Having the “luxury” of a research budget and support from the University of Windsor was key to the creative freedom history professor Steven Palmer enjoyed in making his feature documentary, Ghost Artist, which will enjoy two screenings during the Windsor International Film Festival.

Dr. Palmer was inspired to make a documentary when his discovery of a revolutionary film about medicine and the body made for Expo 67 led him to its maker, the artist, poet, and director Robert Cordier.

“Cordier told me so many stories about his extraordinary collaborations with a constellation of major 20th century cultural figures – Dalí, Warhol, Allen Ginsberg, James Baldwin,” Palmer says. “I thought the Expo film should be understood in that context. Because the original reference point was a film, building a cinematic frame to understand it seemed most appropriate. And Cordier was already 82, so time was tight.”

Palmer got in touch with novelist and screenwriter, Ed Riche, his longtime collaborator in creative media, and two weeks later they were in Paris to film Cordier at work directing theatre while they captured his stories of the avant garde art world of New York in the 1960s.

The film had its premiere at the Atlantic International Film Festival in September, and it will screen at cinematheques in Montreal, New York, and St. John’s in the coming months.

Palmer calls the final result “a great example of research creation,” mixing artistic and scholarly exploration.

“We had total freedom to find what we wanted, and to put the film together on research and artistic grounds,” he says.

He also credits UWindsor history alumni Nate White, who served as data wrangler, and singer-songwriter Ron Leary, who contributed the credit sequence music.

“I brought a lot of UWindsor merch to that first shoot and made sure as many people as possible were wearing it when the cameras turned on,” Palmer says. “There's a great UWindsor identity to the film, and we wear it proudly.”

With a runtime of 66 minutes, Ghost Artist will be shown twice in the SoCA Armouries Performance Hall:

• 9:15 p.m. Friday, Nov. 8,
• 8:20 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 10

Find more information on the film festival’s website.

Finding ways to get more cardiac patients participating in rehabilitation programs is the focus of a new research initiative co-founded by a UWindsor kinesiology professor.

“Cardiac patients around the world underutilize cardiac rehabilitation, despite evidence that these programs offer physical and mental health benefits,” said Cheri McGowan, a clinical cardiovascular and exercise physiologist in UWindsor’s Faculty of Human Kinetics.

Dr. McGowan is leading a cross-border team comparing cardiac rehabilitation models of care throughout the Great Lakes Region. Called the Great Lakes Cardiac Rehabilitation Consortium, it includes fellow UWindsor kinesiology professor Kevin Milne, and experts from the cardiac rehabilitation programs at Hotel-Dieu Grace Healthcare, the Lawson Health Research Institute (St. Joseph’s Health Care London), the Henry Ford Medical Group (Henry Ford Health System) in Detroit, and the University of Michigan (Michigan Medicine) in Ann Arbor.

The consortium members include cardiologists, scientists, exercise specialists, physiologists, students and statisticians. They know there are barriers that keep cardiac patients from accessing programs and adhering to them. Their goal is to find solutions to help more patients access cardiac rehabilitation and improve long-term adherence to the healthy behaviours these programs try to instill in participants.

“To our knowledge, the consortium is the first of its kind in North America and lays a foundation for long-term international collaboration and impact, said McGowan. “This work will help optimize cardiac rehabilitation and potentially improve the lives of thousands in our individual communities and beyond.”

Cardiac disease is the leading cause of death worldwide. Cardiac rehabilitation programs have proven to reduce hospitalizations and lower death rates.

Funding for the consortium’s early work comes from a Partners in Research grant from the University of Windsor and Hotel-Dieu Grace Healthcare.

─ Sarah Sacheli

A free public reception will serve to launch an album featuring music professor Nicholas Papador, on Friday, Nov. 8.

The Marassa Duo, Dr. Papador and James Armstrong, plays a hybrid of classical percussion chamber music and Afro-Caribbean performance traditions.

The launch event promises a performance by Papador joined by his percussion studio and alumni of the School of Creative Arts. Papador will also give a short presentation about the Marassa Duo and the group’s accomplishments over its 15 years as a performance-as-research project.

It will begin at 7:30 p.m. in the Multimedia Studio, Alan Wildeman Centre for Creative Arts, 160 Freedom Way. Find more details on the event website.

Daniela Marier-Perissinotti, an international applicant services specialist in the Office of the Registrar, won Wednesday’s DailyNews trivia quiz and its prize of two tickets to the University Players production of The Wolves, continuing through Nov. 10 in the Essex Hall Theatre.

Her entry was drawn from all those which correctly identified lycanthropy as the mythical transformation of a person into a wolf, Jack London as the author of White Fang, and Romulus and Remus as mythical twins suckled by a wolf.

In The Wolves, playwright Sarah DeLappe chronicles the evolution of a girls’ soccer team over the course of a season, a wild journey ending with a dramatic twist.

Evening performances through Saturday are at 8 p.m.; matinees Saturday and Sunday are at 2 p.m. Order tickets online at www.UniversityPlayers.com or by phoning 519-253-3000, ext. 2808.

Mia Dojcinovski’s parents both work from home, so she was not excited about the prospect of Take Our Kids to Work Day — until she was invited to accompany her classmate Katie Durfy to the University of Windsor.

The two are both Grade 9 students at St. Thomas of Villanova Catholic Secondary School. Durfy’s father Bruce is a technologist in the UWindsor mechanical engineering department.

“I came here and had a much better experience,” Dojcinovski said Wednesday, after a day of activities on campus. “Most likely I will come here for University, because they showed us lots of career possibilities.”

Katie Durfy said she was impressed by the breadth of activities planned for more than 60 young visitors.

“I knew that going to the University would mean lots of different things to see,” she said. “My favourite was the medical labs in the nursing faculty.”

Besides the nursing skills session, the day’s activities included sessions exploring careers in science, marketing a product launch, engineering model wind turbines, trying out a film set, and learning about wrongful convictions. In addition, participants have an opportunity to shadow their host on the job.

Aidan Stupac said he enjoyed watching the creative work of his mother, graphic designer Ida Hary.

“I learned that working is kind of fun,” he said as he prepared to head home. “And the best part was, I got to spend time with my mom.”

Take Our Kids to Work Day is an annual program of the “Learning Partnership” in which Grade 9 students are hosted by parents, friends, or relatives at workplaces across the country. At the University, the program is co-ordinated by Human Resources and made possible by the contributions of many campus partners and sponsors.

The BFA Acting class of 2021 invites the campus community to the annual “Contact Improvisation Devised Performances,” Friday, Nov. 8.

The class will showcase four original pieces in the Acting Studio, Jackman Dramatic Art Centre.

Doors will open at 9:20 a.m., at which time the performers will be engaged in a warm-up exercise that combines contact improvisation, viewpoints flow, composition, and classical text.  

The Celebration of Nations will mark its 15th year anniversary highlighting the rich cultural diversity of the campus community on March 19, 2020.

The celebration gives students, faculty, and staff the opportunity to learn about other cultures and share their own heritage through performances, demonstrations, and displays of food, dance, dress, and music.

Performers are key to engaging people during the event. To sign up, click here to register through the online survey. Groups hoping to perform have until Jan. 17 to register.