Submitted by HSCA Volunteer and Make Mindfully’s Sima Chowdhury
About Sima: When Sima’s not hanging out at HSCA, she is busy promoting her new book Mindful Meditation available on Amazon.
Over the last year COVID-19 has changed the types of activities available at Hillhurst Sunnyside Community Association. When activities went online, I stepped up to offer my expertise in documentary film to curate movie nights. Because I like variety, I tend to choose short films around a theme. In October, I had just come back from Churchill, Manitoba, so I screened Know I’m Here, which was about an artist who arranged to have murals painted in the town to lift spirits. Then we watched an episode of Arctic Vets as two of the researchers on the show gave talks at the research centre where I stayed.
Other than my vacations, I share short documentaries with social messages. Most of the content comes from CBC Gem, though we have screened movies from the National Film Board and from YouTube. To change things up for mental health week in May, we watched Animal Behavior, Blind Vaysha and Uncle Thomas from the National Film Board. We also went through the Emotional Literacy module from Alberta Health Services as a group doing the quizzes and navigating through the information. AHS has a Trauma Informed Care web application with six modules available to the public.
Indigenous People’s Day was June 21, but tragically mass graves were discovered in parts of Canada. Before we started the AHS module on Grief and Loss, we watched the land acknowledgement from the Calgary Foundation YouTube channel. I enjoy this version as it shows the land and the Indigenous people representing the different tribes that call southern Alberta home. The other short film, The Headdress, talked about an urban Indigenous woman replicating a photo of her grandfather and her journey of self-discovery. We always have enough time to talk about the films or current events.
As the weather gets cooler, staying indoors becomes more and more appealing. I invite you to join us at HSCA for a screening and discussion. Shaye keeps an e-mail list for anyone who is interested in staying up to date. You can contact her at Shaye.r@hsca.ca.