TV historian Joanna Wilson to bring you clips from some deeply weird, almost entirely forgotten Christmas Specials.

    If you have any suggestions for our big “Mostly Christmas” show (Especially  if you know of some seasonal holiday films or TV that aren’t Christmas!!) please email us at vodvilleEV@gmail.com

    Here’s Joanna!

    The 1960s was the golden age of Christmas animation on television. However, the two decades following inspired animators to produce unforgettable Christmas entertainment that is often overlooked and undervalued. Here are five examples from the 1970s-80s of underappreciated Christmas animation. 

    My name is Joanna Wilson and I curated this list. I’m a TV and film historian, specializing in Christmas entertainment, and the author of the book “Tis the Season TV: The Encyclopedia of Christmas Episodes, Specials and Movies,” 2nd edition—coming in 2026 by 1701 Press. 

    Instagram: @TistheSeasonTV. 

    christmastvhistory.com 

    [she has some neat books here, and we’re not being paid to say this!! -EVV]

    The Snowman (1982) 

    Adapted from the book by Raymond Briggs, this British-made story about a snowman that comes to life has charmed viewers around the world. The subtle pastel colors and charming characters are accompanied by a haunting melody “Walking in the Air,” performed by choirboy Peter Auty and the Sinfonia of London. 

    George and the Christmas Star (1985) 

    Academy award-nominated creator Gerald Potterton both wrote and directed this sciencefiction tale. The adorable story is about George who builds himself a rocket ship to go into space in pursuit of the perfect star for the top of his Christmas tree. Potterton’s distinctive imagery and imaginative storytelling raises this Christmas TV special above most others. 

    A Very Merry Cricket (1973) 

    In this story, a cat and mouse recruit their friend Chester C. Cricket to make his special music to cut through the chaotic noise and distractions at Christmas time in the city. This TV special offers a challenge to the hustle and bustle of the holiday season, a welcome solution of pleasant melodies from nature. This story is adapted from the book “A Cricket in Times Square” by George Selden and brought to life by master animator Chuck Jones, who also crafted the 1966 cartoon “How the Grinch Stole Christmas.” 

    The Gift of Winter (1974) 

    This animated program features a one-of-a-kind visual style and character design with an inspiring story. A group of townsfolk unhappy with the cold and wind of the season, organize their protest to the bureaucratic head, the Minister of Winter. The politician is so moved by their appeal, he begins to cry, creating snowflakes—a fun and acceptable addition to the wintry weather. This cult classic evokes the familiar 1970s zeitgeist of political movements and people coming together to work towards a solution to systemic problems. 

    A Cosmic Christmas (1977) 

    Another science-fiction story, this one sees a young boy Peter and his pet goose Lucy greet three aliens from another planet at the holidays. The visitors ask about the meaning of Christmas but Peter struggles to show them examples of love, peace, generosity, and goodwill in the city as he described them. This TV special was an early creation of Nelvana, the same company who created the animated segment in 1978’s infamous “Star Wars Holiday Special.” 

    Bonus Video: Jingle Bell Rocks (2013) 

    Vancouver documentary filmmaker Mitchell Kezin created a feature-length live-action movie about the joy of Christmas record collecting. Kezin’s seminal film includes interviews with celebrity collectors, like filmmaker John Waters and journalist/publicist Bill Adler, and also features artists who have created Christmas music, such as Wayne Coyne, of the band the Flaming Lips, and jazz musician Bob Dorough who worked with Miles Davis. More importantly, Kezin’s film drew Christmas music collectors together from around the world, including myself. Friend Mitchell Kezin passed away in 2024 and I wanted to share a brief clip from the beginning of his film of him shopping for Christmas records, engaged in the passion of collecting, an activity all Christmas record collectors know and enjoy. Rock on, Mitchell.

  • Teen Angst

    special guest curator, Sara Bynoe

    25 years ago I made a website with my brother: TeenAngstPoetry.com. I created and found the content and he made the code and design. My dream was to have an online archive of funny, bad, and cringeworthy poetry from people’s teen years. I thought it was silly and hilarious. I also wrote a lot of bad poetry during adolescence and I had to do something with it, right?

    To launch that website I had an event where I got a bunch of people together to read from our teenage poetry books and diaries. That night we laughed so hard that some people literally peed themselves.

    Ever since then I’ve been hosting “Teen Angst Nights” where people read from their teenage notebooks – not just old poetry. There are 3 rules for the show: 1 – You must have written what you share. 2 – It must have been created by you between the ages of 10-19 years old. 3 – You cannot be proud of what you share. It should be embarrassing. It’s a comedy night, afterall.

    For the East Van Vodville, I have collected a bunch of retro TV and movie clips that feel teen angsty to me. Me, an elder millennial. So enjoy the nostalgia, Gen X’ers and Millennials! Gen Z and Alpha, gaze upon a world pre iPhones.

    If Teen Angst Night has taught me anything it’s that these feelings of despair, loneliness, hurt, and “no one understands my pain” are universal, it’s just the pop culture references that change.

    • Sara Bynoe

    10 Things I Hate About You 1999

    It’s Shakespeare’s Taming of the Shrew but set in the late 90s. In this clip, Kat reads a poem to the class.

    Directed by: Gil Junger Written by: Karen McCullah Lutz, Kirsten Smith Edited by: O. Nicholas Brown

    Anne of Green Gables 1985

    It’s the 1880s in PEI; Anne is an orphan with red hair and Gilbert, a boy in her class, called her “carrots” and hurt her feelings.

    Directed by: Kevin Sullivan Written by: Kevin Sullivan, Joe Wiesenfeld Edited by: James Lahti, Mairin Wilkinson

    Bend It Like Beckham 1985

    A young football (better known as soccer in Canada) player is a girl and her family disapproves, until her father speaks up for her.

    Directed by: Gurinder Chadha Written by: Gurinder Chadha, Guljit Bindra, Paul Mayeda Berges Edited by: Justin Krish

    Booksmart 2019

    This is the only modern movie on this list. It’s a great film about teenagers, so I had to include it. In this scene a girl overhears people talking about her in the bathroom.

    Directed by: Olivia Wilde Written by: Emily Halpern, Sarah Haskins, Susanna Fogel, Katie Silberman Edited by: Jamie Gross, Brent White

    But I’m a Cheerleader 1999

    This is a legendary satiric coming-of-age movie about queer kids. In this scene a cheerleader arrives at “True-directions” and is confronted about her feelings for other girls.

    Directed by: Jamie Babbit Written by: Brian Peterson. Jamie Babbit Edited by: Cecily Rhett

    Can’t Hardly Wait 1998

    Two high school students from different cliques find themselves locked in a bathroom during a high school house party.

    Directed by: Harry Elfont; Deborah Kaplan Written by: Deborah Kaplan; Harry Elfont

    Clueless 1995

    This is the best movie of all time. You should watch the whole thing. In this scene Cher, the lead of the movie, has to do a high school debate.

    Directed by: Amy Heckerling Written by: Amy Heckerling Edited by: Debra Chiate

    Dazed and Confused 1993

    It’s 1976 and junior high kids are being hazed by senior high school students. Side note: If Dazed and Confused were made today, it would be set in 2008.

    Directed by: Richard Linklater Written by: Richard Linklater Edited by: Sandra Adair

    Dead Poets Society 1989

    A teacher makes a student write a poem.

    Directed by: Peter Weir Written by: Tom Schulman Edited by: William M. Anderson

    School’s Out! (Degrassi) 1992 – (after 8pm only)

    If there’s one scene people I know still talk about from Degrassi Jr. High it’s the one with the line “You were F-ing Tessa Campanelli.” This Canadian show is a classic.

    Directed by: Kit Hood Written by: Yan Moore Edited by: Robert de Lint

    A New Start (Degrassi High) 1989 – (after 8pm only) 

    Degrassi covered so many issues that teenagers sometimes have to deal with. Like unplanned pregnancies. Good thing Spike is around to talk about this.

    Directed by: Kit Hood Written by: Yan Moore Edited by: Robert de Lint

    Ferris Bueller’s Day Off 1986

    A kid skips school and takes his friends on a joy-filled day around Chicago. One catch, he makes his best friend take out his father’s sports car. This is the scene after their joyride adventure has ended.

    Directed by: John Hughes | Written by: John Hughes | Edited by: Paul Hirsch

    Pretty in Pink 1986

    A love story about two high school kids from different cliques. She works in a record store. He is a preppy rich guy whose friends think she’s beneath them.

    Directed by: Howard Deutch Written by: John Hughes Edited by: Richard Marks

    Mean Girls 2004

    It’s like Clueless only different. This is the scene when everyone finds out about the Burn Book.

    Directed by: Mark Waters | Written by: Tina Fey | Edited by: Wendy Greene Bricmont

    The Breakfast Club 1985

    There have been a lot of serious clips in this curation. This one is just a fun dance scene because teens, even ones from different groups, can have fun together.

    Directed by: John Hughes | Written by: John Hughes | Edited by: Dede Allen

    The Craft 1996

    “We are the weirdos, mister.” What is it about teenage girls and witchcraft? It just feels right, right?

    Directed by: Andrew Fleming | Written by: Peter Filardi, Andrew Fleming | Edited by: Jeff Freeman

  • Moving Art 2025 Unity

    12th Annual Eastside Culture Crawl Film and Video Exhibition

    Alone we are thread, together we are cloth.” 

    Unity explores the beauty of connection – between people, ideas, and the natural world. From the intimate act of braiding hair to the intricate weaving of textiles, these works trace the ways in which individuality intertwines into collective creation. Artists this year draw together disparate strands: nature and a human voice, community and solitude, digital signal with analogue process. 

    Each piece reminds us that unity is not uniformity, but the rhythm of many parts moving as one. Together, these works assemble a vision from fragments of memory and perspective, a liminal cloak that once opened reveals our togetherness in grief, our oneness with nature, and our mutual love for the buildings that hold our history. Even the great cat distribution system reveals its hand – evidence that harmony exists in the most mysterious networks of all. 

     Threads meet. Worlds overlap. The tree becomes greater than its rings. 

    • Critical Points of Contact 2022-2025 by Debra Gloeckler 
    • Eroded Origins: Speak for Me! by Garrett Andrew Chong 
    • The Thread that Binds Us by Fatima Maria Travassos 
    • The Reincarnation of Puke Pixie by Cheree Lang 
    • Ghostly Spaces by Isaac Forsland 
    • Hair Braiding by Rashi Sethi 
    • echo / corpus by Nisha Platzer 
    • BROOMANCE by Ethan White 
    Curated by Kate MacDonald, Sierra MacTavish and Esther Rausenberg

  • Noirvember

    It’s dark out… let’s watch some cathartically dark movies. 

    • Dragging Harrison Ford out of retirement, it’s the 1983 neon-noir film Blade Runner.  [3:46]
    • Oh sure the DA says to lay off, but Marlow has a hunch, see? The Big Sleep 1946. [2:05]
    • Are they aliens or the 1%? Let’s skewer the corrupt underbelly of Reaganomics in 1988’s John Carpenter meme fest They Live. [3:33]
    • Preparing for the big heist with gritty, Hays Code unapproved realism in this scene from 1955’s Rififi. [4:31]
    • Dick Tracy finds himself in a tight spot after getting pinched by Big Boy and his goons in this 1990 adaptation of the 1930s comic books: [3:56]
    • Bruce Lee (!) demonstrates why it’s not a good idea to splash out on an expensive office if you are a private eye, in this scene from 1969’s Marlowe. [3:17]
    • Sometimes you just gotta hide a wrongfully accused rabbit from the cops. Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988). Also, while you are here, check out all the physical objects being interacted with by cartoons, all practical. It’s bananas. [3:41]
    • If you like your monologs and dialogs extra hard boiled, look no further than this narrative exposition from 1945’s Detour. [2:13]
    • Speaking of German Expressionism, check out this introduction from 1998’s Dark City.  [1:28]
    • Occupied Czechoslovakia with a man on the run, in Hangmen Also Die! 1943. This film was written by Berthold Brecht and directed by Fritz Lang after both fled Nazi Germany. [2:05]
    • Screwball dialog and a daring exit in 1931’s proto-noir The Front Page. [2:22]
    • Clash of the warrior codes when aging mafiosos pick a fight with an avid Samurai enthusiast, in Jim Jarmusch’s 1999’s Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai. The film was heavily influenced by Le Samouraï and Branded to Kill which appear elsewhere in our program. [2:21]
    • After the surprise passing of a beloved civic leader, his wife is left to deal with the skeletons in the closet: Keeper of the Flame (1942). [4:07]
    • Sometimes the most effective threat is a friendly question, Dick Tracy 1990. [1:26]
    • Top notch verbal jousting between Bacall and Bogart in The Big Sleep 1946. [1:39] 
    • The Shawshank-famous hairflip, plus covert sparring between ex-lovers: 1946’s Gilda. [3:22]
    • She’s not bad, she’s just drawn that way: Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988). [3:24]
    • (Extended cut after 8pm) Vocabulary word: Rififi explained through song, dance and illustrative shadow puppets: [1:16-3:32]
    • The Big Sleep, bookstores and their employees are sexy, discuss. 1946. [2:32]
    • (After 8pm) Madonna femme-fataleing it up in 1990’s Dick Tracy. [2:42]
    • The cabbies in noirs can be several kinds of deadly: The Big Sleep 1946.  [1:03]
    • Self-driving cabs: flouting traffic laws for 80+ years: Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988). [2:52]
    • (After 8pm) We go to Japanese B-Movie auteur Seijun Suzuki’s Branded to Kill for a nice quiet bodyguard ride through the country. 1967. [2:52]
    • The spiritual godfather of the French New Wave, Jean-Pierre Melville, strips noir down to precise action and glances in this clip from 1967’s Le Samouraï. [3:49]
    • (After 8pm) Seijun Suzuki’s 1966 Tokyo Drifter brings neo-noir back to its minimalist expressionist roots. and definitively proves that gunfights are the dream ballets of action movies. Discuss. [2:52]