This film uses a variety of multiple-screen formats to create an intriguing series of visual riddles. The film consists of a series of simple camera movements that are rendered “diachronically” – several different aspects of the action are presented on the screen at once. By playing with time delays between these images, new kinds of space, action, gesture and temporality have been found. Generated from structural principles, the film is both lyrical and sensual and provokes a new understanding of time and cinema. “…a sensual piece of visual music… staggered imagery in everflowing Godardian movements, enhanced by sumptuous colour and by delayed actions of concentrated rhythmic power.” – Amos Vogel, WHYY-TV “When Rose fills the screen with twenty-five images, the experience is akin to music. An image ripples across the screen as a theme echoes across the different instruments of a full orchestra, giving way to complicated designs, each image an arabesque in a Persian rug.” – Noel Carroll, Soho Weekly News Collections: Donnell Film Library; Australian National Film Library; Northwestern University.
Filter Films
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German couple Petra and Kerstin are back–in couple’s counselling. At their therapist’s request, they rent a hotel room and try, unsuccessfully, to engage in role-play. Yet, it’s in the hotel room that the women realize they’re not alone…and that their relationship may not be the only problem. (Note: Not available through CFMDC in the United Kingdom including Malta, Gibraltar, Channel Islands, Isle of Man and Republic of Ireland.)
Frischluft-Therapie 2 (Fresh Air Therapy 2)
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A cyclist meets a stranger in the market. A boy waits for his mother to return home. A man wakes up to find that his face is being stolen by shadows. Three separate encounters become the departure point for “Bol (Speak!),” a short dramatic experimental triptych on the nature of violence. Inspired by the Pakistani Marxist poet, Faiz Ahmed Faiz’s poem Bol, and drawn from real events, the film uses still photographs, puppets and folk dance to comment on the increasing ubiquity and tenor of violence in South Asia. It is a gradually escalating experience of violence. All three chapters are available separately for distribution through CFMDC.
Bol (Speak!)
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Shot in the Genesee Valley of New York State on regular 8mm to commemorate the last rolls of Kodachrome. The colours of the leaves and the film stock are augmented by orange colour filters, boosting the contrast and highlighting the rich saturated yellows, reds and orange of stock and season.
Genesee
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“Sex On Wheels” tells the secret history of San Francisco’s sex workers. Interweaving Super 8 footage of a living history bike tour/theater piece (think Colonial Williamsburg, with whores) with archival film and photographs, the film tells the story of a city’s forgotten residents: an ex-slave who became a wealthy procuress, a cross-dressing 1940s lesbian gigolo, a madam who became mayor, a gang of transgender teen hustlers who rioted for their rights, a radical feminist hooker/assassin, and a posse of anarchist strippers who took over a peep-show. 38-minute version also available, see “Sex on Wheels (demi-feature)”
Sex On Wheels (short)
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“A digitally animated version of Sol LeWitt’s Wall Drawing #349, which was commissioned by Toronto’s Mercer Union gallery in 1981. Recreating LeWitt’s geometric vocabulary and primary colour palette, 349 careens through emblazoned emblems, lifted from walls and transported into dialogue with LeWitt’s exploration of spatial systems and human emotion.” – Andréa Picard, Toronto International Film Festival
349 (for Sol LeWitt)
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“A study of the incongruous and iconic suspended monorail in Wuppertal Germany. Shot on super 8 and finished on 35mm film, ‘Phantoms’ expertly employs the exaggerated grainy texture of the emulsion to suggest a netherworld out of time, both science fiction and ancient history, while an accompanying text muses on the vanity and folly suggested by the mysterious structure.” – Kate MacKay, Images Festival Text by Ryan Kamstra. Financial assistance provided by the Ontario Arts Council.
Phantoms
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Inverted Super 8 and video footage paints a hauntingly beautiful portrait of Saskatchewan’s northern forests. “Daybreak” is an attempt to strip different images down to their basic elements, to examine their photographic possibilities, and their connection to a larger “Canadian” identity. Original score by Jason Moberg. Selected screenings: Planet in Focus Environmental Film Festival (Toronto, ON), 2011; Antimatter Film Festival (Victoria, BC), 2011
Daybreak
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“Crash Points 3” is based on “Crash Points,” a performance created by Peter Dudar during his partnership with dancer/choreographer Lily Eng. As Missing Associates, they were part of the experimental dance scene in art galleries during the 1970s and 1980s. “Crash Points” was essentially a non-competitive track and field event in which the perimeter of a gallery was used as a running track. Hurdles coming down (“crash points”) triggered interactions between the performers. “Crash Points 3” uses footage from two earlier “Crash Points” films-digitized and extensively re-edited. With contemporary video techniques, Dudar both re-interprets and enhances the performance.
Crash Points 3
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Haunted by his role in the death of his childhood friend, a filmmaker reflects on regret and loss, Animorphs and bjs. Awards: Entertainment Partners Canada / Canada Film Capitol Award for Emerging Canadian Artist, Inside Out Film Festival, Toronto, 2011; ‘Best Experimental Narrative’ Award, Couch Fest, Reykjavik, Iceland, 2011.
Swim
