Our Main Project: Collecting Seniors' Stories
Extraordinary Woman Series: The Filmmaker
Screenshot
Mark Sunday, Sept. 27, 1:00 pm on your calendar for a documentary and discussion at the Revue Cinema about the remarkable Abenaki filmmaker Alanis Obomsawin.
Born in 1932, Obomsawin is a singer, storyteller, artist, activist and filmmaker, known most for the documentary films she has made with the. support of the National Film Board. Her name means “pathfinder” and that is indeed what she is. Having made more than 60 documentaries, she provided authentic portrayals of indigenous cultures and values and First Nations’ perspectives on resistance and conflicts such as the standoff at Kanien’kéhaka, known as the Oka Crisis. She opened the doors for other indigenous filmmakers.
We will be screening and discussing a selection of her films. We will also be marking the 10th anniversary of our neighbourhood Peace Garden, which reflects in its plantings and artworks a theme of reconciliation. The Sunday program will conclude with a brand-new doc about the creation of the garden and a reception afterwords at Back Lane Studios with refreshments and music performed by singer Cathy Hunt.
Tickets are by a suggested voluntary donation of $10. Get in advance on Eventbrite or at the Revue cinema door. Read more about the event here.
Mapping our Memories is live!
At Back Lane Studios, we’ve been working on the Mapping our Memories project for quite some time. We still have much to do, and we hope over time to collect and map hundreds of seniors’ stories in video and written formats. But we’ve made our website live. Click here or on the image to have a look!
A large pin on the map indicates a collection of smaller pins in the area. When you click on a small pin, you will find a short story about a memory usually with photos, or a video link, accompanied by a short written summary.
You can access stories in other ways besides through pins on the map. Just scroll down the Home page and you’ll see some of the recently posted stories. There are also a page of photos, a page of videos and a page with a list of stories, both written and video, which can be searched through key words.
Mapping our Memories is very much a work in progress. We welcome feedback, corrections, and story ideas! We have a lot happening this year for the project. Read about our plans for printed collections of seniors’ stories and photos for Roncesvalles and Parkdale, which we also be adding to the website. We hope you’ll be interested in participating.
Hope you enjoy the website! Read more about our Mapping our Memories project here.
Memoir Writing course starts Oct. 27
Join us for a series of free Memoir-Writing workshops to be offered by Janice Kulyk Keefer, poet, retired prof in Modernist Literature and creative writing at Guelph Humber. A series of five Tuesday evening workshops (7:00 – 8:30 pm) will run from Oct. 27 to Nov. 24 at Back Lane Studios. Our focus will be on writing from prompts that will act as doors into the past of your own individual lives and the communities that formed you. Significant experiences and the places in which they occurred, aspects of cityscape and parkland that marked your home ground or boundaries, milestones in adolescence and adulthood, the various dramas of childhood: these are some of the doors you’ll be entering each week as writers. Sessions will include both writing-to-prompts and the reading out of the passages you produce, with an eye to identifying elements or details that catch the group’s attention. Guidance will be given on how to develop your prompts, and also to style: how to keep your writing clear, concise and memorable! No previous writing experience is necessary. Email us to enrol. Payment will be at least one story for our Mapping our Memories project! Otherwise, FREE!
To read about writer and comedian Carolyn Bennett’s writing program, which continues to Nov. 9 with a public reading at Back Lane on Thursday, Nov. 12, 7:00 pm, click here !
Drop-in video-making sessions
Fred and Margaret James, owners of James Gardens. Maureen Chicorli, a relative, made a video about them.
To support our Mapping our Memories we are continuing the Monday and Wednesday afternoon FREE drop-in video-making sessions from 1:00-3:00 pm. We’re offering help for people continuing to work on their videos and for anyone who would like to learn how to make a short video. If you’re interested but haven’t attended one of our workshops, please come by. Email us — info@backlanestudios.ca — or give us a call 99 647-313-1654. Videographer Cheryl Rondeau is our instructor. Cheryl has made many short videos, most recently about Inuit art and artists. Our summer employee Diogo Nobre is also helping with the workshops. The photo above comes from a video about Etobicoke’s James Gardens made in our workshop by Maureen Chicorli, a relative. Watch it here.
HONE YOUR HOME VIDEO SKILLS: FREE WORKSHOP
The holiday season is fast approaching. How would you like to up your game when it comes to making a video of an event with family or friends or of a trip? Join us for a free one-session workshop Sunday, Oct. 25, 2:00-4:00 pm. Read more about it here.
Researching Toronto History
Wayne Reeves, recently retired from his post of Chief Curator for Toronto, has shared his knowledge on research tools that are useful for anyone researching Toronto’s history.
New Show Opens: Friday, Sept. 25
Back Lane Film Club Oct. 4: Talk to Her
Spanish filmmaker, Pedro Almodovar’sTalk to Her is the focus of our October 4th screening at Back Lane Studios, 9 Neepawa Ave.
The 2002 film is a departure from Almodovar’s previous flamboyant works. Talk to Her follows two men, who are both in love with women who happen to be in comas.
This unlikely premise for a tragi-comedy provides a layered look at desire, romantic love and empathy. Marco (Dario Grandinetti), a macho travel writer is in love with Lydia, a female bullfighter, gored by a bull and kept alive by a machine. The other is Benigno (Javier Camara), a gentle male nurse who tends to Alicia, a beautiful dancer in a persistent vegetative state.
If you’re a club member, use the link sent to you to book your spot by midnight, Wednesday, Sept. 30.
Find more details about the club here. If you’re not a member but would like to attend this screening, email us (info@backlanestudios.ca). The charge is $5.
OldTO.org: Mapping Archival Photos
Welcome to OldTO. It’s an interactive map featuring a wealth of digitized historic photos from the City of Toronto Archives.
Are you interested in what your neighbourhood might have looked like? Do you want to revisit downtown before all of the condos went up? Have a look at the map and see. There are thousands of images, some dating back to 1856.
The map was originally created by Sidewalk Labs, the Google affiliate that was planning a downtown development in Toronto’s Portlands. Sidewalk abandoned its project in 2020 and eventually stopped hosting OldTO.org. However, they kindly left the source code freely available.
At Back Lane Studios, we were sad to see OldTO.org vanish. One of our main projects is our Mapping our Memories endeavour. This photo map parallels this interest, and we are thrilled to be able to restore it.
We will be forever grateful to software developer Michael Lenaghan for his terrific work bringing this mapping tool back to life!
Read the article about OldTO in BlogTO!