Posts Tagged ‘film’
In Between Spaces – a short film by Millefiore Clarkes
IN BETWEEN SPACES is an experimental video project that explores the notion of a communal gaze. This collaborative documentary follows 12 individual perspectives from within a community; and through their eyes a sense of objective reality emerges. The community is Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, Canada.
In the summer of 2011, four video cameras were placed in the hands of four people who filmed one hour of their lives over the course of 3 days. When their hour was up they handed the cameras on to four others of their choosing to repeat the process. This cycle happened once more and in the end, 12 hours of footage from the daily lives of individuals in Charlottetown was collected.
The Director/Editor Millefiore Clarkes onethousandflowers.tv then acted as the organizing principle (with the help of original music composed by Roger Carter rogercarter.bandcamp.com) ordering and filtering these layers of perspective into a whole.
This project was part of the 2011 Cultural Capital Designation in Charlottetown PEI.
September in Toronto
Film By Millefiore Clarkes
When I realized that my cousin’s wedding in Toronto was taking place in the month of September – I knew I had to make a companion piece to the earlier work ‘December in Toronto’. The titles just complement each other so well.
This time I journeyed with my partner Daniel. This is Toronto, in September, through the lens of one wandering gaze.
Music by the incomparable Roger Carter rogercarter.bandcamp.com
City Nights
A short chronicle - by Will Beckett, and featured on the new site Arts on PEI – of the semi-monthly City Nights events hosted by Charlottetown, PEI artist-run organization This Town is Small.
Aganetha Dyck: Guest Workers – a mini doc by Milles Clarkes
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Aganetha Dyck: Guest Workers
Something in the Water
On the 5th of February, 2011, photographer Anna Karpinski gathered the musicians of Charlottetown, PEI, Canada together for a historic photo shoot (ala. Art Kane’s 1958 photo ‘A Great Day in Harlem’.)
This video installation by Millefiore Clarkes onethousandflowers.tv documents the occasion.
This video, the photograph, and other related artworks were exhibited at the Confederation Centre Art Gallery in the show Warming Up. confederationcentre.com/en/exhibitions-archive-read-more.php?exhibition=21
Featuring music by Racoon Bandit myspace.com/racoonbandit
and Milks and Rectangles milksandrectangles.bandcamp.com
Vote. Everything Matters
Film by Mille Clarkes
This video is made by one Canadian citizen to implore all Canadians to participate in their democracy.
voteeverythingmatters.wordpress.com
May 2nd is a big day for Canada; our federal election day. We can beat our poor voter turn out from the last election. We can build a country that reflects our values. Values of strong social services, multiculturalism, healthcare, environmental stewardship, cultural and artistic legacy. We can care about all these issues while maintaining a robust economy.
On April 16th the citizens of the province of PEI held a “Vote. Everything Matters Rally” in the capital, Charlottetown. Over 200 people showed up to share their passion for democratic involvement.
There were a host of musicians out to join in for a ‘sing for democracy’ including Todd MacLean, John Connolly, Teresa Doyle, Meghan Blanchard, and Carmel Mikol.
Poet Tanya Davis spoke words to move a nation.
Other poignant speakers included Conor Leggott; a UPEI student and one of Canada’s concerned youth; Teresa Doyle, acclaimed musician and advocate for the Arts; as well as Jack McAndrew on behalf of the Friends of the CBC; Irene Novaczek Director of Island Studies Department of UPEI; and Mary Boyle of the PEI Health Coalition.
We’re going to be OK. This country is full of rational, caring, passionate people.
city nights experienced
written by Gail Hodder
So, here we are, all friends, at our local watering hole; The Al!bi Lounge. Five visual artist hovering at the beginning of the evening. Excited with the anticipation of the night to come. In the next several hours we will not only get to talk about our artwork, but people will witness the process and the craziness that partakes to achieve the end result.
A shot of tequila is decided on. Celebratory and calming. We set up our easels, our paints and other relative flotsam. Computer and projector, wire and tools, plasticine and palettes. Each of us thinking of something clever to work on and claiming our space at the Lounge. The dance floor is a consideration. There must be room for dancing!
We begin our artmaking. Some more hesitant then others. Showing our art in public is normalcy, creating in public, not so much. But our audience is interested and approach with inquiries. As I make inquires back, I find out that most are art enthusiasts themselves, interested in learning more. Questions of materials, sources, schools, techniques. Others ask familiar skeptical questions, “What is it?”, “Why?” Our answers are practiced. We make them feel at ease with their skepticism.
The night ensues with more wine and more audience and our artwork takes shape. We slip into a comfortable rhythm of greeting our friends and acquaintances who have come out to encourage us. We pause to explain or chat. We own this place for the evening. We have become the performers.
Dancing breaks out as the DJ continues to spin his techno, hip hop, funk. The beat and energy is contagious. It’s getting late now. Our energy doesn’t waiver, but is only heightened. When the lights come on and the end is threatening, we drop our art making implements and join the dancers. They seem surprised, but we are well on our way to catching the groove and we blend in, in an arm flailing, hips swaying, belting out the words celebratory dance. Wahoo’s all around when the music stops.
We discuss when we might perform our art-making again.
We leave exhilarated wanting more and more and all the time.
Wishing the night not to end.
*** check out what city nights is all about here! Don’t forget to sign up for our next event by April 10th!
Charlottetown = Cultural Captial of Canada
Written By Becka Viau
Get ready PEI, Charlottetown is one of Canada’s Cultural Capitals for 2011!
The scope of this designation was announced today, and I have to say there is a lot happening in a very short amount of time. The Cultural Capital program will kick off during the ECMA awards and conference week in April and artists, organizers, and community partners will be busy busy busy until January 2012.
Some exciting highlights that were announced this morning are:
1. Cultural Captial Launch – A Sound Celebration
The East Coast Music Association (ECMA) in partnership with the City
of Charlottetown – a designated Cultural Capital of Canada – Symphony Nova Scotia, and Music PEI will
present ‘A Sound Celebration’ to officially kick-off East Coast Music Week 2011 and formally launch the
2011 Cultural Capital of Canada programming.
‘A Sound Celebration’ will feature solo and collaborative performances by Symphony Nova Scotia under
Music Director Bernhard Gueller and Resident Conductor Martin MacDonald, and Prince Edward Island
artists Jenn Grant, Meaghan Blanchard, Paper Lions, Richard Wood and Vishtèn.
The concert will take place in the Confederation Centre of the Arts’ Homburg Theatre on Thursday, April 14
at 8:00pm. Tickets are available for purchase at the Confederation Centre’s box office or online at
www.confederationcentre.com. A limited amount is also available via ticketpro.ca.
*** a great part of this initiative is that the artists working with Symphony Nova Scotia will have charts of their music developed that can translate to other symphonies around the world.
2. ECMA Arts Linkages Program -Art @ Night - Supported by the Cultural Capital Designation, and IMAC
This program will showcase artwork by local and Maritime multi-media artists in vacant storefront windows
around downtown Charlottetown during evening hours. Local and Maritime multimedia artworks will be
presented for free to the public in various storefront windows. To view the call for submissions please visit here.
3. Pen & Inkling Festival and other Literary Events
Coordinated by the Prince Edward Island Writers’ Guild, a series of events and initiatives celebrating and
supporting literary arts in the Cultural Capital: Introduction of French student submissions accepted for the
Island Literary Awards; an extensive Writers in Schools program connecting published Island authors with
students in the two Charlottetown families of schools (30 school visits); and a compelling Literary event,
the Pen & Inkling Festival, featuring workshops, readings, the Island Literary Awards, songwriters’ circle,
lectures, book launches, exhibits, and guest reading and lecture by one of Canada’s leading Native authors.
(September 30 – October 2, 2011)
4. Film & Interactive Digital Media Productions – “Through my Eyes” Legacy Series
In partnership with the Island Media Arts Co-op, the Island Film Factory and the Interactive Media Alliance,
the City’s Cultural Capital of Canada programming will support production of five new short film and
interactive digital media works from local creators, featuring the designation theme and reflecting
Charlottetown. These works will become lasting documents of Charlottetown’s cultural identity and
creativity. The selected projects will be announced at the Island Media Arts Festival in May, and presented
at a special screening event in the fall – potentially as an opening or closing event to the Pen & Inkling
Festival.
5. Young Company!! – Confederation Centre
A brand new Young Company production, The Talking Stick, respectfully telling our First Peoples’ stories, using music, dance and spoken word to remind all people of the great diversity and surprising commonalities of our First Nations communities. Aboriginal and First Nations students from every province and territory are invited to audition for the twelve roles with the expectation that P.E.I. students will show great interest and pride in the production.
There is a lot more to take in… and you can find the full press release here in English and in French!
This is a great opportunity to showcase the amazing cultural community in Charlottetown and to build sustainable partnerships and initiatives that will continue to benefit Island artists in the future. Exciting.
“Off Route 2″
TO HELP FUND AND SUPPORT THIS FILM PLEASE CLICK HERE!
written by Amanda Dawn Christie
I am very grateful to be this year’s Filmmaker in Residence at the Atlantic Filmmakers Cooperative. They are giving me $4000 in cash and $11000 in gear rental toward this film project. I am still $5000 short, so I am working on closing that gap now through some fundraising initiatives. We shoot the film on January 29th, and the Moncton Fire Department is being incredibly supportive. Then I will be in Halifax almost every weekend, editing the film between February 11 and April 1. On weekends when I am editing in Halifax, the public will be welcome to come in and watch me work and ask questions about the process. Another aspect of my residency is public talks. I will give a few works in progress talks where I will show rough edits of the film in progress and talk about the process. One of these will happen in Moncton, and two will happen in Halifax. Finally, the film will premiere at the Halifax Independent Filmmakers Festival which is put on in April, by the Atlantic Filmmakers Cooperative. There will be two versions of the film. One will be intended to loop as an installation in visual art galleries, while the other will have a title and tail credits to play in a linear fashion in cinemas.
My art practice includes both experimental film and live performance. When working on my MFA at SFU, I focused on exploring the links between the human body and the projected image: live performance with film and video projections, as well as the role of the human body in film and video. I was also particularly interested in analog and mechanical machines and their relationship to the human body and the bodily senses. As such, I use my own body in all of my films — I never work with actors. I see this as an extension of my performance practice. Historically, video art has had a longstanding connection with performance and body art, and yet I have not worked with video yet — only with film (primarily 16mm). Historically, mainstream film is more associated narrative and celebrity — the body of the actress or the other, rather than of the director or the writer. I use film rather than video because I love working with the materiality of the celluloid material (hand-processing, optical printing, and so on). As a result many of my films have been very materialist and structural in nature — without standard plot or story lines. Many of my films have no body at all in them — but when there is a body, it is my own. As a result, I see this new film that I am working on, also as an extension of my performance practice.
In this new film, “Off Route 2″ I will be hanging upside down from a harness in an upside down car. The idea is that it is the moment after an accident but before the rescue when time slows down. I am interested in a deeper look at trauma and the often-anticlimactic aftermath of personal tragedy. As I hang injured and suspended from her seatbelt in the upside down car, I observe beautiful wildlife in the landscape around me, cheerful music continues to play on the car stereo, and the tragic situation seems at once disconnected from and yet interwoven with the beauty surrounding me.
In terms of performance, the mere act of creating this film will be quite physically challenging. I will only be able to hang upside down for 30 minutes at a time in order not to cause long term damage from circulation loss. The film shoot will take all day, so firemen will be present to take me in and out of that position over and over again throughout the day. The fire department is also lending me a harness to hang from rather than using the actual seatbelt. We will be installing special hardware to connect the harness to. It will also be very cold, and my torso will not be dressed in winter clothes. I will also be covered with special effects make up and will therefore not be able to touch anything when getting in and out of position. It will take 3-4 people to get me into that inverted position. We will all have to go in and out of the passenger side of the car, because we can’t disturb the snow on the driver’s side of the car for continuity reasons. So imagine 4-5 people in an upside down car, entering and exiting from the passenger side. The fire department will cut off the passenger side of the car and stabilize it to make it a bit more easy. Even so, this will be an intense day of physical exertion and endurance.
In terms of the subject matter, I am interested in the quiet middle moments. So many films follow the aristotelian story arc of beginning, middle, and end. I personally do not feel that we experience life with beginnings and endings. It’s all middle. I like to make films that are only about the middle. So for this one, it is about that moment after the crash and before the rescue. There are no major climactic events. It’s that slow peaceful waiting period, while a happy song continues to play on the car stereo and sun glistens on the snow.
December in Toronto
a short film by Millefiore Clarkes
“Minutes before boarding the plane to Toronto my boyfriend handed me the challenge of documenting my six-day journey. This is the result.Inspired directly from my current video art idol and well-known Vimeo star; Matthew Brown vimeo.com/matthewbrown”
Shot on a Rebel T2i in full HD. Edited and colour treated on Final Cut.
Soundtrack by Roger Carter.
