BLOOD DOWNER
Gerald Mackenzie, 2019, 10 minutes
Alvin Rickshaw, a depressed middle-aged writer is attempting to cope with a severe case of creative blockage and low self-esteem. One evening at a bar, he quickly hits it off with a beguiling young woman named Nicole Formby. Things turn sour very quickly when Nicole turns out to be a vampire who is after Alvin's blood. Released from the local hospital, Alvin fruitlessly searches for Nicole who is now finding herself unable to function as a ruthless predator due to a sudden onslaught of chronic depression.
A LASTING IMPACT
Emily Sweet, 2020, 5 minutes
“A Lasting Impact explores the social isolation and stigma that often comes with being on the spectrum. Treating individuals with kindness and as equals, no matter their disability, can positively change generations. The way we treat people shapes the way that they treat others, for better or worse."
RESPECT
Jaene F. Castrillon, 2020, 45 minutes
“They respect each other, to go easy on each other” ~ Translation by James Vukelich
A free form part prose, part self portrait, part spoken word documentary on my relationship to the wind. This feature film is divided into 4 sections (Zahwenjige, Zoonigide'e, Dabasendizowin and Bagijigan) and formatted to mimic a 4 day fast. A meditation on wind as medicine and the effects it’s had on my life journey.
By showing how wind interacts with all the elements (Water, Earth, Air & Fire), we think about how my Elder's teachings of mind, body and spirit connect us to the elements as physical beings and most of all, how we are connected to each other. This piece is how the Wind whispers love to us all as part of sacred creation.
ALL THIS TIME
Genova, 2020, 10 minutes
“This film explores the personal and larger question with the viewer: What happens when someone with a serious lifelong brain condition who often and fairly predictably struggles with the idea of existing needs now finally to try to give back to a family member who has sudden, slow, different, and deteriorating brain conditions with their own accompanying moods and behaviours? How does this new arrangement affect each person both independently and in their father-daughter relationship?”
NAOMI HENDRICKJE LAUFER’S DORMANT
Brian Demoskoff, 2020, 3 minutes
An experimental dance film set to the words of poet, artist and subject Naomi Hendrickje Laufer; shot at the soon to be former Workman Arts Theatre at 651 Dufferin Street in Toronto.
QUARANTINE BLUES
Susan Lieberman, Gerald Mackenzie, Amy Ness, Omar Samara, Emily Sweet, France Ewing and Lucy Drumonde, 2020, 21 minutes
Produced by James Buffin
Edited by Oliver Rabinovitch
Made during the first spring of the covid-19 pandemic, this film showcases the collective self-documentation of six Toronto filmmakers at Workman Arts. While some of the directors were experienced, others had never before attempted camera work.
Using only self-sourced equipment, the directors opted for accessibility as a portal into creativity. Favouring devices like cell phones, they captured intimate portraits of their worlds in lockdown.
Avant-garde filmmaker Maya Deren, once famously remarked: “Cameras do not make films; filmmakers make films.”