Around Town: Leo Award, Inklings book launch, St. Paul’s: Catholic mission . . .

Natalie Farrow holding her Leo Award after winning Best Supporting Performance in a Motion Picture. (image: www.skufinsky.com)

Natalie Farrow won Best Supporting Performance in a Motion Picture at the Leo Awards July 13 for her role in a locally produced movie.

The Leo Awards are a project of the Motion Picture Arts & Science Foundation of British Columbia which celebrate achievement in BC film, television and web-based media.

IMDb describes  Are We Done Now? in this way:

A therapist and her diverse young clients participate in a (fictionalized) documentary exploring the impact of global crises on mental health.

Through this experience, they, along with the filmmaker, gain unexpected self-insight, leading to a profound understanding of their identities and roles in our transformed world.

Natalie Farrow spoke with Addison Lacasse at West Coast Christian Fellowship.

Asked by Pastor Addison Lacasse at her home church (West Coast Christian Fellowship) if she could share something “about faith interacting with your work or opportunities to shine the light of Jesus,” she said (beginning at 36:55):

Yeah, my faith plays a huge integral part in how I walk out my career as an actor. I’ve had many opportunities to share Jesus with people and I could go on for hours probably in talking about it.

But this story in particular and this film that I won the award for has a very special story for me. I was not represented by an agent. I had just taken a break from the industry and I felt like God was [saying], “It’s time to go back.”

And I was like, “Well, I only was going to go back if you told me to go back.” So, okay. I joined an acting class with an instructor that I’d been really wanting to train with. One thing led to another and then he asked me, “Hey, would you want to play a character in this film that I’m writing about people’s lives experiencing Covid?” – because it was 2020, 2021 at the time.

At first I [thought], “Oh, I I don’t know if I can do this.” There were some story lines throughout the film that I was like, “I don’t know if I want to be associated with that. I’m not really sure how I feel about that.”

A spiritual mentor at the time [said], “Natalie, look, I’m not going to tell you what to do, but I really I do think that this is a great opportunity that the Lord is inviting you into.” I prayed about it, and as soon as I said yes, I felt filled with the Spirit. And I was like, “I am supposed to do this. I don’t know why. I don’t know how, but I’m supposed to do this.” So, we shot it.

And then I was, “Okay, that’s done. Moving on.” It was just supposed to be a web series; wasn’t supposed to be a feature film. I just worked faithfully at it and [thought], “Okay, God, whatever you want to do with this.”

The instructor knew that I was a Christian. A couple years later, he came back to me and he [said], “Hey, Natalie, we’re going to turn this web series into a feature film, and I think it would be really cool if your character becomes a Christian in this film.”

So my character before was somebody who was striving to be famous on social media and had a really tumultuous relationship with her mom to the point of going to extremes to commit like a fake suicide to get her mom’s attention.

Then the film switches, and three years later my character says Jesus changed my life in this film. So I had this opportunity to share my faith with the director and got to share it with the crew and got to share my character’s testimony of how she came to Jesus.

And even though that didn’t make it into the film, it still was a moment on the screen where my character says, “Jesus changed my life.”

All throughout that and even screening it and having a moment to share how I was able to share my faith and how the director provided that space for me to step boldly into that was amazing. 

Ten years ago, I used to volunteer at this award show that I won the award at. And I was like, “It’d be so cool to win one of these one day.” When I first said yes to this project, I [thought], “Oh, maybe this project would be the one that gets nominated. That’d be really cool.”

And wouldn’t the Lord do it, with the project that he told me to do – that I was like, I don’t know about this – where my character becomes a Christian. And that’s the award that I got nominated for and that’s the award that I won.

So, God is faithful and he can do amazing things when you surrender your life and your careers to him.

Ben Immanuel directed Are We Done Now?

Janet Smith interviewed the film’s director, Ben Immanuel, for Stir, the online Vancouver arts and culture publication, noting that he “drew from his acting students’ real experiences to craft a funny and poignant collaborative film that was years in the making.”

She wrote:

In March 20202, Haven Acting Studio instructor Ben Immanuel – like so many others – was forced to shift his classes online as the world locked down. Over the next few months, his Zoom lessons became a kind of safe place for people to share what they were going through during Covid times.

As he helped facilitate the difficult discussions that were taking place around the world at the time, it left an indelible mark on the well-known Vancouver actor and filmmaker. That immediately planted the idea for a movie. . .

Conversations with three students stood out in particular. Favour Onwuka was grappling quietly with the killing of George Floyd and being the only Black student in her class. Elliott Ramsey was openly expressing his own feelings around gender fluidity as a nonbinary person of colour. And Natalie Farrow was an acting student who dreamed of building a career on TikTok but was wrestling with fears over being cancelled if she commented on current events.

In a Director Statement on the FilmFreeway site, Immanuel went into more detail about the creation of Are We Done Now?, beginning with these words;

The creation of Are We Done Now? has been truly life-changing for my collaborators and me.

At the risk of sharing too much information, I feel it is important that I share the story of the process here, because in many ways, in the case of this film, the process is the story. . . .

He added:

I set up zoom meetings with Favour, Elliott and Natalie, and asked them if they’d consider working together to create a project about the times we live in. They were all immediately onboard. It was determined that I’d be the writer/director of the project and they would act, playing versions of themselves. . . .

These characters were inspired by them, and while I was writing the actual scripts, the rule was, they had final approval on what ended up on the page, and what would be said on set when we shot. If there was anything they wanted changed, they changed it. Not a single word would appear on screen that they had not okayed in the scripts or revised before or during shooting.

Are We Done Now? played at the VIFF Centre in April as part of Canadian Film Week and will be released on VOD September 30.

Natalie Farrow (in blue) hosted a back yard art show earlier this week.

Natalie Farrow is a young woman of several talents. Like many actors, she supports herself in part through another job – as social media manager at a bakery on the west side of Vancouver.

She is also an artist, and hosted a back yard art show September 7. She wrote a welcome to guests – and encouraged them to explore their own gifts:

Hi, I’m Natalie and welcome! I’m so glad you’re here. I started abstract painting almost a year ago. I was looking for a new creative outlet, one that gave me near instant gratification and a way that didn’t feel quite as vulnerable as acting.

Funny enough, painting has in some ways been the very expression of my heart on canvas. Talk about vulnerable. It’s truly been such an incredible journey as I have learned to play, explore and trust my artist instinct. To me, painting often feels like solving a mystery. You know something is missing, but you’re not sure what it is, but with each move you discover it. Then when the finished puzzle is revealed you’re left with this brilliant piece of art.

I am still growing and finding my style, but I am thoroughly enjoying the process. Thank you so much for being here. It brings me great joy to share the work I’ve been doing and pouring my heart into.

My hope is that as you follow along in this journey you would be inspired to make a leap of your own. To share or pursue the things you’ve always wanted to. You never know where it might lead and what gifts God might be eagerly awaiting for you to share. The world needs you, your art, your voice, your presence. So, let it shine forth.

Natalie Farrow is on Instagram.

Inklings book launch

Stephen Dunning will launch his new book at Trinity Western University.

One would expect an Inklings Institute to be a hotbed of creativity – and so it has proved to be. The latest evidence will take place next Thursday (September 18). 

A recent article on the TWU site tells the tale:

What if the key to saving the world was hidden beneath a trapdoor in your neighbour’s back yard?

At an upcoming TWU Inklings Institute of Canada book launch, readers will meet Suzy – a young heroine whose adventures begin with something as unlikely as a magical turnip, but perhaps not so unlikely for those familiar with Slavic folktales.

Suzy’s story is authored by Dr. Stephen M. Dunning, who taught English at TWU for many years. Together with colleagues in the Department of English & Creative Writing, Dr. Dunning helped establish the Inklings Institute of Canada, now in its 12th year of fostering Christian literary scholarship.

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Housed at TWU, the Inklings Institute is a scholarly community dedicated to studying and extending the legacy of C.S. Lewis, J.R.R. Tolkien, and their literary circle. Dr. Dunning continues to serve as a co-director of the Institute, along with English professor Dr. Monika B. Hilder. . . .

Like the Inklings who inspired him, Dunning weaves faith, myth and imagination into a sweeping epic. His new book, Suzy and the Magic Turnip, is the first volume of The Perilous Times Saga that follows Suzy, along with her friends, into strange and dangerous worlds.

The second book, Suzy and the City of the Plain, is close to being released, while a third installment, Suzy and the Time of Changes, is already complete in draft form. He has also published Trolls on Mars: A Love Story under the playful pen name Justan Thyme.

Though originally written with his grandchildren in mind, Dr. Dunning’s books quickly expanded in scope. . . .

Go here for the full article and for details about the event.

St. Paul’s: Catholic mission

The new leader of the Roman Catholic Church in Vancouver recently made a clear statement about the significance of St. Paul’s Hospital as a Catholic institution.

Archbishop Richard Smith recently took a tour of the new complex which is being built in the Downtown Eastside. He was impressed by the some of the “revolutionary” innovations.

Here is a portion of the September 4 article by Nicholas Elbers in The B.C. Catholic:

Archbishop Smith described the chapel as another visible sign of the hospital’s Catholic mission. “It’s a great reminder of who we are and why we do what we do.”

Catholic health care carries forward the healing ministry of Jesus, the Archbishop said. The chapel not only reminds staff and patients of that mission, but its prominent placement near the hospital entrance is “a testament to the faith that inspires everything we are doing here,” he said.

 “You see right away who we are. You see this is our identity. This is why we do what we do.” . . .

“When I think of the mission of Providence Health Care as it’s transferred from archbishop to archbishop – 130 years later we are still here serving the people of Vancouver.” . . .

For Archbishop Smith, the innovations are important, but they all point back to the same foundation: a ministry of care rooted in Christ’s healing mission.

The new St. Paul’s facility is expected to open in 2027. Archbishop Smith was installed as leader of the Archdiocese of Vancouver May 23.

Events & Jobs

Events are listed below, but there is also an Events page and a Jobs page on the Church for Vancouver site.