Genres: experimental

  • In the New World…

    Employing a rotoscope, IN THE NEW WORLD transcribes the film IN THE LAND OF WAR CANOES (1914) into a short “undated” version of a West Coast classic. 2nd Place, Community Arts Council of Greater Victoria Media Arts Award Selected Screenings: Ann Arbor Film Festival, 2010; Antimatter Underground Film Festival (Victoria, BC), 2009

  • Playtime

    As a member of Canada’s Painters 11, the late Jack MacDonald painted in both worlds: figurative and the abstract. PLAYTIME pays homage to his dedication, spirit and wonderful subject matter–both real and imaginary. In Cinemascope. Nominated in the category of best animation at the 2010 Jutra Awards (Quebec). Honourable Mention for The Canadian Film Institute (CFI) Award for Best Canadian Animation at the 2010 Ottawa International Animation Festival. Part of the TAIS Eleven in Motion program.

  • Blue Tide, Black Water

    Through macro-photography, “BLUE TIDE, BLACK WATER” explores the chemical reactions of different liquids to heat. Materials such as paint, India ink, honey and wax are observed boiling and flowering in extreme close up. The resulting microcosm seems a rich primordial soup.

  • Lot 22, Concession 5

    Hand-processed 16mm film imagery, tinted, toned, and transformed, is combined with memory fragments of a rural past to create a visual poem about family, place, and time. Filmed at Philip Hoffman’s Independent Imaging Retreat in Mount Forest, Ontario in 2008, with sound design by Edmund Eagan. The title refers to the lot and concession number of my great-grandfather’s farm in Westport, Ontario, as recorded in the 1911 census. The voice is a fragment of the past, taken from an old recording of my father, Leonard McCann, who passed away in 1992. Selected screenings: 8th International Festival Signes de Nuit, Paris,…

  • Frottage/Dommage/Fromage 2 Vous

    Clint Eastwood whistles with Kyle. “The most engaging work in the program, creating such a heightened sense of awareness and connection to the screen…” – Marilyn Brakhage (Edges Fest, Victoria) Screenings: Antimatter Film Festival (Victoria, BC, 2009), Toronto Animated Image Society Showcase, 2009

  • Basin

    The forest and river awaken to a new day; the hum of the highway is constant. This is a boom town. An oil town. But what of it? An environmental scourge, or an economic miracle? … Just look. And listen. Selected Screenings: Hot Docs 2010 (Toronto, ON); Inside Out LGBT Festival, 2010 (Toronto, ON); Out on Screen, 2010 (Vancouver, BC)

  • Do Not Feed This Child

    This provocative meditation reflects the inner mind of a woman looking back on the incidents of trauma and isolation from her childhood. A stream-of -consciousness narration and fluid imagery allude to sexual abuse, and to emotional withdrawal as a way of coping with the absence of support and understanding.

  • Song of the Suicide’s Daughter

    Kaja Johnson was one of the few female beat poets who managed to become known to the general public. In this film, Johnson’s poem Song of the Suicide’s Daughter (1964) is articulated and reanimated using stills and animation. “I met Kay by accident in Athens and we talked a lot over coffee-we tried to start a little poetry magazine. She came back to San Francisco’s Haight-Ashbury. I think she became a kind of street guru. This animation is based on a poem in her book. Very loose style: photos Xeroxed and hand-coloured, bits of coloured cels and a few drawings.”…

  • For Cultural Purposes Only

    In an age dominated by the moving image, what would it feel like to never see an image of the place that you came from? The Palestinian Film Archive contained over 100 films showing the daily life and struggle of the Palestinian people. It was lost in the Israeli siege of Beirut in 1982. Here interviewees describe from memory key moments from the history of Palestinian cinema. These scenes are drawn and animated. Where film survives, the artist’s impressions are corroborated. This is a film about reconstruction and the idea that cinema is an expression of cultural identity – that…

  • Punchlines

    The filmmaker considers an early motivation to become an artist. Shot entirely on an iPhone, with original music by Doug Organ.