Arts

[Note from The Editorial Board: Joseph Planta is the founding editor of TheCommentary.ca, a website that features audio interviews and commentaries. Since 2004, the Vancouver-born, –raised and –based conversationalist has interviewed hundreds of distinguished individuals in the arts, journalism, and politics. Planta spoke to Manila-born and –raised author Miguel Syjuco, whose debut novel Ilustrado was a New York Times Notable Book of 2010. The work also earned Syjcuo the 2008 Man Asia Literary Prize, and a Palanca Award for novel in English. With Planta’s permission, the CanadianFilipino.Net is running the interview.]

"People gather to remember, and collective memories inspire strength towards action."

Eight distinguished Asian Canadian writers discussed the role of history and memory, and the different ways people choose to gather and record the past, at the opening event of the Literasian Writers Festival held on September 21, 2016, at the CBC Studio 700 in downtown Vancouver.

The first wave of Filipino immigrants, who arrived in Canada in the 1960s and 1970s, are now enjoying the joys of their well earned retirement. When not travelling or playing with their grandchildren, they now have time to spare for projects they never had time before.

A film by Toronto-based Shasha Nakhai is the top choice for best short documentary in the 2016 Rhode Island International Film Festival.

A 12-year-old schoolgirl from the city of Burnaby in British Columbia is building a name as an emerging artist.

Riley Palanca has broken creative ground in Canada. Last June 2016, the 26-year-old playwright, who immigrated from the Philippines in 2013, had his first full-length production staged in St. John’s, the capital of Newfoundland and Labrador.

Dianna David isa performing artist and inspirational speaker. The Alberta-born and B.C.-based artist is the creative mind behind the Red Ball Movement, a project that seeks to empower people through dance, performance, and self-expression.

Those who are well-versed in the Broadway world have already heard of a Canadian Filipina powerhouse who garnered nominations for her role as Kim in the Toronto production of Miss Saigon.

A documentary produced by a Canadian Filipino woman tells the story of migrant agricultural workers in the so-called Tomato Capital of the World in Leamington, Ontario.