The neighbourhood of William Vince

For better viewing, click the "full screen" button.

This is a tour through Vancouver's Downtown Eastside, a neighbourhood for which the late film producer William Vince felt great affection. Every Saturday night on a desolate stretch of Main Street, his District 319 theatre casts a ray of light and movie magic. But the beautifully refurbished movie house is a study in juxtaposition: it sits just a few rundown shopfronts away from the itinerant souls huddled at the corner of Main and Hastings, in what is considered Canada's poorest postal code.

Vince talked of wanting to make the ramshackle neighbourhood "feel alive again." "It frustrates me that there’s no pride in the area,” he said. Vince died, of cancer, on June 21, 2008. He was 44.

This video was collected by digital editor John Bucher on Friday, August 1st.

Video: The films of William Vince
Navigate: Back to the article