Film Categories: Portraits

  • Baggage

    Martin, a 30-year-old single man, lives a regular and well-ordered life. One morning, however, a mysterious suitcase inexplicably appears, and pursues him wherever he goes: in his home, at the office, outside at lunch time. Finally escaping to a public washroom, he encounters a man he recognizes from his past. Frightened, Martin takes refuge in a toilet stall. When he comes out the man has disappeared, only to be replaced by the ever-present suitcase. Martin decides to face his fears and open the suitcase, and what he discovers inside leads him towards a richer and more poetic existence.

  • Rubb My Chubb

    If you’re a Torontonian, and hip to the fat revolution, you can’t have missed the recent explosion of the Fat Femme Mafia. Call them what you want. Large and in charge. Larger than life. These women have been hitting the city with the strong words of politics of size. During the inception of the Mafia, we could only gossip with possibilities. Soon there were rumours, whispers, and boisterous claims about the phenomenal event that was to be Chubb Rubb: A Fat Cabaret. This short documentary follows the Fat Femme Mafia, their fat co-conspirators and allies in the days leading up…

  • Mr. Edison’s Ear

    “An inventive exploration of the visceral nature of sound and how we learned to capture and reproduce it over time. Anchored by the discovery of the phonograph by the brilliant-and deaf-inventor Thomas Edison, this visual and conceptual collage of rich archival footage and animation playfully traces the birth of technological reproduction and the beginnings of our modern, audio-drenched world.” – Gisèle Gordon (Hot Docs Canadian Spectrum programmer) Selected Screenings: Canadian Spectrum, HotDocs, 2008; DOK Leipzig Festival, 2008

  • Young Prince, The

    The fifth film in THE BOOK OF ALL THE PRAISE cycle. “‘The Young Prince’ film is my current project, and is based on alchemical themes. The film is about transformations – about transformations of imagery, about history as transformation, about eros as a transformative power, about that old Eisensteinian idea of collage and montage as transformation, but most of all, about transformations of the self. “The film combines two sorts of transformations: electrical transformations, produced by digital image processing, and chemical transformations, produced by processing the film by hand, in small batches. Thus, it is a dialogue between two technologies,…

  • Ghosts and Gravel Roads

    An inventory of lost memories and places, the sun bleached landscape of Saskatchewan serves as a metaphor for displacement, a framing of emptiness and absence. Traveling to forgotten towns and channeled through old family photographs the camera catalogues the haunting remnants of the past, frail monuments and communities laid bare, broken under economic collapse. Under the weight of the prairie skies a visceral, personal encounter is revealed in the solace of open space. Awards: Silver Medal for Best Documentary, Bilbao International Festival of Documentary and Short Films, 2008; one of the Top Ten Canadian Short Films of 2008 by the…

  • taking pictures

    A hand-processed diary film about memory, family and loss told through snapshots and landscapes in and around Ontario. Music by Sam Phillips. Screenings include: 2008 Berlin International Film Festival (in Forum Expanded section), 2008 Rotterdam International Film Festival. “nostagia isn’t what it used to be, i can only picture the disappearing world when you touch me”

  • Dish

    “Dish” is a unique documentary series created by David Quantic. Fast-paced editing and eye-popping graphics fuse together interviews with fans of popular culture to create a “chorus” of enthusiastic opinions. In this debut episode, 6 gay men talk about their obsession with Oprah.

  • Films of Su Friedrich, The: Volumes 1-5

    Digitally re-mastered from the original 16mm negatives, this collection of 13 films is essential for every library or media centre, as well as women’s and cinema studies programs. Since the 1970s, Friedrich’s skillful mix of experimental narrative and documentary forms, filled with provocative feminist and lesbian themes, has made her a groundbreaking member of the avant-garde film community and a pivotal force in the establishment of Queer Cinema. This collection of DVDs includes the filmmaker’s classic works such as SINK OR SWIM, HIDE AND SEEK, THE TIES THAT BIND, DAMNED IF YOU DON’T, and THE ODDS OF RECOVERY, as well…

  • Films of Su Friedrich, The: Volume 3 – Sink or Swim

    A contemporary classic and a landmark in autobiographical filmmaking, “Sink or Swim” is an unflinching account of the highly charged relationship between a daughter and her father. Through a series of twenty-six short stories, a young girl chronicles the childhood events that shaped her ideas about fatherhood, family relations, work and play. As the stories unfold, a dual portrait emerges: that of a father who cared more for his career than for his family, and of a daughter who was deeply affected by his behavior. Working in counterpoint to the forceful text are sensual black and white images that depict…

  • Films of Su Friedrich, The: Volume 5 – The Odds of Recovery

    After a twenty-year period of multiple illnesses and injuries, Friedrich turns the camera on herself as a way to analyze her chances for a happier, healthier life. In the process, she captures the frustration, tedium and petty annoyances of a revolving-door relationship with the medical establishment, while portraying the complicated web of emotions that accompany any medical problem. With humor and honesty, “The Odds of Recovery” uses the filmmaker’s medical history as a means to address a perennial human problem: the desire to avoid conflict and deny the need for radical change. “…plays with the genre of the self-portrait…all in…