Film Categories: Earth

  • Dam’d

    Using 16mm film altered in part by algae and zebra mussels, ‘Dam’d’ illuminates parallel behaviours between human and invasive species and their impact on waterways. The mutation of film footage acts as a metaphor for the erosion and evolution of the aquatic ecosystems it records.

  • Shifting Baseline

    Motion picture film decomposes in a bath of toxic cyanobacteria collected from a shore where children are playing. A child’s piano improvisation plays over the bacterial impressions in memory of a fleeting moment. ‘Shifting Baseline’ combines ecological and filmic processes to capture and animate an environment that is rapidly slipping away.

  • Meltwater

    Meltwater is an icy terrain that dissolves into sweeping waves of shadows. Blurring the horizon between the real and the imagined, the possible and the unthinkable, this vision is a meditation on global warming and its havoc on the rhythms of the natural world. In addition to festival presentation, Meltwater can be played as a seamless, infinite loop in a single or multi-channel installation.

  • Hag’s Taper

    The many names of the herb mullein include hag’s taper, Jupiter’s rod, flannel leaf, velvet plant, felt-wort, tinder plant, candlewick plant, witch’s candle, lady’s foxglove, candlewick plant, torches, cowboy toilet paper, and more. Brought by European settlers to what is now known as Canada over 250 years ago, mullein is native to parts of Europe and Asia. The introduced plant was valued for its medicinal abilities and its use as a fish poison. Today, it is considered a noxious weed in so-called Alberta. This video was shot in the Crowsnest Pass, Alberta where mullein thrives in the disturbed sites including…

  • Imagine none of this is real

    A strange, melancholy travelogue through the post-human world. A record of the land and the resonance of its history. The images and the medium exist in a tense balance, where each amplifies and distorts the other. This film is not only about the landscapes being captured, but the media being used to capture it.

  • Petal to the Metal

    This hand-processed 16mm film reflects on botanical animism. It is a song written for night-crawlers, compost, and shadows, inspired by human flower-lust. Water, fire, earth and air are interwoven with the garden’s creature crew. The work draws a parallel between the photographic alchemy of cinematic experiments and the photosynthetic processes of plants. Honourable mention, Top Canadian Short Jury Award, GIRAF 17 (2021).

  • Focal point

    We live in a holographic world. It is a busy, busy place with much to do, with not enough time to do it. We also live in a world where a host of entities are vying for our attention. With so much competition to retain our gaze a clutter threshold is a very real hazard. I have always been sensitive to movement. There is either too much movement or too little movement, so I try to seek a balance, or at least make efforts to set aside moments where I can calm my overstimulated nervous system. I am partial to…

  • ‘The Heat ( Series #1)

    A journey on Vancouver Island’s Victoria City to collect the facts regarding forest fires, a changing climate and what the real experts have to say about the conditions on Vancouver Island and the areas in and around Victoria City. My team and I traveled around Victoria Canada to talk to and examine the state of the forests of this Island. We will interview people in Forestry, Fire management, the common folk on the street, the Fire departments in each city, and experts that reside on this island. Series #2- 2021 Australia The next step is to interview experts and individuals…

  • Salt River Water Walk

    In February 2020, Sharon Day (Ojibwe) led a group of Water Walkers through the Arizona desert to walk for the Salt River. Through animation and live footage, this documentary travels with the Salt River Water Walkers, describing this Indigenous-led ceremony as it creates community and builds relationships with the earth through the shared goal to care for the water. The project was organized by the Museum of Walking. The film was made possible through the Museum of Walking, the Institute for Desert Humanities at Arizona State University, and Indigenous People’s Task Force.

  • Saving Gorillas. One Sip At A Time

    Uganda is home to the critically endangered mountain gorillas surrounded by people near their protected habitat who are also struggling to survive. Doctor Gladys Kalema – Zikusoka realized that the farmers were not being given a fair price for their coffee, which led them to use the national park to meet their basic family needs for food and fuelwood. Thinking about new opportunities for the African Community as well as saving the gorillas from diseases and poaching, she founded a social enterprise so humans and gorillas could coexist.