The original version of this article did not include reference to the involvement of UFV’s Graphic and Digital Design program in this event, and has been updated to reflect that involvement.
On Friday, April 29, the School of Creative Arts (SoCA) hosted its third annual Interpret Festival. The event spanned over a five hour period from 4:00 – 9:00 p.m. and was spread out across buildings B, C, and D of the Abbotsford campus. The festival featured presentations from the Theatre, Film, Visual Arts (VA), Graphic and Digital Design (GDD) and, newly included this year, the Media Arts departments. The festival provides an opportunity for students of the various departments to showcase their endeavors and triumphs in their arts.
The previous Interpret festivals were hosted in 2018 and 2019. Due to the rise in COVID-19 cases, the festival was cancelled in 2020 and 2021. The festival came about when the Theatre department of UFV moved to be mainly hosted on the Abbotsford campus, where the VA classes were already being hosted. The origin of the festival came from the Theatre and VA departments working together to host the festival. Interpret gives soon-to-be graduating students and rising talents in the SoCA a chance to celebrate and share their hard work.
The Media Arts department was included in the festival this year for the first time. One of the projects presented from this department was a virtual reality (VR) experience entitled “In My Nightmare.” It is set in a spooky cemetery with barren trees, a thick fog, and looming mountains in the distance. During the experience there are jumpscares of a skeleton racing toward you at high speed. The VR experience was a result of three students, Kynat Bhinder, Kartik Arora, and Vickramjeet Singh. None of the students have any previous experience working with coding or VR. The end product was an impressive display of what three students with a strong passion can do.
Throughout the evening, the Theatre department put on a series of short plays. The first show, “Inside and Out,” was directed by Mia Davison. Due to an injury to one of her actors involved in the project, Davison was required to also act in her drama. The performance was a moving display of the relationship between a learning disabled child and their mother. Davison chose to include interpretive dance and blue lighting to create a more calm environment and contrast the turbulent conflict in the play.
Another featured show was “Don’t Be So Hard On Your Shelf,” a comedic fantasy directed by Béatrice Frenette. The show was about the shelf of a bibliophile coming to life and having a bone to pick with its owner. Frenette explained that her and her father built the key prop on set, the shelf, over the course of three days. She also included a wide variety of novels in the set to express how the bookshelf owner is a sentimental reader and collector. This was Frenette’s first time directing a play and the experience she gained has inspired a new passion for the role. She hopes to do more directing in the future.
In the S’eliyemtaxwtexw Art Gallery, there were multiple featured visual art projects. “Dis Long Time Gal Mi Neva Si Yuh” by Natoya Ellis was a beautiful visual art piece comprised of two paintings with three plexiglass photos layered on top. Ellis explained that her project was inspired by the concept of memories and her family. In creating the piece, she explored the meaning of home. The project is based on five photos, three of which were taken relatively recently by Ellis and the remainder being older photos of her mother’s that she had painted onto canvas. The painted photos are intentionally a little murky to display how memories can fade and change with time, meanwhile the newer photos that were layered on top display the crispness of new memories and how they can overlap with older memories.
At 7:00 p.m., the Film department began a screening featuring multiple student films, and at the end, the audience voted for a favourite film. The students behind the winning film received $200 as prize money for their efforts. The winning film was a dark comedy titled “Driver’s Ed.” The plot follows a driver that is anxious about taking his upcoming road test and finds his mind going to the worst place. A team of eight students from the winter semester’s FILM 361 class worked together to create the film over the course of an entire semester. According to Alexander Mitchell, a representative of the team of students, the most grueling part of creating the movie was the post production stage, which took over two months. Though “Driver’s Ed” won the audience favourite award, the students also worked on a second film over the course of the semester titled “Chasing Waterfalls,” which Alexander was particularly proud of.
Interpret brought out the rising talent and honed skills found in the SoCA department of UFV. From sprouting directors to well-practiced artists, there was both inspiration and innovation found at the festival. New worlds were being created both on screen and in the form of VR. The SoCA Interpret festival continues to instill a passion for creation.
Emmaline is working on her BA and ambitions to become an English teacher. They always say, those who cannot do, teach. She spends her free time buying, reading, and hoarding books with the hope that one day she will have no furniture and instead only have piles of books.
