Film Categories: art & artists

  • Hate

    Using his own lumpy body as a template, artist RM Vaughan explores differing reactions by various audiences to the blunt reality of having a non-commodifiable body in the age of supermodels. Alternately scathing and self-deprecating, “Hate” dishes out (and takes) some unhappy truths about “beauty” and art.

  • Observatory, The

    An ambient track of evening sounds accompanies rephotographed sketches of the night sky by Jerry Spevak. “The Observatory” turns the heavens on its head: the blackness of space becomes the white of the page, the stars and galaxies precise points of black graphite. The pages of Spevak’s sketchbook are animated to capture the rotation of and movement through a vast, spectacular universe. Selected screenings: Toronto International Film Festival, 2004; Best of the LIFT $99 No Excuses Film Festival, Toronto, 2004

  • Canadian Landscape

    A tongue-in-cheek meditation on the Canadian iconographic obsession with landscape. A (literally) washed-up drag queen on the shores of Newfoundland finds herself trapped in a vicious circle.

  • Hollywood Forever

    Using the Hollywood Forever cemetary as a backdrop (the cemetary that figures prominently in Kenneth Anger’s “Hollywood Babylon”), the filmmaker recounts his visit to Outfest, LA’s big queer film fest. Pigeons sit on grandiose monuments, flying down to snack, as Hollings talks about the perks of visiting an LA film festival as an experimental filmmaker – especially the free drinks and all-you-can-eat buffets.

  • Living Space

    “Living Space” is a film about the relationship between architecture and illness which follows the construction of a new cancer care centre designed by architect Frank Gehry. It traces the process of creating a space specially designed for people affected by cancer, a patient-centred approach which attempts to counter the alienating atmosphere of the hospital. This was Gehry’s first commission since the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao and his first building in the U.K.

  • Working Portraits

    A document in the form of a portrait. Shot in June 2000 at Philip Hoffman’s Independent Imaging Retreat in Mount Forest, Ontario, this films stays close to the participants and the film medium itself as they work on their projects. With Becka Barker, Helen Hill, Deirdre Logue, Kelly Krotine, Alexis Rubenstein (1975-2002) and Karyn Sandlos. Thanks to Phil Hoffman, Sabastjan Henrickson of Niagara Custom Lab in Toronto, and the Liaison of Independent Filmmakers of Toronto. “Process must not be viewed as a goal or an end in itself, nor must it be confused with an infinite perpetuation of itself.” –…

  • Fly

    Traces of birds become calligraphy. Handmade filmmaking creates impressions of flying. York University Award for Best Student Film, Images Festival, Toronto, 2005

  • Birdlings Two

    In this experimental documentary, an animation the filmmaker’s father made with Norman McLaren decades ago becomes a meditation on art, invention, fathers and daughters. “A delightfully personal short documentary.” – Bruce Kirkland, Toronto Sun “Sweet and observant, with a lovely conclusion.” – Eye Weekly, Toronto Selected screenings & awards: CBC Zed (broadcast); Toronto International Film Festival; Honorable Mention, Best Short Doc, Slamdance; Silverdocs Documentary Festival; Moving Pictures: MadCat Women’s International Film Festival. For more information: www.birdlings.com

  • Better Fate than Never

    “Better Fate Than Never” is intended to be an experimental and humorous look at the possibility of changing one’s fate. I am interested in undoing the everyday “accidents” that can change the course of one’s day – I am talking about the mishaps that ruin my otherwise perfectly timed mornings. Using found footage from Bewitched and I Dream of Jeanie, Samantha and Jeanie help me to overcome the challenges of getting out the door. Originally made as part of the Command Z residency with Charles Street Video and the Images Festival.

  • INDUSTRY: Recent Works by Richard Kerr – Limited Edition

    INDUSTRIE / INDUSTRY Oeuvres récentes / Recent Works by Richard Kerr Edited by Brett Kashmere Part high-tech, part handmade, this unique DVD-format exhibition catalog contains two hours of audio-visual material, including three new collage films and a spellbinding slide show by the Montreal filmmaker and visual artist Richard Kerr, as well as a bonus 60-minute audio collage/radio drama by Gerstyn Hayward. Packaged in original handcrafted and painted covers, the disc is accompanied by 70 pages of critical writing, notebook drawings, production notes, photographs, exhibition documentation and related artworks, plus a pullout gallery floor plan. With essays, conversations, program notes and…