Film Categories: art & artists

  • Gabey and Mike: A Jewish Summer Camp Love Story

    Gabey and Mike: A Jewish Summer Camp Love Story takes its name from a song by Mermaid Café – a folk band comprised of Andi D., Joe A. Rider and Merrill Nisker (now known as ‘Peaches’) that gained popularity at Canadian Jewish summer camps in the early 90s. The video juxtaposes the tale of the band with playful re-creations of the story of Gabey and Mike, in a queer re-staging of the classic summer camp movie. Gabey and Mike uses the tropes of this genre alongside references from iconic queer films in order to grasp the significance of this band…

  • Tear Jerker

    Elliot can’t cry and he needs to. He’s recently been dumped by his ex- girlfriend, who has decided she wants to exclusively date “real” men. His mother is descending deeper and deeper into the progression of her Alzheimer’s disease. And the testosterone he takes regularly seems to have made his body forget how to grieve. “Tear Jerker” is a portrait of a transgender guy faced with difficult life circumstances trying to find new ways to express old and familiar feelings.

  • Athyrium filix-femina

    The second in a series of “quilt films” that pay homage to the work of pioneering female artists, “Athyrium filix-femina” reimagines Anna Atkins’ founding work in photography as a moving image. In 1843, Anna Atkins published the first book of photography, “Photographs of British Algae: Cyanotype Impressions”, an exploration of regional botany that classified different kinds of algae using direct prints of the plants. The cyanotype process was a relatively short-lived as a dominant form of photography, however, it found refuge in the domestic sphere where it was used to decorate fabric for pillows, drapes and clothing. By combining filmmaking…

  • Mezzo

    When Breanna was 12 years old, she discovered opera and began exploring and acknowledging her gender identity. At age 25, she is the first transgender woman to complete a Masters in Opera at a major conservatory. The film traces the days leading up to her graduation recital while harkening back to the defining moments of her girlhood.

  • Luna e Santur

    “Originally commissioned as a short for Ben Coonley’s My First 3D Part 2 at Microscope Gallery, I expanded this project into what it currently is: hooded figures, violent passion, and stroboscopic tenderness brought on by a paranormal encounter I had in the summer of 2015.” –JGS ‘‘A visually assaultive threnody for losses never fully revealed and composed for monstrous times, LUNA E SANTUR mingles sex and death with the supernatural and subnaturalistic.’-Colin Beckett “Moon and sun are elliptically and stroboscopically conjured in Joshua Gen Solondz’s cloistered yet operatic Luna e Santur. In milky, hand-processed images, hooded figures recalling Magritte’s The Lovers enact a…

  • Every Day 1, 2, 3

    “Every Day 1, 2, 3″ is a set of three small artist zines about the relation between film and life, living and filmmaking as Sternberg sees it. The books reference different experiences of time respectively: 1. Daily, repetitive; 2. Random, contingent; 3. Cumulative. Book 3’s images document Sternberg’s studio: film strips, cans of film, editing equipment, optical printer, and Bolex camera. Price: $15.00 + applicable taxes & shipping CREDITS: Text and Photographs: Barbara Sternberg Size: 5″ x 5 1/4” Pages: 28 p. per booklet Year of Production: 2016 Designer: Ann O’Callaghan Production: Shawn Samson Country of Production: Canada Edition Size:…

  • XircaNoX

    It is an abstract musical narrative in which the hunting instinct plays out in an other-world setting. XircaNox inhabits a mysterious and challenging world full of art historical images. Set to an original score by the composer-animator, XircaNox is a significant addition to the artistic genre. Art history images include iconic works by Van Gogh, Holbein, Fragonard, Rodin, Manet, Da Vinci, Velazquez, Renoir, Ingres, Michelangelo, and more.

  • Centre of the Cyclone

    In the province of the mind there are no limits. However, in the province of the body there are definite limits not to be transcended.” John C Lilly An invocation for the transcendence between the corporal and metaphysical, the passage is guided by marooned sailors, a moment of celestial chance, demolition derbies, and a slipping into the ether

  • The Friend from Tel Aviv

    Noam, a young Israeli transgender, is nervous and excited to meet his childhood friend Natan after many years. Louise, a free spirited mom, in whose house Noam has been staying for the last six months, decides to throw a party at her place when her kid leaves for the weekend. Noam invites Natan to the party but things get messy when Noam’s tender attempts to reconnect with his friend are jeopardized by Louise’ inappropriate behavior.

  • Gibraltar Point (transformed)

    Erratic flashes of light spark across a flickering expanse of Lake Ontario. The image itself can’t be contained as light and debris spill outside the frame. The random alchemy of hand-processing techniques creates a landscape that transcends the observable, edging into the sublime. The ninth work in an ongoing series of poetic landscape films. “Gibraltar Point (transformed)” was created during a residency at Artscape Gibraltar Point on Toronto Island. Shot on black and white 16mm film, hand-processed, then transferred digitally with an ambient sound design by Michelle Irving. Selected screenings: Festival International du Film sur l’Art (Montreal, QC, 2017); Antimatter…