Arts Scene

BY WENDY ELLIOTT

The Advertiser

NovaNewsNow.com

See Paris

Fundy Film continues its Autumn Edge Series with Paris, je t’aime. Twenty-one filmmakers were asked to focus on the distinctive streets and arrondissements of the City of Light to paint their own portraits. The resulting picture of the city by a cosmopolitan group of the most prominent filmmakers at work today is as diverse as its creators’ backgrounds and nationalities.

It will screen at the Al Whittle Theatre in Wolfville Dec. 9 at 4 and 7 p.m. in various languages with English subtitles.

The Autumn Doc Series continues with God Grew Tired of Us. Recently, the U.S. invited some of the 27,000 young Sudanese refugees from the late 1980s - the so-called “lost boys” - to settle in America. This moving and mind-expanding film follows three unforgettable young men – John, Daniel and Panther – on their unbelievable odyssey in a strange new world.

The culture shock begins with airplane loudspeakers and processed food and continues with their wonder at Western customs. Yet the boys meet their challenges, fueled by a desire to help others. It screens Wednesday, Dec. 12 at 7 p.m.

For further information, see www.fundyfilm.ca or call 542-5157. Tickets ($8) are available 30 minutes prior to the films.

The Nutcracker

Cadance Academy, the New Minas-based dance studio, is preparing the seasonal favourite, The Nutcracker, to come to the stage three times in the very near future.

Young dancers will perform Sat., Dec. 8 at 2 and 7 p.m. and again Sunday, Dec. 9 at 5 p.m. The performances are set for Horton High School, Greenwich.

Advance tickets range in price from $6 to $8. They’re available at the Box of Delights in Wolfville, Cadance Academy, New Minas, Hatt and Kull, Wolfville, and D and M Service Centre, Kentville.

Marking an anniversary

After much debate, the editorial staff at Gaspereau Press rejected the idea of marking its 10th anniversary with commemorative trinkets, deciding instead to do what they do best – books.

“In the spring, we released the first volume; an anthology of the best poetry issued since the press was launched in 1997,” said Andrew Steeves. “Volume two is an anthology of our best prose.

“In the last decade, books of fiction, memoir, personal narrative, local and natural history, bibliophilic detective work, philosophy, lectures and essays have been launched from our doors. This anthology brings together excerpts from the finest of those volumes,” he said.

Since it began, Gaspereau Press has had the privilege of publishing an inordinate number of crossover authors, those for whom one genre is not enough, and even for whom categories like fiction, non-fiction and poetry have not proved themselves useful means of arranging work into books.

Authors like John Terpstra, Don McKay and Peter Sanger have blurred the distinctions between genres in favour of a more accurate artistic vision. Similarly, the Gaspereau fiction list has provided a home for books like Thomas Wharton’s The Logogryph. It’s not a novel or a short-story collection or even a novella. But it was the only Canadian book on last year’s Dublin Prize shortlist.

Prose titles published at the Kentville press have been recognized with several other awards. They include: Kent Thompson’s Getting Out of Town By Book and Bike, which won the Evelyn Richardson Prize, and Jonathan Campbell’s Tarcadia, which won both the Dartmouth Book Award and the Savage First Book Award.

The second volume of Gaspereau Gloriatur includes work by Tim Bowling, Robert Bringhurst, Carol Bruneau, Valley writers Harrison Wright, Jonathan Campbell, Susan Haley and Glen Hancock, along with John Ralston Saul, Bob Snider, and J.J. Steinfeld.

The third and final Gaspereau Gloriatur volume is an annotated bibliography of the press’s output since 1997. It’s available this month. A boxed set containing all three volumes will be available shortly.

CBC’s Christmas Carol

This year, for the first time, CBC’s A Christmas Carol will be read in the Valley. Costas Halevrezos (Maritime Noon) will be joined by local readers John Doering, Anne Malton and Annette Travis Sunday, Dec. 9 at 3 p.m. at St. James’ Anglican Church, Kentville.

In addition to Dickens’ classic tale, the audience will be treated to the fine young voices of The Annapolis Valley Honour Choir.

Tickets are only $10 and all proceeds will go to Canadian Mental Health Association work in Annapolis Valley. A Dickens Christmas Carol tickets are available at St. James' Anglican Church, 678-3123, or Box of Delights, Wolfville (cash only).

Thugs at Bay

A new recording called Thugs at Bay by t@b, which is comprised of Andy Flinn and Ariana Nasr, will be released Saturday, Dec. 8 at 8 p.m.

The CD is a collection of original songs and somewhat of a chronicle of their past two years in Wolfville. The CD release concert takes place at 8 p.m. sharp Dec. 8 at the Acadia Cinema's Al Whittle Theatre.

Tickets cost $10 and are available from the Just Us Cafe, Wolfville.

Festival on

The fourth Acadia Classical Guitar Festival is being planned for 2008. It will run July 13-19 at Acadia University in Wolfville.



Looking for hall of famers

Nominations for individuals or groups to be considered for induction into the Nova Scotia Country Music Hall of Fame are now being accepted. The Hall of Fame currently has 38 inductees.

Nominees should have made a significant contribution to country music in Nova Scotia. Nomination forms can be accessed on the Hall of Fame website, www.nscmhf.ca, and can be submitted online or requested by phoning (902) 644-3135.

Coming up

Dec. 7-9

NKEC dinner theatre, Canning

Dec. 8

Dukes of Kent, Port Williams Elementary School, 2 and 7 p.m.

Three Mezzos, Irving Centre, Wolfville, 8 p.m.

Dec. 9

Family Art Day, Ross Creek Centre, near Canning, 1 p.m.

CBC Christmas Carol, St. James Anglican church, Kentville, 3 p.m.

John Sands, Berwick United Church, 7 p.m.

Until Dec. 15

Sing-along Sound of Music, Al Whittle Theatre, Wolfville, 1:30 and 7 p.m.

Sister Amnesia’s Jamboree, CentreStage Theatre, kentville 8 p.m., 678-8040