The showcase begins with a screening of short films and videos by Parkdale filmmakers, including Alex Pugsley's James O’Reilly in Parkdale, Lina Rodríguez' Einschnitte, Chris Kennedy's Phantoms, and Craig Orrett's Sayonara Sarnia.
Other highlights from the festival include the all-ages Screening Under the Stars and the inaugural program of youth projects Above the Line.
The 14th Annual Parkdale Film + Video Showcase continues to Sunday, June 24. All films, video screenings, installations, performances, and workshops are all pay what you can.
http://www.parkdaleshowcase.ca/
14th Annual Parkdale Film + Video Showcase, June 21-24, 2012
The Parkdale Beauty Pageant Society Presents:
PARKDALE’S FINEST
The 14th Annual Parkdale Film + Video Showcase
June 21 – 24, 2012
All programs pay what you can!
REvisit: Showcasing Parkdale Film + Video Shorts
The Showcase opens up with its classic screening of local film and video shorts, a highlights reel of the diverse practices of Parkdale-based artists and festival veterans.
Alex Pugsley: James O’Reilly in Parkdale
16mm 1998 9:36
Shot on location in the Parkdale neighbourhood of Toronto, this short film is a lively account by playwright and actor James O’Reilly of his uncle’s real-life descent into unemployment, draft beer, and murder.
John Nobrega: The Moon Cried
Digital animation 2012 2:14
A stylized retelling of the events of 9/11, done in the surreal style of a black and white Disney cartoon circa the 1930s. Featuring a guest appearance by Elvis.
Damien Zielinski: Spro Jam V: Drenched in Blood
Video 2012 4:00
Join intergalactic barista warrior Damien Zielinski as he travels deep into the digital dimension of coffee spros. Heavy themes such as aging and simulacra intertwine with dazzling special effects, full 1080 high definition, and an epic original score by Sash Kosovic to make this one of the most intense episodes yet.
Scott Treleaven: Lustre
Video 2005 9:45
Shot in the back alleyways of Zurich's notorious Langstrasse. An allegorical interpretation of the punk aphorism: "the flowers in the dustbin."
Lina Rodríguez: Einschnitte
Super 8 transferred to 35mm 2011 3:00
A close study of Viennese statues that subtly reveals a complex history that continues to haunt contemporary Austria.
Chris Kennedy: Phantoms
35mm 2012 14:00
A study of the incongruous and iconic suspended monorail in Wuppertal Germany. Shot on Super 8 and finished on 35mm film.
Carolyn Tripp: Death at Sea
Video 2012 1:00
With the sounds of waves and possibly a ship in the background, two skulls are pulled around by surface currents. Fully intact with comical grins, they float across the dark, polluted water. Death at Sea is a postlude to “We harrowed the wrong quarry”.
Evan Tyler: Fear, Irony and Curating in the 90s
Video 2011 10:00
In this video artwork, a cat, Ms. Priss, delivers a monologue which tells the story of her golden years as a high profile curator in Manhattan, and her subsequent demise and exile from New York. Her narrative touches on the relationship between confidence and vulnerability in the professional realm, and how both qualities are integral to the maintenance of a living system of galleries, boards, collectives and institutions.
Craig Orrett: Sayonara Sarnia
Super 8 transferred to video 2011 2:30
Bloomington, Indiana's only Russian-themed surf-garage band 'Moscow Moscow Moscow' present their first music video, direct from a dank underground lair. It was filmed on Super 8 and hand-processed in Toronto.
Chris Dupuis: I Didn’t Come Here To Make Friends
Video 2011 3:07
An experimental video exploring the theme of rejection. Chris Dupuis performs a monologue about an ambiguous experience of rejection composed entirely with text from the reality television show "America's Next Top Model," organized according to the Kübler-Ross Five Stages of Grief (Denial, Anger, Bargaining, Depression, Acceptance).
Gladstone Hotel
1214 Queen Street West
Friday June 22 7:00pm-9:00pm
REnarrate
Looking at Parkdale from a different perspective, works in REnarrate put a twist on familiar stories about the neighbourhood. Made by artists who don’t necessarily live in Parkdale, REnarrate gives recognition to those makers who actively take part in dialogue with the community and contribute to its culture.
Alex Snukal: Magic Acid Video Crash Clash Feet
Live performance and installation
Repetition and history are important to Alex Snukal's work, much of which is concerned with repetition and duration in relation to labour and performance, explored by using the eight-hour work day as a starting point for sound performances/installations. For REnarrate, Snukal reapplies this approach to a particular case from the early history of house music. In Magic Acid Video Crash Clash Feet, Snukal examines the case of three songs that have uncanny similarities, but were produced by three different musicians in Chicago in the same year: Lil Louis’ "Video Clash"; Tyree’s, "Acid Crash"; and Mike Dunn’s, "Magic Feet." None of the songs make reference to each other; they are neither remixes nor covers, but rather individual productions which somehow all sound alike. Working with this curious history in the neighbourhood of Parkdale not only refers to creative production in Parkdale historically, but also points to the way in which the neighbourhood is changing. Now brimming with trendy bars that make Parkdale a scenester's paradise come Saturday night, this paradoxical moment from early Chicago finds itself in interesting company with this Toronto neighbourhood almost 30 years later.
Magic Acid Video Clash Crash Feet is an eight-hour performance in which four DJs will play “Video Clash”, “Acid Crash”, and “Magic Feet”, and only these three songs, for the entire duration of the performance. The performance will take place at Common Sort on June 22nd and a recording of the performance will be used as the in-store music for the remainder of the festival.
Common Sort
1414 Queen Street West
June 22-24
Sarah Ann Watson: Glitter and Performing the Self
Video installation 2011 loop
Video installation 2011 loop
Sarah Ann Watson's work deals with the complexities of desire, and how we self-identify with material wants. Glitter is an analysis of the behavioural tendencies associated with glamour and vanity, critiquing narcissism and scopophilia – the love of looking. Through this series of deadpan durational performances, Watson’s constructed tableaux provoke action and narrative, yet consciously dissatisfy the viewer with its anticlimactic looping. The static quality of these performances outline the banalities of such behaviour, while simultaneously highlighting its absurdities. In a similar manner, Performing the Self is concerned with identity-bending and processes of self-transformation within contemporary performance based practices, and to the more specific notion of “performing the self”. Watson’s work questions how both rehearsal and training are not only developmental steps, but crucial exercises used within traditional theatre studies to “enhance” and “better” ones performance. What ultimately constitutes a successful performance? How do we gauge it? Made in collaboration with conventionally trained actor Karen Knox, this work explores how the notion of truth functions and manifests as a highly manipulable performative strategy.
Capital Espresso
1349 Queen Street West
June 21-24
Robin Fitzsimmons
(dis)locate
Video installation 2012 loop
Any casual observer will note that Toronto's real estate market is going through a housing boom marked by waves of gentrification that rebrand and market neighbourhoods. In 1999, “Roncevalles Village” became a real-estate term to separate the strip from Parkdale's main drag. Certain buildings become signifiers for not just a neighbourhood, but that neighbourhood's reputation. In Robin Fitzsimmons’ work, images of Parkdale are digitally edited to remove some of its more architecturally significant features (i.e. the Dufferin underpass, the globe in front of the library) and place them in other parts of the city. Unfolding slowly over time, this re-contextualization of Parkdale’s architectural icons creates a sense of displacement and deja-vu. Recognizing these landmarks but seeing them out of their usual spots presents an opportunity to form new narratives for them, and question the role that the physical space and location of Parkdale has played in shaping our interpretations of these works.
Toronto Public Library – Parkdale Branch
1303 Queen Street West
June 21-24
Sponsored by the Toronto Public Library
Parkdale Peeps Video Collage
Drop by the Fuller Avenue Parkette to take part in a live video collage of the people who make our neighbourhood a community. Get in front of or behind the camera to create a stop motion animation of yourself, your friends, your family or your pet. Made by YOU and starring YOU! Facilitated by local artist Anna May Henry.
Fuller Avenue Parkette
Saturday June 23 4pm-7pm
Screening Under the Stars
A charming selection of short films and videos by Parkdale artists that’s fun for all ages. Dare to be dazzled! Prepare to ponder! Settle in with popcorn and lawn chairs for a relaxing summer evening celebrating Parkdale’s finest under the moon and the stars.
Penn & Panache: Cedar Ribs: Creation Through Tradition
Video 2012 6:00
Marc Russell is the owner and operator of Gull Lake Boatworks, a relatively young company founded on the importance and value of tradition. Marc’s attention to detail and eye for beauty produce timeless boats that have strong links to the past while embracing what's to come of the future. This is his story.
Nicholas Kovats: My memories of her are missing
UltraPan 8 transferred to video 2011 2:40
“Her memories of her garden elude her. There is a storm coming.”
John Callaghan and Margaret Krawecka: Bring Out The Croissants
Digital animation 2012 3:00
A fanciful music video for a song by Barry Fitzgerald, starring lots of fruit and an evil blender.
Melanie Lowe: In Search Of The Miraculous (After Bas Jan Ader)
Video 2012 2:04
The idea for this video work was developed in Parkdale, after spending lots of time along the Sunnyside waterfront at the foot of Roncesvalles. This work makes reference to the solitary and tragic journey of conceptual artist Bas Jan Ader. In July of 1975, he was lost at sea during an attempt to sail across the Atlantic Ocean for a performance project entitled, In Search of the Miraculous.
Deirdre Logue: Pond
Video 2011 4:30
Pond is part of a series of short, performance based works celebrating the unpredictable and rebellious universe. Situating the body in initially reassuring environments, these works illustrate how navigating even the most pastoral landscapes can result in turmoil between animate forms.
Kelly O’Brien: SIX
Super 8 transferred to video 2011 3:00
My daughter, Emma, dances on the beach and talks about wanting to be six years old…forever. A short film about never wanting to grow up.
Chris Kennedy: Genesee
16mm 2011 3:00
Shot in the Genesee Valley of New York state last fall on regular 8mm to commemorate the last rolls of Kodachrome. The colours of the leaves and the film stock are augmented by orange colour filters, boosting the contrast and highlighting the rich saturated yellows, reds and orange of stock and season.
Geoffrey Pugen: Rock
Video 2012 8:00
Rock creates an alien landscape by photographing a volcanic rock at a macro distance. Through the digital lens, techniques borrowed from advertising and landscape photography create a cinematic science fiction atmosphere.
Tony Massil: Train Light To Churchill
Video 2012 5:50
A documentary poem, this short film explores a morning to night journey on the famous Muskeg Express. Calm and chaotic, warm and cold, the journey’s light becomes the main character. It travels through, bounces off and fills up the train’s space. This is a narrative of light, on the train to Churchill.
Fuller Avenue Parkette
Saturday June 23 9pm
Above the Line
Our inaugural program, Above the Line, focuses on opportunities for talented youth in Parkdale to go beyond their everyday expressions of creativity and make exceptional films. Made by connecting youth with professional filmmakers and writers, works in Above the Line are a testament to emerging filmmakers in our neighbourhood.
The three short films presented in this program are the result of Acting for the Camera, a three-month workshop in 2011 initiated by The Academy of the Impossible, and made in collaboration with the Toronto Street Writers, Zazie Films, and youth from Parkdale between the ages of 16-24. Participants were given themes around which they improvised and channeled personal experiences they felt comfortable sharing on paper. Director Dominic Desjardins took those experiences and, through improvisations with the youth, expanded the ideas into bigger narratives to share on film.
The Break
Starring Freddy King, this film follows a hip hop artist as he goes dangerously into debt to pursue his dream.
Date Night
Two teens embarking on a big date with all of the wrong advice. Starring Myles Dobson and Ellen Piche.
Heartbreak Café
An ensemble piece, this story takes place at the Heartbreak Café, the site for a thousand broken hearts. We witness five break-ups, ranging from the emotional, to the weird, to the heartless.
Fuller Avenue Parkette
Saturday June 23 10pm
REact: Solidarity Sunday
Two years into Toronto Mayor Rob Ford's four-year term, we have seen a city unite and react against cutbacks, fear mongering and petty, arbitrary discrimination. This program lends its voice to the rallying cry against the effects of local and international austerity measures and economic inequality, ultimately reflecting on the possibilities of civic engagement, city building and the importance of diversity. Following the screening, guest speaker Kim Koyama will host a discussion in solidarity around these ideas and share remarks on works in the program.
Andrea Houston: Roy Mitchell presents Rob Ford with the Unity Award
Video 5:30 2011
A humorous but telling moment about the value of community and unity.
Alexis Mitchell and Sharlene Bamboat: Queen of Canada
Video 0:45 2011
Queen of Canada is in response to Canadian Immigration Minister Jason Kenney's hope that all people remove any face covering while pledging a citizenship oath in Canada.
Kareem Hassanien: Toronto Occupied
Video 5:00 2011
Footage from Occupy Toronto, which samples various motivations and points of view behind the movement.
Jorge Lozano: Guided Truth
Video 2011 3:33
While I was going to the Images festival to record images for my next "daily video" I found in the subway a newspaper with the news that Canada has bombed Libya. I went back home instead.
Amee Le: Gender lines (excerpt)
Video 2011 7:00
Genderlines sprang from an initiative by the Centre for Women and Trans People at York University that sought to confront the unceasing gender violence on the York campus. It attempts to address the systemic aspects of gender violence and offer strategies around building a safer campus for all.
Ehren Bearwitness Thomas: Woodcarver
Video 2011 5:44
This project was made in response to the murder of John T. Williams by a Seattle police officer. We decided to make this piece when we first heard the news reports that the officer who shot Williams four times was not being criminally charged. The idea was to produce an audio-visual work that could be used to create awareness for people and communities who otherwise would never have been exposed to Williams’ death as well as to the ongoing violence against Aboriginal peoples in North America.
Linda Feesey and Sol Express: Dancing The River
Video 2010 10:31
A story of social engineering gone awry. Society grows weary of all the bother of the unpredictable, chaotic and demanding exigencies of life. "Life is too much work." The Institute of Peace and Freedom implements some innovations to simplify life: Twinkle Cakes become the only food, babies can’t cry and everyone wears the same thing. Those who threaten the new utopia/dystopia are tested and dumped into a river. Its magical power transforms them into synchronized swimmers and restores their joy for life. Eventually, only the two screeners remain to defend Comfeeyville's superior way of life. Rejuvenated by the powers of the river, one screener pushes the other into the magic river where they are carried over to the other side to be reunited with the rejects.
Guest Speaker’s Biography:
Kim Koyama was born and raised in Toronto. He became involved in anti-racist activism in 2004 to raise awareness about the parallels between the WWII imprisonment of the Japanese Canadian community - including his Parents and Grandparents - and the Muslims who have been falsely accused of terrorism. More recently, he has worked on campaigns fighting discrimination aimed at those in the LGBTQ communities.
Academy of the Impossible
231 Wallace Avenue, back entrance
Sunday June 24 1pm-3pm
Bring a chair for guaranteed seating!
Presented in partnership with the Regent Park Film Festival. Sponsored by the Academy of the Impossible.
Webcetera
The Parkdale Beauty Pageant Society is pleased to present Webcetera, an inaugural program focusing on web-based works by Parkdale artists that exist solely on the internet and are accessible to everyone. Viewable anywhere, work featured by Webcetera is online, all the time.
Sybil Prentice: nightcoregirl.net
nightcoregirl.net is a website that offers remixed music, predominantly the internet-based genre Nightcore. Each mix on nightcoregirl.net is its own html page that offers dynamic visuals evocative of a range of daydreams that might be prompted by sounds. The visuals are static and moving collages that play on the aesthetics of the internet and extreme girliness. Anime, cute bunny rabbits, cosplay wigs, designer logos and socialites like Paris Hilton are decorative attributes of the site.
Navigation is sporadic, there isn't a single menu type that runs through every page, rather, each one is aesthetically suited for the page it is on. Nightcoregirl wants you to feel as though clicking a link is like bouncing into some obscure gem of the internet.
nightcoregirl.net
Online, all the time
PARKDALE’S FINEST
The 14th Annual Parkdale Film + Video Showcase
June 21 – 24, 2012
All programs pay what you can!
REvisit: Showcasing Parkdale Film + Video Shorts
The Showcase opens up with its classic screening of local film and video shorts, a highlights reel of the diverse practices of Parkdale-based artists and festival veterans.
Alex Pugsley: James O’Reilly in Parkdale
16mm 1998 9:36
Shot on location in the Parkdale neighbourhood of Toronto, this short film is a lively account by playwright and actor James O’Reilly of his uncle’s real-life descent into unemployment, draft beer, and murder.
John Nobrega: The Moon Cried
Digital animation 2012 2:14
A stylized retelling of the events of 9/11, done in the surreal style of a black and white Disney cartoon circa the 1930s. Featuring a guest appearance by Elvis.
Damien Zielinski: Spro Jam V: Drenched in Blood
Video 2012 4:00
Join intergalactic barista warrior Damien Zielinski as he travels deep into the digital dimension of coffee spros. Heavy themes such as aging and simulacra intertwine with dazzling special effects, full 1080 high definition, and an epic original score by Sash Kosovic to make this one of the most intense episodes yet.
Scott Treleaven: Lustre
Video 2005 9:45
Shot in the back alleyways of Zurich's notorious Langstrasse. An allegorical interpretation of the punk aphorism: "the flowers in the dustbin."
Lina Rodríguez: Einschnitte
Super 8 transferred to 35mm 2011 3:00
A close study of Viennese statues that subtly reveals a complex history that continues to haunt contemporary Austria.
Chris Kennedy: Phantoms
35mm 2012 14:00
A study of the incongruous and iconic suspended monorail in Wuppertal Germany. Shot on Super 8 and finished on 35mm film.
Carolyn Tripp: Death at Sea
Video 2012 1:00
With the sounds of waves and possibly a ship in the background, two skulls are pulled around by surface currents. Fully intact with comical grins, they float across the dark, polluted water. Death at Sea is a postlude to “We harrowed the wrong quarry”.
Evan Tyler: Fear, Irony and Curating in the 90s
Video 2011 10:00
In this video artwork, a cat, Ms. Priss, delivers a monologue which tells the story of her golden years as a high profile curator in Manhattan, and her subsequent demise and exile from New York. Her narrative touches on the relationship between confidence and vulnerability in the professional realm, and how both qualities are integral to the maintenance of a living system of galleries, boards, collectives and institutions.
Craig Orrett: Sayonara Sarnia
Super 8 transferred to video 2011 2:30
Bloomington, Indiana's only Russian-themed surf-garage band 'Moscow Moscow Moscow' present their first music video, direct from a dank underground lair. It was filmed on Super 8 and hand-processed in Toronto.
Chris Dupuis: I Didn’t Come Here To Make Friends
Video 2011 3:07
An experimental video exploring the theme of rejection. Chris Dupuis performs a monologue about an ambiguous experience of rejection composed entirely with text from the reality television show "America's Next Top Model," organized according to the Kübler-Ross Five Stages of Grief (Denial, Anger, Bargaining, Depression, Acceptance).
Gladstone Hotel
1214 Queen Street West
Friday June 22 7:00pm-9:00pm
REnarrate
Looking at Parkdale from a different perspective, works in REnarrate put a twist on familiar stories about the neighbourhood. Made by artists who don’t necessarily live in Parkdale, REnarrate gives recognition to those makers who actively take part in dialogue with the community and contribute to its culture.
Alex Snukal: Magic Acid Video Crash Clash Feet
Live performance and installation
Repetition and history are important to Alex Snukal's work, much of which is concerned with repetition and duration in relation to labour and performance, explored by using the eight-hour work day as a starting point for sound performances/installations. For REnarrate, Snukal reapplies this approach to a particular case from the early history of house music. In Magic Acid Video Crash Clash Feet, Snukal examines the case of three songs that have uncanny similarities, but were produced by three different musicians in Chicago in the same year: Lil Louis’ "Video Clash"; Tyree’s, "Acid Crash"; and Mike Dunn’s, "Magic Feet." None of the songs make reference to each other; they are neither remixes nor covers, but rather individual productions which somehow all sound alike. Working with this curious history in the neighbourhood of Parkdale not only refers to creative production in Parkdale historically, but also points to the way in which the neighbourhood is changing. Now brimming with trendy bars that make Parkdale a scenester's paradise come Saturday night, this paradoxical moment from early Chicago finds itself in interesting company with this Toronto neighbourhood almost 30 years later.
Magic Acid Video Clash Crash Feet is an eight-hour performance in which four DJs will play “Video Clash”, “Acid Crash”, and “Magic Feet”, and only these three songs, for the entire duration of the performance. The performance will take place at Common Sort on June 22nd and a recording of the performance will be used as the in-store music for the remainder of the festival.
Common Sort
1414 Queen Street West
June 22-24
Sarah Ann Watson: Glitter and Performing the Self
Video installation 2011 loop
Video installation 2011 loop
Sarah Ann Watson's work deals with the complexities of desire, and how we self-identify with material wants. Glitter is an analysis of the behavioural tendencies associated with glamour and vanity, critiquing narcissism and scopophilia – the love of looking. Through this series of deadpan durational performances, Watson’s constructed tableaux provoke action and narrative, yet consciously dissatisfy the viewer with its anticlimactic looping. The static quality of these performances outline the banalities of such behaviour, while simultaneously highlighting its absurdities. In a similar manner, Performing the Self is concerned with identity-bending and processes of self-transformation within contemporary performance based practices, and to the more specific notion of “performing the self”. Watson’s work questions how both rehearsal and training are not only developmental steps, but crucial exercises used within traditional theatre studies to “enhance” and “better” ones performance. What ultimately constitutes a successful performance? How do we gauge it? Made in collaboration with conventionally trained actor Karen Knox, this work explores how the notion of truth functions and manifests as a highly manipulable performative strategy.
Capital Espresso
1349 Queen Street West
June 21-24
Robin Fitzsimmons
(dis)locate
Video installation 2012 loop
Any casual observer will note that Toronto's real estate market is going through a housing boom marked by waves of gentrification that rebrand and market neighbourhoods. In 1999, “Roncevalles Village” became a real-estate term to separate the strip from Parkdale's main drag. Certain buildings become signifiers for not just a neighbourhood, but that neighbourhood's reputation. In Robin Fitzsimmons’ work, images of Parkdale are digitally edited to remove some of its more architecturally significant features (i.e. the Dufferin underpass, the globe in front of the library) and place them in other parts of the city. Unfolding slowly over time, this re-contextualization of Parkdale’s architectural icons creates a sense of displacement and deja-vu. Recognizing these landmarks but seeing them out of their usual spots presents an opportunity to form new narratives for them, and question the role that the physical space and location of Parkdale has played in shaping our interpretations of these works.
Toronto Public Library – Parkdale Branch
1303 Queen Street West
June 21-24
Sponsored by the Toronto Public Library
Parkdale Peeps Video Collage
Drop by the Fuller Avenue Parkette to take part in a live video collage of the people who make our neighbourhood a community. Get in front of or behind the camera to create a stop motion animation of yourself, your friends, your family or your pet. Made by YOU and starring YOU! Facilitated by local artist Anna May Henry.
Fuller Avenue Parkette
Saturday June 23 4pm-7pm
Screening Under the Stars
A charming selection of short films and videos by Parkdale artists that’s fun for all ages. Dare to be dazzled! Prepare to ponder! Settle in with popcorn and lawn chairs for a relaxing summer evening celebrating Parkdale’s finest under the moon and the stars.
Penn & Panache: Cedar Ribs: Creation Through Tradition
Video 2012 6:00
Marc Russell is the owner and operator of Gull Lake Boatworks, a relatively young company founded on the importance and value of tradition. Marc’s attention to detail and eye for beauty produce timeless boats that have strong links to the past while embracing what's to come of the future. This is his story.
Nicholas Kovats: My memories of her are missing
UltraPan 8 transferred to video 2011 2:40
“Her memories of her garden elude her. There is a storm coming.”
John Callaghan and Margaret Krawecka: Bring Out The Croissants
Digital animation 2012 3:00
A fanciful music video for a song by Barry Fitzgerald, starring lots of fruit and an evil blender.
Melanie Lowe: In Search Of The Miraculous (After Bas Jan Ader)
Video 2012 2:04
The idea for this video work was developed in Parkdale, after spending lots of time along the Sunnyside waterfront at the foot of Roncesvalles. This work makes reference to the solitary and tragic journey of conceptual artist Bas Jan Ader. In July of 1975, he was lost at sea during an attempt to sail across the Atlantic Ocean for a performance project entitled, In Search of the Miraculous.
Deirdre Logue: Pond
Video 2011 4:30
Pond is part of a series of short, performance based works celebrating the unpredictable and rebellious universe. Situating the body in initially reassuring environments, these works illustrate how navigating even the most pastoral landscapes can result in turmoil between animate forms.
Kelly O’Brien: SIX
Super 8 transferred to video 2011 3:00
My daughter, Emma, dances on the beach and talks about wanting to be six years old…forever. A short film about never wanting to grow up.
Chris Kennedy: Genesee
16mm 2011 3:00
Shot in the Genesee Valley of New York state last fall on regular 8mm to commemorate the last rolls of Kodachrome. The colours of the leaves and the film stock are augmented by orange colour filters, boosting the contrast and highlighting the rich saturated yellows, reds and orange of stock and season.
Geoffrey Pugen: Rock
Video 2012 8:00
Rock creates an alien landscape by photographing a volcanic rock at a macro distance. Through the digital lens, techniques borrowed from advertising and landscape photography create a cinematic science fiction atmosphere.
Tony Massil: Train Light To Churchill
Video 2012 5:50
A documentary poem, this short film explores a morning to night journey on the famous Muskeg Express. Calm and chaotic, warm and cold, the journey’s light becomes the main character. It travels through, bounces off and fills up the train’s space. This is a narrative of light, on the train to Churchill.
Fuller Avenue Parkette
Saturday June 23 9pm
Above the Line
Our inaugural program, Above the Line, focuses on opportunities for talented youth in Parkdale to go beyond their everyday expressions of creativity and make exceptional films. Made by connecting youth with professional filmmakers and writers, works in Above the Line are a testament to emerging filmmakers in our neighbourhood.
The three short films presented in this program are the result of Acting for the Camera, a three-month workshop in 2011 initiated by The Academy of the Impossible, and made in collaboration with the Toronto Street Writers, Zazie Films, and youth from Parkdale between the ages of 16-24. Participants were given themes around which they improvised and channeled personal experiences they felt comfortable sharing on paper. Director Dominic Desjardins took those experiences and, through improvisations with the youth, expanded the ideas into bigger narratives to share on film.
The Break
Starring Freddy King, this film follows a hip hop artist as he goes dangerously into debt to pursue his dream.
Date Night
Two teens embarking on a big date with all of the wrong advice. Starring Myles Dobson and Ellen Piche.
Heartbreak Café
An ensemble piece, this story takes place at the Heartbreak Café, the site for a thousand broken hearts. We witness five break-ups, ranging from the emotional, to the weird, to the heartless.
Fuller Avenue Parkette
Saturday June 23 10pm
REact: Solidarity Sunday
Two years into Toronto Mayor Rob Ford's four-year term, we have seen a city unite and react against cutbacks, fear mongering and petty, arbitrary discrimination. This program lends its voice to the rallying cry against the effects of local and international austerity measures and economic inequality, ultimately reflecting on the possibilities of civic engagement, city building and the importance of diversity. Following the screening, guest speaker Kim Koyama will host a discussion in solidarity around these ideas and share remarks on works in the program.
Andrea Houston: Roy Mitchell presents Rob Ford with the Unity Award
Video 5:30 2011
A humorous but telling moment about the value of community and unity.
Alexis Mitchell and Sharlene Bamboat: Queen of Canada
Video 0:45 2011
Queen of Canada is in response to Canadian Immigration Minister Jason Kenney's hope that all people remove any face covering while pledging a citizenship oath in Canada.
Kareem Hassanien: Toronto Occupied
Video 5:00 2011
Footage from Occupy Toronto, which samples various motivations and points of view behind the movement.
Jorge Lozano: Guided Truth
Video 2011 3:33
While I was going to the Images festival to record images for my next "daily video" I found in the subway a newspaper with the news that Canada has bombed Libya. I went back home instead.
Amee Le: Gender lines (excerpt)
Video 2011 7:00
Genderlines sprang from an initiative by the Centre for Women and Trans People at York University that sought to confront the unceasing gender violence on the York campus. It attempts to address the systemic aspects of gender violence and offer strategies around building a safer campus for all.
Ehren Bearwitness Thomas: Woodcarver
Video 2011 5:44
This project was made in response to the murder of John T. Williams by a Seattle police officer. We decided to make this piece when we first heard the news reports that the officer who shot Williams four times was not being criminally charged. The idea was to produce an audio-visual work that could be used to create awareness for people and communities who otherwise would never have been exposed to Williams’ death as well as to the ongoing violence against Aboriginal peoples in North America.
Linda Feesey and Sol Express: Dancing The River
Video 2010 10:31
A story of social engineering gone awry. Society grows weary of all the bother of the unpredictable, chaotic and demanding exigencies of life. "Life is too much work." The Institute of Peace and Freedom implements some innovations to simplify life: Twinkle Cakes become the only food, babies can’t cry and everyone wears the same thing. Those who threaten the new utopia/dystopia are tested and dumped into a river. Its magical power transforms them into synchronized swimmers and restores their joy for life. Eventually, only the two screeners remain to defend Comfeeyville's superior way of life. Rejuvenated by the powers of the river, one screener pushes the other into the magic river where they are carried over to the other side to be reunited with the rejects.
Guest Speaker’s Biography:
Kim Koyama was born and raised in Toronto. He became involved in anti-racist activism in 2004 to raise awareness about the parallels between the WWII imprisonment of the Japanese Canadian community - including his Parents and Grandparents - and the Muslims who have been falsely accused of terrorism. More recently, he has worked on campaigns fighting discrimination aimed at those in the LGBTQ communities.
Academy of the Impossible
231 Wallace Avenue, back entrance
Sunday June 24 1pm-3pm
Bring a chair for guaranteed seating!
Presented in partnership with the Regent Park Film Festival. Sponsored by the Academy of the Impossible.
Webcetera
The Parkdale Beauty Pageant Society is pleased to present Webcetera, an inaugural program focusing on web-based works by Parkdale artists that exist solely on the internet and are accessible to everyone. Viewable anywhere, work featured by Webcetera is online, all the time.
Sybil Prentice: nightcoregirl.net
nightcoregirl.net is a website that offers remixed music, predominantly the internet-based genre Nightcore. Each mix on nightcoregirl.net is its own html page that offers dynamic visuals evocative of a range of daydreams that might be prompted by sounds. The visuals are static and moving collages that play on the aesthetics of the internet and extreme girliness. Anime, cute bunny rabbits, cosplay wigs, designer logos and socialites like Paris Hilton are decorative attributes of the site.
Navigation is sporadic, there isn't a single menu type that runs through every page, rather, each one is aesthetically suited for the page it is on. Nightcoregirl wants you to feel as though clicking a link is like bouncing into some obscure gem of the internet.
nightcoregirl.net
Online, all the time
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