SURREY - A Kwantlen Polytechnic University (KPU) instructor is spearheading a university-based documentary film festival and, with the help of the long-established Vancouver International Film Festival, the film fest - called KDocs - initiative is getting a little kick.
Janice Morris, who's been teaching English at KPU since 2006, sparked up interest in doing a Kwantlen-related documentary film festival. The first one on the radar is The Price We Pay, which will be launching the initiative at Vancity Theatre in conjunction with VIFF on Oct. 5. "The Price We Pay is very timely," Morris said. "Kwantlen, like all educational institutions and the students and faculty that work there, are very geared toward relevant, timely issues of social-economic justice," Morris told the Now. "So this is right in our daily wick of what KDocs is most concerned with, which is a critical view of our world."Morris, along with former colleague Helen Mendes, started a KPU-related documentary film series in 2012, forming the Miss Representation Action Group after screening the documentary Miss Representation at the university's Surrey campus. Though the group has since disbanded, Morris wanted to continue the dialogue sparked by the initiative."What came out of the screenings and townhall sessions we ran was a critical examination of our communities, our world and ourselves," said Morris in an earlier release.The Vancity Theatre event would be a one-off inauguration party, with hopes for a day-long documentary film festival in the spring. The idea, said Morris, is for KDocs to operate like any other film festival, showcasing world-class documentaries and also including the work of its own students.KPU's KDocs event at Vancity Theatre in Vancouver starts at 4 p.m. on Oct. 5 with a welcome reception, followed by the film screening and a question-and-answer period with the film's director, Harold Crooks. The event is free and open to the public, but interested guests must register for this limitedseating occasion at Kpu.com/kdocs.kalexandra@thenownewspaper.com