Multi-disciplinary artist and promoter of the arts Joshua Jamieson, recently wrote a script for a short film based on a poem by local living legend Carmelita McGrath. The poem is taken from her latest collection, Escape Velocity.

Escape Velocity was a finalist for the 2013 BMO Winterset Award, and at a reading event for the award, Joshua was struck by her words. “I approached her about one of the poems she had read that had affected me deeply. The poem was written beautifully and created vivid scenes in my head that I felt would translate to film exceptionally well. I asked her if she would be up for working with me to create a short film that was inspired by the piece. She gave me her blessing and committed to being a creative consulting, offering to help me get the option agreement (permission to proceed) from her publisher, Goose Lane Editions.”

Things have been snowballing since, with all the right people coming onboard: filmmakers Ruth Lawrence will co-produce, Brad Gover will act as cinematographer, and Darryl Couch will edit. ECMA Rozalind MacPhail will score the piece.

So, all they need now is a little money, hence Tuesday night’s fundraiser, Friends for Film Variety Show, featuring a cross-section of local music superstars Green & Gold, Jerry Stamp, and Everglow. So. Something for everyone. Including you and a guest, free of charge, if you win our ticket draw. Enter below. Otherwise, tickets are $22 and available at the LSPU Hall.

[gravityform id=”5″ name=”giveaway” title=”false” description=”false”]

Waiting Outside, the film, will be about “a single father fighting for his life, savouring every precious moment with his eight year old son, yet still dreaming of a luxury life.”This won’t be the first time Carmelita has crossed artistic lines with the Jamieson family: McGrath edited Joshua’s memoirs and has been a longtime family friend. “The poem itself focuses on one scene where a woman observes a man across a waiting room, Jamieson says. “Both are strangers to one another, and the woman just watches what the man does before he’s called in for his appointment. She notices him fumbling through magazines and a mail in card for info on a luxury vehicle falls out, which he then fills out. When his name is called, he returns the completed card to the magazine, so you never know why he bothered to fill it out, or why he returned it to the magazine.It made me think a lot about how much we observe other people who we don’t even know, and how we draw conclusions about them despite not having any of our observations ever confirmed. It was in my conversations with Carm after the fact that I learned she had actually written that poem while waiting for someone in a waiting room of a cancer care facility.”