By STEVE MARTINDALE
SS FILM FESTIVAL SOCIETY
Award-winning Vancouver filmmaker Baljit Sangra will present her new film Have You Heard Judi Singh? on Wednesday, Oct. 29, as part of the Salt Spring Film Festival’s popular “Best of the Fests” series at ArtSpring.
Trailblazing jazz singer Judi Singh defied expectations as a Canadian artist of mixed Black and Punjabi heritage in the 1950s and ‘60s, playing to sold-out crowds. While her ethereal, pitch-perfect voice captivated adoring audiences, the music industry failed to support her career, an all-too-familiar story for women and artists of colour at a time when Canada was a far less diverse country than it is today.
In this lively and deeply felt portrait, Sangra retraces Singh’s life through the places she lived — including Edmonton, Winnipeg, Toronto and Victoria, where Singh died in 2021 — and the intimate recollections of the family and friends who loved her, including Canadian actors Tantoo Cardinal and Rae-Dawn Chong.
Weaving together moments of brilliance and resilience, this crowd-pleaser reintroduces a gifted artist to the spotlight she so richly deserves. Having made its World Premiere at Vancouver’s DOXA Documentary Film Festival in May, Have You Heard Judi Singh? is co-presented at ArtSpring by Salt Spring Music Events and the Salt Spring Jazz & Blues Society.
Known for bringing previously untold stories to the screen, particularly those involving the South Asian community, Sangra’s documentary Because We Are Girls – an NFB production about the abuse she and her sisters endured in childhood – played at the Salt Spring Film Festival in 2020 and was subsequently nominated for a Leo Award for Best Director.
The “Best of the Fests” series continues on Nov. 12 with an already sold-out screening of The Art of Adventure co-presented by Salt Spring Arts, featuring Robert Bateman and Bristol Foster travelling around the world in the 1950s; and the National Geographic documentary Love+War, about courageous photojournalist Lynsey Addario, on Dec. 3.
All Best of the Fests screenings at ArtSpring are on Wednesdays at 7:30 p.m. Tickets available through artspring.ca; by phone (250-537-2102) or in person (Tuesday to Friday, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.); or at the door an hour before showtime.