Genres: experimental

  • In the Form of the Letter ‘X’

    This film is predicated upon the quasi-fictional discovery that Melville’s name and my name mean the same thing: both came from an old French verb “meler” meaning “to come together, to meet, to intersect” and both are names of towns at crossroads. By exhaustive translation, I reduce them both to “X,” the Greek letter chi (as in chimera), and the rhetorical trope “chiasmus.” The structure of the film is chiasmic (that is, it contains two parallel sections, but the second is reformed/deformed in reverse) and functions as a signature. The text is from Melville’s “Pierre” and is written chiasmatically in…

  • Inarya

    “Inarya”; (in – air or melody) Personal identity, memory and the present. living breathing innate knowledges submersed natural wisdom fluid rhythmic progression personal experiences present memories past interpretations Inarya is layered, moving and sincere.

  • Incantation

    “Originating in the lens of a discreet hand-crank Bolex camera, ‘Incantation’ is a delirious hand-processed weave of urban protest and contact dance that evokes the powerful spirit of personal and political resistance.” – Images Festival of Independent Film & Video, Toronto, 1997 “‘Incantation’ combines images from last autumn’s anti-Harris protest in Toronto with a dancer, creating a brilliant combination that illuminates the spirit and energy evident in the marches.” – Take One Magazine, Fall 1997

  • Arabic Numeral Series – Arabic 16

    This series of films, each extraordinarily unique from every other (except “0 + 10” going together) is inspired and governed by strata of the mind’s moving-visual-thinking different from that of the “Roman Numeral Series” or perhaps one should say that the Arabic Numerals come to fruition thru some tree-of nerves separate from that which gave birth to the Romans (as it is physiologically deceptive to think of thought as existing in “layers”). The Arabics range in length from approximately 5 min. to 32 min. and may be projected at 24 fps as well as 18, tho’ the latter speed seems…

  • Interieur Interiors (To A. K.)

    Halls, doorways, and walls in a room are shot in such a way (employing focus changes, reframing, introducing outside objects) as to confound and puzzle the viewer about the represented space. “‘Interieur Interiors (To A.K.)’ creates a cinematic space that remains separate from representation, severed from the profilmic but nevertheless presenting an illusion of space. It is a film that hovers between conceiving the interrupted projection beam as an image… and conceiving it as a non-image, a mere illumination of the surface on which it falls. The gap between these extremes is posed by Grenier’s film as the raw data…

  • Introducing Elwy

    A silent “talking heads” film. Elwy Yost as a purely physical presence as he talks to the camera, often in extreme close-up.

  • Arabic Numeral Series – Arabic 17

    This series of films, each extraordinarily unique from every other (except “0 + 10” going together) is inspired and governed by strata of the mind’s moving-visual-thinking different from that of the “Roman Numeral Series” or perhaps one should say that the Arabic Numerals come to fruition thru some tree-of nerves separate from that which gave birth to the Romans (as it is physiologically deceptive to think of thought as existing in “layers”). The Arabics range in length from approximately 5 min. to 32 min. and may be projected at 24 fps as well as 18, tho’ the latter speed seems…

  • Is Dad Dead Yet?

    Is Dad Dead Yet? Scarlett, Dorothy and Lola want to know. Hollywood’s image subtext is the beginning for this broken narrative anti-dramatic film. Two women, a niece and her aunt, contemplate the familial cycles of relationships, death, secrets and confidences. Through their correspondence they question the power of images, trace authority’s abuse through various spheres, and engage in a dialogue with history. History itself is embedded in us, in our flesh. Its evidence in our lives is manifest through us and through the familial and political relationships and structures we carry forward. The two women offer each other a place…

  • Arabic Numeral Series – Arabic 18

    This series of films, each extraordinarily unique from every other (except “0 + 10” going together) is inspired and governed by strata of the mind’s moving-visual-thinking different from that of the “Roman Numeral Series” or perhaps one should say that the Arabic Numerals come to fruition thru some tree-of nerves separate from that which gave birth to the Romans (as it is physiologically deceptive to think of thought as existing in “layers”). The Arabics range in length from approximately 5 min. to 32 min. and may be projected at 24 fps as well as 18, tho’ the latter speed seems…

  • It’s a Mixed Up World

    A Bruce Connor-style assemblage film consisting of shots from 1940s and 50s educational shorts spliced together, with synthesizer pop-music by Ron Smulevici. The result is a humorous but cynical view of modern civilized (?) life; a surreal cinematic Rorschach test in which “meaning” is largely a result of the personal associations and subconscious anxieties which the individual view projects onto the images.