Film Categories: body

  • MY WOUNDED HEAD

    A transwoman puts on makeup. The makeup and her movements are a metaphor for her transformation, as well as the dialectical revealing and concealment of herself from the scrutiny of the outside world. Taking its title from Marc Chan’s composition, MY WOUNDED HEAD is an experimental short film that investigates issues of representation, preconceived notions and reflexivity. Marc’s music, featured in the soundtrack, is itself a reflexive reinterpretation of a set of chorales from Bach’s St. Matthew’s Passion, “O Haupt voll Blut und Wunden” (“O Sacred Head Now Wounded”).

  • ANCESTRIES

    An anagram of “resistance,” ANCESTRIES is a layered piece that encodes the dialectics of colonialism, de-sexualization, desire and resistance. An Asian is seduced by, and in turn, seduces a Caucasian whilst simultaneously reframing and performing two arias from Samson et Delilah by Camille Saint-Saëns. ANCESTRIES suggests possibilities for resistance vs. outright rejection by having the Asian turn the colonized culture against itself. At the same time, it brackets the Western de-sexualization and feminization of Asian males (and high voices), while simultaneously exemplifying and subverting the stereotypes of submission. The use of male bodies also calls out the worship of hard,…

  • DELILAH JUKEBOX

    DELILAH JUKEBOX (aka DJ) toys with the notion of loops, repetition, and dichotomy like the A-B sides of a vinyl record. Delilah is not just a woman, she is the embodiment and projection of fear and fantasy; her name conjures diverse images and prejudices of the lover, the traitor, the fallen woman, the temptress, the patriot, and the vengeful, etc. Through a series of repetitions of Delilah’s aria “Printemps qui commence” (from the opera Samson et Delilah by Camille Saint-Saëns) in a series of domestic spaces, male mezzo Stephen Chen explores the representation of the feminine by deconstructing and re-imagining…

  • The Natural State

    Inspired by the writings and philosophy of U.G. Krishnamurti, The Natural State is a visual essay on why we have only the present and our bodies. Spirituality, fear and consciousness are constructed by the continuity of thought.

  • Change Over Time

    Change Over Time is an animated, experimental, personal documentary about the filmmaker’s first year on testosterone from an impressionistic and poetic perspective. The filmmaker asks himself the questions, what kind of man will I become? What emotional and soul changes will I experience during this time? The result is a distilled, evocative poem of Ewan’s musings on loss, love, and change through the use of stop-motion and digital animation, still photography, and time-lapse cinematography. Change Over Time will leave viewers with the wave of the filmmaker’s experiences washing over them.

  • Aged

    Aged is an experimental documentary about the relationship between aging and corporeal perception. From 2005 -2011, along with my sisters, I was a caregiver for my father, during his swift movement into old age. Over this period I maintained a practice of diaristic sketching using film, video and sound, and through this process I collected a significant archive of intimate moments, at the summer cottage, where my father chose to die. This raw material has been worked and reworked through various modes of digital and filmic manipulation. Ultimately Aged uncovers the common process of aging, the cinematic elements acting as…

  • Dream Filip

    In this filmic portrait, artist Filip Olszewski dreams, dances, and dreams of dancing. He moves amongst sheer fabric, candlelight, smoke and makeshift altars to a cover of the song “Dream Weaver” (sung by the filmmaker). Inspired by Filip’s performance art, the video attempts to reconcile feelings of euphoria experienced when dancing with the pain of being earth-bound. The video and song are gifts of friendship.

  • Eyelash Wars

    Eyelash Wars is a melodramatic, expanded fiction about the rivalry between two female entrepreneurs who battle for supremacy in the false eyelash business. They compete by putting on elaborate, bizarro window displays that in time, escalate in scale and symbolism. Townspeople come and go, playing bit parts in this haunting and surreal world. In addition to screening as a single-channel film, Eyelash Wars can be presented in conjunction with installation and performance components that extend the story beyond the boundaries of the screen.

  • Trans Lives Matter! Justice for Islan Nettles

    A powerful and intensely moving document of a community vigil for Islan Nettles, a transgender Womyn of Colour, concerning her spirit and life. Because the personal is political. Because the brutal and increasing attacks on Trans Womyn of Color are outrageous and their victimization causes outrage. Because healing and action tighten our fists and boom our voices. Islan’s murder was a hate crime, she was only 21. Her vigil was held at Jackie Robinson Park in Harlem, steps away from where she was murdered. This endeavour captured the love and support that the community brought to sustain each other and…

  • Seeker Wing

    One person makes the long and difficult journey towards finding their own beauty. In trying to mimic the beauty of others around them, they repeatedly fail at their attempts to be something they’re not. Only when they muster the courage to look inward, do they find what they were looking for all along.