Don’t miss the opportunity to see a pair of fantastic films that celebrate black culture and music from the 1960s to the present! Join The Reach Gallery Museum and guest film curator Barbara Chirinos on Friday, February 28, for a screening of both Secret Vancouver: Return to Hogan’s Alley and Rocksteady: The Roots of Reggae. This is a rare opportunity to see these films here in our own community. Doors open at 5:30pm, so arrive early to guarantee your seat and check out our community booths and
interactive exhibitions. The movies start at 6:30pm and admission is by donation.
Secret Vancouver: Return to Hogan’s Alley (not rated but suitable for all ages, 16 minutes) is a short documentary that tells the story of a vibrant, ethnically diverse community that was located near the present-day Georgia Viaduct and stretched from Main Street to Jackson Avenue before it was destroyed in 1970 due to a vision of ‘urban renewal.’ Attracting artists like Louis Armstrong, Jimi Hendrix, and Sammy Davis Jr., Hogan’s Alley was a “hotbed of historic jazz” in the mid-twentieth century, and served as a precursor to the city’s Hollywood North identity today.
After the first film there will be a short break for complementary refreshments (spiced plantains and vegan burger patties).
Rocksteady: The Roots of Reggae (rated “G,” 98 minutes) explores the Rocksteady music movement that emerged in Jamaica during a period of cultural and political tumult in the late 1960s. The film showcases Gospel-Reggae singer Hopetown Lewis who recorded the first Rocksteady song; Willburn Stranger Cole, a Rocksteady artist who moved from Jamaica to Canada; and singer Rita Marley who shares what life was like in 1960s Jamaica with Bob Marley, the artist who made Reggae famous!
Both films share the spirit of “Going Forward, Guided by the Past,” named by the Canadian government as the theme for Black History Month 2020.
About the Curator: The Reach Gallery Museum is pleased to present this film event in partnership with Barbara Chirinos, Founder and Co-curator of the Vancouver International Film Festival/Film Centre’s Black History Month film series. Among her many professional accomplishments to date, Chirinos was Curator and Producer of Battered Women’s Support Services event: 40 Years Later at Vancouver’s Orpheum Theatre and Managing Director of the Vancouver Folk Music Festival. She also co-founded
(with Mexican artist Ari De La Mora) and produced an International Day of the Dead Exhibit and Tour on Granville Island. She currently teaches Festival Management at Capilano University.
The Reach is a wheelchair accessible building located at 32388 Veterans Way in Abbotsford on on the Traditional, Ancestral, Unceded, and Shared territories of the Stó:lō people, Sema:th and Matheqwí First Nations.
Photo credits: Photo 1: Still of Ken Boothe and The Tamlins. Photo 2: Film still of Rita Marley. Both from the feature-length film Rocksteady: The Roots of Reggae that will be screened as part of the Black History Month celebrations at The Reach Gallery Museum. Image courtesy Muse Distribution International.