Film Format: Digital File

  • Work Bike & Eat

    “Work, Bike, Eat” is about youth and being young. The intention in making the film was to catch people and the relationships between things in as natural a way as possible, and to minimize the apparent intrusion of the filming process into the subject matter. The story is really a collection of vignettes from everyday life: getting a job, eating a meal at home with your parents, chance meetings with strangers, taking a nap. A carefree camaraderie pervades the film.

  • You

    “You” is inspired from a story that emerged in an interview with Lisa Black, the main character in the film. A situation with many angles; the telling, the filming, the final projection event….“You” is an imaginary fictionalized you in a whimsical space. It is the still live residue of the broken relationship Lisa is confronting in this film. A parallel actor, the film is in the business of reinterpreting. As a result the film is closer to a psychic space, an ironic place where distance is also intimate and a measure of insight. Part of the TALKING PORTRAITS series.

  • *Corpus Callosum

    The “Corpus Callosum” is a central region of tissue in the human brain which passes messages between the two hemispheres. “Corpus Callosum” the film (or tape, or projected light work) is constructed of, depicts, creates, examines, presents, consists of, and is betweens. Between beginning and ending, between natural and artificial, between fiction and fact, between hearing and seeing, between 1956 and 2002. It’s a tragi-comedy of the cinematic variables. “Corpus Callosum” juxtaposes or counterpoints a realism of normal metamorphosis (two extreme examples: pregnancy, explosions) in believable, real interior spaces with impossible shape changes (some made possible with digital animation). First…

  • Yin Yin/Jade Love

    “Yin Yin/Jade Love” is a documentary about a granddaughter’s discovery of her grandmother after she has died. The film simultaneously explores the emotional impact of the filmmaker’s last visit with her grandmother, her death, what was subsequently discovered about her extraordinary life, and childhood memories surrounding her and her home. The narration, by the filmmaker, is supported by past (VHS, 8mm, historical stills), present (16mm) and recreated (Super 8) images that are woven together creating a rich, densely layered, reflective collage. “Yin Yin/Jade Love” hopes to capture a portrait of the filmmaker’s Yin Yin and convey insight into the experience…

  • Central Character, The

    “A woman’s attempt to keep chaos at bay by naming, classifying, and ordering her domestic environment. This ultimately results in a total loss of ego and verbal capacity. Through the innovative juxtaposition of printed text, graphics, step printing, and disintegrating soundtrack, Gruben constructs a narrative breakdown that parallels the unconscious patterning of her character’s mind.” – Richard Stanford, National Gallery of Canada

  • Hunter-Gatherer

    A traditional slide show disintegrates into fragmentary forms. Using re-photographic methods that mimic the mechanics of recollection, the artist’s family slide images are reframed, distorted and hand-processed. An attempt to grasp a personal memory surrounding the taking of the originals.

  • Family Portrait

    Through re-photography and the combination of narration and imagery, “Family Portrait” deconstructs a family photograph and its ability to conceal a past rather than reveal one.

  • Travel Film

    The artifacts of filmed footage, photographs and postcards are used to construct a personal travelogue that consciously misrepresents the empirical truth of their contents. All of the picture and sound elements contained in this work were collected on the filmmaker’s travels.

  • WVLNT (Wavelength for Those Who Don’t Have the Time)

    WAVELENGTH For Those Who Don’t Have the Time: Originally 45 minutes, now 15! Michael Snow’s film “Wavelength” has been acclaimed as a classic of Avant Garde filmmaking since its appearance in 1967. In February 2003, Snow created a new work consisting of simultaneities rather than the sequential progressions of the original work. WVLNT is composed of three unaltered superimpositions of sound and picture.

  • Moving Violation

    Shot in Pixelvision and digital video, “Moving Violation” is an examination of the texture, rhythm and beauty that resides hidden within a community. It is a document of our disintegrating past, as a downtown area is slowly demolished to make room for parking. Selected screenings: Rotterdam International Film Festival, 2003; Viper International Film Festival, 2003; Reykjavik Short Film Festival, 2002 Awards: Best Experimental, Saskatchewan Showcase, Canada, 2002