Film Format: 16mm

  • Avanti!

    “Avanti!” is inspired by Antonio Gramsci’s writings: as an idealistic young man, a romantic, a father, and a revolutionary. Throughout the work I explore themes of translation and research. What happens in the shift from detached researcher to impassioned participant? “Avanti!” considers what we lose when we reduce a person to only their thinking, when we abstract them from their lives. Image description: Blurry black-and-white close-up of a person’s face, yelling or laughing (?), with eyes closed and open mouth.

  • Girl from Moush

    “Girl from Moush” is a poetic montage of the artist’s journey through her subconscious Armenia. It is not an Armenia based in a reality, but one which appears, like the mythical city of Shangri La, when one closes one’s eyes. Rooted in what Jung may call a “communal consciousness,” her Armenia appears on film as a collage of myth, legend, experience and immigration. In her memoir, Gariné reveals a longing which is visualized but yet never solidly based in our reality. Icons of Armenia appear on the screen for only a second, and then disappear from both the viewer’s and…

  • Wood and Metal Bars

    A meditative experience through colour, form, and sound. The animation was created by painting ink directly onto 16mm film. This music video was created for Toronto chamber music composer Frank Horvat. The musical composition is performed by Canadian percussionist Beverley Johnston. Image description: An abstract image featuring blue tones in various textures, with a black-outlined circular shape in the centre and bright pink blotches at the bottom.

  • P L U M E

    Fingers pluck fallen evidence of flight; placed and traced to make avian light.

  • A Nice Big Zero for You

    Doughnut destruction that started as a lark but got a bit grim. Also an ode to the JK Optical Printer, and a meditation on human cruelty and expendability.

  • sway / pull

    Created during the COVID-19 pandemic when queer spaces were disappearing across Toronto, sway / pull is a meditation on the erosion of Hanlan’s point beach in both literal and figurative senses. Hanlan’s Point Beach, located on the Toronto Islands, was the site of Toronto first gay pride celebrations in 1970s and remains a queer haven today. Additionally, the Toronto Islands have faced poor city planning that has led to a significant amount of erosion on the beach. This film plays with the concept of erosion by the physical pushing of sand to speak back to the literal erosion of the…

  • Glimpses of My Mother in the Garden

    Through a rapid montage of mirror reflected images, I introduce my 72-year-old Mother. Sitting in a flower garden, putting on lipstick, my Mother watches the world quickly go by. (GM)

  • HK Uprising

    A tribute to the ongoing protests in Hong Kong that are taking place three decades after the Tiananmen Square uprising. Note: This film can be displayed as a multi-channel installation with May 35.

  • Rema Nascentes (Rheme maining sources)

    A place-specific film-excavation of the Bixiga neighorhood in São Paulo. Choreography of forces that cross present time. Filmancy, clairvoyance is the vision of what is taking shape. Allegory: lobby-color, speculates. Hollow in the heart of the city, a rock. A bird ‘rappina’ lands. Novelty: Quilombo, alley, dealers: step. Vai-Vai samba school’s black and white banner. Pictograms from Benjamin’s “The Arcades project”. Progress: plugging a river while it’s possible. Commodity: Matarazzo & Metro. The real state of things, real estate: banning organic. Ground- quotation, avocados, blue taroes, water tanks, oxum: (cosmo) political reaction. Rheme maining sources: life asking for passage.

  • Antigone

    This film is a retelling of the story from Greek mythology about a woman condemned to die for refusing to uphold the law of man over spiritual principles. As with most stories from mythology, many variations of the story of Antigone exist, and as such it is open to interpretation and elaboration. This film version attempts to strip the story down to its basic components and retell the myth in a simplified and stylized way.