Movie Night’s on Gus!
Dear Gus readers,
In June of 2020, I won a pair of passes to Vancouver’s documentary film festival, DOXA, by answering a question asked on CBC Radio. The festival typically takes place in May, but that year they’d had to postpone and pivot to an entirely online program because of the still young Covid-19 pandemic. For the eight days of the festival, I immersed myself in beautiful and thought-provoking documentaries, exploring from my bedroom worlds that felt impossible to imagine visiting during those still-early days of social distancing and travel restrictions. The festival was truly an escape in a troubled time, though the films themselves were far from escapist.
With that memory in mind, I am beyond thrilled to announce that this year Asparagus is an official DOXA media partner. And for the first time in two years, they’ll be showing films in theatres again! (They’re still making online viewing available, though.) Asparagus is the official partner for two programs: a collections of shorts called Changing Landscapes and feature doc The Territory.
One perk of partnering on screenings? Having tickets we get to give away to lucky readers! We’ll also publish articles about a number of festival films during the coming weeks, giving us all a chance to get to know their creators and subjects in a different way from what’s on screen. Stay tuned to Medium or our social media channels to read those as soon as they come out.
Speaking of social media, you can also use it to enter our new giveaway. Since we’ve got vouchers to both the DOXA programs we’re partnering on, we’ll pick two winners this month. In addition to the vouchers (available for in-person or online viewing, as you prefer), the winners will receive: a 3-issue subscription to the magazine; some of our sweet, sustainable swag (tote, kitchen towel, etc); and something good to read from our partners at Theytus Books.
As always, there are lots of ways to enter:
- Check out the DOXA program, find a film you’d like to watch, and post on your social media platform of choice about why you want to see it (be sure to tag us and @DOXAfestival, and use the hashtag #GusXDOXA);
- Sign up for the version of this newsletter that we send out through Mailchimp;
- Encourage folks you know to sign up (if they say you sent them, you both get entered);
- Visit us at the Kitsilano Farmers Market on Sunday, May 1;
- Make a purchase or new donation of any size at our online shop by May 1.
The winner will be drawn the night of Monday, May 2. (Apologies international Gus fans, but our giveaways are restricted to folks in Canada and the US, and DOXA screening vouchers will only work within Canada.)
DOXA’s a few weeks away, however, and though the Spring 2022 issue has been mailed out to all our current subscribers, it likely won’t arrive until later next week. In the meantime, why not read the latest on our website? Here’s what we’ve published since the last newsletter
- Krystal Kavita Jagoo’s interview with a Ukrainian counsellor, who shared his fears about the ongoing war’s impact on the youth he serves
- The latest instalment of Monetary Values, in which Gus’ assistant editor Zeahaa Rehman investigates the environmental impact of cryptocurrency
- The triumphant return of our Black Sheep Parent, fulfilling the destiny of her column name with an article about wool’s revolutionary potential to make fashion more sustainable
- A how-to from soil expert Jordan Mara about making gorgeous compost in a matter of weeks
- And a delightful essay from Kat Tancock about the lessons she learned from feeding the squirrels in her backyard.
That should keep you busy!
Keep taking care of each other,
Jessie Johnston
Editrix in Chief, Asparagus Magazine
