Genres: experimental

  • 9/11 Remembered

    The tragic event of 9/11 has left an indelible impact on the collective consciousness. This film is a way of revealing many people remembering and thinking of 9/11. Universally understood and accepted as a trigger for the memories, the sound of the jet engine roaring triggers the memories and the film ends with my continuing sob. This film is one way of expressing how I hear, feel, and see my own memories of that day which has left an unresolved sound in my mind.

  • Miracle, A

    “A Miracle” is the music movie for the song “A Miracle” by the Hidden Cameras, written by Joel Gibb.

  • Ride

    “Ride” was filmed during the Friends for Life Bike Rally, an annual fundraiser for the Toronto People with AIDS Foundation (www.pwatoronto.org). It was filmed entirely with a Super 8 camera pipe-clamped to the bicycle basket of Leif Harmsen’s Canadian Tire Special, over 700 km between Toronto and Montreal. The blissful and high energy six-day event whips the many riders into top shape and inspires many others to generously support a great charity. It also connects two of Canada’s greatest cities with simple, environmentally friendly pedal power.

  • Cruising

    “Cruising” is a hand-developed hybrid between a slide show and a film, which at only 6 fps may still be the fastest you’ve ever had to check out the action. Encouraged by its reception by the 1999 SPLICE THIS! Super 8 Film Festival workshop series, it’s being used as an experimental blueprint for more intervalominous film narratives. Could 6 fps be the speed of perception in the ‘00s?

  • Penetration

    There has never been a better medium/content match in the entire history of art. Video and porn were made for each other. Sick of all the documentaries about the making of porn movies, Harmsen gets down to the folks who actually use it. Guest voices include Belle Isabelle and her boyfriend Sam, sex columnist and performer Sasha, UK performance artist Charlie Pulford, playwright and poet Sky Gilbert, and Super 8 master Peggy Anne Burton. Made at Trinity Square Video as part of the Tranz Sex Tech residency.

  • I Believe (In the Good Life)

    “I Believe” is made of Super 8 stills of people in my community, shot one frame at a time, and gay folk church music by local musician Joel Gibb and his band the Hidden Cameras. Up to 3,600 portraits can fit onto one roll of Super 8. Many are shot at night with a flash. I set out to capture a social atmosphere on film. The experiment proved to me that despite our many flaws, I do believe in the good of life. (LH)

  • Wawashkesh

    In loving memory of Rob Johnston (1959-2003), whose anarchistic upstart opulence will always be a major source of inspiration and happiness.

  • Cat Swallows Parakeet and Speaks!

    A gothic romp through a crumbling hospital. The last time you saw a tabloid, maybe the headline read “Man Gives Birth to Nine-Pound Baby Girl,” or perhaps, “Melt Fat Away As You Eat Your Favorite Foods!” Taking such absurd claims as its starting point, “Cat Swallows Parakeet and Speaks!” puts the “Arabian Nights” saga through a surreal feminist revision. In the classic tale, a mythical character must tell stories to survive a man who is trying to murder her and all other women. In this version, Scheherazade is a strikingly beautiful model recovering in hospital after an ulcer operation. She…

  • Slice of Primal Pie

    “Slice of Primal Pie” takes on the challenge of capturing the excitement and spirituality of the percussion group Primal Rhythm in film. Using mixed mediums (Super 8mm, 16mm, animated 35mm stills, colour, b&w, infrared) the images were first shot and edited, then Primal Rhythm composed live to them in the recording studio. As a result this “visual rhythm film” has a very organic feel, as opposed to the traditional slick approach to music videos. “Slice of Primal Pie” is as much about the universal appeal of their music as it is about these self-proclaimed “urban primates.”

  • No Soy un Oso (I Am Not a Bear)

    An interview and a debate over what makes the man a bear and why he would resist belonging to a group of big hairy men.