CANADIAN SHORTS
SHORTS PROGRAM
JUNE 24, 2023 • 1:30 PM
@ LIGHT HOUSE ARTS CENTRE
(1800 ARGYLE STREET, HALIFAX)
Our Canadian Shorts program organizes both chaotic and focused stories that explore satire, interpersonal relationships, animation, visual poetry and more into an illuminating blend of experiences created by talented filmmakers across Canada.
Richard Roger Reeves creates a beautiful, frantically cool handmade 35mm animation called Intersextion, about two abstract energies falling in love and uniting into one. Synced wonderfully with sound made from drawing directly onto the film, this four-minute animated sequence was made without a camera or musical instruments.
Winnipeg’s experimentalist filmmaker Matthew Rankin brings us Municipal Relaxation Module, a short that combines sharp satire with pure silliness as we hear multiple absurd messages —”great” ideas for public bench placements — left for the Director of Planning, Property and Public Spaces for the city of Winnipeg.
Sophy Romvari’s It’s What Each Person Needs is an intimate portrait of a young woman who cares for strangers over Zoom. She offers a strange array of services, from singing to the elderly to sexually intense conversations with married men.
Kurt Walker’s I Thought the World of You is a dreamy reminiscence of Canadian musician Lewis. Shot on grainy black-and-white 16mm, and featuring original songs from Lewis, the film invokes nostalgia and concludes in a breathtakingly beautiful way.
Rita Ferrando’s Pleasure Garden is a disquietly realistic depiction of a woman suffering from depression. With a faded colour palette and a mix of static and handheld camera, it’s a subtle love story that is understated and heartbreaking.
Bisong Taiwo’s Mary’s Way of the Cross is a haunting retelling of Mary recollecting the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. The low-lighting and eerie compositions allow the viewer to become completely immersed in the misty castle-like corridors.
Carol Nguyen’s Nanitic explores a family who is suffering from impending loss. As the children play with ants trapped in Tupperware containers hidden in their closet, their mother tends to their dying grandmother in their living room. Nanitic is a tender meditation on innocence and change.
Erin Weisgerber’s Dans les cieux et sur la terre was filmed in Montreal around the filmmaker’s home over a seven-year period. It experiments with photochemical film and composite images created in camera as well as offers a kaleidoscopic and sometimes nightmarish perspective of a changing neighbourhood. —Aaron Webster
PROGRAM LINEUP:
Intersextion • Richard Roger Reeves
Municipal Relaxation Module • Matthew Rankin
It's What Each Person Needs • Sophy Romvari
I Thought the World of You • Kurt Walker
Pleasure Garden • Rita Ferrando
Mary's Way of the Cross • Bisong Taiwo
Nanitic • Carol Nguyen
Dans les cieux et sur la terre • Erin Weisgerber