At the geographic centre of the continent, Winnipeg is a thoroughfare and point of convergence of many kinds: railway paths, bird migratory routes, and as the supernatural centre of the land for many aboriginal peoples and spiritualists. Hailing from this, the coldest English-speaking city in the world, Doreen Girard and Irene Bindi developed Winter Night. Their similar processes develop through collections of found technology, materials, and stories. Both rely heavily on the Manitoba winter for assistance in their creations. Join four Winnipeg artists for a program of live music and moving images inspired by Manitoba’s cold winters, grim histories, and supernatural stories.

Sontainen, dir. Doreen Girard and Julia Ryckman, 2010, Canada, 15 min.
Animation through a hand-designed animation reel and manipulated slide projector, using focus pulls to “flip” through the images. A portrayal of a Finn named Tom Sukanen who, during the Great Depression in Saskatchewan, built a ship called the Sontainen in order to return to his homeland after losing his family. Instead, Sukanen’s efforts only landed him in a mental institution. Winnipeg’s musical femme fatale Slattern will be performing a live score consisting of music composed specifically for this performance.

Baphomet, dir. Doreen Girard, 2010, Canada, 5 min.
Through manipulation of a Kodak slide projector, hidden images are revealed.

Hagioscope, dir. Doreen Girard and Julia Ryckman, 2010, Canada, 15 min.
A mythical history of the medieval anchoress, told live, through the use of a hand built magic lantern. Live musical performance by Julia Ryckman.

Incubation, dir. Doreen Girard, 2010, Canada, 9 min.
A series of desolate dreamscapes projected and animated through a repurposed slide projector. Music by Thergothon.

Have I Done No Hurt, dir. Doreen Girard, 2008, Canada, 10 min.
A bible story picture book becomes an ecstatic apparition in the form of slides and tape loops.

Kick Shutter Furs, dir. Irene Bindi, 2010, Canada, 12 min
Outtakes from a winter coat commercial are edited into a hand-painted nightmare. Kick Shutter utilizes a secondary shutter effect by controlling power to the projector through Bindi’s kick pedal, creating flicker. Live sound by Aston Coles & Irene Bindi.

Celestinorosapalido, dir. Irene Bindi, 2010, Canada, 11 min
In this live 16mm performance the kick pedal is again used as an additional shutter controlling speed and flicker. The film utilizes a combination of colour footage with timed periods of blackness from the 2nd shutter to intensify a progression of colours and movement. Live sound by Irene Bindi and Aston Coles.

WINTER NIGHT HAS BEEN GENEROUSLY SPONSORED BY MAWA

At the AGM, the Winnipeg Film Group will present its annual audited statements and annual report, and will additionally report on long term plans.

This year, there will also be an amendment to the Bylaws proposed, to extend the length of director terms from two years to three years. This is as per an external consultancy recommendation, and is intended to provide board members with the ability to provide a more effective contribution to the overall development of the organization during their tenure.

While voting is restricted to certain member categories of the Winnipeg Film Group, this meeting is open to the general public.

If you would like more information on any facet of the AGM or Bylaws amendment, please contact Executive Director Cecilia Araneda at 925-3456 or cecilia@winnipegfilmgroup.com

Please join us Tuesday, August 16 @ 7 PM for the third screening of Language Formed in Light, presented by PLATFORM Centre for Photographic + Digital Arts and guest-curated by Clint Enns.

This screening is free and open to the public.

(Community Rental)

PLATFORM centre for photographic + digital arts presents the conclusion of our four-part monthly screening series curated by Clint Enns. Language Formed in Light has been comprised of different film screening nights featuring experimental films and video art by recognized and note-worthy contributors to the medium from Canada and the United States. The works in this series were selected due to their innovative use of cinematic language. Some of the titles create an entirely new filmic language, while others focus on expanding the established cinematic vocabulary. Previous screenings in this series included work by: Shana Moulton, Ben Russell, and most recently Michael Robinson.

The final screening in this series is three works by Barry Doupé, namely, Thalé, Distraught Mother Reunites with Her Children and At the Heart of a Sparrow. Through haphazard, yet stunningly beautiful 3D computer animation, Doupé explores the tropes of narrative cinema while seemingly rejecting traditional forms of narrative. In this work, ambiguous symbols, repetition and ambiguity are used to explore universal themes such as anxiety, failure and the rites of passage. In addition, Doupé constantly plays with audience expectations creating surreal (and quite often humourous) situations. It should be noted that this work is not for the cinematically lazy, however, the work is as equally rewarding as it is demanding.

PROGRAM:

• Thalé (2009, 5 minutes)
• Distraught Mother Reunites with Her Children (2005, 25 minutes)
• At the Heart of a Sparrow (2006, 29 minutes)

Please join us Tuesday, July 12 @ 7 PM for the third screening of Language Formed in Light, presented by PLATFORM Centre for Photographic + Digital Arts and guest-curated by Clint Enns.

This screening is free and open to the public.

(Community Rental)

PLATFORM centre for photographic + digital arts is excited to announce a new screening series to be presented over the next four months. Language Formed in Light is comprised of four different film screening nights featuring experimental films and video art by four recognized artists from Canada and the United States. The works in this series were selected due to their innovative use of cinematic language. Some of the titles create an entirely new filmic language, while others focus on expanding the established cinematic vocabulary. This screening series will be the part of a serial presentation guest-curated by Clint Enns for PLATFORM and recognizes the work in film and video by note-worthy contributors to the medium.

The third screening in this series will be the work of Michael Robinson. Selections of Robinson’s film will include You Don’t Bring Me Flowers, which was awarded Best International Film at the 2006 Images Festival, And We All Shine On, Light is Waiting, and Victory Over The Sun. With landscape playing a large role in experimental cinema (especially in the prairies) Robinson plays with the traditional readings of landscape films with a perverse misreading of landscape in his film You Don’t Bring My Flowers. In Victory Over the Sun, Robinson explores ruins of modernist design at the dormant sites of past World’s Fairs, in essence emotionally demonstrating the failures of Utopian visions. Most notable in Robinson’s work is the fact that he creates a new cinematic language by forging a narrative arc out of essentially non-narrative materials.

Clint Enns is a video artist and filmmaker from Winnipeg, Manitoba, whose work primarily deals with moving images created with broken and/or outdated technologies. His work has shown both nationally and internationally at festivals, alternative spaces and mircocinemas. He has recently completed a master’s degree in mathematics at the University of Manitoba, and will continue his studies in cinema and media at York University.

Program:

• YOU DON’T BRING ME FLOWERS* (2005, 8 minutes)
• AND WE ALL SHINE ON* (2006, 7 minutes)
• VICTORY OVER THE SUN* (2007, 13 minutes)
• LIGHT IS WAITING (2007, 11 minutes)
• ALL THROUGH THE NIGHT (2008, 4 minutes)
• IF THERE BE THORNS (2009, 13 minutes)
• THESE HAMMERS DON’T HURT US (2010, 13 minutes)

*Will be shown on 16mm

Please join us Tuesday, June 21 @ 7 PM for the second screening of Language Formed in Light, presented by PLATFORM Centre for Photographic + Digital Arts and guest-curated by Clint Enns.

This screening is free and open to the public.

(Community Rental)

The second screening in this series consists of the animated photography of Ben Russell.  Several of the films to be shown are from Russell’s Trypps series such as Black and White Trypps Number Three, which won Best Experimental Film at the 2007 Chicago Underground Film Festival and Trypps #6 (Malobi), which received an Honorable Mention at the 2009 Media City Film/Video Festival; however, a few of the films would be non-Trypps such as Workers Leaving The Factory (Dubai), Daume and Terra Incognita.

Ben Russell’s work explicitly expands the established filmic vocabulary since many of his works are re-makes and/or re-contextualizes of historical avant-garde films. For instance, Black and White Trypps Number Three can be seen as a re-contextualization of Standish Lawder’s Necrology and Workers Leaving the Factory (Dubai) can be seen as a re-contextualization of  the 1895 Lumière film Workers Leaving The Lumière Factory in Lyon.

Program

• Black and White Trypps #1 (2005, 7 minutes)
• Black and White Trypps #2 (2006, 6 minutes)
• Black and White Trypps #3 (2007, 12 minutes)
• Black and White Trypps #4 (2008, 11 minutes)
• Trypps #5 (Dubai) (2008, 3 minutes)
• Trypps #6 (2009, 12 minutes)
• Daume (2000, 6 minutes)
• Terra Incognita (2002, 10 minutes)
• Workers Leaving the Factory (Dubai) (2008, 8 minutes)

All of the works in the program will be shown on 16mm.

About Ben Russell

Ben Russell is an itinerant media artist and curator whose films and performances have been presented in spaces ranging from 14th Century Belgian monasteries to 17th Century East India Trading Co. buildings, police station basements to outdoor punk squats, Japanese cinematheques to Parisian storefronts, as well as solo screenings at the Rotterdam Film Festival and the Museum of Modern Art.  A 2008 Guggenheim Fellowship and 2010 FIPRESCI award recipient, Ben began the Magic Lantern screening series in Providence, Rhode Island, is co-director of the artist-run space BEN RUSSELL in Chicago, and he currently teaches at the University of Illinois at Chicago.

About Clint Enns

Clint Enns is a video artist/filmmaker and curator from Winnipeg, Manitoba, whose work primarily deals with moving images created with broken and/or outdated technologies. His work has shown both nationally and internationally in installations, festival screenings, alternative spaces, and mircocinemas. He has recently completed a master’s degree in mathematics at the University of Manitoba, and his interests include model theory of rings and modules, structuralist film, destructuralist video, and mathematics in art. Enn’s past curatorial projects in experimental film and video have been presented at Video Pool Media Arts Centre (Winnipeg), and DIM Cinema / Pacific Cinematheque (Vancouver).

More Information

For more information about this exhibition, contact Platform directly at (204) 942-8183 or www.platformgallery.org.