Film Categories: history

  • Zero Degrees of Separation

    “George Orwell, in his wildest dreams, could not imagine a place like this.” EZRA, ZERO DEGREES OF SEPARATION Described by the Israeli newspaper Haaretz as a film “bursting with concern about identities – sexual, national, political, generational, cultural, class, ethnic and more,” Elle Flanders’ feature -length documentary “Zero Degrees of Separation” breaks from the sensationalistic media coverage of violence in the Middle East by examining the current conflict through the eyes of two mixed Palestinian and Israeli gay couples. Courageous and outspoken, their relationships are as complex and volatile as the politically charged world around them. Selim, a Palestinian, and…

  • Jane’s Window

    “My grandmother cherished her large dining room window for the opening it afforded her onto the world. From this perspective she would espy the arrival of friends and family, contemplate the change of seasons and reflect on time past. On the shelves of this window she collected mementos of a childhood in China, life as an artist, and the travels in between. Combining images of my own travels through Japan and China with images of the home my grandparents built, ‘Jane’s Window’ reflects on the passing down of memory, curiosity and creativity across generations.” (CK) Selected screenings: Cinematheque Ontario, Toronto,…

  • Flamingo

    In “Flamingo” an old lady tells the filmmaker about her life as they ride a Las Vegas bus: her arrival in the city in 1960, her career as a casino cashier and her recent personal tragedies. Her story is retold over Kodachrome Super 8 images of neon signs along the Las Vegas strip.

  • Bad Karma

    A short experimental animated film. Using hand-drawn imagery and found imagery taken from many sources. All combined to present an apocalyptic portrait of the western industrialized 20th-century world.

  • c: won eyed jail

    “c: won eyed jail“ is a 35mm film project consisting of two parts: a quilt patterned out of 35mm still negatives and 35mm found motion picture, and a traditional film print of the quilt that is screened through a 35mm motion picture projector. I consider this quilt/film homage to Joyce Wieland, whose artwork called into question the binary oppositions concerning issues of art and craft, personal and public space, content and form, narrative and experimental, as well as commenting on the sociopolitical environment in which we live. The dual existence of “c: won eyed jail” as projected film and as…

  • Changing Evan

    Is my daughter Evan like a puzzle? Just when I think everything is going well, either a germ will attack or a new emotion will surface. I hear that children change every week. When I was making this film, my daughter was invaded by the chicken pox virus. I was convinced that I must finish this film as quickly as possible because her health was directly linked to its completion. Honourable mention by the Canadian Film Centre at the 2006 Ottawa International Animation Festival.

  • In Cairo

    Exploring the reasons why people travel, RM Vaughan recounts his journey to Egypt in a series of slow, reverse dissolves that show the narrator standing, like a classic tourist, before the Pyramids of Giza and the Sphinx.

  • FLOW

    A stuffed pig, a pregnant woman, and a polar bear are among the unlikely cast of FLOW, a playful and surreal video shot entirely underwater. Unfolding within a concrete triptych the players alternately drift and hurry, locked in a dance of beginnings and endings.

  • Attack of the Bride Monster

    A “Bride Monster” is loose in the gay community; can Betty and Stella’s 25-year relationship survive? When Betty falls under the Bride Monster ‘s bedazzling spell, Stella watches in horror as her long-time companion is transformed into the kind of woman that only Rock Hudson (or Godzilla) could love. Attack of the Bride Monster blends live-action and animation in a highly stylized homage to the romantic comedies and monster movies of the 1950s. Set against the tumultuous backdrop of the rise and fall of same sex marriage, Attack of the Bride Monster challenges all lovers to pop this question: “Just…

  • Memo to Pic Desk

    An idiosyncratic look at staging in news photography, using materials from the archives of a Toronto daily. Moral codes, delinquency and autonomy are pulled into an altered coherence, as vintage photos are examined next to their type-written paper trail. Financial assistance provided by the Ontario Arts Council. Selected screenings & awards: Best Experimental Short Film, Lusanne Underground Film Festival, 2007; Toronto International Film Festival, 2006; Jury’s Choice Award, Black Maria Film & Video Festival, 2007; San Francisco International Film Festival, 2007; Ann Arbor Film Festival, 2007; Big Muddy Film Festival, 2007