Wednesday, June 10, 2009

Blogging Now because ...













Hello and Welcome





I am a photographer (among many other things) who is embarking on writing, producing and directing my first documentary while living on the Downtown Eastside of Vancouver, Canada. In this blog I will share my process in this realm.

Here is a summary of the documentary story.


Walkover is a documentary, based on the novel WALKOVER, about a woman returning to the Burlesque scene after raising a child. The film reveals first time film maker, Page Turner's relationships with a new generation of Burlesque performers and the homeless women in the neighbourhood where she lives and works. Ms Turner, a photographer and performer, documents her move from the capital city of Victoria and her path of advocacy and activism for the rights of women and children entrenched in poverty in and near downtown Vancouver. She connects and performs with dancers who become her "soldiers" in an outreach army of "pin up girls with a heart" all of whom can identify with the disenfranchisement and judgement that isolates the homeless women they embrace.

"I worked as a bartender and later an exotic dancer and photographer, in the clubs on the downtown east side, in the eighties right up until Expo '86. I remember all the people huddled up outside on the streets after the mass evictions took place to turn rooming houses into tourist hotels. When I saw the same thing happening twenty years later as Vancouver prepares for the Olympics in 2010 I just had to capture it on film and speak out. I have been homeless through the years far too many times myself! I never dreamed I and others like me, a couple of rungs up from women living on the street, would experience homelessness with our families, because we want to rent ( and cannot afford to buy) a home that accepts children!

To expose and explore this pervasive situation of injustice I moved back to the neighbourhood where I was first homeless as a young teenager. Now my son is grown, I have returned to the Burlesque stage and filmed my live Rita Hayworth tribute show to include in this, my first documentary. Performing again and telling my story and the stories of "hidden homeless" women has rallied support and participation, from Burlesque Performers and Musicians alike".

Walkover includes an original Jazz and R and B soundtrack written and performed by Turner's saxophonist son, Sean Winter. The film also features cameo performances by renowned local blues performers at Vancouver's Yale Hotel, THE mecca for local and visiting Blues Artists for over thirty years.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QzPGAOCk39U

8 comments:

  1. I do! Keep chronicling the lives of the lost and the lonely. We're depending on you.

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  2. Hey! Just saw this now.
    Thank you. I will and I am! ;)

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  3. Hi Page! This is good, I can't wait to meet you someday.

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    Replies
    1. Sarah! I totally missed your message here till now! Thank you for reading and commenting.

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  4. hi page, this is a great beginning. look forward to viewing more. karenza

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  5. Hi Karenza

    Thank you. There's is nothing like knowing someone who understands and appreciates where I am coming from reading this for me to want to write more.

    THIS weekend! I will post a new blog entry and life update by hook or by crook. ;) Thanks for the encouragement.

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  6. P.S! It may be obvious, but just in case it isn't, there are other entries I have written on this blog to be found by clicking on the dates in red on the far right of this page.

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