Jim Hamm
48 min. 2004
Also available on DVD
Never one to build "meaningless boxes designed for obsolescence," Métis architect Douglas Cardinal has spent a lifetime striving to elevate architecture. His work is celebrated nationally and internationally for its organic beauty and unique curvilinear style. With such prestigious projects as the Canadian Museum of Civilization and the First Nations University of Canada, he has established a design process informed and enriched by his aboriginal roots—consultative, holistic and nurtured by what he calls "sacred trust." But his extraordinary career has also been marked by tumult. Exacting and outspoken, Douglas Cardinal has never shied from controversy.
Radical Attitudes chronicles Cardinal's highs and lows, including his headlong plunge into the computer age in which he banished all his team's drawing boards in favour of an untested electronic tool, a maneuver he characterizes as like Cortez "burning the ships." This fast-paced documentary also delves into Cardinal's controversial standoff with the Smithsonian and their botched collaboration on the National Museum of the American Indian, which opened September 2004 in Washington, DC.
Interviews with renowned architect Arthur Erickson, Cardinal's long-time colleague Satish Rao, Washington Post architecture critic Benjamin Forgey and representatives from the Smithsonian paint a complex picture of an uncompromising visionary and artist.
Subject(s): Architecture, Artists–Douglas Cardinal, Indigenous people–Métis
Ralph Alfonso sets poetry in motion to jazz rhythms and beatnik inspired spoken-word performances. A truly inspiring artist, he has dedicated himself to all aspects of poetry, but especially to simple ideas about human nature, love, compassion and experience. In his own "little corner of the world," he creates poetry that evokes an emotional response from readers and listeners alike—a gift that has led to a guest appearance on Peter Gzoswki's "Morningside" and many popular live performances across Canada.
In this documentary, Patrick Jenkins transforms Ralph's poetry into fun-filled, colourful animation segments, interspersed with scenes from his film Vie de Nuit, live performances and interviews featuring Ralph, friends and fans.
Subject(s): Poetry/Performance, Relationships, Slice of life
"This painting is about colour. It's about colour in thelandscape." -- (Alan Wood)
Ranch is about "The Alan Wood Ranch Project," a massive environmental art piece built on 320 acres in the foot hills of the Rockies. Combining time-lapse photography, old Hollywood Westerns, television news, and aerial photography, Ranch offers the viewer a refreshing new appreciation ofthe work. A film of breathtaking beauty, a document of surprising humour,Ranch is part experimental cinema, part art documentary.
Award: Red Ribbon, American Film Festival
Subject(s): Artists–Alan Wood, Sculpture
Ravens & Eagles Finale: Defining Haida Art
Part of the Ravens and Eagles:
Haida Art series
Jeff Bear/Marianne Jones
Ravens and Eagles Productions
24 min. 2003
The final part of this series examines how the foundations of Haida art were shaken after the intrusion of Europeans on Haida Gwaii and also looks at the robust revival of the Haida people's rich traditions taking place today. An impressive array of artists—Robert and Reg Davidson, Guujaaw, Frank Paulson, Nika Collison, Irene Mills, April Churchill, Victoria Moody and Evelyn Vanderhoop—discuss the importance of form and process, the recovery from the repressive influences of church and government, the excavation of songs and language, the spiritual connection to art through dance and ceremony, and the vital relationship to the land when carving and weaving.
Subject(s): Indigenous people–Haida
Ravens and Eagles: Haida Art
(A 26-part series)
Marianne Jones/Jeff Bear
Ravens and Eagles Productions
First season, 2002
Second season, 2003
Haida filmmaker Marianne Jones returns to her roots in this series that she has written and directed with Jeff Bear. Offering a mix of portraiture and first-person narrative, these half-hour documentaries cast the spotlight on Haida art and artists, allowing those who practice the art form to tell their stories first-hand. It also explores some of the wider historical and political issues of the repatriation of Haida artifacts, the vital potlatch ceremony once declared illegal by the Canadian government, and the fight to preserve old growth forests on Haida land. Shot on British Columbia's rugged north coast, the series enriches our understanding of Haida artists and the important contributions they have made—and continue to make—to the humanities.
For detailed descriptions of each series part, visit the following links:
First season:
1. What Is Haida Art?
23 min.
2. Spruce Root Weaver:
Isabel Rorick 21:30 min.
3. Cedar Bark Weaver:
Victoria Moody 22 min.
4. Argillite Carver: Christian
White 20 min.
5. Carrying on the Tradition
21:30 min.
6. The New Masters
22:30 min.
7. Portrait of a Mask Maker:
Reg Davidson 23 min.
8. Journey of Song
22 min.
9. Chiefly Possessions
23 min.
10. Yahgu dang ang: "To Pay Respect" 22 min.
11/12. Robert Davidson: Eagle of the Dawn, Pts 1 & 2 47 min.
13. Paradox of Attribution
24 min.
Second season:
14. Stone Carver 24 min.
15. On the Trail of Property Woman
24 min.
16. In Our Blood 24 min.
17. Haida Jewelers 24
min.
18. NaXine Weaver 24
min.
19 & 20. From Hand to Hand: The
Legacy of Charles Edenshaw, Pts 1 & 2 46:30
min.
21 & 22. Athlii Gwaii: The Line at
Lyell, Pts 1 & 2 46:30 min.
23. The New Collectors: Repatriation,
Pt 1 24 min.
24. The New Collectors: Repatriation,
Pt 2 24 min.
25. GiiahlGalang: The State of the Haida
Language 24 min.
26. Ravens & Eagles Finale: Defining Haida Art
24 min.
Subject(s): Indigenous people–Haida
See Shelley Reeves (from The Artist's Life series)
Made in memory of her father, artist and teacher Roy Kiyooka, this innovative documentary by Fumiko Kiyooka looks back at the art scene in Saskatchewan in the late 50s and 60s, when anything seemed possible anywhere. It was a time of transition between the Bohemian or "Beat" era and the more halcyon movements of the later 60s, a time of great relevance in North American culture.
Regina was a major hub of this transition. There was an idealism in the government, which carried over into the arts. It was the time of the first Socialist government in North America with Tommy Douglas as Premier, the first Arts Board in North America and the first LSD experiments. Important international intellectuals such as Aldous Huxley and New York artists and critics, such as Barnett Newman and Clement Greenberg, gave summer workshops at Emma Lake. They brought abstract expressionism to the Prairies and took some turbulent Prairie radicalism back with them.
The film focuses on seven dynamic players in the Regina art scene in Regina--Roy Kiyooka, architect Clifford Wiens and a group of artists who became known as The Regina Five--Ken Lochhead, Doug Morton, Art McKay, Ted Godwin and Ron Bloor.
Subject(s): Artists, Architecture, Painting, Saskatchewan
Award-winning filmmaker David Rimmer captures a compelling dance performance by the Karen Jamieson Dance Company. Rimmer takes an innovative approach by moving among the dancers with his camera. The result is an exhilarating experience that draws viewers into an odyssey encompassing three worlds: hell, purgatory, and paradise.
Subject(s): Artists–Karen Jamieson, Dance
Robert
Davidson: Eagle of the Dawn
Parts 1 and 2
(Part of the Ravens and Eagles:
Haida Art series)
Jeff Bear/Marianne Jones
Ravens and Eagles Productions
47 min. 2002
Newly released on DVD with special features
One of the most intriguing contemporary artists of his generation, Robert Davidson stands apart internationally with his innovative and staggering output of high art. In his quest to make beautiful objects, Robert has inspired a new approach to Haida art, becoming a master of several media and pursuing a lofty cultural objective. After raising the first totem pole in Haida Gwaii in 1967, Robert began to learn many of the Haida songs and dances existing on record. This remarkable work has spurred Haida dance groups up and down the Pacific coast. Robert returns to his early years and reveals the direct and indirect influences of his Nonnie ("grandmother" in Haida), Florence Edenshaw Davidson, the daughter of the 20th century master Charles Edenshaw. She became an unsuspecting player in Robert's evolution as an artist, inspiring him long after her passing. Robert Davidson: The Eagle of the Dawn is a rare portrait of one of the great masters of contemporary art.
• Abstract Edge 14 minutes • 2005
A short piece that showcases Robert’s solo exhibit in galleries and museums
throughout Canada until December 2007.
• The Old Masters 18 minutes • 2005
An intimate discussion with Robert Davidson about the masterpieces in storage
at the Royal British Columbia Museum.
Subject(s): Artists–Robert Davidson, Dance, Music, Indigenous people–Haida, Sculpture
Robert Priest
Part of The Writing Life
series
Michael Glassbourg
TickleScratch Productions
24 min. 2004
Also available on DVD
Robert Priest is one of the few Canadian artists who has been successful as both a writer and a musician. A composer of lush love poems and a widely quoted aphorist, he is the author of 14 books and numerous recordings. His aphorisms have found their way into The Farmer's Almanac and Colombo's Canadian Quotations, while a song he wrote for rock diva Alannah Myles was a number one hit. Robert is also a beloved children's author whose songs and poems are often played on Sesame Street.
Subject(s): Artists–Robert Priest, Literature, Poetry/Performance
Enter the eclectic world of Roger Ing, a prolific Canadian artist, philanthropist, and former ower/operator of the New Utopia Café in Regina, a place where magical moments happened and a legend was created.
Immigrating to Saskatchewan from rural China in 1950, Roger brought with him early training in classical Chinese painting. His love of art continued in his new country as he embraced all kinds of new traditions and made them his own, while operating his restaurant for a living. Over the years, his paintings took over the restaurant, including the kitchen, eventually resulting in closure of the restaurant by the City Health Department.
Artists such as Joe Fafard, Arthur McKay, Edward Poitras and Jack Severson share their memories of the New Utopia, called by many "the most important cultural institution in the city," intercut with footage of Roger at work, painting and cooking. A professor of Art History at the University of Regina adds his comments about the work and the absence of recognition for cross-cultural art practices within the formal framework of art history.
In September 1998, the Mackenzie Art Gallery in Regina recognized and celebrated Roger Ing's large body of work with a major retrospective exhibition.
Subject(s): Artists–Roger Ing, Chinese-Canadians, Immigrants & Immigration, Painting, Restaurants, Saskatchewan
Roland Jean: A Modernist Portrait looks at African culture and European influences which shape the life and art of Toronto painter and visual artist Roland Jean. Jean refers to his art as `visual jazz'. Born and raised in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, he creates work that reflects the vibrancy of colours and first impressions of his cultural background. Mixing curatorial narrative, text and interview footage, the documentary relays Jean's complex views on African consciousness, resistance to cultural domination, as well as the significance of modernity, existentialism and `jazz' in his paintings. These themes are punctuated by interviews with two curators from the Smithsonian Institute, Deborah Macanic and Marquette-Folley Cooper, and Toronto arts writers Carol Laing and John Armstrong.
Subject(s): Artists–Roland Jean, Black Culture, Painting
See Paul Roorda (from The Artist's Life series)
See Peter Rotter (from The Artist's Life series)
Sarah Jane Gorlitz
Part of The Artist's Life
series
Michael Glassbourg
TickleScratch Productions
24 min. 2004
Also available on DVD
"Gorlitz has a singular ability to capture that otherworldly light that breaks through the clouds for just a brief moment and then disappears again for weeks, even months, on end. Trees or people are rendered in a state of absolute majesty." – NOW Magazine
Sarah Jane Gorlitz is always trying to push the envelope. Much of her work is figurative and focuses on the negotiation between representation and abstraction. She has worked with this theme in landscapes, still lifes and a series of paintings that beautifully translate the blurred motion, pixelation, dust and white spots of old family film footage.
Hanging new paintings minutes before her first Toronto gallery show and hawking her wares at the Toronto Outdoor Art Exhibtion, she discusses her preference for using photographs as a starting point, how Art History courses inspired her to paint, and her frustration with the pace of her development as an artist.
Subject(s): Artists–Sarah Jane Gorlitz, Painting, Women–artists
See Jean-Pierre Schoss (from The Artist's Life series)
Second Nature features dancers Linda Arkelian and Wei Wen Wang in a pas de deux choreographed by Judith Marcuse. Echoing the natural life process of generative morphology, in which one form gives rise to another form, the film uses superimposed imagery: each dancer separates from their own form and the pas de deux becomes a "pas de deux à quatre corps."
"The characters are bound together by their nature; but their superimposed alter-egos are not so bound, and can detach and observe. The male figure is at first unaware of his dual nature (a theme found in the novels of Max Frisch and Kobo Abe) until the female observer makes him aware." (Daniel Conrad)
Award: Chosen for "Best of the Fest Shorts" special screening, Seattle International Film Festival; Silver Award, New York Dance on Camera Festival
Subject(s): Artists–Judith Marcuse, Dance
For more information, please visit the filmmaker's website www.rhodopsin.ca
Shelley Reeves
Part of The Artist's Life
series
Michael Glassbourg
TickleScratch Productions
24 min. 2003
A native of Regina, Saskatchewan, Shelley Reeves has lived in Montreal for over 30 years. She studied at Concordia University in Montreal and the College of Art in Calgary. She is now a professor of drawing and painting at Concordia University and Dawson College.
Shelley prepares for a big opening in Edmonton on the heels of a very successful show in Montreal. She paints in her studio and candidly describes her current work—several impressive and ample portraits. Her work delves into the human psyche with a sense of poetic resonance, exploring the division between mind and body.
Subject(s): Artists–Shelley Reeves, Painting, Women–artists
This film is an interview with well-respected Maliseet Indian artist, feminist, and activist, Shirley Bear (Minqon Minqon). Shirley discusses her use of petroglyphs in her paintings, her feminist perspective on the meaning of the petroglyphs, and the spiritualism which inspires her creative process. She tells her own story, her own truths, and her feelings about them is interpretations that have been placed on rock art by non-natives. Bear suggests that we must work to achieve the harmonious relationship between men and women that existed in North America before the arrival of the Europeans.
Subject(s): Artists –Shirley Bear, Indigenous people–Maliseet, Women–artists
See Snaige Sileika (from The Artist's Life series)
Sher Morgan/Sherry Lepage
47:30 min. 2002
When trustees in Victoria, BC cut a long-established and highly successful elementary school orchestra program to balance their budget, high school students took to the streets with a Save Our Strings program. These energetic students led a two-year battle, emerging not only as passionate artists, but as articulate, critical, self-empowered young leaders.
The initiative and problem-solving skills of these students, shown against the backdrop of a full, warm community of artists, make a formidable argument for the value of music in schools. The story illustrates that the creative, participatory approach of music class nurtures in students the abilities and passion they need to negotiate the greater world and even change it.
Award: Bronze Plaque (Social Documentary), Columbus International Film Festival
Subject(s): British Columbia, Community dynamics, Education, Leadership, Music, Youth
What comes to mind when you think of Chinese music? Pastoral melodies on silk strings? Gongs and drums? If so, then you have not heard the Silk Road Ensemble.
Stunning muscianship, featuring Qiu Xia He on pipa, Shirley Yuan on erhu, Zhi Min Yu on ruan, Brazilian guitarist Celso Machado and dancer Yang Yang with vocals by Feng Jun Wang, draws you into a whirlwind of discovery and amazement. They travel the world of music easily alternating between traditional Chinese music, Irish jigs and ballads, Brazilian sambas, and even Mozart. Through the creative combining of their talents and skills on instruments of their native countries, they have helped bridge cultural gaps and delighted audiences around the world.
Subject(s): Intercultural studies, Music
See Camilla Singh (from The Artist's Life series)
Sisyphus is a powerful interpretation of the ancient Greek myth of the same name. Dancers struggle to reach their destination by hurling themselves at a wall and building human pyramids. Intensely rhythmic, the choreography is considered to be one of Karen Jamieson's strongest works.
Award: Winner, New York Dance on Camera Film Festival
Subject(s): Artists–Karen Jamieson, Dance
Snaige Sileika
Part of The Artist's Life
series
Michael Glassbourg
TickleScratch Productions
24 min. 2003
Born in Lithuania, Snaige Sileika was trained as a printmaker at the Ecole des Beaux Arts in Paris. She has had solo exhibitions of her paintings and prints in Canada and abroad and her work is included in numerous corporate collections.
Snaige shares her most recent work which explores the "fragility of life." She describes with great detail the process of her work, from the fluid movements of her ink and brush sketches to the completion of her painted images on paper. Her smooth and instinctual brush movements capture the essence of a small plant by the waters of her remote cabin retreat.
Subject(s): Artists–Snaige Sileika, Painting, Printmaking, Women–artists
This ground-breaking documentary from Vancouver filmmaker Marianne Kaplan offers an exciting glimpse of the process of change presently taking place in South Africa. Instead of detailing the horrors of apartheid, Songololoportrays the emergent post-apartheid culture, born of the collective past and aspirations of black South Africa. This vision is articulated through the work and words of two well-known black artists. Gcina Mhlophe is a feminist writer and storyteller; Mzwakhe Mbuli is a musician and contemporary praise poet. Featuring dynamic footage from live performances, Songololo shows the powerful role Black South African popular culture plays in the people's survival and their ability to affirm their lives and their own power amid suffering and repression.
Awards: Golden Gate Award (Best Arts Documentary), San Francisco Film Festival; Kathleen Shannon Award, Yorkton Film Festival; Certificate of Merit, Chicago Film Festival; Golden Apple, National Educational Film & Video Festival; "Student of Valais" Award, Switzerland
Subject(s): Africa, Black culture, Human rights, Music, Poetry, Politics, Storytelling, World cultures
Directed and produced by Annette Mangaard and Nobuo Kubota
10:30 minutes • 2006
Available on DVD and VHS
Musician/sculptor/performer Nobuo Kubota has been an innovator in free form sound art for 30 years. Drawing on the work of the Futurists, Dadaists and New York's Fluxus group, Kubota began his musical career as a member of the Artists' Jazz Band and later the Canadian Creative Music Collective (CCMC). With a shifting membership that has included Michael Snow, Gordon Rayner, Paul Dutton and other prominent Toronto artists, CCMC and their spontaneously composed music became a solid fixture on the avant-garde scene, along with bpNichol's group The Four Horsemen. In recent years, Kubota has performed solo in some of Europe's most prestigious sound poetry festivals.
This short performance piece delves into some of Kubota's best-known pieces, like Sound Cage, Mouth Mechanics and Deep Text, sound explorations that probe the limits of human voice and non-verbal communication. With a resurgence of free improv music, this extraordinary sound-art pioneer continues to inspire.
Subject(s): Poetry/Performance, Sound art
Spruce
Root Weaver: Isabel Rorick
Part of the Ravens and Eagles:
Haida Art series
Jeff Bear/Marianne Jones
Ravens and Eagles Productions
21:30 min. 2002
A weaver from Masset, British Columbia, Isabel Rorick uses spruce roots and makes some of the most intricate and beautiful hats and baskets in the Pacific Northwest. Related to both Florence Edenshaw Davidson and Selina Peratovich, Isabel comes from a long line of artists. Her great-great grandmother was the legendary weaver, Isabella Edenshaw. Taking a personal journey to North Beach on Haida Gwaii, Isabel harvests her own roots annually in a grueling and exhaustive process.
Subject(s): Artists–Isabel Rorick, Crafts, Indigenous people–Haida, Weaving, Women–Artists
Stephanie Bolster
Part of The Writing Life
series
Michael Glassbourg
TickleScratch Productions
24 min. 2004
Also available on DVD
Vancouver-born Stephanie Bolster has been the recipient of the Governor General's Literary Award for Poetry and the Archibald Lampman Award. A graduate of UBC's MFA program in Creative Writing, she now teaches at Concordia University. Her book White Stone: The Alice Poems was inspired by visions of Lewis Carroll's famed character both in and out of Wonderland. She delves into to the world of Alice in an entirely innovative way, allowing a window into her poetic process.
Subject(s): Artists–Stephanie Bolster, Literature, Women–Artists
See Susan Stewart (from The Artist's Life series)
See Susan N. Stewart (from The Artist's Life series)
Across Borders Media
24 min. 2001
Nora Arajs and Across Borders Media follows the inner journey of Yuri Arajs, a traditionally trained artist who has embraced Outsider Art as an important part of his life. Now a supporter and curator of this genre, Yuri still wrestles with its power and paradox in his own creative life. In the course of this musically and visually rich half-hour documentary, Yuri introduces four unique artists who exemplify the visual range and the inspirational depth of Outsider Art.
Award: Merit Award, Superfest XXII (International Media Festival on Disabilities)
Subject(s): Artists–Yuri Arajs
Stone Carver
Part of the Ravens and Eagles:
Haida Art series
Jeff Bear/Marianne Jones
Ravens and Eagles Productions
24 min. 2003
Alfie Collinson is a stone carver who transforms the Haida people's creation stories into art. Using argillite, a stone indigenous only to Haida Gwaii, he is among the best of contemporary carvers. Alfie journeys to sacred ground to quarry the stone, slabs of which are delicate and difficult to come by.
Subject(s): Artists–Alfie Collinson, Indigenous people–Haida, Sculpture
See Cathy Stonehouse (from The Writing Life series)
Exciting new series from the creators of the Ravens and Eagles: Haida Art series, profiling indigenous filmmakers from Canada and featuring a two part episode on Maori filmmakers from New Zeland.
Subject(s): Artists, Filmmaking, Indigenous people
Complex and fast-paced editing animate the sculpture and text of this story about conditions within The Sunnybrook Institution for the Mentally Handicapped.The result is a cross between medieval European sculpture and North American comic books, with a dialogue that is laced with humour, anger, and irony. The narrator is hired at Sunnybrook because she says she was on staff at a clinic where she was actually an outpatient. The inmates she meets are individuals with various abilities, disabilities, and strategies for survival in a dehumanizing environment.
Subject(s): Inclusive education, Mental health, Storytelling
Susan N. Stewart
Part of The Artist's Life
series
Michael Glassbourg
TickleScratch Productions
24 min. 2003
Susan N. Stewart studied Visual Arts at York University and Ontario College of Art & Design. She has exhibited in Canada and the U.S with works in private and corporate collections around the world. Her most recent exhibition of paintings, "HEAD SHOTS," is a compelling collection of portraits that includes an unusual cast of characters. Stewart paints with boldness and fluidity, irony and wit.
In this documentary, Susan works in her studio, sets up a show in a gallery and attends the opening. As she works on a portrait, she explains her unorthodox road to becoming a full-time artist (She has an MBA and has been a high-paid management consultant among other professions). Susan is as bold and vivid as her work.
Subject(s): Artists–Susan N. Stewart, Painting, Women–artists
Susan Stewart
Part of The Artist's Life
series
Michael Glassbourg
TickleScratch Productions
24 min. 2003
Susan Stewart lives in Vancouver, BC and is one of Canada's most provocative photographers as well as being a videographer, performance artist and member of the acclaimed Kiss and Tell collective. She has published several books of her works including photographs from "Drawing The Line," an internationally acclaimed show that forces audiences to draw the line between pornography and art.
Engaging and entertaining, Susan draws the viewer into the startling world of her photography, all of which pushes personal, cultural, and political boundaries.
Subject(s): Artists–Susan Stewart, Photography, Poetry/Performance, Women–artists
Tess Fragoulis
Part of The Writing Life
series
Michael Glassbourg
TickleScratch Productions
24 min. 2004
Also available on DVD
Tess Fragoulis was born in Crete, but grew up in Montreal, where she still resides. After several non-writing related jobs, she began public readings and put together the cabaret series, "The Absinthe Saloon." Her first novel, Stories to Hide from Your Mother, was inspired by a return trip to her motherland and deals with the mythology and superstitions of Greek culture. It was nominated by the Québec Writer's Federation for Best First Book.
In this documentary, she discusses her reputation as both a wild person and a wild writer, integrating the public persona with the private person.
Subject(s): Artists–Tess Fragoulis, Literature, Women–Artists
Karen Henry/Scott Watson/Eric Metcalfe
Morris and Helen Belkin Art Gallery/Western Front Society
26:30 min. 2002
Doris Shadbolt's practice as an educator, curator and writer in the visual arts spans the mid-20th century development of a vital art scene on the West Coast and in Canada. She was curator at the Vancouver Art Gallery during the riotous 1960s and early 70s. It was a time when modernist art practices and markets were being challenged, and art was moving off the walls and into territories of collaboration, performance and new media. Doris facilitated this activity while at the same time bringing the best pop and conceptual art work to Vancouver and establishing the city as part of a national and international scene. Through her activities and exhibitions, she had a major impact on the formation of a West Coast identity founded on Emily Carr and First Nations work. Doris and Jack Shadbolt later established the VIVA awards to encourage emerging talent in British Columbia. She has been honoured with degrees from Simon Fraser University, the University of British Columbia and the Emily Carr Institute of Art and Design. In 2000, Doris was awarded the Governor General's award in recognition of her work in the arts.
Those Days… A Portrait of Doris Shadbolt focuses on the pivotal activities at the Vancouver Art Gallery through interviews with Doris, now in her 80s. Her reflections on art and the times, combined with commentary from artists and curators whom she inspired, establish a sense of the vitality of the era and celebrate Doris' commitment to art practice.
Subject(s): Artists–Doris Shadbolt, Vancouver, Women
Directed and produced by Daniel Conrad
Rhodospin Productions
41:30 minutes • 2006
Available on DVD and VHS
Shot in the extreme isolation of Haida Gwaii (Queen Charlotte Islands) off the northwest coast of BC, this bold dance film features the choreography and dance of emerging sensation Aszure Barton. Described by Mikhail Baryshnikov as "one of the most innovative choreographers of this generation" Barton is a young Canadian whose work the Village Voice has lauded as "a primal feast that satisfied the lustiest of cravings." Afternoon of the Chimeras features Barton's trademark tribal rawness and demanding choreography, as dancers in the form of chimeras—mythological creatures formed from parts of different animals—emerge from the shadows to thrive in the thick moss, volcanic rock, sheer cliffs, luxuriant grass and sinews of tree roots.
Choreographed by Paul-André Fortier, 7 Universal Solvents explores the complex theme of human transformation. Dancers dissolve and recrystallize in a series of solvents—broadly defined real ones like water, alcohol and paint, and metaphorical ones like fire, air, children and tigers. The film was shot, then rewound and re-exposed to create rich superimposed layers. A critic for the Georgia Straight hailed this work as a "powerfully seductive montage…startlingly clever and seamlessly constructed."
Filmed in the vast, exquisite subways of Prague and choreographed by Crystal Pite, Subways is based on a poem by Rilke about a caged panther at the Jardin des plantes in Paris. With performances by Canadian and Czech dancers, the film conjures a world of humans trapped underground, organizing and reorganizing in response to captivity.
Subject(s): Dance
Tim Lilburn
Part of The Writing Life
series
Michael Glassbourg
TickleScratch Productions
24 min. 2004
Also available on DVD
Born in Regina, Saskatchewan, Tim Lilburn's most recent collection of poems is the greatly acclaimed Kill-Site which won the 2003 Governor General's Literary Award for Poetry. With an MA in Philosophy, he has taught in West Africa and lectured in China and is currently a philosophy and literature instructor at St. Peter's College in Muenster, Saskatchewan. His life has intertwined Jesuit studies and a simple non-literary childhood.
Subject(s): Artists–Tim Lilburn, Literature, Saskatchewan
Michael Glassbourg
TickleScratch Productions
24 min. 2004
Also available on DVD
Tim Whiten is chair of the Visual Arts department at York University, where he received the Dean's Teaching Award from the Faculty of Fine Arts in 1999-2000. He is represented in numerous collections, including the National Gallery of Canada and the Art Gallery of Ontario.
Describing himself as being motivated by "man's place in the scheme of things," Whiten once thought he would become a clinical psychologist. He discovered, however, that he liked "doing" better than "thinking"—hence his migration to sculpture, painting, and eventual projects like the sand-blasting of skeletal forms into rock face at the Tree Museum. He discusses his preference for using natural materials like lemon juice and coffee in painting, as well as the philosophical and meditative approach he takes to his work.
Subject(s): Artists–Tim Whiten, Installation art, Painting, Sculpture
Robin Schlaht
Zima Junction Productions
103 min.
2007 close captioned
Available on DVD and VHS
Following three different stage productions in three different countries, this documentary presents three very different interpretations of Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet. Emotional meltdowns, twisted ankles and cast mutinies are all part of what it takes to be Romeo and Juliet at a youth summer camp production in Guelph, Ontario, an amateur production in Reading, England and a professional production, in a hip-hop style, at the Chilean National Theatre in Santiago.
Accompanying the different lead actors as they prepare to portray the archetypal lovers, To Be Romeo & Juliet creates a vivid record of these individuals transforming themselves in an engaging and evocative consideration of theatre, acting and love.
Subject(s): TheatreA unique collaboration between three of Vancouver's finest artists has produced this beautiful dance poem. Traces of Emily Carr was inspired by the life, writings and paintings of Canadian artist Emily Carr, and it was brought together under one project by the unusual talents of award-winning choreographer, Jennifer Mascall, the composer and vocalist, Veda Hille, and internationally acclaimed experimental film and video artist David Rimmer.
Subject(s): British Columbia, Dance
Edward Poitras, a 2002 winner of the Governor General's Award in Visual and Media Arts, was the first artist of aboriginal descent to represent Canada at the Venice Biennale, a prestigious international art exposition held every two years in Italy. As a Métis, born of French and Salteaux parents, Poitras straddles identities by belonging to a distinct third culture. Both culturally and spiritually, he blends the vocabularies of European and native art. Poitras' work is regarded as a crucible for understanding how contemporary aboriginal people are repossessing and articulating their identities. The Trickster covers both the six months preceding the Biennale, as Poitras creates the exhibition in Saskatchewan, and the Biennale itself where Poitras and his work mount the world stage.
Subject(s):
Artists–Edward Poitras,
Identity, Installation
art, Indigenous people–Métis,
Painting, Sculpture
Tucked Into Bedlam
Susan Levine
Magic Cat Films & New Media
43 min. 2003
"Good evening, fellow insomniacs" croons Tomás Kubínek in this surreal look at life on the road. Based on his highly acclaimed one-man show, "Bed," this quixotic performance piece chronicles the inner chaos of a failing cabaret artist as he wrestles with the existential issues of isolation, death and the absurdity of life. Whether trapped in the confines of his hotel room, a mental hospital or the blinding circumference of the spotlight, Kubínek uses brilliant physical comedy to draw viewers into his bizarre world. At the apex of strange, he morphs into a giant chicken, clucking and scratching his way among hens and roosters in an actual chicken coop. Self-proclaimed "certified lunatic and master of the impossible," Kubínek creates a dreamy and beautiful parable about art, madness, vulnerability and hope.
More information on this Czech-born Canadian performer is available at www.kubinek.com. The film features music composed by Toronto jazz artist Marilyn Lerner.
Subject(s): Artists–Tomás Kubínek, Bizarre, Humour, Isolation, Poetry/Performance
See David Urban (from The Artist's Life series)
See Guy Vanderhaeghe (from The Writing Life series)
See Margaret Vanderhaeghe (from The Artist's Life series)
See Kathy Vatcher (from The Artist's Life series)
This inspiring documentary explores the rich and extraordinary life of storyteller, sage and activist Wayson Choy through his own words. While his writing focuses specifically on Chinese Canadians, his message crosses the barriers of ethnic origin.
The author recalls his childhood in Vancouver's Chinatown and reads passages from his books The Jade Peony and Paper Shadows. He talks about the process of writing, memory, racism and the importance of history. The video will inspire those interested in Canadian literature whether part of a visible minority or in the mainstream itself.
Subject(s): Artists–Wayson Choy, British Columbia, Chinese-Canadians, Literature, Racism
Directed by Jill Sharpe
Produced by Gabriela Schonbach
59 min. 2004
Also available on DVD
If you had to boil Canadian film down, would you get the unlikely combo of awkward sex pitched against a barren northern landscape? Weird Sex and Snowshoes, the fresh, fast-paced, funny documentary based loosely on Vancouver Sun film critic Katherine Monk's acclaimed book, is cagey enough to say just that. And more.
A smorgasbord of interviews and film clips, Weird Sex gives some of Canada's most celebrated filmmakers the chance to sound off on "Just what is Canadian film?" Atom Egoyan, Robert Lepage, Patricia Rozema, Denys Arcand, Zacharias Kunuk, Denis Villeneuve, Lynne Stopkewich, Clement Virgo, and others reveal opinions as diverse as their filmmaking styles. But despite scads of ideas, certain defining characteristics do emerge: a fascination with the outsider, exiled by Canada's enormous geography, cultural differences, internal demons; the everyday and ordinary made by turns poignant, bizarre and even mystical; a willingness to take artistic risks; a style that borrows heavily from both documentary and theatre; absurdist humour; and it goes without saying, the ever-present influence and reaction against the behemoth to the south, the USA.
As scenes from Mon Oncle Antoine, Atanarjuat, My American Cousin, Rude, Margaret's Museum, Jesus de Montreal, The Saddest Music in All the World, 32 Short Films about Glenn Gould, Flower & Garnet, Goin' Down the Road, and all told more than 70 Canadian films, rocket across the screen, the notion of a unified Canadian cinema starts to take shape.
Subject(s): Canada, Film studies, Filmmaking, Identity
See Claire Weissman Wilks (from The Artist's Life series)
Helene Klodawsky/Richard Elson
52 min. 2005
Some remember her as the host of the original Dr. Who series; to others, she was a shining star in science fiction's golden age of the 1940s and 50s. Others, like Canadian writer Dennis Lee, recall her as an inspiring mentor at Toronto's newly formed Rochdale College.
Filmed shortly before her death at the age of 74, this film salutes Judith Merril—writer, editor and icon of the science fiction literary genre. A candid and clever trailblazer, she was one of the first writers to create stories with believable female characters in a medium notorious for "she-devil" aliens and damsels in distress. Merril muses on the role science fiction played as an outlet for socio-political criticism during the McCarthy era and its influence as a blueprint for exploring space and other future frontiers. Looking back on her career, she recalls the ingenious men and women who dared to dream of different worlds and mischievously declares, "You have to make your own reality out of your dreams."
Award(s): Best Portrait Award, International Festival of Films on Art (FIFA)
Subject(s): Artists–Judith Merril, Literature, Women–artists
What
is Haida Art?
Part of the Ravens and Eagles:
Haida Art series
Jeff Bear/Marianne Jones
Ravens and Eagles Productions
23 min. 2002
This introduction to Haida art from the Haida perspective follows five themes—formline, ceremony, function, preservation, songs and language. The artists and themes featured here are more fully explored throughout the series.
Subject(s): Artists, Indigenous people–Haida
Directed and produced by Robert McTavish
Non-Inferno Media Productions
48:00 minutes • 2006
Available on DVD and VHS
Acclaimed poet John Newlove (1938-2003) emerged as a major literary voice
in Canada at a time when poetry mattered. In the 1960s and 70s, poets sold more
books, attracted more readers, and rode a wave of notoriety as they gave voice
to a new and self-conscious nationalism. Newlove, who had abandoned the rural
Saskatchewan of his childhood for the beatnik heyday of Vancouver, spent years
weaving in and out of literary communities across Canada. He was among the most
acclaimed and most notorious of his generation—known almost as much for his
wild drinking as for his lyrical, terse writing.
Poignant interviews with Newlove in his last years are punctuated with commentary from George Bowering, Patrick Lane,
Joe Rosenblatt, John Metcalf and the many poets and friends who knew the public persona and the private man. All consider
him to be among the best of North American poets; all saw signs of his descent into alcoholism. His wife and children
discuss his battle to overcome addiction and the depression that plagued him throughout his life.
Plain spoken and carefully crafted, his poetry mixed an obsession with the history and identity of the prairies alongside
a bleak personal struggle for understanding. His spare and immaculate work is the constant backdrop to this complex portrait
of a troubled artist.
Subject(s): Literature, Poetry/Performance
See Tim Whiten (from The Artist's Life series)
Will Munro
Part of The Artist's Life
series
Michael Glassbourg
TickleScratch Productions
24 min. 2003
Will Munro is young, hip and one of the hottest artists on the Canadian scene. Toronto's Now Magazine put him at the top of their 2002 list of "Top 10 Art Shows," asserting that "This show—blending wonderfully tacky fashion, innovative sculpture, bright design and some seriously unserious men's underoos with the instant gratification of Polaroid photography and cash-and-carry shopping—solidified Munro's place in the art world." Munro originally intended to become a tattoo artist and studied at the Ontario College of Art. With wit and style, his art explores the boundaries of body, gender and sexuality.
Munro explains his provocative work with men's underwear. He shares personal anecdotes, as well as his ideology on sex and social freedoms. This extensive view of his work gives a much deeper insight into both the art and the artist.
Subject(s): Artists–Will Munro
See Jeff Winch (from The Artist's Life series)
Writers' Confessions
(a 13-part series)
Michael Glassbourg
TickleScratch Productions
24 min. per part
First season, 2005
Second season, 2006
Also available on DVD
This crisp, fast-paced documentary series considers the issues central to the complex craft of writing. Each half-hour episode focuses on three different topics, with some of Canada's most lauded scribes weighing in. Wry and provocative, candid and thoughtful, the series is a must for those who read Canadian Literature or aspire to write it themselves.
Authors featured throughout the series include: Guy Vanderhaeghe, Elizabeth Ruth, Russell Smith, Ray Robertson, Camilla Gibb, Robert Sawyer, Tim O'Brien, Sally Cooper, Michael Crummey, Mary-Lou Zeitoun, Stevie Cameron, Diane Baker Mason, and more.
Use the following links to see detailed descriptions of each episode:
First season:Subject(s): Artists, Literature
The Writing Life
(A 13-part series)
Michael Glassbourg
TickleScratch Productions
2004
Also available on DVD
Some of Canada's most exciting writers—both the established and rising stars—reveal their approach to writing, where they find inspiration, how they nurture the self-discipline their work requires, and the pressures of success. Poets, novelists, short fiction writers, playwrights and song writers, these artists hail from all parts of Canada, bringing a multiplicity of experiences to their craft.
For detailed descriptions of each series part, visit the following links:
Subject(s): Artists, Literature
Yahgu dang ang: "To Pay Respect"
Part of the Ravens and Eagles:
Haida Art series
Jeff Bear/Marianne Jones
Ravens and Eagles Productions
22 min. 2002
Many Haida cultural treasures currently housed in museums around the world were looted from old and vacated Haida village sites. In their zeal, early explorers to Haida Gwaii took away grave goods and human remains, a questionable academic practice that continues to perplex aboriginal people. Today the Haida have begun the process of repatriation and the first to return are the ancestors themselves. Although they've encountered resistance, negotiators have brokered arrangements with local and Canadian museums, the first of these with the national museum in Ottawa. In Yahgu dang ang: "To Pay Respect", the Haida prepare to rebury the remains of seven of their ancestors in Skidegate, British Columbia with a traditional burning of food. Two key individuals in Haida repatriation efforts are featured.
Subject(s): Indigenous people–Haida, Repatriation, Spirituality
See Badanna Zack (from The Artist's Life series)
See also:
Art A through F
Art G through Q
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