Sometimes provocative and always interesting, the documentaries screened at Vancouver’s DOXA Film Festival offer independent explorations into issues that demand our attention, stir our emotions or both. Since 1998, the annual Doxa fest has offered Vancouver filmgoers a window out of the mainstream with screenings of local and international documentaries that you won’t be likely to see anywhere else.

 

The 2013 Doxa Festival runs from May 3rd to 12th with daily screenings beginning at noon.  Three downtown theatres—Vancity, Pacific Cinematheque and Playhouse—and one in the Commercial Drive area—The Rio—will host the screenings, which include nearly 80 films from across the globe. You can purchase tickets in advance for this upcoming event until Friday morning.  A Festival Pass is available for $150, 10-ticket pack for $100 and a 5-ticket pack for $55.  General admission and Weekday Matinee tickets are also available. Contact their box office or purchase tickets online.

 

 

In addition to screenings, the festival will feature panel discussions, public forums and educational programs for kids. The Philosophers’ Café will be presenting a series of three talks examining depictions of futuristic societies in film. With a similar theme in mind, the “Spotlight on the Future” discussion panel will ponder what’s to come at talks entitled “The Future of Filmmaking” and “The Future of Festivals”.
 

Doxa enacts its commitment to social change by hosting a Justice Forum following feature screenings that encourages community members to engage critically with issues facing Vancouver and the world. Hosted by prominent local intellectuals, entrepreneurs and activists, the forums offer an open space for discussion and dialogue.

 

 

Not just for adults, the festival features the Rated ‘Y’ for Youth program offering school-aged youth an opportunity to watch though-provoking films and engage in discussion with filmmakers and community figures.

 

If you’re staying at the Ramada Downtown Vancouver Hotel, the Doxa festival is practically at your doorstep: the Pacific Cinematheque and Vancity Theatre are both less than two blocks away and there is easy transit access from our area to the Playhouse Theatre and the Rio Theatre.  

The Vancouver Sun has reported that, as cruise lines evaluate their first-quarter profits, April can be one of the hottest months for finding cruise deals in Vancouver. For eager cruisers looking to embark on a sea-bound journey from our fair city, this news adds to the excitement of having 4 glamorous new ships homeported in Vancouver for 2013: the Disney Wonder, the Oceania Regatta, the Norwegian Sun and the Holland America M.S. Amsterdam.

 

 

There is an abundance of options for Vancouver cruises, with trips that the span the wide scope of the Pacific Coast from Alaska to Panama and across the ocean to Polynesia. Cruising can also be a surprisingly economical way to enjoy a vacation, with 5-day journeys from Vancouver to LA for less than the average cost of airfare (then again, if money is no object, you could enjoy the lavish 75-day Grand Pacific and Far East voyage from Holland America)

 

Some call Vancouver the most passenger-friendly port for cruises in North America and it shows in our ever-increasing numbers. The Port Metro Vancouver estimates that, in 2013, over 820,000 passengers will pass through its cruise terminals. This represents an impressive 20% increase in traffic as cruise lines expand their offerings for trips embarking from Vancouver. Our city also boasts the status of being the only homeport to offer both round-trip and one-way journeys through the breathtakingly picturesque Inside Passage to Alaska.

 

 

No matter what your destination, no Vancouver cruise would be complete without spending some time in our city, a world-class destination in its own right. If you have time to spare before or after your journey, we invite you to experience Vancouver from the heart of its most famous street at the Ramada Inn & Suites Downtown Vancouver on Granville, just a few minutes from the cruise terminals. 

As the major Pacific port city in Canada, Vancouver has long been a hub for sailors, swashbucklers and seafaring folk of every stripe. Our city is also a haven for alternative culture, where unconventional artists flourish. You might not expect much intersection between these two threads of history, but in fact there is. It comes in a form of body modification that is enjoying unprecedented popularity, not just among punks and pirates, but even soccer moms and studious types.

 

We call them tattoos: a practice of self-expression that dates back thousands of years in cultures far and wide. The prominence of tattooing in the West and its association with modern subculture, however, can be traced to seamen who sailed exotic lands and used the newly discovered art form as a way of displaying their status and embracing their creative impulses.

 

From March 14th to October 13th at the Vancouver Maritime Museum, you can explore the colourful history of nautical tattoos at an exhibit titled Tattoos and Scrimshaw: Art of the Sailor. See a diverse and fascinating collection of images and artefacts that trace the origins of the modern tattoo to the backrooms of bars and the bellows of navy ships long since sunk. You can also marvel at some striking examples of the forgotten art of whale tooth carving, or “scrimshaw”, by which many a lonely sailor passed the time when he wasn’t decorating the flesh of his comrades.

 

The Vancouver Maritime Museum is located at Vanier Park, just a 5-minute drive from the Ramada Inn & Suites Downtown Vancouver. Vanier Park is also home to the Museum of Vancouver and the H.R. MacMillan Space Centre, two other spectacular places to spend your day. After the museum, we suggest you continue your swashbuckling good time with some live music and a pint or two at the awesome new nautical-themed (and locally owned) Portside Pub in Gastown, also just a short distance from our hotel. And remember, there is no better hotel to experience all the excitement of downtown Vancouver than the Ramada Inn & Suites.