A Bruce Connor-style assemblage film consisting of shots from 1940s and 50s educational shorts spliced together, with synthesizer pop-music by Ron Smulevici. The result is a humorous but cynical view of modern civilized (?) life; a surreal cinematic Rorschach test in which “meaning” is largely a result of the personal associations and subconscious anxieties which the individual view projects onto the images.
Filter Films
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This series of films, each extraordinarily unique from every other (except “0 + 10” going together) is inspired and governed by strata of the mind’s moving-visual-thinking different from that of the “Roman Numeral Series” or perhaps one should say that the Arabic Numerals come to fruition thru some tree-of nerves separate from that which gave birth to the Romans (as it is physiologically deceptive to think of thought as existing in “layers”). The Arabics range in length from approximately 5 min. to 32 min. and may be projected at 24 fps as well as 18, tho’ the latter speed seems preferable for starts. I think each film’s integrity of rhythm would allow viewing at a greater variety of speeds, were there the 16mm projectors to allow that exercise. So far as I can tell, they defy verbal interpretation (even more than their Roman equivalents) and would, thus, seem to be closer to Music than any previous work given me to do; but if that be true, it is (as composer James Tenney put it to me) that they relate to that relatively small area of musical composition which resists Song and Dance and exists more purely in terms of Sound Events in Time/Space. Finally, then, the inspiration of all those modern (and a few ancient) composers I’ve most loved since my teens overwhelms the easier, and comfortably lovely, habits of jig and do-re-mi AND creates a visual correlative OF music’s eventuality – i.e. each Arabic is formed by the intrinsic grammar of the most inner (perhaps pre-natal) structure of thought itself.
Arabic Numeral Series – Arabic 18
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A celebration of the strength, wisdom, beauty and humour of Native women; of Native culture and people, surviving and thriving. “It Starts With a Whisper” was produced in the Six Nations/Brantford area, with an all-Native cast, and features locations on the Grand River which runs through the Six Nations Reserve. The film blends traditional Iroquois imagery, music and themes with motifs from contemporary, secular life. An original score and innovative visuals make “It Starts With a Whisper” a delight to watch, as well as a timely challenge to movie stereotypes of First Nations people. Eighteen-year-old Shanna Sabbath, who has grown up on the Reserve, must now decide what path to follow in life. The choice between traditional and contemporary values seems impossible. She feels all alone, yet she is watched over by ancestral spirits – three “matriarchal clowns” who sometimes appear in the form of her outrageous aunts: Emily, Molly and Pauline. The aunts take Shanna on a mythic journey to Niagara Falls. The waters that whispered along the banks of the Grand River have become the thundering torrents of Niagara Falls, as native people around the world celebrate their cultures and gain empowerment. Her aunts’ warmth and humour, and a dream-like encounter with a well-known native leader, help Shanna realize she is loved and is entitled to live her life, remembering and respecting the people of the past and traditional ways. Cast: Elijah Harper,Elizabeth Burning, Debra Doxtater, everley miller, Elizabeth Doxtater. ” **** Colorful and imaginative. Recommended for academic and public libraries having strong multicultural or women’s studies collections.” – Video Rating Guide for Libraries
It Starts With a Whisper
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A noir melodrama about a librarian’s struggle as she encounters the capricious behaviour of a would-be kennel owner who is searching for a reference. Intrigue, romance, crime and punishment . . . For lesbian librarian Jane Putnam, it all happens in the stacks of the city’s oldest public library. Starring: Eileen O’Toole, Sky Gilbert, Sarah Stanley and Moynan King. Director of photography: Kim Derko. Sound design: Paula Fairfield. Awards: Bronze Award (Fantasy/Horror), Houston Worldfest, 1998
It Happened in the Stacks
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“Iskowitz” is a rare and intimate view of the life of the late Canadian painter Gershon Iskowitz. Born in 1921, in Kielce, Poland, Iskowitz began painting in 1941. At a time when most young men are exploring the world and discovering themselves, he was interned in the Nazi concentration camps at Auschwitz and Buchenwald. To preserve his sanity he continued to paint, bribing guards for the coffee grounds he then used to create his ink. When the camp was liberated at the end of the war, Iskowitz retrieved his artwork, which had survived by being stashed under floorboards. It took him two years to recover physically, having dropped to eighty pounds during his incarceration. Iskowitz emigrated to Canada alone in 1949, the only member of his family to survive the Nazi death camps. For almost forty years, he lived in downtown Toronto and spent many summers painting in the Parry Sound-Georgian Bay-Muskoka region. It was there that his style evolved from the dark scenes and portraits he was first known for, into the more abstract views of the landscape that would become his trademark. This film contains a wide representation of Gershon’s works, from his earliest surviving sketches of the concentration camps to his last work, before his death at age 67 in 1988.
Iskowitz
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Is Dad Dead Yet? Scarlett, Dorothy and Lola want to know. Hollywood’s image subtext is the beginning for this broken narrative anti-dramatic film. Two women, a niece and her aunt, contemplate the familial cycles of relationships, death, secrets and confidences. Through their correspondence they question the power of images, trace authority’s abuse through various spheres, and engage in a dialogue with history. History itself is embedded in us, in our flesh. Its evidence in our lives is manifest through us and through the familial and political relationships and structures we carry forward. The two women offer each other a place of rest.
Is Dad Dead Yet?
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“Good evening, the United States of America is at war.” “The Iraq Campaign” by San Francisco videographer Phil Patiris presents a compelling artistic documentary of the immediate American national spirit as promoted and reflected by television during the weeks of Desert Storm (plus its short-lived afterglow). This “television history” is intended as well to be a representation of corporate television’s high-tech style in presenting extraordinary news events, illustrating the ultimate convergence of American news and entertainment; and of how the magic and power of television can be used as a not-so-subtle device for mass influence by corporate media in co-operation (or partnership) with government and industry.
Iraq Campaign, The
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An unusual story of a woman and a man which reflects on human communication. What starts off as a simple trick becomes a revelation. Our propensity to unfold the mystery that represents another person remains an inevitable challenge. Note: French language
Intrusion, L’
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This series of films, each extraordinarily unique from every other (except “0 + 10” going together) is inspired and governed by strata of the mind’s moving-visual-thinking different from that of the “Roman Numeral Series” or perhaps one should say that the Arabic Numerals come to fruition thru some tree-of nerves separate from that which gave birth to the Romans (as it is physiologically deceptive to think of thought as existing in “layers”). The Arabics range in length from approximately 5 min. to 32 min. and may be projected at 24 fps as well as 18, tho’ the latter speed seems preferable for starts. I think each film’s integrity of rhythm would allow viewing at a greater variety of speeds, were there the 16mm projectors to allow that exercise. So far as I can tell, they defy verbal interpretation (even more than their Roman equivalents) and would, thus, seem to be closer to Music than any previous work given me to do; but if that be true, it is (as composer James Tenney put it to me) that they relate to that relatively small area of musical composition which resists Song and Dance and exists more purely in terms of Sound Events in Time/Space. Finally, then, the inspiration of all those modern (and a few ancient) composers I’ve most loved since my teens overwhelms the easier, and comfortably lovely, habits of jig and do-re-mi AND creates a visual correlative OF music’s eventuality – i.e. each Arabic is formed by the intrinsic grammar of the most inner (perhaps pre-natal) structure of thought itself.
Arabic Numeral Series – Arabic 17
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A silent “talking heads” film. Elwy Yost as a purely physical presence as he talks to the camera, often in extreme close-up.
Introducing Elwy
