"This was a film portrait of an old guy who lives in Gastown as he goes about his day. He is a street corner fiddler. The beginning shows him just walking the streets, talking to the occasional passerby, and therefore tends to get a bit draggy. The shots of people who pass by him as he fiddles, however, are quite good. There is a lot of variety to the shots, good editing and some good portraits. The end was somewhat disconnected however, after his day fiddling, a very brief shot of him standing at a window drinking a beer." [Handwritten notes (author unknown), 21 May 1975, in arrangement & description section of F-232 collection file]; "Filmic study of 'Cowboy,' a well-known figure of Gastown." [SFU 74/75 Film Workshop Showcase program]

"Generally I am not too keen on amateur dramas in film this one makes it [sic]. The woman who plays the principle character is an excellent actress who is very sensitive to the entire mood of the film. It is set in mid winter in the interior of B.C. in an old farmhouse in mid winter [sic]. The husband leaves the woman alone for the day though she protests that a blizzard is coming. He says he will stop by a neighbour‚ and ask him to drop by, as he may be late and don't wait for him after six. She spends the day painting the bedroom door and in the evening attempts to bring the cows in despite the severe storm. The neighbour drops by and she makes supper, setting 3 places. The sense of isolation and fear of the storm is evoked through long silent scenes of the woman‚ Äôs face, the empty plate, the drab room. The house is well chosen, old and dark, furnished in early depression. The neighbour seduces the woman. She awakens in the middle of the night to a vision of her husband covered with snow, standing at the doorway. She decides that it must surely be a dream. The next morning we see her racing through the snow to her husband's body which lies at the gate. His bare hand is marked with fresh paint." [Handwritten notes (author unknown), 21 May 1975, in arrangement & description section of F-232 collection file]; "Adapted from the Sinclair Ross story, The Painted Door." [SFU 74/75 Film Workshop Showcase program]

"Just how much can one man take?" [SFU 74/75 Film Workshop Showcase program]; "I can't quite pinpoint why but this film felt stiff and nervous, part of it was some rather stilted acting from Richard Ouzounian, with lots of long pauses. There was some good photography. The opening scenes of the film were very effective, black and white still shots showing the brother as he is released from prison are interspersed with quick color cuts of the former inmate going into an arcade. There is also a fairly well paced chase scene, as an unknown gunman pursues a janitor via ancient elevators. The movie attempts to show the build up of fears which culminate in the madness and defeat of the inmate's business man brother, but doesn't quite succeed because of the inadequacy of the acting, trite dialogue and awkward scenes." [Handwritten notes (author unknown), 21 May 1975, in arrangement & description section of F-232 collection file]

Won the Norman McLaren prize at the 6th Canadian Student Film Festival in Montreal in 1974.

"Narrative storytelling takes over in [this film], an 11-minute exercise in visual moodbuilding, shot in color by George[s] Payrastre. In it a young woman visits the rural home of a recently buried old seamstress and tries to gain some empathic feelings of the previous owner from her surroundings." [Michael Walsh, "Student film mood: Calmness supplants revolution," ca. 1973 article]; "(Filmmaker’s first 16mm film, shot in Eastman Colour Negative 7254.) A film based on a true story of the death of an old seamstress. We discover the legacy left to the young woman who purchased the contents of the estate." [Spring Arts Festival, March 11-April 8, S.F.U. Film Workshop Productions 1973, program]. Film won award for best cinematography at the Montreal Student Film Festival.
Payrastre (director) has done work for the NFB and CBC (documentaries) and continues to work in the film industry: http://francoculture.ca/cine/payrastre/index.htm.

Also held by SFU library's Media Resource Centre in 16mm and DVD formats: "An interview with T.B. Bottomore, one of the world's foremost Marxist scholars, in which he discusses the problems of interpretation of Marx's life and work due to the 'great difference there is between the conditions in which Marx produced his work and the conditions in which people interpret his work today.'"

"A documentary look at storefront fundamentalism on Vancouver’s skid road. Shot in black and white by Ronald Precious, [the film] is a five minute portrait of Melinda Thorne, a black Chicago missionary who ministers to the down and outs in our own city." [Michael Walsh, "Student film mood: Calmness supplants revolution," ca. 1973 article]; "(Filmmaker's first 16mm documentary film, shot in Double-X and Plus-X Negative.) The film deals with the work of one woman, Malinda [sic?] Thorne and her efforts to relieve some of the loneliness and despair experienced by those living in Vancouver's Skidrow." [Spring Arts Festival, March 11-April 8, S.F.U. Film Workshop Productions 1973, program]. Precious (director) continues to work in film: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0695731/. He was also part of primary film crews during Greenpeace's early days (1975-79): http://rexweyler.com/greenpeace/greenpeace-history/characters/.

"A 5 -minute black and white film by Marilynn Kansky. A study in isolation and personality, it is not unlike the films once turned out by American avante gardist Maya Deren." [Michael Walsh, "Student film mood: Calmness supplants revolution," ca. 1973 article]; "The film is based on the following thoughts by the filmmaker: … ‘Each person is a thousand selves. Blending and fading from one to the other. For life is an ongoing process.’ M.K." [Spring Arts Festival, March 11-April 8, S.F.U. Film Workshop Productions 1973, program]

"A delightful cartoon from John Pill. … a bouncy rhythmic 3 minutes of abstract animation that alternates an active collection of purple pills with speeded up shots of running water and billowing clouds, a visual combination that actually manages to leave the viewer euphoric." [Michael Walsh, "Student film mood: Calmness supplants revolution," ca. 1973 article]; "(Filmmaker’s first animated film, shot in Reversal Negative B & W.) The film is based on some verses by KABIR (1398-1518), the poet-saint who lived in the East." [Spring Arts Festival, March 11-April 8, S.F.U. Film Workshop Productions 1973, program]

"An 18-minute parody on the business of making movies in Canada. Actually a film-within-a-film, it represents itself as a documentary in the making of Oblivion, an awful film that has met with surprising critical success. Oblivion, shot in color, is unreeled as part of the surrounding documentary, shot in black and white but printed on color stock to give it a hint of tint. The film is actually a Workshop group project and in it the group‚Äôs own fascination with film, its possibilities and its paradoxes get a thorough, if light-hearted going-over." [Michael Walsh, "Student film mood: Calmness supplants revolution," Province?, ca. 1973]; "Aikenhead is an alumnus of the Ontario Arts Council‚Äôs film apprentice program who is now studying at Simon Fraser University. Ivory Founts was a funnier and more sophisticated filmmaker-making-a-film film than any other I have seen. This type of approach seems mandatory at student film festivals. I was uncomfortable that he won top prize, but his film worked. He put into it just about every clich?©d image of the filmmaker imaginable. It was a fun film." [Kirwan Cox, "Opinion: The Canadian Film Festival," Cinema Canada, October/January 1973/74, no. 10-11, pp. 76-77.]; "(This film was produced as a Group Project for 16mm Workshop, shot in Eastman Colour Negative 7254, 4-X Negative, Double-X Neg, and printed on colour print stock.) The Filmmaker‚Äôs notes for this film:
"Sometimes, above the gross and palpable things
Of this diurnal sphere, his spirit flies
On awful wing; and with its destined skies
Holds premature and mystic communings:
Till such unearthly intercourses shed
A visible halo round his mortal head". - Keats" [Spring Arts Festival, March 11-April 8, S.F.U. Film Workshop Productions 1973, program] Won the Norman McLaren prize (for best film of the festival) at the 5th Canadian Student Film Festival, Montreal, 1973. [Cox article]; Participated in the International Student Film Festival – "Cinestud ‘73" in Amsterdam, Netherlands." [SFU News Release, 25 March 1974]. Director Aikenhead continues to work in the film industry: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0014589/

"Mary Ann McKewan’s … brightly written satire shot in color in a botanical greenhouse at UBC. Skillfully photographed by Fred Easton, the movie leaves no doubt that its Eve (Valerie Ambrose) is properly undressed for the part, yet preserves her maidenly modesty for its full seven minutes." [Michael Walsh, "Student film mood: Calmness supplants revolution," ca. 1973 article]; "(Filmmaker’s first 16mm film, shot in 7241 colour reversal camera stock.) An irreverent look at ‘The Original Sin’." [Spring Arts Festival, March 11-April 8, S.F.U. Film Workshop Productions 1973, program]

"Empathy of another kind is the subject of [this film]. Based on a poem by Constance Lindsay Skinner, the eight-minute film follows Squamish sacred elder Andrew Natural through the woods and reflects visually his communion with his surroundings." [Michael Walsh, "Student film mood: Calmness supplants revolution," ca. 1973 article]; "(Filmmaker’s first 16mm film, shot in Colour reversal 7252 & 7241.) A cinematic interpretation of a poem by C.L. Skinner on [Indigenous] Chief Capilano with narration spoken in the Squamish language." [Spring Arts Festival, March 11-April 8, S.F.U. Film Workshop Productions 1973, program] Narrator, "Dr. Louis Miranda, born in 1892, was one of the foremost experts on Squamish culture and language. Miranda, a former Squamish chief, began his work with the Dutch ethnographer Aert Kuipers in creating a written language for the Squamish Nation. Miranda would receive the Honorary Degree of Doctor of Laws from SFU in 1981 for that initiative." [http://www.vancouverhistory.ca/chronology1975.htm] Reference material section of F-232 collection file includes the following description for the film: "A cinematic interpretation of a poem by C.L. Skinner on [Indigenous] Chief Capilano with narration spoken in the Squamish language. " Narrator, Louis Skinner, of the Squamish Nation was one of the foremost experts on Squamish culture and language. He received an Honorary Degree of Doctor of Laws from SFU in 1981. (http://www.vancouverhistory.ca/chronology1975.htm)

"A collage of clips from TV commercials. Why are women so tired and what can you do about ... " [SFU Film Workshop Retrospective list]; "A collage of dips [sic] from T.V. commercials; Why are women so tired and what you can do about it. Exceptional technique, not your everyday 'Putney Swope' or 'Groove Tube.'" [1974 SFU press release]; "Clips of ads with narration overtop." [Films by the S.F.U. Film Workshop, Wednesday, March 29, 1972, program annotation]

According to early listing in arrangement & description section of F-232 collection file, "Go" and "Riot" elements go together (same year, same director, slight difference in length).

"Anti-war film alternating fast-paced Japanese game Go with black and white stills of war scenes." SFU Film Workshop Retrospective list]; "Combination of still in b&w and colour motion; best of his style." [Films by the S.F.U. Film Workshop, Wednesday, March 29, 1972, program annotation] According to early listing in arrangement & description section of F-232 collection file, "Go" and "Riot" elements go together (same year, same director, slight difference in length).

A film about an Indigenous boy who sells items at the corner of Georgia and Granville in Vancouver. (Diane Edmonson, Brent Stranghan, Fred Easton, cinematographers.) Easton was part of the primary film crews during Greenpeace's early days (1975-79): http://rexweyler.com/greenpeace/greenpeace-history/characters/.

"Beautiful photography, plot lacking." [Films by the S.F.U. Film Workshop, Wednesday, March 29, 1972, program annotation]; "Beautifully photographed fantasy of love and death. The semi-religious symbolism contributes to an impression of mysticism and unreality." [University Archives Film Collection Catalogue, June 1972]