We are thrilled to announce the return of F-O-R-M for its 8th annual festival! From November 4—18, get ready to embark on a journey that combines the best of both worlds in our second hybrid festival, co-presented with SFU Woodward's Cultural Programs.

We will gather in theatres, cozy up at home with our laptops, spill over into public spaces, and carry the festival in the palms of our hands on our phones. This year, we stretch and reach, forging connections with artists and audiences both near and far, cultivating shared experiences, and igniting conversations that will resonate far beyond the festival itself.

Behind the scenes, the F-O-R-M team is buzzing with excitement as we welcome new staff members with open arms and empower our returning team to embrace fresh roles. We're all about growth and shaking things up, which is why we’re ecstatic to share a new logo and brand that captures the essence of our evolution!

Grab your calendars, save the dates, and stay tuned for more updates as we shape F-O-R-M 2023 — a celebration of movement-on-screen, and the incredible artists who breathe life into the festival.

A thank you to all our applicants ♥︎

To all the amazing applicants, we want to express our sincere appreciation for sharing your exceptional ideas and work with us. Your talent and creativity have left a lasting impression and we are immensely grateful for your contributions. The overwhelming response we have received speaks volumes about the vibrant artistic community that surrounds us. Your passion, talent, and enthusiasm have truly inspired us. While the selection process may be rigorous, we want you to know that we recognize your dedication and believe in your immense potential. We encourage you to stay connected with us as we continue to explore ways to expand our offerings and support the artistic journeys of all applicants.

— The F-O-R-M Team ☺︎

Commissioned Artists

Youth Category

2023 Commissioned Artists

Joanne Joo-Yeong Park

Joanne Park (they/he/she) is an emerging artist residing in Vancouver, currently attending the University of British Columbia. Their first film "Skinship" debuted with the Shooting Gallery in 2021. In their dance practice, Joanne trains in funk styles such as Popping and Waacking, as well as other branches of street dance like Krump. She has also trained with Modus Link for one season.

Photo by Nicole Yen

Satya Mari

Satya Mari (she/her) is a good weird individual and emerging artist that’s excited/curious about experimental theatre and dance. They are based in so called “vancouver” on the unceded, ancestral, and occupied xʷməθkʷəy̓əm, Sḵwx̱wú7mesh, and səlilwətaɬ lands where they will go into their 3rd year of training at Modus Operandi in September 2023. Latley Satya has been playing with character development, emotional availability, storytelling and object manipulation to translate personal experiences and the dynamics of diffrent relationships. One of her big loves is an afternoon nap with an unforgettable dream.

Raven Grenier

Raven (she/her) is a fourth year First Nations Indigenous Studies student at UBC, Artistic and Administrative Assistant for the Dancers of Damelahamid and an emerging multidisciplinary artist. With a background in traditional Gitxsan dance, and pow wow she is a contemporary Indigenous dance artist, song composer, and visual artist in formline design.

Adam Smith + Colby McLean

Adam Smith (he/him) is a Calgary-born, interdisciplinary artist. He is a founding member of the Calgary-based All Styles Dance crew Blasé, and part of the art collective Show Us Your Tits Productions. He is currently enrolled in the Music & Sound program at SFU, and writes music under the pseudonym Godfreed.

Ripcode (he/him) has been a developing professional dancer in Calgary for the past 5 years. Specializing in the style of Krump he has focused primarily on teaching, battling, and expanding the community and culture throughout Calgary and western Canada. He is one of the founding members of the Calgary-based All Styles crew Blasé and is a member of the largest Krump crew in western Canada Empirical Freedom. He is a teacher and a community leader who promotes diversity and inclusion within any dance community while also striving to educate those willing to learn and learn from anyone he can.

Emerging Category

Featured

Marisa Gold + Darryl Ahye

Marisa Gold (she/her) is an intuitive multidisciplinary dance artist with a passion for all things soulful. She has trained in a variety of Modern/Contemporary styles, with a BFA in dance (SFU), certificate of completion from The Ailey school Independent Study program (NYC), and The Graham school (NYC). She is an expressive dancer, poet, vocalist, choreographer, stylist, and actor whose work is embedded in self reflection, a deep love for humanity and reverence for our planet earth.

Darryl Ahye is a collaborative filmmaker from Trinidad and Tobago, now based in Vancouver. Darryl holds degrees in Film and Video Production from both the Vancouver Film School and the International Academy of Design and Technology. Throughout his career, he has collaborated with various organizations and independent artists to refine his craft. Currently, Darryl is immersed in projects that reflect his passion for wellness, personal development, and creative expression.

Aerial Sunday-Cardinal

Aerial (she/her) is a ᓀᐦᐃᔭᐤ (Nēhiyaw, Plains Cree) multidisciplinary artist from Whitefish (Goodfish) Lake First Nation #128 in Treaty 6 territory.

MINI COMMISSIONS

Featured

Jada Chang

Jada Chang is a 17-year-old Vancouver-born dancer. Jada is an aspiring creative who hopes to grow as an artist and create meaningful movement with the ability to impact individuals through the Mini Commissions Program. Growing up in the competitive dance world, she is excited to explore a different approach to dance and movement as it’s captured on camera.

Ryan Iwanaka

Ryan is an experienced street style dancer with over 10 years of training in performance, freestyle, and choreography techniques. After learning from the pioneers of this dance and moving forward with teaching and creating, I intend to pay respects to the creators of this dance by prioritizing the foundations & sharing my knowledge of freestyle with the next generation.

Larkin Miller

Larkin Miller is an internationally-based aspiring screenwriter and filmmaker. They have a passion for theatre, the written word and long, rambling media analysis. Their previous works include 'A Highway Psychological', a stage play about guilt and escapism, as well as a few independent short films and music. In the future, they hope to write and produce a full-length screenplay based on their own personal experiences with the creative process.

Bona Lee

My name is Bona Lee (she/her) and I am currently a 17-year-old student living in Toronto.

I have a passion for all mediums of art, but particularly music, film, and photography. I spend my free time playing the piano, watching films, creating zines, and taking portraits of others.

I am often inspired by the people I surround myself with, and I look forward to bringing these inspirations and ideas to life through the 2023 Mini Commissions Program!

Thivya Jeyapalan

Thivya Jeyapalan is the passionate founder of YouSpoken, a youth organization dedicated to empowering individuals to explore their inner triggers and traumas, facilitating healing through storytelling. With a deep love for writing and music, Thivya recognizes the power of intersecting these art forms to express personal narratives. Now, she eagerly ventures into the realm of film, embracing its potential to amplify voices and foster understanding. As a staunch advocate for mental health, Thivya's vision for YouSpoken extends globally, supporting youth worldwide who endure PTSD and related struggles, inspiring them to share their stories and embark on transformative journeys of recovery.

Tanisha Kumar

Hi! I'm Tanisha/Tanu Kumar. I go by she/her pronouns. I am an artist based in Toronto, focused on film, visual arts, and fashion. This summer, I am working on creating a film that takes part of my intersectional and evolving identity, using a movement-based medium. Feel free to follow me on Instagram @tunadoola23 Excited to join Mini Commissions for 2023!

Ash Szeto

Hi! I'm Ash, I use any pronouns and I've been a creative for as long as I can remember. I especially enjoy metafiction. I love film because it portrays human experiences in a way everyone can connect to. I'm from Hong Kong and I started out making 'animations' on Google Slides, using any resources that I had—Now I'm here! I'm happy to dive deep into my passion for filmmaking, and my dream is to make something that impacts someone the same way my favourite works have done to me.

Era Bothe

Hello! My name is Era Bothe and I’m a 16 year old filmmaker from Vancouver, BC. My biggest hobbies are; writing, drawing, watching hockey, playing in my school band and going on train rides. My personality type surprisingly is a INFP (most expect me to be an extrovert). My favourite directors are Wes Anderson, Wong Kar-wai, and Quentin Tarantino all whom I take my filmmaking style from. I am also a very big fan of the NHL and the Vancouver Canucks and will take any chance to talk hockey. Anyhow, I’m a very kind person and love to make connections.

Theresa Truong

Hi! My name is Theresa Truong and I'm an artist based out of Vancouver, British Columbia. I've been dancing for the past 5 years and I've always loved witnessing a choreographer's creative process and then later seeing the final version. I'm super excited to be apart of Form's 2023 Mini Commissions Program because it's now my chance to experiment with all the other layers that come into creating a video.

Co-Presenter

Featured

SFU Woodward's Cultural Programs

The vision of SFU Woodward’s Cultural Programs’ is to enable and promote creativity and leading edge practices in the contemporary arts as well as public community discourse. By supporting professional activities through partnerships, SFUW engages the community through unique cultural, employment, and public initiatives.

Our Funders

Co-Commissioning Partners

Featured

BC Movement Arts Society

Based in Sointula on Malcolm Island, BC Movement Arts Society is located within the unceded Kwakwaka’wakw territories of the ‘Namgis, Kwakiutl, and Mamalilikala Nations and present professional local, national and international contemporary dance performances, creation residencies and associated outreach activities.

Founded in 2015 by Mary-Louise Albert (Artistic & Executive Director) and Michael Margolick, the BC Movement Arts Society (BCMAS) is committed to the development, understanding and enjoyment of dance in rural BC and to enhancing social interaction and well-being. In dance, we believe there is no substitute for live performance. Smaller rural communities are largely deprived of this opportunity. Bringing professional dance to these communities rather than expecting residents to travel long distances to see shows fulfills unserved demand and supports the local region by stimulating both cultural and economic growth. The artists we engage are at a very high professional artistic and technical level and are known to be committed to sharing and exploring their art with audiences and community.

Wild Mint Arts

Wild Mint Arts delivers workshops, performances, and classes with Indigenous performing artists locally and from around the world. Wild Mint values and supports the diversity of Indigenous performing arts, recognizing its inherent inter-disciplinary elements. Empowering Indigenous people of all ages, abilities, and genders, Wild Mint strives to offer inclusive programming, respectful of everyone.

Company 605

Led by artistic co-directors Lisa Mariko Gelley and Josh Martin, Company 605 is an arts organization based in Vancouver, Canada on the traditional, ancestral, and unceded Indigenous territories of the Musqueam, Squamish, and Tsleil-Waututh First Nations. Producing various dance projects and performances through shared creative process, the artists place emphasis on rigorous choreographic propositions and movement invention, building physically demanding work that juxtaposes raw with precision, and highlights effort, risk and interconnection.

Mini Co-Commissioning Partners

Featured

UniverseSoul Dance

UniverseSoul Dance is a creative, inclusive hip hop dance studio located in Calgary. We’re known for our unique approach to artistic expression through the power of hip hop dance. We’re women-led, we value community, and we believe that the art of dance is open to all who are willing to give their everything to this craft. Serving all ages, we exist to revive your passion for competitive dance—from hip hop dance to street dance influenced choreography. We connect our dancers with renowned artists in the industry through our versatile training programs to equip you for your emerging professional dancing career.

Commissioning Fund Production Partners

Featured

Cineworks

Cineworks Independent Filmmakers Society is a non-profit Artist-Run Centre, supporting independent filmmakers, media artists and arts audiences through facilities and initiatives encompassing production, exhibition, consultation, outreach and advocacy. We engage our membership and wider communities in the investigative, expressive and transformative powers of the moving image.

Charles Street Video

Charles Street Video (CSV) is a non-profit production organization established in 1981 to help support media artists. We provide affordable access to equipment and post-production editing facilities for creating videos, films, installations and other media art forms. We offer regular workshops, training sessions and residencies.

VIVO Media Arts Centre

Incorporated as Satellite Video Exchange Society, VIVO is a steward of critical history and an agent for emergent experimental media arts practices. Our programs foster formal and critical approaches to media arts, and reflect the diversity of contemporary technologies and communities that coalesce around new forms of knowledge and creativity. VIVO builds an engaged audience through workshops, production support, distribution, artist residencies, performances and exhibitions as well as curatorial and archival research.

Calgary Society of Independent Filmmakers

The Calgary Society of Independent Filmmakers (CSIF) is an inclusive, non-profit arts-based society that exists to fuel filmmakers, support storytellers, and connect the cinematic community. CSIF encourages all levels of membership by providing resources and workshops to build skills and to achieve arts-based expression. Now in its 40th year of operation, CSIF is an integral part of the growing cultural community in Calgary.

Public Screens Partners

Featured

grunt gallery

grunt gallery was founded in 1984 on the unceded territories of the Musqueam, Squamish and Tsleil-Waututh First Nations (Vancouver, Canada) and is one of the region’s most established artist run centres. The gallery offers exhibitions, special projects and public programming with a focus on practices and perspectives that have, since the beginning, questioned established values in contemporary art production.

grunt was formed in 1984 by a group of 8 artists as a venue for artists and their work. Since then the organization has worked within local, national and international artist communities to provide an inclusive and supportive environment for the development of innovative and provocative contemporary art. Very early on grunt began collaborating with other organizations to realize projects otherwise beyond a single organization’s capacity.

Our Sponsors

Featured

PuSh International Performing Arts Festival

The PuSh International Performing Arts Festival is one of Vancouver’s signature events. Produced each January, the Festival expands the horizons of Vancouver artists and audiences with work that is visionary, genre-bending, multi-disciplined, startling and original.

The Festival showcases acclaimed international, Canadian and local artists and mixes them together with an alchemy that inspires audiences, rejuvenates artists, stimulates the industry and forges productive relationships around the globe. More than just shows, the Festival is a broker of international partnerships, a meeting place for creative minds, a showcase of Canada’s best and an incubator of brilliant new work.

Founding Producer

Featured

Company 605

Led by artistic co-directors Lisa Mariko Gelley and Josh Martin, Company 605 is an arts organization based in Vancouver, Canada on the traditional, ancestral, and unceded Indigenous territories of the Musqueam, Squamish, and Tsleil-Waututh First Nations. Producing various dance projects and performances through shared creative process, the artists place emphasis on rigorous choreographic propositions and movement invention, building physically demanding work that juxtaposes raw with precision, and highlights effort, risk and interconnection.

F-O-R-M 2023 would not be possible without the support we’ve received from partners, sponsors, funders, and individual donors. Thank you for supporting the expression and film creations of youth + emerging artists!

Home

SAVE the date: F-O-R-M 2023 — November 4-18

We are thrilled to announce the return of F-O-R-M for its 8th annual festival! From November 4—18, get ready to embark on a journey that combines the best of both worlds in our second hybrid festival, co-presented with SFU Woodward's Cultural Programs.

Grab your calendars, save the dates, and stay tuned for more updates as we shape F-O-R-M 2023 — a celebration of movement-on-screen, and the incredible artists who breathe life into the festival.

A thank you to all our applicants ♥︎

— The F-O-R-M Team ☺︎

Commissioned Artists

Youth Category

Emerging Category

MINI COMMISSIONS

Co-Presenter

Our Funders

Co-Commissioning Partners

Mini Co-Commissioning Partners

Commissioning Fund Production Partners

Public Screens Partners

Our Sponsors

Founding Producer

F-O-R-M 2023 would not be possible without the support we’ve received from partners, sponsors, funders, and individual donors. Thank you for supporting the expression and film creations of youth + emerging artists!