Film Format: 16mm

  • Second Phase

    In observing the volatility and liquid nature of what appears to be solid, “Second Phase” exists as a discovery of form through process and quietly observes a community space that remains constant amongst all the things that pass through it.

  • Transit

    Undressing the human body either exposes a person to degradation or prepares him for beatification. The nude in western imagery draws a great deal of its power from the story of the passion and the image of Mary, and eroticism involves a transit between dressing and undressing in a world in which a god has become sexed. Transit is a series of 16 mm experiments in film documentation. The first of its three primary performances concerns the nude, the second blood sacrifice, and the last the passion of Christ.

  • Angels

    This film shows the entertaining and joyful experiences of children in a series of creative workshops. With the help of artists, children make kites, poetry, music, movement, dance and film in Toronto schools – both normal and special education classrooms – as well as Scadding House, headquarters for the Inner City Angels in Toronto. The film provides a useful reference guide for alternative teaching methods and techniques for interaction between teachers and students.

  • Eighth Day, The

    The film systematically shows man destroying man. It is about war and inhumanity. Largely assembled from newsclips and elaborate montage of still photographs. While working on the film, I came to realize that the strongest thing about violence and the most abstract thing about violence is its sequential nature, that war has never stopped, and that it is just the leading of one conflict into another conflict. I could keep this film going forever…. Available on DVD on “Charles Gagnon: 4 Films.”

  • Transits of Venus, The

    The two films, the first black and white, the second in color, record the sky when Venus passed across the Sun on June 6th, 2004 and June 6th 2012. Transits of Venus occur in a pattern that repeats every 243 years, with pairs of transits 8 years apart, separated by long gaps of 121.5 years and 105.5 years. Each shot is contextualized with data detailing the various technical parameters that determine the peculiarity of the image. This data is an integral part of the work.

  • I Was Here

    Meditation on time, photography and traces.

  • Lecciones en Proceso (Lessons in Process)

    “Lessons in Process” is a poetic documentary about a film making workshop given by Canadian filmmaker Philip Hoffman at the famed Escuela Internacional de Cine y Televisión de San Antonio de los Baños in Cuba. Founded in 1986 by Argentinean poet and filmmaker Fernando Birri, Colombian writer Gabriel García Marquez and Cuban filmmakers Julio Garcia Espinosa, and Thomas Gutirres Alea, “the school of the three worlds” was established to give students from developing countries in Latin America and the Carribean, Africa and Asia, an opportunity to participate in the democracy of the image. Hoffman collaborates with the students to produce…

  • The Thing

    A woman, a transgender man, and their cat travel towards a mysterious roadside attraction known as “The Thing.” Official Selection: Sundance Film Festival, 2012

  • El Barrio

    A colorful mosaic of the people of Toronto’s downtown core – one of the most culturally diverse areas in North America. Vivid images and dynamic editing capture the intense spirit of these groups and their festivities, eventually merging them into one glorious celebration.

  • Decroux’s Garden

    A return after many years to the home of a beloved teacher. I am less than a trace returning to this garden, but I am here and my heart turns, hearing again, though differently, the songs that hang here still, in the breath of this place. –Baba Hillman