Film Categories: Work by Women

  • Retrato Oficial 2 | Official Portrait 2

    Retrato Oficial 2 | Official Portrait 2 animates the dissimulation and reconstruction of the great liberator of Chile, 19th-century revolutionary and republican Bernardo O’Higgins, and the historical reach of the late-20th-century dictator Augusto Pinochet. Based in part on a conceit borrowed from Raul Ruiz’s essay Images of Images and original footage shot by Patricio Guzman on September 11, 1973, the short video is an exploration of the mediated image and the mnemonic possibilities of video and still image technologies.

  • Lucky Girl

    Four minutes in the day that I went to meet a man at sunset in the park. “Lucky Girl” recalls a seemingly insignificant moment that could have turned out very differently. – AG CALQ Award for Best Film in Art & Experimentation, Rendez-vous du cinéma québécois (2009); Spirit Award, Brooklyn International Film Festival (2010)

  • Numerology

    A short animation that unveils the mysteries of lesbians through the occult arts. NUMEROLOGY is a humorous critique of attempts to stereotype the lesbian community. Using the clean, minimal aesthetic of vector animation, numbers and letters become small characters whose actions subvert the expected course of the narrative. The content of the piece migrates from external to internal stereotypes and promotes the perception of individuals within a category. Selected Screenings: Lesbisch Schwule Filmtage Hamburg, 2009 (Germany); Pittsburgh Lesbian & Gay Film Festival, 2009 (Pittsburgh, USA); image + nation Festival, 2009 (Montreal, Canada)

  • Oh My God

    Staring out the window, looking out at winter, and thinking of you.

  • Belonging

    Toronto’s diverse culture and heritage are explored through a couple’s belongings, juxtaposed with the neighborhood in which they live.

  • irma Vep

    Mad pursuit for the wild life leads to an outrageously messy story about a cover girl who encounters dangerous magazine cut-outs. irmaVep / Stars the bride of quietness / In a flowery tale, / Who will transform thy shape, / Leaving behind unanswered questions: / What maidens loath? / What mad pursuit? / What struggle to escape? / What wild ecstasy? Selected Screenings: Toronto Reel Asian Film Festival, 2009 (Toronto, Canada); Cucalorus Festival, 2009 (Wilmington, NC)

  • Coronation Park

    CORONATION PARK is constructed from haunting, sometimes abstract, cool blue shots of bare maple and oak trees in winter. The images are paired with the single word breathe. Inspired by the many languages spoken in the city of Toronto where the film was shot, the words rhythmically appear then disappears, each time in a different language. This pairing of text and image suggests a plea for the trees to “breathe”, to come back to life, to transform themselves from bare branches to the green leaves of spring. The winter leafless trees also resemble human body parts, limbs and veins, thus…

  • Becoming Susan

    BECOMING SUSAN is a portrait documentary about Toronto activist Susan Gapka. The film enters Susan’s world through an exploration of the spaces around her, with Susan’s story filling these personal spaces before her visual representation does. BECOMING SUSAN presents a way of sharing the world of a trans-woman without focusing on the physical. Instead, visual fragments of Susan and her world serve as powerful metaphor for Susan’s journey from pieces to a whole. As we explore each new piece presented by the documentary we begin to understand that each is as important as the last to understanding her. Multi-faceted and…

  • How The Grinch Stole My Heart! (and my favourite sweatshirt…)

    HOW THE GRINCH STOLE MY HEART! (AND MY FAVOURITE SWEATSHIRT…) borrows Dr. Seuss’ famous villain, the Grinch, and transforms him from Whoville’s mythical Christmas hating goblin into a modern-day ex-girlfriend who breaks Abigail’s heart. Crushed by her loss, Abigail falls into a world of lovelorn misery, obsession, internet stalking and self-medicating. But finally, Abigail is struck by a sense of renewed self-worth, and triumphs over her love for the Grinch…or does she? Selected Screenings: Queersicht Gay & Lesbian Film Festival, 2009 (Bern, Switzerland); Reeling Gay & Lesbian Film Festival, 2009 (Chicago, IL); Seattle Lesbian & Gay FIlm Festival, 2009 (Seattle,…

  • Dike

    A woman recounts the humorous story of a friend’s attempts to hide an excessive perspiration problem, which parallels her sexual re-orientation. Her bodily fluids are coming out before she does. This is the story of one woman’s struggle with compulsory heterosexuality.