“Past Perfect” is a spirited meditation on the elusiveness and inaccessibility of (Jewish) history as conveyed through sightseeing tours of “Jewish” Poland, a grandmother’s recollection of life in America during War II, and memoir-like “last moments” of a great aunt believed to have died in Treblinka. Shot almost entirely in contemporary Poland, “Past Perfect” lyrically portrays the relentless yet ultimately futile attempt to resuscitate a history literally gone up in smoke. “It is not entirely out of line to call ‘Past Perfect’- filmmaker Cynthia Madansky’s meditation on Jewish history, notably the Shoah – spirited and darkly amusing. After all, Madansky’s experimental excursion through an emotional and physical landscape predicated on obliteration, omission and, more than half a century after the fact, a pernicious, creeping ‘Holocaust fatigue,’ embodies the same blend of resignation and outrage that defines the very best Yiddish jokes…. In ‘Past Perfect’ Madansky manages – frequently, brilliantly – to evoke a similar pang as greets the historian, documentarian, genealogist, or traveler when confronting the catastrophic absence that is the Holocaust. When all is effaced, the only logical response is speculation.”- David Rakoff, New York City, January, 2002 Selected Screenings: Rotterdam Film Festival, 2002; Museum of Modern Art, NYC, 2002; Jerusalem International Film Festival, 2002; Barcelona Jewish Film Festival, 2002; San Francisco Jewish Film Festival, 2002; Margaret Mead Film Festival, 2002; Thesaloniki Film Festival, 2002; Boston Jewish Film Festival, 2002
Filter Films
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Produced for the “Money” program at Splice This!, Toronto’s Super 8 film festival, “Wads and Wads” traces the attempt of two young men to have sex through a partition of clear vinyl. Toronto’s craft-couture sewing club The Westside Stitchers helped design the vinyl partition through which the young men play at lovemaking. The action of the film was improvised by the performers and shot and edited entirely in-camera by Robert Kennedy.
Wads and Wads
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“‘Child of Chernobyl’ is a poignant look at the consequences of a nuclear disaster through the eyes of a child. Combining stop-motion images of a lone teddy bear in a playground with voice over excerpts from a young girl’s diary, Ziemsen creates a haunting effect that stays with you long after the film is over.” – Planet in Focus Festival, Toronto, 2002 “Child of Chernobyl” portrays a child’s perspective of the immediate aftermath of the nuclear disaster in Chernobyl, Ukraine on April 26, 1986. The film reveals how the filmmaker experienced the days following Chernobyl, while living in Germany at the time. Depicted though stop-motion animation of toys using color Super 8mm, the film shows the naïveté of a young girl who does not understand why she is not allowed to play outside with her lonesome toys. In many ways, the film represents the misinformed public of Europe and beyond, many of whom were enjoying the outdoor spring weather (and all its invisible contamination).
Child of Chernobyl
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“Mama and Papa” is the story of the chance meeting of the filmmaker’s parents on a train in Germany, thirty years ago. It explores the meaning of life in six minutes. Awards: 1st Place, Toronto Student Shorts Festival, Canada, 2001; “Best Drama Award,” Montreal Student Jewish Film Festival, Canada, 2001
Mama and Papa
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A young woman arrives at a rural Ontario farmhouse looking for her genetics professor. There she encounters not the professor, but his two daughters. She begins to suspect that the children are the results of the professors research into cloning. The Xerces Blue was the first North American species of butterfly to become extinct because of human activity.
Xerces Blue
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A fisherman sits in his boat in the middle of a northern Quebec lake. What he draws from the lake is a synthesis of two worlds.
Coil
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“A woman’s attempt to keep chaos at bay by naming, classifying, and ordering her domestic environment. This ultimately results in a total loss of ego and verbal capacity. Through the innovative juxtaposition of printed text, graphics, step printing, and disintegrating soundtrack, Gruben constructs a narrative breakdown that parallels the unconscious patterning of her character’s mind.” – Richard Stanford, National Gallery of Canada
Central Character, The
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A film about the aftermath of loss. One person’s journey through grief and acceptance. Rage, mystery, and peace – all on the waterfront. “Intention and resolution soon become one in this contemplative black-and-white study which is as still and surreal as a painting by Magritte.” – Kathleen Smith, Director, Moving Pictures Festival
hollow
