Genres: experimental

  • Jours en fleurs

    “Jours en fleurs” is a reclamation of flower-power in which images of trees in springtime bloom are subjected to the floriferous ravages of menarcheal substance in a gestation of decay. The title is based on an expression from my coming-of-age in Acadian French Canada where girls would refer to having their menstrual periods as “être dans ses fleurs.” As a result of incubation in menstrual blood for several months, the original images inscribed on the emulsion undergo violent alterations. The shedding of the unfertilized womb depredates the fertilized blossoms and substitutes its own dark beauty. – LB “Those few shorts…

  • Self Portrait Post Mortem

    An unearthed time capsule consisting of footage of the maker’s youthful self – an “exquisite corpse” with nature as collaborator. Bourque buried random out-takes from her first three films (all staged productions dealing with her family) in the backyard of her ancestral home (adjoining the grounds of a former cemetery) with the ambivalent intentions of both safe-keeping and unloading them (she was relocating). Upon examining the footage five years later she found that the material contained images of herself captured during the making of her first film. That discovery seemed handed over like a gift and prompted the making of…

  • Just Words

    “Using as it’s text Samuel Beckett’s ‘Not I,’ this shocking gift incorporates optically printed home movie footage and an eerily slick close-up of actress Patricia MacGeachy as she rants at lightening speed Beckett’s words about home, family and the confines and alienation associated with being a woman.” – Program notes, Madcat Film Festival, San Francisco, 2001 “A 10-minute tour de force […]. In ‘Just Words,’ Bourque intercuts footage of her mother and her sisters with a performance by actress Patricia MacGeachy of Samuel Beckett’s ‘Not I’; the result is unnerving (as all Beckett is) yet touching (as some Beckett is…

  • Critical Mass

    “Hapax Legoma Pt. 3; Critical Mass” – Hapax Legoma are, literally, “things said once.” The Greek scholarly jargon refers to those words that occur only a single time in the entire oeuvre of an author, or in a whole literature. The title brackets a cycle of films, which make up a single work composed of detachable parts, each of which may be seen separately for its own qualities. The work is an oblique autobiography, seen in stereoscopic focus with the phylogeny of film art as I have had to recapitulate it during my own fitful development as a filmmaker. (HF)…

  • Pura Sangre

    Torn from the pages of a South American travelogue, “Pura Sangre” explores society’s obsession with sociological and biological bloodlines. Spanish-language version also available.

  • Phont Cycle

    This short film is about the consequences of my personal choices and the lessons that I’m doomed to repeat. I have chosen, as subject, to animate the Tibetan letter “AH” in the traditional U-Chan form to demonstrate – in the way of a simple visual metaphor – some of the differences between Karma and my freedom to choose. This film is constructed as a visual “process loop” and may be screened once or repeatedly. Sacred chants by Tibetan Buddhist monks. Colour by Technicolor, Montreal.

  • Everything

    A woman rants about god, bad haircuts, fame and money, while surreal images of her suburban life unfold beside her. Based on a poem by Janette Platana.

  • In a Present Distance…

    “In a Present Distance…” explores the complex terrain of motherhood, through an experimental narrative about a woman who travels to Quebec City to do research for a film she is making. While on the train, fragments of her life emerge and speak subtly to the journey of life: of grieving and loss, of happiness and sadness, as well as the joyful and reverent gestures of living. At the heart of this film is her child, shown at various times and spaces in his development as he explores the world around him. It is through him and his growth and discovery…

  • Scheme

    “‘Scheme’ is composed of photographs, text and drawings from my son’s creative play and school work. Many of the images are photographs he shot with a child’s Crayola 110 camera, which I feel capture some of the essence of movement and the transcience of childhood. The video is framed by ideas of how we are socialized to make patterns and connections to the world through the use of language. It explores this patterning through the relationship between the photographic image and a dialogue between my son & I.” – Tracy German

  • Toraanisqatsi

    Leif Harmsen’s remake of Godrey Reggio’s classic independent film “Koyaanisqatsi” was shot on Super 8 film entirely on location in Toronto by invitation to the Splice This! 2005 Super 8 Film Festival. Bob Wiseman wrote and performed the evocative instrumental soundtrack. “Toraanisqatsi” is an environmental thriller set in the Toronto of the 21st century, a city taken over by cars, fast food, electronic billboards, jetliners, industry and pollution. It is seen through the terrified eyes of a living breathing human. All transportation for this film was done by bicycle or foot.