Film Categories: Portraits

  • rameau

    A documentary work which takes an in-depth look at the full range of Michael Snow’s work, including his painting, photography, music, sculpture, and filmmaking. Through conversations with Snow, and interviews with other members of Canada’s cultural community, the viewer is given an understanding of his challenging art. The film is designed in such a way as to give the uninitiated viewer a lasting introduction to Snow’s work and an understanding of our national artistic heritage.

  • So Far So

    A pencil portrait of the artist as a young woman. My Boyfriend Gave Me Peaches: Fleming utilizes her quirky, elegantly minimalistic style to superb effect in this film, a humorously nasty teenage girls’ ditty about a mean boyfriend who gets bumped down the stairs and carted off in an ambulance. I Love My Work: In the faux-naif stick-figure animation Fleming describes the plight of the modern woman who insists on trying to get to work, despite horoscope warnings that she should stay at home.

  • Sons of Captain Poetry

    This “fantasy documentary” tries to blend Canadian poet bp Nichol’s everyday world with the images of characters in his poetry. Sequences include a section on Plunkett, Saskatchewan, where the poet grew up, and scenes of him discussing “concrete poetry.” In the film bp Nichol performs several sound poems. There are also scenes showing his involvement with Coach House Press and Therafields.

  • Special of the Day

    In an event designed specifically for the film, two of the most renowned young chefs working in Canada, Jamie Kennedy and Michael Stadtlander, come together to collaborate on a special meal for a surprise guest. As contemporaries who also happen to be old friends, the chefs complement each other’s distinct visions as they work side-by-side in the highly charged atmoshphere of a restaurant kitchen. In a subtle cherography of action and sensitivity, their work unfolds in the film like a performance, conjuring up a delightful visual treat. The chefs pepper the action with their own insights, shedding light on the…

  • Sweetblood

    “‘Sweetblood’’s chief elements include a flurry of family photos, a collage of Italian immigrant voices and a bottle of red. Expertly made, this memoir is Steve Sanguedolce’s hymn to his family, and his own secret history of the seventies.” – Toronto Festival of Festivals “Perhaps the most evocative short film in the program is Steve Sanguedolce’s ‘Sweetblood,’ which examines the strained relationship between the filmmaker and his emotionally detached father. A collage of family photographs and cryptic subtitles fills the screen while the voices of his family and his personal thoughts are heard. An emotionally stirring film in which the…

  • These Shoes Weren’t Made for Walking

    The filmmaker documents the lives of four women in his family, using their shoes as a common reference and as a springboard for thoughtful and provocative contemplations about their experiences. These four women (paternal grandmother, mother, paternal aunt, sister) recount and discuss the cultural and socio-economic forces that have shaped their lives. From the four-inch “golden lotus” embroidered silk sandals designed to fit my great-grandmother’s bound feet during the Ching Dynasty in Imperial China, to the tennis shoes and Italian leather pumps sported by my career-minded chartered accountant sister, the poignant stories behind their shoes are revealed. The film ends…

  • Waterworx (A Clear Day and No Memories)

    The waterworks in the Beaches area of Toronto is the source of an eidetic-like image from early childhood. It was always an enigma to me, and after returning years later to shoot this film, I was still not satisfied it was merely a filtration plant. Its architecture functioned more significantly as some kind of temporal metaphor. Wallace Stevens’ ironic and equally enigmatic poem, “A Clear Day And No Memories,” was sought out to address this phenomenon, and to appear as interruptive graphic for the same reason the editing is interruptive – that is, to both work with the alluring nature…

  • Waving

    “Waving” is a short film exploring the cyclical rituals of life, death and the family. A personal narrative chronicles the relationship between the author and her grandmother. Visual imagery works to create a strong metaphor, suggestive of the overwhelming, consuming power of grief.

  • Woodbridge

    “Woodbridge” is a deeply personal exposé of family life within the context of first generation Italian-Canadian Roman Catholics. The film revolves around the journey of a boy from early childhood through adulthood. It highlights the conflicts of growing up in the space between two cultures with radically different customs and values. While this film documents the particular experiences of one child, it is a reflection of a sociological phenomenon common to many Canadian children. “Woodbridge” is different from most other documentary work primarily because the camera adopts the role of the protagonist. It represents the viewer with a multitude of…

  • X

    A profound and powerful experimental, personal film of one woman’s despair, rage and exhibitionism; a baroque fugue of identity chanting growing from women’s pain to a holistic, self-healing naming ritual.