The Vancouver Vagabond series, multiple stories over a decade on either side of the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics, has evolved and transformed as various stories have emerged through time. 2012's VVII (and its counterpart VANdaliSM 2013) arose from the rare chance that the Vancouver Canucks should come as close to Stanley Cup victory as they did, and in the year directly following the Olympics when Vancouverites had just known both the ecstasy of hosting the event at home while attaining international hockey supremacy with their Gold win over all, including finally, the USA. A highly unique parallel was thus drawn between the two street-sweepin' public-party events, the city's volatile politics and the homelessness crisis that would cement itself in theories that gave rise to the Occupy movement that would erupt Sept 17 2011 onward in NYC following the mayhem in Vancouver.
Both Vancouver Vagabond II and its counterpart VANdaliSM include the Stanley Cup 2011 hockey riot. Heath went through videos posted online and found Pascal Marchand's content from that day, and though thousands saw this material, it was surprisingly low in traffic compared to much inferior viral content who's claim to fame was simply its timing, having been posted earlier and consequently snowballing. So he contacted this elusive fellow and was allowed its inclusion in Heath's VV series. Not only was the quality of the footage to Heath's liking, it was the rare chance that Pascal was standing at the foot of the 1955 Canada Post building and shooting from the opposite side of the bonfire, such that the two angles were able to be inter-cut, something that could only be achieved with a crew- in a situation that none but a handful of vandals had truly anticipated.
VANdaliSM would win the 2013 Platinum Remi Award for the world's best cinematography/videography at the 47th Worldfest Houston.
Months had passed since the June 15, 2011 Stanley Cup riot in Vancouver. Heath had stuffed away all video footage and largely dismissed it as yet another portion of his greater sprawling archive, to be perhaps used in projects in the future after the more important ongoing projects of the day were concluded. He had buried himself for months in a huge re organizational effort, a simplified architecture of all his movie and media content wherein he adapted to the times and became a modern digital filmmaker and editor. All the while, editor Alex Kassimatis continued the completion of the VV series' dozens of behind the scenes type videos, one of which happened to be the Stanley Cup Finals in Vancouver. The two had discussed music, tempo, how to best build the climax while using real-life limitations of form. Pascal Marchand's content had just been secured and included to augment Heath's shots. It was about a week before Christmas 2011 when one late afternoon the video was in it's preliminary final state and like all prelims, they sat and watched it... Heath was quite surprised at the result and said aloud: "... it would be crazy NOT to include this sequence in its entirety in the next feature!" It was intended as a dark joke at first, but then as soon as he had said it, it became instantly clear that it was really anything but. Over the days that Alex was cutting the content, it was becoming increasingly clear to him how many patterns and parallels there were in a number of subjects he had been exploring for years: the Olympics 2010 street crowds, the homelessness street scene, Occupy and its Vancouver theoretical origins, the overpriced housing/home issue, the city's politics (a civic election had just concluded, again with a theme based on housing affordability), the "Fight HST" campaign ending coincidentally directly alongside the riot, and of course the orgiastic ecstasy of the masses, drunk with their newfound novel patriotism under the Canadian flag with their surprising Olympic Hockey Gold win over all the world including the domineering USA- only to be essentially reversed a year later by big bad Boston crushing Vancouver in the very last game on home ice. Well, well... how it would (and should) all fit together, Heath thought... and so he did. He ran day and night through the Christmas holiday and beyond editing primarily three political framework sections: a beginning, middle and end while his editor Alex Kassimatis completed 2 large street-sweeping musical blocks detailing the Olympic and Stanley Cup frenzied street spectacle. Heath had never literally edited a picture prior, having always directed editors as in traditional film production wherein technical roles were delegated in a compartmentalized fashion and entire specialist careers upheld. He had just concluded a massive transformation as a modern digital-age filmmaker, having for the first time taken control of his computer systems and reorganized all media archives- and in the process having become proficient with its technical routine. Gone were the terrible frustrations of being so vulnerable and reliant on others when cash, communications and obtuse scheduling were key- and the risk of their involvement high. He had never gone with so little sleep prior, but was in heaven seeing the results of his newfound approach, handling just about everything including all sound work, corrections & FX, and the final mix. By the 1st week of March 2012 Vancouver Vagabond II was born, just in time for registering at the tail end of the Honolulu Film Festival's deadline, resulting in an immediate Silver Lei Award announcement a month later.