Genres: Animation

  • Secret Weapons

    “Secret Weapons” is an experimental animated filmic essay that tries to work through the emotional and political confusion that has shaped the way I, and many other young Queer Aboriginal artists, relate to the world. After looking at the films of Mike Hoolboom, my thoughts began to centre on the experiences of growing up under the fear of AIDS in the 1990s, and of the cultural loss and grief that has cycled through the Native community since colonization began. I divided the image into four channels to reference Hoolboom’s film “Frank’s Cock,” while also reinterpreting the framework of the four…

  • Afghanimation

    Women in Afghan refugee camps make woven rugs that tell a story of war. The intent of these rugs is unclear. Are they anti-war or an affirmation of military power? Are they made as tourist trinkets for soldiers and “peacekeepers,” or are they somber prayer rugs? The weavers of these rugs are anonymous to Western collectors because the rugs are attained through intricate channels of trade. This kind of silencing of the artists’ voices and the political ambivalence of their intent can be read as a metaphor for the Canadian military presence in Afghanistan. “Canadians don’t know what the Canadian…

  • Crushed

    “Crushed” is a meditation on media through the eyes of grief. Can Dr. Phil mend a broken heart? This work pays homage to Midi Onodera’s “Basement Girl.” Commissioned for CFMDC ReGeneration.

  • Prick

    Stop-motion animation is used to manipulate a penis whose desire becomes its own demise.

  • Parícutin

    In February of 1943, a fissure appeared in the cornfield of Dionisio Pulido, a farmer in the Mexican state of Michoacán. Ash and incandescent rocks emerging from this fissure preceded lava flows, violent explosions, and the birth of Mexico’s youngest volcano. Despite the prayers of the locals, the lava flows displaced the populations of two nearby villages and part of that of another. The final explosion of the Parícutin volcano was in January of 1952, nine years after its birth. By March of that year, it merely fumed, standing 424.6 metres tall-the first volcano ever to have been observed through…

  • Bare

    Through pixilation, a male centre-fold attempts to embellish his features – only to take on more than he can handle.

  • Ache

    Two male blow-up dolls become puppets in this short. Not only is one of the men out of air, but both of them are tragically out of synch with one another.

  • But Some Are Brave

    “But Some Are Brave” is an innovative, multi-layered animated film project. This short poetic chronicle uses an oil paint-on-glass animation technique. It introduces iconic characters and historic events in a flurry of emotional and psychological rhythms. Using the metaphor and symbolic structural device of weaving, “But Some Are Brave” takes us through this visual poem like a spindle flying through layers of thread – telling us something of the cultural and political histories of communities under attack. Awards: Audience Award for Best Film, TAIS Animation Showcase, Toronto, 2009; Prix du publique for Best Animated Film, Cineffable Festival, Paris, 2009

  • Optical Itzak

    My son, Itzak, looks at everything…Maybe this is what he sees.

  • Boy

    “Boy” is a short film that touches on sexual orientation, homophobia and acceptance. An animated figure swings at the viewer while a robotic voice whispers so that no one around him can hear. Slowly descending into self-doubt, he questions his choices and what he has become.