In “Gloria!” Frampton juxtaposes 19th-century concerns with contemporary forms through the interfacing of a work of early cinema with a videographic display of textual material. These two formal components (the film and the texts) in turn relate to a 19th-century figure, Hollis’ maternal grandmother, and to a 20th-century one, Frampton himself. In attempting to recapture their relationship, “Gloria!” becomes a somewhat comic, often touching meditation on death, memory, and the power of image, music, and text to resurrect that past.
Filter Films
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Through a rapid montage of mirror reflected images, I introduce my 72-year-old Mother. Sitting in a flower garden, putting on lipstick, my Mother watches the world quickly go by. (GM)
Glimpses of My Mother in the Garden
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When gunshots ring out at school, library geek Alex finds herself hiding with popular girl Ruby, Alex’s secret crush. Will Alex find the courage to reveal her true desire amid the overwhelming fear and confusion?
Under Pressure
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“Girl from Moush” is a poetic montage of the artist’s journey through her subconscious Armenia. It is not an Armenia based in a reality, but one which appears, like the mythical city of Shangri La, when one closes one’s eyes. Rooted in what Jung may call a “communal consciousness,” her Armenia appears on film as a collage of myth, legend, experience and immigration. In her memoir, Gariné reveals a longing which is visualized but yet never solidly based in our reality. Icons of Armenia appear on the screen for only a second, and then disappear from both the viewer’s and the artist’s minds. The world of the traveller is filled with uncertainty and fascination. As viewers we are engaged and forced through unchartered landscapes that have been traditionally been restricted to the mind of the artist. Projected into proportions which are larger than life, the viewer is forced to confront and assimilate all that s/he views and perceives. Berlinale, Panorama 40th Anniversary Screening, 2019
Girl from Moush
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Within a single Chinatown room, we see fragments of the lives of the Chinese immigrants who lived there over a span of sixty years – a bachelor in the 1890s, a small family group in the 1920s, a young post-war couple with children in the 1940s, and a grandfather with his two Americanized grandsons in the 1950s. The characters are ghosts, transparent as they fade in and out, mixing their lives and family stories. As these ghosts occupy the same room for one last time, their dialogues are interwoven and always return to the subject of ghosts, a strong part of Chinese tradition and belief. Each character is associated with a particular decade and decor. Only the furniture – a table and some chairs – remain the same. The changing clothing styles and furnishings show transitions within the Chinese immigrant community as new generations become westernized. Even so, links to the past always remain. These immigrant stories are also linked to traditional music – Peking Opera performed (according to tradition) by a man and Cantonese Opera music performed by some of New York Chinatown’s senior citizens. The only constant factor is the room itself, which becomes a witness to many lives. “Ghost Story” is a work about time and memory.
Ghost Story
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This experiment in point of view, narrative structure, and time attempts to reproduce cinematically Gertude Stein’s notion of a “continuous present.” In four rhyming shots/scenes, it suggests the development of a relationship over many years. Based on biographical details from the lives of Gertrude Stein and Alice B. Toklas, with improvised performances by Jackie Burroughs and Anne Anglin.
Gertrude & Alice in Passing
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The text of “Gently Down the Stream” is a succession of fourteen dreams taken from eight years of my journals. The text is scratched onto the film so that you don’t hear any voice but that of a recorded narrator. The images of women, water, animals, and saints were chosen for their indirect but potent correspondence to the text. I chose to work with dre ams that express my deepest anxieties and longings, or that have forced a sudden awareness about a nagging problem. “I go to the circus to see women fly through the air with the greatest of ease. But then I find myself staring at many paths worn around… and round… and around in the sawdust by the clown’s feet.” (SF) “The technique is an homage to the hardwork of women. The film portrays a dreamscape where society’s conflicts step on stage in muted, mysterious forms.” – Kathleen Hulser, In These Times “‘Gently Down the Stream’ demonstrates Friedrich’s considerable technical talents and formal creativity as well as her canny historical sense in reappropriating the formal strategies generally associated with the ‘structural film.’” Bruce Jenkins, Millenium Film Journal
Gently Down the Stream
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In “Antigone” we re-visit the twisted shapes of the Master in his various get-ups: father, king, detective, god, stats, text, son…film director. Also featuring a familiar mother-lover combo. “…A blast of fresh air on the experimental scene, this cheeky, post-modern story about the story rips apart any pretensions we may hold about the avant-garde, the Canadian film industry, or narrative itself.” – Festival of Festivals “Antigone” rolls out black and white, silent-movie style, with a blast of horns and the mock-mournful strains of the violin. Slapstick sounds and Popovich’s narration prick the pretensions of those involved in retelling the [Oedipus and Antigone] legend.” – Sean Condon, St. Catherines Standard
Antigone
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A zesty paean of praise to the greater glories of garlic. This lip-smacking foray into the history, consumption, cultivation, and culinary/curative powers of the stinking rose features chef Alice Waters of Chez Panisse and a flavourful musical soundtrack. The SF Chronicle called this paean to garlic “a joyous, nose-tweaking, ear-tingling, mouth-watering tribute to a Life Force.” Nothing less than a hymn to the stinking rose of the kitchen, this lovingly photographed documentary is an odyssey of garlic feasts alternated with uniquely individual interviews of garlic afficionados. Not only does the film promote garlic as our first line of defense against all forms of blandness, it also titillates the taste buds with shots of garlic dishes sizzling in their pans. Les Blank shows again that he knows how to have a good time and share it on film – especially if it involves food!
Garlic Is as Good as Ten Mothers
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This film (related to “Mothlight”) is a collage composed entirely of montane zone vegetation. As the title suggests it is an homage to (but also argument with) Hieronymus Bosch. It pays tribute as well, and more naturally, to “The Tangled Garden” of J.E.H. MacDonald and the flower paintings of Emil Nolde.
Garden of Earthly Delights, The
