Film Categories: Landscape

  • John Porter Sampler

    John Porter uses film as visual art, much like painting or sculpture,. Most of his 300 films are silent, very short and made in series, such aas landscapes, cityscapes, popular rituals, crowd documentaries, local histories, toy stories and “Camera Dances” in which he performs for the camera. Unlike most filmmakers, John shows his original films (no copies) and incorporates performance into the exhibition by miming in front of the screen, moving a hand-held projector around the room, and talking with the audience during the his films. He has been invited to many university film production classes to demonstrate a different…

  • In the Garden

    A quiet moment with the plants. A home-grown film: shot in my garden, processed in my basement, and dried on the lawn. (LF) Selected screenings: Anthology Film Archives, New York, 2007; Images Festival, Toronto, ON, 2004; Pleasure Dome New Toronto Works, Toronto, ON, 2004; “Textured Traces,” Foreman Art Gallery, Montreal, QC, 2005; Best of the LIFT $99 Film Festival Tour, various locations, 2005

  • 4x8x3

    8mm unsplit. Streetcars circle. The ferry leaves and returns in one gesture. Camera and character dance. Selected screenings: The Independents “Recent Work Roundup,” Cinematheque Ontario, Canada 2004; Best of the LIFT $99 Film Festival Tour, Canada, 2004

  • Moving Violation

    Shot in Pixelvision and digital video, “Moving Violation” is an examination of the texture, rhythm and beauty that resides hidden within a community. It is a document of our disintegrating past, as a downtown area is slowly demolished to make room for parking. Selected screenings: Rotterdam International Film Festival, 2003; Viper International Film Festival, 2003; Reykjavik Short Film Festival, 2002 Awards: Best Experimental, Saskatchewan Showcase, Canada, 2002

  • Exteriors

    “Exteriors” is a portrait of a young woman and the landscape she inhabits. It is about the walls people construct, real or imaginary. “Poignant and poetic, the work engages our notions of the ‘moving image.’” – Photophobia Film Festival 2000 Selected screenings & awards: Best First Film, $100 Film Festival, Calgary, AB, 1999; Brisbane International Film Festival, Australia, 1999; Vancouver International Film Festival, Vancouver, BC, 1999; Rotterdam International Short Film Festival, Netherlands, 1999

  • Silo

    In the restrictive confines of a circular room, five beautiful women communicate through sound – cackles, hisses, whispers, giggles and hushes. Intercut with quick, intimate shots of eyes, lips and hands, the film focuses on the women of Urge (Linda Catlin Smith, Fides Krucker, Marie-Josée Chartier, Katherine Duncanson and Anita La Selva) as they use a broad range of movements, gestures and vocal techniques to suggest a slightly sinister lullaby.

  • Garden of Stone

    Kathak dancer Joanna Das performs this tale of the journey to the mythical Garden of Stone, a sacred landscape that is at once barren and deeply contemplative. The film is an exploration of colour, form and movement within a constantly changing environment. “Garden of Stone” is a story of transformation and spiritual epiphany performed in one of the most beautiful and dynamic forms of classical Indian dance. Music by Eric Cadesky with Ed Hanley and Kurt Swinghammer.

  • Tran Scan

    A stunning cross-Canada journey. A sequence of 112 specially designed telescopic time-lapse scenes form a seamless “flight” across the continent from Pacific to Atlantic. A new way of seeing. A celebration and a memorial. “The telescope becomes a microscope… and a stethoscope.” – SXA “A hypnotic meditation on landscape and perspective.” – Seattle Weekly “Reminiscent of extreme IMAX films, Tran Scan has beautiful scenery and cinematography of the highest caliber. Undoubtedly the most labor-intensive travel film ever created. No still image can convey a sense of this film.” – POV Magazine Selected screenings & awards: Silver Remi Award in Cinematography,…

  • paradise falls, new mexico

    “The desert wind from America’s Southwestern ghost towns blows through the film’s emulsion, stripping away the myth behind the imagery of shoot-outs, outlaws and the lone gunmen from Hollywood Westerns.” – Images Festival, Toronto, 2004 Note: 16mm dual-projection Selected Screenings: Time Inside the Image [3], Foreman Art Gallery of Bishop’s University, Jan. 31-March 31, 2007

  • I Don’t Exist

    “I Don’t Exist” succintly shows one girl’s feelings of isolation, invisibility and anger on the streets of Hackney. Excellent camerawork makes this piece a small gem.