I found this poem at a defunct mental hospital while working on a pathetic TV show … I was in a relationship that was falling apart … I moved to Montreal and spent a lot of time in a graveyard meditating. (John Price)
Filter Films
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Shot during a particularly dark downtown east side December, this was originally supposed to be part of a Cineworks Omnibus project. Due to very sad and unfortunate circumstances the project was derailed, and I had to finish it on my own. It is dedicated to Eva Madden. (JP)
West Coast Reduction
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A film which deals with aspects of male and female representation, spatial and temporal dislocation, and notions of framing and containment.
Bricolage
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“ … a beautiful journey through the wasteland of displaced souls, loosely structured around biblical stories. A man becomes a traveller after his home is destroyed; the story expands to examine those who are literally or metaphorically homeless. In this alien world, existing between fact and fiction, a provocative question is asked: Where does one go after losing paradise?” – Liz Czach, Toronto International Film Festival “Part diary film … part urban ethnography … part excavation in search of faith amidst landscapes of concrete, it is a compilation film assembled from rolls of super-8 and 16mm that I shot, hand processed, optically printed and edited in many places. The film’s structure was inspired primarily by a chance encounter with a young German traveller who I met in San Francisco … destitute and alone. The soundtrack was cobbled together over many years … found albums mostly … narration recorded while working on location … Hollywood movies … motel bathtubs … dreams.” – John Price
After Eden
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“Relative Motion” is a series of designs scratched on already processed film, allowing the natural colour of the film to reveal itself. Paint is also added to enhance this state. The designs are expressions of emotions and thoughts which are brought to a roar with sound created to accompany the movements of the scratches.
Relative Motion
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“Passenger” is a visual, and interrupted, journey exploring layers of subway train images which have been altered and abstracted through scratched text and painted frames. The film’s soundtrack reflects the chain of thoughts in one’s mind: angst, displacement, numbness, anger, tolerance, peace, memories and feelings which can be encountered on the train.
Passenger
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Distinguishing the drama from the documentary, the analog from the digital, the fact from the fiction, and the technology from the sexuality will be more perverse in the twenty-first century.
Scrambled Porn
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Based on real-life experiences, “camp” recounts the stories of homosexual survivors of the WWII concentration camps. A series of short, expressionistic vignettes weave together these horrific experiences. Part documentary, part drama, “camp” uses a variety of mediums to explore the emotional reality of those marked with the pink triangle.
camp
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“Once I had the power to disappear, to sink inside the dragon’s dreams, to touch the dragon’s sandy skin, as if it were my own” (Amanda, in “Subterranean Passage”). Original poetry from Barbara Klar and Michael Crochetiere, excerpts from Maria Flook, Julia Alvarez, Herman Melville and Edgar Allen Poe, together with a foreboding electro-acoustic soundscape by composers Robert Rosen and Shawn Bell combine to create a dark, fluid universe where unexpected story fragments arise suddenly and, one by one, become integrated into the children’s resolute mission. “Subterranean Passage” is a haunting, evocative lesson in constructing and controlling one’s own psychic environment. “An alluring vision of four children who create imaginary worlds as an escape from their domestic environment. Childhood traumas explored with sensitivity and unbridled honesty.” – Toronto International Film Festival, 1999
Subterranean Passage
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“The Day Jesus Melted” is a playfully poignant story of a child’s confrontation with the mysterious world of faith.
Day Jesus Melted, The
