What's New

News Release

What's New

Library and Archives Canada Unveils Hidden Treasures at Doxa Festival - May 24 and May 27, 2005

Vancouver, May 24, 2005- Library and Archives Canada will be the presenting partner of the DOXA Documentary Film and Video Festival, which starts this evening at 7:30 p.m. at the Vogue Theatre in Vancouver. The Festival opens with the screening of Continuous Journey, a documentary produced by Ali Kazimi about the 376 refugees who were stranded on the Komagata Maru in the port of Vancouver in 1914. Library and Archives Canada contributed valuable archival film and information to the production of this important film. Director Ali Kazimi and Ian E. Wilson, Librarian and Archivist of Canada will be in attendance.

Library and Archives Canada will also participate in the Public Forum: Mining Collective Memory, on May 27 at 3:00 p.m., at the Pacific Cinémathèque. The topic of the Forum will discuss the challenges of making documentary films concerning political and historical subjects while dealing with copyright issues. Sources for archival materials, such as the hidden treasures found at Library and Archives Canada, are available to filmmakers.

Following the Forum the Virtual Silver Screen website, a product of Library and Archives Canada, will be launched. Virtual Silver Screen presents 25 short films, approximately 257 minutes in total, of unique and rarely seen footage from 1902 to 1941, exclusive to Library and Archives Canada. The backdrop of the main page is an old movie theatre showing four interpretive themes: Canada at War; Agriculture and Industry; Scenic Canada; and Snapshots of Canadian Life. The films, which are public domain and copyright free, can be viewed in their entirety by either the Real Player or the Windows Media.

Library and Archives Canada is an innovative knowledge institution that combines the collections, services and staff expertise of the former National Library of Canada and National Archives of Canada. Our objective is to provide all Canadians with easy, one-stop access to the texts, photographs and other documents that reflect their cultural, social and political development. Working closely with other archives and libraries, we will continue to acquire and preserve Canada's documentary heritage in all its forms.

For more information: www.collectionscanada.gc.ca or www.vcn.bc.ca/doxa/news_events.php

- 30 -

Media Contact:
Pauline M. Portelance
Media Relations Officer
Library and Archives Canada
613-996-6128
media@lac-bac.gc.ca
or
Helen Yagi 604-736-5517, yasuko@radiant.net

For historical information visit: Archived What's New