Film Categories: Work by Women

  • No End

    “No End” was inspired by a poem I wrote over the course of six months. During this process, abstract images surfaced, subsided, and settled: eventually forming the foundation of a film. The result is a lyrical journey that explores the intersection of interconnectivity and the lived experience. The film includes an original soundtrack by Graham Stewart of Viosac. Selected screenings & awards: Nevada International Film Festival, Platinum Award, Experimental Film (Las Vegas, USA, 2015); New York International Film Festival (New York, USA, 2016); Arte Non Stop Festival, Silver Palms Special Mention (Buenos Aires, 2016); Golden Gate International Film Festival, Nominated…

  • Leftovers

    Norma and Virginia lived together in Chicago for almost fifty years. They died isolated, the vibrant lesbian community of their youth long gone; their tiny Chicago bungalow stuffed with objects – matchbook covers of bars where they had danced, paint-by-numbers left half done, bowling shirts Norma wore winning her many trophies, and over two thousand snapshots of lesbian life spanning four decades. An experimental documentary, Leftovers uses Norma and Virginia’s snapshots and objects to explore the unforeseen trajectory of lives lived at the margins. The film is a love story that poses a number of questions. How do we use…

  • Eye of the Mask

    “Eye of the Mask” reveals for Canadian audiences another view of life in Nicaragua. Set against the backdrop of the 1979 Sandinista revolution and the continuing contra attacks, many Nicaraguans were involved in the resurgence of popular theatre. It’s theatre based on both folkloric and experimental techniques. Judith Doyle and her crew focus on one of the most exciting and important of these theatre groups – Nixtayolero (Dawn Star) and its director, Alan Bolt. The film follows Nixtayolero as they travel to perform in remote, rural areas. Their work, and the response of their audiences, is juxtaposed with film of…

  • Marshlands (Marécage)

    A psychic’s prediction of impending disaster underlies this experimental meditation set on the marshes of Sackville, New Brunswick. Shot on Super 8, 16mm and video, Marshlands moves elliptically from a present steeped in memory to an uncertain future. Un médium prédit un désastre imminent: voilà le point de départ de cette méditation expérimentale se déroulant dans les marais de Sackville, au Nouveau-Brunswick. Tourné en Super 8, en 16mm et en vidéo, Marécage se déplace de façon elliptique, d’un présent enveloppé de souvenir vers un futur incertain.

  • Neither God Nor Santa Maria

    Since airplanes did not exist, people moved around using prayers, they went from one land to another and returned early, before dawn. In old audio recordings, the voices of pastors speak of the mythical existence of witches and their travels. In the daily life of a woman the magic of her tales begin to materialize as night falls. Night is the time when travel is possible.

  • Learning To Milk A Cow

    When the filmmaker’s grandmother was 19, she was taken from Soviet Ukraine to Germany to work on a Bavarian farm under National Socialism. She had the luck and perseverance to survive hardships of the forced famine in her homeland and forced labour in the new one. The stories of her everyday life – learning how to milk a cow, falling in love – are interspersed with three generations of reflections on politics, longing, feelings of displacement and loss. Hand-processed black & white film, colour film, photographs and official documents create a montage of different perspectives. The hand-touch aesthetic combines with…

  • Occidente

    A film-poem of an ecology of sings that speak of a colonial history repeating itself. Subalterns become masters, antiques become reproducible dinner sets, exotic birds become luxury currency, exploration becomes extreme-sport-tourism, monuments become geo-data. A spherical voyage eastwards and westwards marking cycles of expansion in a struggle to find one’s place, one’s sitting around a table. “An ecology of signs lurking amid seductive 16mm travel footage echoes with post-colonial reverberations in Ana Vaz’s deceptively corrosive, award-winning Occidente. – ANDRÉA PICARD (TIFF, Wavelengths)

  • Fading Away

    For my family a way of life has faded away, even the memories are fading. I am left with fragments of stories, old photographs, and knick knacks. I never lived on that farm. I will never live there, except through the memories of others. (Elaine Pain)

  • Imaginary City

    3D animations are typically used by architects to make their designs more vivid. Often a wonderful world is drawn, which seems to be almost perfect. Colossal structures, skyscrapers or apartment buildings,mostly built of ferroconcrete, appearing in the most dazzling colors. The building boom seems to have no limits. But one problem is looming already : The sand needed for the production of concrete runs short. Most natural, easily accessible sand deposits have been exploited, this makes the industry turning to the sand on the sea floor. The results are sinking islands, disappearing beaches and the marine ecosystem is severely damaged.…

  • Forward Motion

    Forward Motion examines commonalities between natural and mechanical movements that serve to propel us through time and space.