Film Categories: Portraits

  • Hunter-Gatherer

    A traditional slide show disintegrates into fragmentary forms. Using re-photographic methods that mimic the mechanics of recollection, the artist’s family slide images are reframed, distorted and hand-processed. An attempt to grasp a personal memory surrounding the taking of the originals.

  • Through Your Eyes

    “Through Your Eyes” tells the story of Maria, a young Latin-American woman whose parents disappeared under the Argentinian military dictatorship when she was a child. Risking it all to uncover the mystery of their disappearance, Maria delves into her memories and history – a history which struggles to stay alive in a society which attempts to silence it. In Spanish with English sub-titles.

  • Chambers: Tracks and Gestures

    An intimate portrait of Jack Chambers, a major figure in the Canadian cultural landscape, a man who has been called Canada’s finest painter. Within a carefully constructed narrative of the artist’s life, this visually lyrical film includes the full range of his work from the age of thirteen until his death. The story is told in Chamber’s own words and in narration, and these voices are balanced by interviews with several of the people who were close to Chambers at different times in his life. “Chambers: Tracks and Gestures” combines new footage evoking the artist’s youth in London, Ontario, his…

  • City of Dreams

    “City of Dreams” is the story of Marcel “Bambi” Commanda, an Ojibway man from Rama First Nation. Marcel sits in a prison cell, reciting a passage from his life. The film touches on his marginalization and displacement in the urban environment, the loss of culture, language and traditions, and his attempt to regain what he has lost. A poet, performer, drummer and emerging film and video maker, Marcel passed away in 1994 just after filming was finished. Selected screenings: Sundance Film Festival, USA, 1999; International Festival of New Latin American Cinema, Cuba, 1996; Figueira da Foz International Film Festival, Portugal,…

  • Family Outing

    Using home movies to depict the inner feelings of a closeted adolescent, “Family Outing” attempts to negotiate a queer position within the conventional family structure. Its ravishing, optically printed images form a haunting commentary on childhood, alienation, love and ultimately renewal. “Bradley re-edits his source material with clinical precision to produce a film of enormous strength which, through image alone, acts as a kind of early warning system for the tsunami of coming out.” – 2001 Antimatter Festival of Underground Short Film & Video, Victoria, BC Selected screenings: “Short Film from the Canadian Underground” International Touring Program, 2002; Yorkton Short…

  • E.K.G.1.0.1

    Immanuel Kant Hospital in Neukölln, Berlin. Midnight. A patient is being admitted. TV journalists are on the spot. The beginning of a story that tells itself – and a self-portrait in broadcast and artistic media. In German with English sub-titles. Selected screenings: Filmfest Dresden, Germany, 2003; KurzFilmFestival Hamburg, Germany, 2003; International Short Film Festival Sao Paulo, Brazil, 2003; Cork Film Festival, Ireland, 2003; Split Festival of New Media, Croatia, 2003

  • E.K.G. EXPOSITUS (the broadcast and the artistic media)

    E.K.G. EXPOSITUS incorporates three of Brynntrup’s short films: Aide Mémoire – Gay Document for Remembering (16:00 min. 1995); Heart.Instant/iation II (Self-generating Manipulations) (7:15 min. 1996); Loverfilm – An Uncontrolled Dispersion of Information (21:30 min. 1996); as well as Kein Film / No Film (1:20 min. 2000) Immanuel Kant Hospital in Neukölln, Berlin. Midnight. A patient is being admitted. TV journalists are on the spot. The beginning of a story that tells itself – and a self-portrait in broadcast and artistic media. In German with English sub-titles.

  • Evanesce

    What happens when a filmmaker loses his sight? “Evanesce” is a collage of fading Super 8 footage shot during the past decade. Phelan confronts the possibility of never seeing again and tries to make sense of the memories trapped in pictures that are disappearing before his very eyes. Selected screenings: Retour d’images Paris, France, 2003; London Disability Arts Film Festival, London, England, 2003

  • Neurotic in Black and White

    Made for a program about the number thirteen. Trying to come up with the perfect idea can tie you up in knots.

  • Ode to a Sparrow

    “Ode to a Sparrow” is a profile of Canadian poet Peter Van Toorn. Van Toorn’s book “Mountain Tea” was nominated for a Governor General’s Award for Poetry in 1984. The film celebrates Van Toorn’s poetic insight and language, and captures the concentration and labour of Mountain Tea’s creation. “Ode to a Sparrow” includes readings from Van Toorn, conversations with some of his friends, and lyrical visuals to accompany a reading of Van Toorn’s essay about the importance of the title of a poem, “Handy Handles.” “Mountain Tea” was unavailable for many years, but was reissued by Signal Editions in 2004.…