This collection of films combines Canadian narrative and experimental short documentaries. pluetoe’s I Am a Program examines the influence of television programming on the young mind and adults alike. Colleen Simard’s Windigokan Niimi (Windigokan Dances) pairs experimental imagery and dance to reflect on loss. Joel Friesen’ s 200 Princess St. explores Winnipeg’s lesser known architectural histories. Sylvia Matas’ There Was a City is an exploration of the ambiguity of construction and decline and the temporary nature of human-built environments. Minerva Navasca’s Guardians walks the viewer through the psychological reality of gendered violence. Jaime Black’s waawiyebii’ige: She Draws a Circle examines the ways community and connections to the land can interrupt cycles of violence. Dianne Ouellette’s lii bufloo aen loo kishkishiw is an experimental reflection on extinction and resistance. Adam Mbowe’s Halves & Doubles explores complicated family dynamics, connection and mental illness. François Harvey’s Meeting with Robert Dole tells the story of queerness, schizophrenia and faith. Guillaume Fournier, Samuel Matteau and Yannick Nolin’s Belle River paints a portrait of community and resilience in the face of environmental catastrophe.
I Am a Program
Dir. pluetoe
2022, Canada, 7 min
I Am a Program is a documentary style short video examining the influence of television programming on the young mind and adults alike. The film is narrated by two synthesized artificial voices that function as guides alongside the visuals This film aims to refute the notion that watching television is a primary source of amusement and an effective cerebral programming tool.
Windigokan Niimi (Windigokan Dances)
Dir. Colleen Simard
2022, Canada, 2 min
This Windigokaan dances backwards at times on the frozen Red River. They dance for their lost sisters that have been found in these waters, as well as those who may never be found. They seem joyful, but it is their way to reflect the opposite of what we should feel.
200 Princess St.
Dir. Joel Friesen
2022, Canada, 2 min
Edited found footage from a sewer scoping of a 120-year-old building. The recorded artifact of a pragmatic operation twisted into a phantasmagoric dive through bodily and architectural effluence.
There Was a City
Dir. Sylvia Matas
2021, Canada, 3 min
There Was a City was created from satellite photographs taken from Google Earth. These subtitles describe an amorphous group of people and how they occupy these built spaces that are transforming in time.
Guardians
Dir. Minerva Navasca
2021, Canada, 6 min
With concerned phone calls from friends and family, Guardians walks the viewer through the psychological reality of a girl’s nightly trip home. Discussions surrounding seemingly mundane choices are framed with a woman’s hyper-vigilant lens; bringing into question what the true price of safety is.
waawiyebii’ige: She Draws a Circle
Dir. Jaime Black
2021, Canada, 5 min
She Draws a Circle reflects on the work of generations of women to interrupt cycles of violence and oppression, looking to the ways in which our spiritual connections to the land and one another help us to hold space for regenerative healing, bringing the hidden to light drawing on that light to encircle each successive generation.
lii bufloo aen loo kishkishiw
Dir. Dianne Ouellette
2022, Canada, 5 min
Iii bufloo aen loo kishkishiw (buffalo wolf memory) honours the memory of the “buffalo wolves,” also known as the “prairie wolves,” who at one time thrived in the North American grasslands. Wolfers hunted the wolves to extinction by the turn of the 20th century. Ouellette reflects on the wolves’ extinction, distant memories of ancestors, lost language, and the bison who roam the grasslands today.
Halves & Doubles
Dir. Adam Mbowe
2022, Canada, 15 min
“Two sisters attempt to find common understanding amidst bickering.”
Despite the close bond between Adam and her sibling Khadija there is trauma unspoken between them. In this short documentary, the two hold a conversation where they attempt to find mutual understanding through the winding road of expressing emotions.
Meeting with Robert Dole
Dir. François Harvey
2021, Canada, 16 min
This experimental short film gives the floor to Robert Dole who gives us his story and exposes his vision of schizophrenia. The theme of mental illness is echoed here in a cinematographic treatment that explores the materiality of film and magnetic tapes to find points of meeting and detachment, spaces resonating with the fall and redemption of Robert Dole.
Belle River
Dir. Guillaume Fournier, Samuel Matteau, Yannick Nolin
2022, Canada, 11 min
Spring flooding in Mississippi hits record highs. In Louisiana, the residents of Pierre-Part are preparing for the worst. Barring an unexpected turn of events, local authorities will soon be forced to open the floodgates of the Morganza Spillway, in order to save the cities of New-Orleans and Bâton-Rouge from further uncontrolled flooding. Faith and resilience are the two best weapons they still have in the face of uncertainty.
