Film Categories: Portraits

  • Birdlings Two

    In this experimental documentary, an animation the filmmaker’s father made with Norman McLaren decades ago becomes a meditation on art, invention, fathers and daughters. “A delightfully personal short documentary.” – Bruce Kirkland, Toronto Sun “Sweet and observant, with a lovely conclusion.” – Eye Weekly, Toronto Selected screenings & awards: CBC Zed (broadcast); Toronto International Film Festival; Honorable Mention, Best Short Doc, Slamdance; Silverdocs Documentary Festival; Moving Pictures: MadCat Women’s International Film Festival. For more information: www.birdlings.com

  • Restless Spirits

    In this lively portrait, rowdy ropin’ granny Toni Savoie-German finds Zen in the art of Rodeo. Toni, of Micmac and French heritage, has always had a passion for horses and ridiing. Now in her late 50s, she is on the rodeo circuit as a calf-roper. Although the rodeo world is a competitive one, it is not all about the medals. Rather, Toni is searching for something more meaningful – enlightenment and community. Rural landscapes and horses form the backdrop to this quest. In Rodeo, Toni discovers what we all want in life – peace and a sense of belonging.

  • hand-some

    As a lesbian relationship falls apart, this docu-failure unravels. Part of a series on beauty, the film began as an exploration of the filmmaker’s sister and the role that beauty plays in her life. It became instead a documentary about the sister’s relationship with her partner and the conflict between the making of the film and respect for the subject’s privacy. Selected screenings: British Film Institute Lesbian & Gay Film & Video Festival, 2005; Filmout San Diego, 2005; Women in the Director’s Chair, Chicago, IL, 2004; Inside Out Lesbian & Gay Film & Video Festival, Toronto, ON, 2004; New Fest,…

  • Bahar

    Bahar is a 52-minute documentary about a Turkish transsexual, who has lived through many periods of tumultuous times, each of these chapters a fragment of her life marked by a different name she has chosen to call herself after abandoning her original name of Mustafa: Ayla (Aura), Ülkü (Ideal) and Bahar (Spring). The film was shot in Turkey with interviews conducted around the time of Bahar’s much-desired facial surgery. Having a sex change operation is surprisingly easy in Turkey. But the bill a transsexual has to pay is to be cast away from an ordinary life and suffer from the…

  • Multiple Selves of Hannah Maynard, The

    A glimpse into the unique, eccentric mind of a pioneering Canadian photographer, Hannah Maynard (1834-1918). Born in England, Maynard immigrated with her family to Vancouver Island in 1862, where she set up her own portrait studio. After the sudden death of her youngest daughter, she produced a troubling series of experimental images that reflected her haunted state – an attempt to contact her beloved daughter’s spirit. Considered overly bold and unconventional, Maynard experimented with such techniques as collage, multiple exposure and photo-sculpture. She developed a surreal vision, a world obsessed with children and death, but also the spiritual possibilities of…

  • Benediction

    A filmmaker’s exploration of fleeting existence. Filtered through a personal story, “Benediction” is a last attempt to pay homage to those things left and leaving. When faced with the realization of her grandfather’s mortality, a young filmmaker journeys to find meaning in the wake of absence and loss. Is she trying to hold on to something that was never there? Winner of the Norman McLaren Prize at the Festival des Films du Monde in Montreal. Winner of the Kodak Award for Best Cinematography in a Canadian Short at the CFC Worldwide Short Film Festival, 2006. Screened at the Toronto International…

  • Damaged Goods

    A short non-narrative 16mm experimental animated film. Utilizing various animated techniques such as back light sand, hand scratch, rotoscoping, photocopy manipulation and charcoal& paint on newsprint. All combined to created a dream that is complimented by the sound track in a personal/ Sisyphian internal journey.

  • still | move

    “still | move” is a visual essay of the photographic album in which I sociologically explore the history of my family. Channeling through old postcards, torn letters, and discarded photographs, I document and archive the snapshots, the landscape where my father’s family lived, and the home movies shot by my grandfather. I mark myself, as a filmmaker and a member of the family, to understand the history and to chronicle the decay of a prairie railroad community. – Michael Rollo

  • Happy Birthday Hannah

    An irreverent look at diapers and dolls, ‘Happy Birthday Hannah’ is a delightfully funny animated short about Suzy, a rag doll who celebrates her owner’s birthday by painting her room.

  • Slide

    Through a simple act of child’s play, a young boy confronts both his parents’ overwhelming protection and his own very real fears. “Slide” is an animated short film whose narrative centres around the metaphor of being handicapped. Even loving parents hand us crutches; what we do with them is up to us.