REHAB 2008 - Program

INSTALLATION

FRIDAY JUNE 27 - SUNDAY JUNE 29, 2008

Chris Curreri

Installation in three homes on Fuller Avenue (#28, #33, #107)

Dusk to dawn, Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

Heartbreak Hotel

Heartbreak Hotel is a short film loop that records a photograph of Elvis Presley lying topless on a hotel bed. His hands cover his ears, but beside him a large black telephone suggests the possibility of communication. Viewed only from the street, this piece turns its audience into voyeurs as they peer into residential windows to see this erstwhile icon.

Chris Curreri is a Toronto-based artist who works predominantly with film and photography. He holds a BFA from the School of Image Arts at Ryerson University and an MFA from the Milton Avery Graduate School for the Arts at Bard College. His film work has been screened in numerous international programs such as the Toronto International Film Festival (Canada), the Festival Internacional de Cine de Mar del Plata (Argentina), and Image Forum (Japan).

SCREENING SCHEDULE:

FRIDAY JUNE 27, 2008

9:00 PM

REVUE CINEMA

400 Roncesvalles Avenue

PROGRAM DURATION 75 minutes

Jazz Meter Parking

Greg Majster, 2006, 5:00, video

Greg shot Jazz Meter Parking on a point and shoot digital camera on Queen Street West in 2006 on his birthday. Like many of the Queen Street pedestrians that day, Greg was interested in the horn overshadowing the usual hustle and bustle of the street. So he stopped by and asked MLJ some questions.

Greg Majster is an artist and filmmaker born in Poland and raised in Parkdale.

Afghanimation

Allyson Mitchell, 2008, 6:00, 35mm on video

Women in Afghan refugee camps make woven rugs that tell a story of war. The intent of these rugs is unclear. Are they anti-war or an affirmation of military power? Are they made as tourist trinkets for soldiers and "peacekeepers," or are they sombre prayer rugs? The weavers of these rugs are anonymous to Western collectors because the rugs are attained through intricate channels of trade. This kind of silencing of the artists' voices and the political ambivalence of their intent can be read as a metaphor for the Canadian military presence in Afghanistan.

Allyson Mitchell is a maximalist artist working predominantly in sculpture, installation and film. Mitchell's work melds feminism and pop culture to play with contemporary ideas about sexuality, autobiography, and the body, largely through the use of reclaimed textile and abandoned craft. Her work has exhibited in galleries and festivals across Canada, the US, Europe and East Asia. She recently completed her PhD in Women's Studies at York University, where she also teaches cultural studies.

She Asam Kirtzono

Evan Tapper, 2007, 5:00, video

This video references the division of men and women in traditional Jewish prayer and the alienation I feel due to misogyny in the Jewish religion. The video was commissioned for the Off the Wall: Artists at Work, 2008 residency at the Jewish Museum, New York.

Evan Tapper was born in Winnipeg and is currently based in Toronto. He received a BFA from the University of Manitoba and an MFA from Carnegie Mellon University. Tapper's video, animation, installation, and performance work has been shown in festivals and exhibitions around the world, including the Royal Ontario Museum, the Jewish Museum in New York, Melbourne International Animation Festival, Tate Modern, and Center for Contemporary Art in Kitakyushu, Japan.

14:3 seconds

John Greyson, 2008, 9:00, video

All that's left from the Baghdad Film Archives are 14.3 seconds of footage...

John Greyson is a Toronto film/video artist whose features, shorts and installations include Fig Trees, Proteus and Lilies. An assistant professor at York University, he was awarded the Bell Canada Video Art Award, 2007.

Victory Salute

Trevor Tureski, YEAR, 2:00, video

Victory Salute was created using "found" footage of a disheveled George W. Bush who thinks the camera isn't rolling. The soundtrack features his daddy's State of the Union speech "corrected" by TradeMark G. of the Evolution Control Committee.

Trevor Tureski works in Toronto as a musician and composer. He is the principal percussionist with the Canadian Opera Company and specializes in contemporary art music and electro-acoustics. Trevor has lived, studied, and performed in places like Banff, Paris, Holland, Bali and Morocco.

Threshold

Michelle Irving, 2007, 9:30, video

Threshold uses an audio/visual poetic to explore the idea of crossing over or that almost imperceptible gap between one thing and another. Light and darkness, signal and noise, water and air, life and death.

Michelle Irving is a media artist working in sound and video. Her work has been presented at various local and international festivals including Contact Festival (The Gathering Space/Toronto '08), SoundPlay (Toronto '07), New Forms Festival (Vancouver, '04-'05), Live!Festival (Zurich,'05), Open Circuits Festival (Vancouver,'04), and Festival International du Film sur l'Art(Montreal, '04), Her music is featured in the internationally acclaimed documentary "The Corporation" and award winning documentary "Scared Sacred." She produces under the artist alias Granny'Ark on Zora Lanson Label (Berlin), and Interdisco (Basel).

Les Petites morts

Cheryl Rondeau, 2007, 2:45, video

Les Petites morts presents a series of brief portraits of women screaming, all taken from horror films. Les Petites morts is the second installment of a video trilogy, entitled Les Documents, that use segments of footage appropriated from film and television to explore associations, implications and semiotics relating to a common cinematic gesture. The work activates our existing relationship with the moving picture in entertainment and amplifies the populist recognition of stereotypical situations and roles inhabited by females.

Cheryl Rondeau is a visual artist who works with both still and moving imagery to transform moments of transition and quotidien into the monumental with the intent of exposing influences and mechanics that mediate representation and identity. Rondeau's work has been included in exhibitions and festivals internationally.

Everything Will Be Fine

Matt Wyatt, 2008, 6:00, video

Part of a series of video/animated drawing shorts titled Everything Will Be Fine, these video shorts explore the relationships between the media, government, technology, social and interpersonal dynamics, natural and man-made disasters, and our environment, with irony and humour.

Everything Will Be Fine #2 (Katrina) is an homage to George W Bush's dubious actions in the wake of Hurricane Katrina.

Everything Will Be Fine #5 (E-man Calling) is a montage of genuine voice messages from the mysterious "E-man."

Everything Will Be Fine #7 (Breakfast) exposes some of the surprising dangers of microwave ovens.

Everything Will Be Fine #8 (The Meters) animates the surging cost of energy we're ringing up daily.

Everything Will Be Fine #10 (Home) offers a disturbing vision of humanity's impact on our environment.

Matt Wyatt was a long-time resident of Parkdale in Toronto. Recently he was one of many artist-residents evicted from 48 Abell (off Queen/Gladstone) to make way for new condo developments. Wyatt is a visual artist working in drawing and painting as well as video and new media art. www.mattwyatt.ca

Death Mask

Jonathan Culp, 2004, 5:00, video

A death mask of my grandfather inspires me to catalogue 100 years of family history - Culps and Carmans, cancer and madness and separation, a bottomless supply of Donalds and Russells and Sues - until the mask meets its own comically tragic end. With rapid-fire visuals drawn entirely from family photo albums, "Death Mask" challenges the compulsion to conquer chaos with art.

Jonathan Culp is the creator of over thirty short films and videos, including collage, documentary, and super 8 works. He has helped to promote truly independent video via the Satan Macnuggit Video Road Show, and as film and video editor for Broken Pencil magazine. In 2003, Culp was cited as 'Toronto's Most Indefatigable Underground Video Guru' by NOW Magazine. He is presently Workshop Coordinator at the Liaison of Independent Filmmakers of Toronto.

Lucky Day

Lori Chodos, 2008, 13:00, video

Maggie can't sleep. She's getting crank calls from someone who seems to know her and she hasn't left her apartment in weeks. A mysterious envelope arrives informing her that she may already have won the trip of a lifetime. Could this be her last chance at happiness?

Lori Chodos was born in Toronto, Canada. Upon completing her undergraduate degree at McGill, she moved to New York, began working for various filmmakers, and got her MFA in film from City College of New York. She has worked for experimental theater company The Wooster Group, interned at Maysles Films, and created television shows for New York Public Television. She has edited and directed a number of award-winning short films.

Figure 48

Michael Toke, 2008, 2:30, video

This running document traces a figure 8 in my now demolished studio at 48 Abell Street. This is how I ran the winter months. This infinite symbol is a tribute to the glory that was my studio for 10 years. It was part of the Abell End of Days celebrations that intended to show what was being lost. 113 FOREVER!

Michael Toke is a Toronto based installation and video artist, born in Hamilton, Ontario. Attended Sheridan College and OCA, worked as head assistant to J.S.G. Boggs a commerce based performance artist in NYC. Exhibiting internationally in art and film venues. His installations combine painting, video and sculpture hung on a conceptual armature of documentary film practice. Represented by Edward Day Gallery in Toronto.

Show and Tell

Mammalian Diving Reflex, 2008, 5:00, video

A feature-length video portrait of the home of the Parkdale Pumas. Written and starring all 647 students of Parkdale Public School and their favourite things; Transformers, basketballs, Tweety Bird, and erasers.

Mammalian Diving Reflex is an award-winning contemporary, interdisciplinary company that creates innovative and critically acclaimed performances. Functioning as a research-art atelier dedicated to investigating the social sphere, Mammalian is always on the lookout for contradictions to whip into aesthetically scintillating experiences, producing one-off events, theatre-based performance, theoretical texts and community happenings.

Image credit: kid's name is Shahd Jakiteh and the photo was taken by Lisa Kannakko

JD and the Pleasers (Honey I Shrunk the Band)

Jay Davidson, 1991, 4:00, Super 8 on video

Harmonizer by Parkdale's JD & The Pleasers is a rock n' roll visual treat and an uncovered jewel of DIY animation, fresh from the �hood from back in the day.

Saturday June 28, 2008

3:00 PM

Parkdale Public Library

1303 Queen Street West

Homemade Movies presents:

Home movies from PARKDALE TO GUYANA

In the 1980's Alison Latchana recorded her life, family and travels among Toronto's West Indian community, on the road in Europe and back home to Guyana. Hanging out on Jameson Ave and at Queen & Sorauren. Village life in Guyana. Trucking through Portugal. Good times, hard times, family and friends - Alison shot it all with her Canon Super 8 sound camera.

Alison Latchana started making super 8 films in 1982 while majoring in geography at CEGEP in Montreal. "I then travelled to 14 of the 16 countries I studied". Alison filmed home movies of her travels throughout Europe, back to her native Guyana and of her life in Canada � Montreal, Chicoutimi (where she went to university) and Toronto's Parkdale, where much of her family lived.

PROGRAM

Guyana '88

27:00, super 8, Ektachrome

An amazing record by Alison of the land where she grew up. Mostly shot in the town of New Amsterdam and the rural East Berbice district near the Suriname border. Full of small carefully observed details, this reel is an imitate, unsentimental portrait of the beauty and the poverty of one of the western hemisphere's poorest countries.

A village in East Berbice (Canal #2, Town #65). Ferry crossing the Berbice river to New Amsterdam in heavy rain. Collecting water in the village from a pond. The dusty streets. An American missionary. Small houses along road. Villagers walking to and fro. Boat building. Visiting relatives in Demerara, cooking and eating a meal outdoors. Berbice ferry. Selling fish from a dock, vendor cooking in the bottom of a boat tied to the dock. Market in New Amsterdam - vegetables and tropical fruit laid out on mats, live animals, crowds, vendors, bartering. Streets in New Amsterdam - shop fronts, spilled beer, bus 'graveyard', PNC / Desmond Hoyte billboard (ruling party from independence to 1992). Alison exchanging money unofficially. The town of Albion (East Berbice) - 8 or 9 people cram into a small old car and drive away. New Amsterdam - houses left behind by émigrés stripped of building materials, a pet monkey, a high street, pushing a stalled truck, goods in shop fronts, donkey cart ("cart for hire"), adherents of the Judge Knights proselytizing on the street, open-air meat market, market stalls. Albion - making coconut oil, people posing for the camera, parrot, men gambling, livestock, 'strongman' baring his chest. Funeral in Albion - open coffin, crowd of 100-200 gathered outside house, women crying and wailing, the coffin carried up the steps and through the house (traditional belief). Canal west of Georgetown, bathing and drawing water, dugout canoes and small river boats. Village (Town #65) - boat building, shrimps drying in sun, vendor selling bread from bicycle, girls dance to the traditional folk song Bamboo Dam.

Intermission

Montreal Christmas party

Europe 1986

Parkdale

Chicoutimi

Europe 1988

Apartment on Sorauren

20:00, super 8 sound, Kodachrome & Ektachrome

A selection of Alison's home movies from Canada to Europe: Guys boasting on camera and goofing around in Montreal, Switzerland, reuniting with a long-lost uncle in Britain, Parkdale, a strike and picket line in snowy Chicoutimi, Portuguese truckers cooking meals in their cabs, Sweden, the Alps, partying on Sorauren Ave.

SATURDAY JUNE 28, 2008

9:00 PM

FULLER PARK (ALBERT CROSSLANDS PARKETTE)

Fuller Avenue, north of Queen Street West

RAIN LOCATION TBA:

PLEASE CHECK WEBSITE AND SIGNS IN THE PARKETTE

PROGRAM DURATION: 70 minutes

Show and Tell

Mammalian Diving Reflex, 2008, 5:00, video

Image credit: kid's name is Shahd Jakiteh and the photo was taken by Lisa Kannakko

Secret Place

Renata Mohamed, 2008, 2:30, 16mm/video

A small glimpse into a secret area within the busy Toronto neighbourhood of Queen West.

Renata Mohamed is a Toronto-based filmmaker born in the British Virgin Islands. Renata is a graduate of the Ontario College of Art & Design's Integrated Media program and currently works at Liaison of Independent Filmmakers of Toronto (LIFT). She has been involved with numerous of festivals in the city including the Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary, Inside Out Toronto Lesbian and Gay and Worldwide Short film festivals. Her first film, "Coolie Gyal," has screened at more than 35 festivals worldwide, including the Rehab Parkdale Film + Video Showcase in 2005.

Rostrum Press: Materials Testing

Chris Gehman, 2008, 3:00, 16mm

Chris Gehman's Rostrum Press: Materials Testing "responds to an isolated aspect of two films by Michael Snow: Breakfast (Table Top Dolly) (1972-76) and Presents (1980-81), with an additional/incidental nod to Snow's Wavelength (1967)".

Chris Gehman is a Toronto-based filmmaker, programmer and writer. He was Artistic Director for the Images Festival of Independent Film and Video from 2001-2004 and is currently an MFA student in the Film & Video program at York University, Toronto.

Nappy Heads

Sabrina Morella, 2007, 3:00, Super-8mm on video

Nappy Heads is a short and vibrant tribute to the Afro hair. Shot on Super 8 in the streets of Toronto, it portrays dozens of women, men and children who all accepted to "shake their nappy heads" in front of the camera. Afros, dreadlocks, cornrows - all types of hairstyles are represented. And the jazzy funky score "Seems as though" (composed by Toronto-based musician Carl Merenick) gives amazing life to these charming series of portraits.

Sabrina Moella is a Toronto-based filmmaker, writer and producer whose work primarily focuses on studying and narrating the everyday life, traditions, and culture of the Afro-Caribbean diaspora. She grew up in Paris and started writing as soon as she was old enough to hold a pen. She graduated in Media Studies from La Sorbonne University and worked as a journalist and TV writer in Paris before moving to Toronto. Filmmaker Sabrina Moella has a passion for hair since her early childhood. "Nappy Heads" is her third short film.

Beech Projekt

Karl Reinsalu, 2008, 5:30, Super-8mm and 16mm on video

Two observers head to the Toronto Beaches with cameras in hand. One captures his surroundings; while the other quietly hides behind her lens. Both combine into one fun day at the beach!

Karl Reinsalu is a graduate of Humber College's Film & Television program, and is an active member of Toronto's independent film community. He has had the opportunity to explore the many different aspects of filmmaking as he continuously helps others create their films. A self-proclaimed jack-of-all-trades, Karl continues to develop into a well-rounded DIY filmmaker. Given all this, Karl is a natural fit as LIFT's Technical-Coordinator. From prep, to production, to post; a bard has emerged from the mist.

Toro Bravo

Madi Piller, 2007, 3:30, 35mm on video

Toro Bravo is an abstract experimental animated short film created using a variety of materials - including charcoal drawings, sand, cut-outs and photocopies - to depict a bull fight. The film expresses the filmmaker's sadness at the brutality of our times, and the omnipresence of violence as spectacle. Toro Bravo was created using a blend of digital and analogue techniques.

Toronto based filmmaker Padi Miller was born in Lima-Peru and graduated from the University of Lima in Communication Sciences. Madi began her career in advertising producing TV commercials for a wide variety of products and has lived in Paris and Bogota. In 1998 Madi moved to Toronto and started working closely with the independent film community doing experimental short films, programming and mentoring. Madi's films have been shown across Canada and abroad. Madi's admiration for the art of animation has motivated her to serve as volunteer President on the Toronto Animated Image Society (TAIS) Board of Directors.

Kis Angyal

Nicholas Kovats, 2008, 2:00, Super-8mm on video

Kis Angyal is an unabashed sentimental celebration of 3 generations of my family.

I have been shooting Super 8 film on and off since 1980-81...triggered by my dad's gift of a treasured all metal Canon 814 Super 8 camera. I am a resident of Parkdale who is working towards perfecting a Super 8 film based cinemascope system. My handheld style is influenced by NFB documentary cinematographers and the textures of Eastern European and Russian filmmakers.

Meditating with Wasps

Sandra Gregson, 2008, 4:30, video

A woman is meditating in the garden, chanting ommm. The om chant seems to be taken up by wasps which fly about her, land on her, fly about again. The woman continues meditating. The wasps continue to swarm. Ommmm. Tension builds. Are the wasps and the woman at one? Are the wasps metaphorical, and the reason why the woman is meditating? Are the wasps meditating too?

Toronto artist Sandra Gregson works with drawing, sculpture, and video, often combining these mediums. She uses the time component of video to elaborate seemingly simple moments, attempting to really notice everyday events, with a mixture of humour and profundity, and, with the intent of linking life and art.

INTERMISSION

Iner's Stop Motion Fauxbot Love

Iner Souster, 2008, 2:08, video

This film was pieced together from a wide assortment of stop motion and live action shots of Fauxbot. All of the sets, costumes and musical instruments played in the soundtrack were built by Iner. The soundtrack was created by Iner along with local Toronto band FemBots and Sudbury musician Nathan Lawr.

Iner Souster is a visual artist/musician living in Toronto. He creates wearable body sculpture dresses, Fauxbots, and musical instruments made from recycled and salvaged materials, found objects, and other unconventional objects. Iner's creations have been displayed in galleries, used in film and television, and his musical instruments are a favourite of local musicians. Iner creates designs that are as unique and unconventional as the materials used, causing the viewer to think beyond the habitual constraints of the art world.

Ad Superni

Laurel MacDonald, 2008, 3:00, Super-8mm on video

Shot on Super 8, Ad Superni is a freeform experiment in the interplay between visual - and sonic - colour and rhythm.

Laurel MacDonald is a singer and composer whose music has appeared in feature and documentary films, and in theatre and dance productions. She performs solo and in various Toronto-based ensembles, and has released several CDs. She has recently also been creating work in film and video, and exhibited her first video/sound installation Shimmer: Jitter at the Making Room festival in Toronto in 2006. In 2007 she worked with media artist John Oswald on the sound installation A Time to Hear for Here for the Royal Ontario Museum.

Still Light

Jeff Winch, 2007, 4:30, 16mm on video

A pregnant moment from Hitchcock's "Vertigo" triggers this haunting exploration of lineage, memory, and loss. Using a combination of 16mm and Super 8 film, Still Light journeys through a forest of old photographs, shadowed by the ethereal voice of Kim Novak.

Jeff Winch is a film, video and photographic artist currently living and working in Toronto. Born in Oakville, Canada, he has studied at Ryerson University, Ontario College of Art and Design and the Humber Institute of Technology. Over the years he has worked in a variety of roles on film and video productions, as well as producing his own films and exhibiting his photography.

For To There

Pablo de Ocampo, 2002, 6:00, 16mm

A landscape film about places, both known and unknown and my experience in those places - viewed through a veil of clouded memories.

Pablo de Ocampo is a curator and occasional artist living in Toronto where he is the Artistic Director of the Images Festival. He recently relocated to Toronto from Portland, Oregon where he was a co-founder of the experimental film series Cinema Project and was the Executive Director of the Independent Publishing Resource Center.

Rock Garden

Gloria Kim, 2007, 10:00, 35mm on video

An allegory about love, loneliness and the healing power of acceptance, "Rock Garden: a love story" is the tale of two neighbors who struggle and toil with everyday existence and how the most unlikely of objects changes them both and reveals itself as a social commentary on sexual and gender identity. Its unexpected plot twist illustrates how in the most unlikely of ways, we can be freed from our selves. With no dialogue, the film features deeply textured music and layered visuals.

Gloria is a graduate from Ryerson University's Film & Television program in Toronto, and has produced numerous short films and has screened her work at the Toronto Reel Asian International Film Festival, Women of Color Film Festival at the University of California at Santa Cruz, the 2003 POW! Film Fest and others. Gloria was apprentice producer and director observer for producer Anita Lee and director Helen Lee on The Art of Woo, a dramatic feature film produced through The Canadian Film Centre and released by Odeon Films/Alliance Atlantis in Canada.

Canned Meat

Terril Calder, 2008, 3:30, video

Canned Meat/immobilized is a story told through the eyes of a disenchanted woman who is disconnected from society and explores the aspects of mobility and immobility; physically and mentally.

Terril Calder is a multidisciplinary artist who has been involved in producing and exhibiting art in Winnipeg and Toronto, and was involved with performing and organizing multi-media events in Toronto with the 7a*11d Performance Art Festival. Terril teaches art to children of all ages with the Artists in Schools, Art in the Park program, and at the National Ballet School. Terril's work employs a variety of mediums and disciplines. I have a BFA from the University of Manitoba as a drawing major with studies in theater, film and photography.

Two Words

Chris Ross, 2008, 9:00, video

Shauna thinks her sister Rebecca is playing a weird joke on her when she insists she can't understand a word Shauna is saying. As the house grows darker around them, and strange things start happening, the women have a desperate game of charades to try and figure out what's really going on.

An artist with an established painting practice, Chris has been exhibiting her work across Canada for the last 10 years. Two Words is her second film and recently screened at the Winnipeg International film festival and the Worldwide Shorts film festival here in Toronto.

Dispersed in Light

Erase Collective

Erase collective explores urban space as subject and object of interpretation and audiovisual representation of mediated experiences and journeys.

Dispersed in Light is their first production in the disappearing format of traditional slide show. It establishes a wondering look at the changing face of present walkways and shared surfaces, presenting questions regarding possible meanings in the uses of the city's infrastructure.

Josefa Micaela, Diana Cadavid and Alvaro Girón have backgrounds in visual arts and documentary filmmaking. They live and work in Parkdale Village.