The festival launched April 12 and Right Ascension, a program devoted to short works from Toronto focusing on the experience and representation of space, was part of the programming on the opening weekend. Clint Enns, who is currently pursuing his master’s degree in Cinema and Media Studies, was one of three York filmmakers featured in the program.

“Connecting with Nature” by Clint Enns

His short Connecting with Nature, billed as “an instructional video that lies somewhere between the realms of infomercial and guide to spiritual enlightenment”, casts a new lens on a favourite Canadian pastime: gardening.

“Temps Mort” by Kyath Battie

Kyath Battie, who is working towards her MFA in production, presented Temps Mort, a video that explores the ominous feelings evoked by depopulated architectural spaces. Sound effects extracted from the movie Alien contribute to the science fiction-like ambiance. Battie credits York’s setting as an inspiration: “Temps Mort reflects the fascinating, alien-like nightscapes I experienced wandering around campus last winter,” she said.

“Rock” by Geoffrey Pugen

Also on the program was Rock, a video featuring sumptuous panoramic shots of volcanic rock by alumnus Geoffrey Pugen (MFA ’10), whose work is seen at galleries and film festivals in Canada, the US and across Europe.

Three productions heralded last fall at CineSiege, York’s annual juried student film showcase, were featured April 15 in the Images Festival’s S is for Student program.

Excerpt from Emily Pickering’s “What a Young Girl Should Not Know”

What a Young Girl Should Not Know, winner of Best Alternative Film at CineSiege 2011, is a tender offering of “embroidered lessons in femininity and coming of age” by Emily Pickering (BFA ’11).

Josh Schonblum, currently in his final year of study in York’s film production program, contributed Tell Me if Anything was Ever Done, which won Best Sound at CineSiege 2011.

Children of the Sun, a “psychedelic feast for the eyes” by Nikolas Tsonis (BFA ’11), was a CineSiege 2011 nominee. It unspooled at the Savannah International Animation Festival concurrently with its Images Festival screening.

Image from Nikolas Tsonis' "Children of the Sun"

More productions by York alumni will be featured this weekend.

Fresh from winning the Tom Berman Award for Most Promising Filmmaker at the Ann Arbor Film Festival last month, recent grad Simone Rapisarda Casanova (MFA ’11) presents his thesis production, El árbol de las fresas (The Strawberry Tree) Friday, April 20 at 7pm in Jackman Hall at the Art Gallery of Ontario.

Hailed as “a mesmerizing cinematic poem” (Festival Scope), The Strawberry Tree is an intimate, feature-length documentary about the inhabitants of the remote fishing village of Juan Antonio, Cuba. Rapisarda Casanova shot the film shortly before the village was destroyed in a hurricane. Listen to his interview with CIUT FM’s Daniel Garber about the making of the film.

View a trailer of the film.

Scene from Simone Rapisarda Casanova's feature documentary "The Strawberry Tree"

While the AGO screening marks The Strawberry Tree’s Canadian premiere, it’s already been touring the international festival circuit for several months. In addition to Ann Arbor, it was recently featured at film fests in Turin, Berlin and Miami. Upcoming engagements include the Locarno International Film Festival, Switzerland and the International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam.

Rapisarda Casanova credits his time at York as a pivotal period for his professional development. “It was a great opportunity for me to mature as a filmmaker,” he said. “For the first time in several years, I was immersed in a very dynamic and stimulating environment that encouraged me to pursue my experimental film work.”

Also on the Images playbill April 20 at the AGO is Protocol, an experimental short by Lina Rodriguez (BFA ‘05) showing in Sidewalk Stories program at 9pm. Originally shot in Super 8, it offers a glimpse of the imposing Castillo de San Felipe de Barajas in Cartagena, Colombia.

Excerpt from Strange Lines and Distances 16mm to HD. 5.1. Two channel installation (2012) by Josh Bonnetta

As part of the festival’s off-screen programming, Joshua Bonnetta (BFA ‘04) presents Strange Lines and Distances, a two-channel audiovisual installation focusing on Guglielmo Marconi’s first transatlantic radio broadcast. Adding another York connection to the festival, alumna Irene Bindi (MA ’05) has written a monograph to accompany Bonnetta’s installation, which is on view at YYZ Artists’ Outlet to April 21.

Alumna Larissa Fan (MFA ’08) is represented in festival’s grand finale Saturday, April 21 at 8pm.  Her hand-processed, black-and-white ode to the secret world of moon jellyfish, The tide goes in, the tide goes out, screens as part of the closing night gala.

For full details on the program and schedule, visit the Images Festival website.

Greyson is no stranger to the Berlinale: Green Laser is his eighth production (three of which earned the acclaimed Teddy Award) to screen there. The film explores civil disobedience, queer activism and solidarity, using documentary-style footage combined with Green Hornet lore and rewritten excerpts from Exodus to document Greyson’s experience with a ‘freedom flotilla’ attempting to sail to Gaza.

Scene from John Greyson's short film "Green Laser"

Greyson was on hand to introduce his film which, he said, elicited “terrific questions and great responses” in Berlin, and has since been invited to a dozen other festivals.

Back on home turf John Greyson: Impatient, a week-long, multi-media, multi-venue retrospective co-presented by three leading cultural organizations: the Toronto International Film Festival, Art Gallery of Ontario and VTape. The retrospective, running March 30 to April 5, showcases Greyson’s extensive body of work, ranging from shorts and feature films, documentary and historical fiction, filmed operas and experimental video art.  It also marks the release of a DVD box set of Greyson’s productions and a new monograph on his provocative 1993 AIDS musical, Zero Patience.

John Greyson

“John’s work has consistently pushed cinema to communicate his overlying themes of liberation and activism, crafting some of Canadian cinema’s most indelible moments,” said Jesse Wente, head of film programs at TIFF Bell Lightbox

“I’m really looking forward to the opportunity to engage a whole new audience,” Greyson said. “And it’ll be so exciting to see some of my films again on 35mm!”

Colleagues and collaborators of Greyson, among them Canada Research Chair Janine Marchessault and film studies Professor Sharon Hayashi from York’s film department, will introduce each screening and facilitate Q&A sessions to follow.

What’s next for the filmmaker whom TIFF’s artistic director Noah Cowan hails as “one of Canada’s most singular cinematic voices”?

An opera-documentary, says Greyson: “I’m currently in pre-production on Jericho-Baghdad, concerning queers, solidarity and wars in the Middle East.” He begins shooting this week.

Robert Haché, York University’s vice-president research & innovation, and Barbara Sellers-Young, dean of the Faculty of Fine Arts, are co-hosting the event, which takes place from 2 to 4 pm in the McLean Performance Studio, 244 Accolade East Building at York’s Keele campus.

The program features a live dance performance, film clips, and four presentations reflecting the depth and breadth of academic and applied creative work being done by Fine Arts faculty and graduate student researchers.

Image of artist Wanda Koop from Visual Arts Professor Katherine Knight's documentary film "KOOP"

“This research celebration highlights multi-disciplinarity in the Faculty of Fine Arts, from dance to music to digital media and beyond,” said Haché. “We invite the York research community to join us to learn more about the exceptional research activities taking place in this Faculty.”

“The arts are so much more than entertainment,” said Sellers-Young. “Arts and culture are at the heart of our day-to-day lives, and those who are engaged in the arts – as practising artists, theorists, historians, critics and many other ways – play an important role in shaping civic society and addressing the critical issues of our day. The presentations at the Fine Arts Research Celebration illustrate this engagement and the diverse contributions our researchers are making.”

Visitors to the Fine Arts Research Celebration will be greeted by clips of Visual Arts Professor Katherine Knight‘s vivid feature documentary, KOOP: The Art of Wanda Koop. Knight’s film follows the renowned Canadian artist as she prepares massive new works depicting archetypal cities and familiar, yet disquieting, landscapes for two 30-year retrospectives: one at the Winnipeg Art Gallery and another at the National Art Gallery in Ottawa.

Drawing the viewer into the framework in which the artist works, the film explores the science of vision, colour and perception – including Koop’s visit to York’s Centre for Vision Research to have her vision tested in the 3D Vision Research lab (see story).

Design Professor Sandra Gabriele investigates the application of typographic variations in lettering to help distinguish similar medication names

Design Professor Sandra Gabriele will present a talk titled “Evaluating graphic design for patient safety: An investigation of the use of typographic principles to differentiate look-alike medication names”.

She was the principal investigator on a recent study conducted at Toronto’s University Health Network, investigating how the principles and practices of graphic design and typography might be used for interventions intended to help healthcare professionals make accurate medication selections.

 “We know that look-alike, or orthographically similar, medication names are one of the causes of medication errors,” said Gabriele. “Tallman lettering (enhancement of words by changing parts of the word to capital letters) is currently recommended to help differentiate similar names.”

In her new study, she tested tallman lettering applied to look-alike medication names alongside other ways of enhancing names using three different scenarios. “Results indicated that tallman lettering might not be as effective as previously reported,” she said. “The research also revealed the importance of designing and testing interventions for specific users in contexts that reflect actual situations and activities in practice.”

Ron Westray, Oscar Peterson Chair of Jazz Performance

In his lecture-demonstration “Music is Math: An effective approach to teaching jazz improvisation within general music education,” Professor Ron Westray, York’s Oscar Peterson Chair in Jazz Performance, explores how the mathematical qualities inherent in western music can be used as a tool for ear training through music improv.

“You can view the chord-to-scale relationship in jazz improvisation as virtual data that can be transposed throughout relative and absolute functions, much like basic math,” said Westray. “Translating music into math helps demystify simple improvisation. It levels the playing field and makes it easier for non-specialists to teach jazz improv.”

Westray, an internationally known jazz trombonist, will illustrate the concept by means of a Powerpoint presentation punctuated with live performance examples, including the participation jazz majors from the Department of Music.

Digital Media Professor Mark-David Hosale will discuss “Nonlinear Narrative as a Conceptual Framework for Media Art”, with an overview of the core technical and aesthetic motivations unpinning his work as a media artist.

Digital Media Professor Mark-David Hosale explores non-linear narrative as a framework for media art

“The approach to addressing narrative issues in my work is derived from thinking of narrative as a model of knowledge,” he said. “I see the stories we tell each other and ourselves as an expression of what we know. From this perspective, my works can be understood as knowledge spaces that are a conceptual reflection of a modern understanding of knowledge and nature, which is inherently nonlinear.”

The challenge of capturing the qualities of nonlinear narratives has led Hosale to develop an abstract model useful in the conceptual analysis and practical development of his work. In his presentation, he will explain how the model is based on a composite of operations, structures and characteristics that provide the governing principles behind a software framework and hardware platform.

Canadian dance history is the focus of the presentation by dance Professors Darcey Callison and Carol Anderson and Professor Emerita Selma Odom. They will read excerpts from their contributions to Renegade Bodies: Canadian Dance in the 1970s, an anthology accompanying an exhibition of the same name organized by Dance Collection Danse in partnership with the Theatre Museum of Canada.

During the 1970s dance boom, audiences worldwide flocked to performances. Artists were energized and innovative. In Canada, dance finally found an intellectual home in universities across the country. The decade was also defined in Canada by political, social and cultural debate inspired by second-wave feminism, gay rights, multiculturalism, separatism and nationalism.

How was this turbulent decade reflected in dance? How did the major issues and ideas of the day inspire or influence dancers and choreographers, and how did they respond? Renegade Bodies: Canadian Dance in the 1970s explores how the art form contributed to, and was informed by, this vibrant zeitgeist.

Graduate student researcher Nancy Latszewski

Moving from the page to the stage, dance MFA candidate Nancy Latoszewski will perform a five-minute excerpt from her solo dance, Carriage. The work revisits the challenge the artist faced in transitioning from the life of a prima ballerina to motherhood. While intensely personal, the work also speaks to the wider experience of undergoing a tremendous life change. Through her choreographic and performance research, with works such as Carriage, Latoszewski investigates how danced narratives can communicate personal stories and contribute to current interests in oral history and storytelling.

In addition to the public presentations, there will be a display of books and materials in other publication formats authored by Fine Arts faculty.

Faculty, students and staff from across the University are cordially invited to attend the Fine Arts Research Celebration. Light refreshments will be provided.  Admission is free, but RSVP is requested. To confirm your attendance, please respond online or call Lia Novario at ext. 33782.

The community will have the opportunity to engage with other research projects by Fine Arts faculty on Fine Arts Research Day in Vari Hall on Wednesday, February 29 from 10am to 2pm, as part of York University’s Research Month.

That’s the question indie filmmaker Steve Sanguedolce, a contract faculty member in York’s Department of Film addresses in his latest production. His new feature documentary, Blinding, makes its Toronto premiere at Pleasure Dome this weekend.

Blinding tells the story of three people grappling with the personal and political implications of things seen and seared into memory.  A writer who has gradually lost his sight, a former police officer, and a military pilot who has witnessed genocide struggle to come to terms with dramatic shifts in their perception of themselves and the world around them. View an excerpt of the film.

Film stills from Steve Sanguedolce's documentary "Blinding"

Shot on 16mm and meticulously hand-coloured, Blinding has garnered acclaim from critics and festival panels around the world. Don O’Mahony of Ireland’s Corona Cork International Film Festival praised the film as “modern day alchemy … a ravishing feast of textures and tones”, and Seattle Gay Scene hailed it as “a complex and compelling narrative of unusual beauty and power”.  Mostly recently, it won special mention at the prestigious Camerimage International Film Festival of the Art of Cinematography in Bydgoszcz, Poland.

While Blinding is Sangedolce’s debut screening at Pleasure Dome, the organization has longstanding connections with York film artists, and in turn reflects York’s strong presence in Toronto’s flourishing avant-garde film community.

Feeling that “… there was not a wide enough range in the curating of experimental film in the city”, York film Professor Philip Hoffman co-founded the film and video collective with four others in 1989. For more than two decades, Pleasure Dome has provided a home for alternative media art and support for the artists who create it, fostering boundary-pushing explorations in a rapidly evolving art form.

Over the years, York faculty members, students and alumni have participated in screenings and installations, contributed to Pleasure Dome’s critical anthologies, and served as members of the collective.  “Pleasure Dome’s curatorial focus on aesthetically challenging work has made it an ideal venue for York students and graduates,” said Eli Horwatt (MA ‘09), a PhD candidate and a member of the 2011-2012 programming collective.

In addition to Horwatt, the current 12-member collective includes three alumni of York’s film program:  David Frankovich (BFA ‘07), Sharlene Bamboat (MA ‘09) and Alexis Mitchell (MFA ‘11). Past members include John McCullough, associate professor of Cinema and Media Studies at York, and alumni Linda Feesey (BA ’82, MFA ‘02), Jon Davies (MA ‘04), Tracy German (MFA ‘06), Lisa Kennedy (BFA ‘06), Larissa Fan (MFA ‘08) and Jacob Korczynski (BA ’02, MA ‘04).

Steve Sanguedolce

Horwatt attributes this strong showing to the encouragement and example of York’s film faculty, who specialize not only in the creation and production of artistic works but also the critical study and analysis of diverse, non-traditional forms of the medium. The relationship has emerged as a creative cycle, in which York’s commitment to training and mentoring young filmmakers and scholars provides Pleasure Dome with a steady chorus of fresh voices, and Pleasure Dome’s ability to carve out places for artists to exhibit their work opens doors for students and faculty alike.

Pleasure Dome presents Sanguedolce’s Blinding, followed by a Q&A session with the filmmaker, on Saturday, Jan. 21 at 7pm at Innis Town Hall, 2 Sussex Ave.  Next month, Sanguedolce brings the film to York’s Keele campus for a screening Feb. 14 at 12:30pm in the Nat Taylor Cinema.

Blinding is Sanguedolce’s fifth feature.  His provocative, intensely personal films such as Rhythms of the Heart (1990), Away (1996) and Smack (2000) have earned him more than dozen international awards and critical commendation as “a celluloid magician” (Gemma Files, eye Weekly) and “one of the country’s most daring diary filmmakers” (Cameron Bailey, NOW).  As well as an award-winning filmmaker, Sanguedolce is also an award-winning teacher. Last year he was a recipient of the President’s  University-Wide Teaching Award at York.

TCFA is a professional organization of eminent Toronto-based film journalists and critics who work in print, broadcast and electronic media locally, nationally and internationally. They announced their pick for Best Picture of 2011 (Terrence Malick’s The Tree of Life) and other ‘best of’ honours in December, but a few awards – including the Deluxe Student Award and the Jay Scott Prize for an emerging artist  – were kept under wraps until the big night.

The student award went to freshly minted York film alumna Janice Lee (BFA ’11) for her fourth- year production, a short drama titled Faraway. The prize, presented by Canadian film director Don McKellar, comes with $5000 worth of post-production services from Deluxe.

Deluxe Student Film Award winner, York alumna Janice Lee (second from right) and Jay Scott Prize winner and York faculty member Ingrid Veninger (fourth from right), with leading lights of the Canadian film scene including directors David Cronenberg and Philippe Falardeau, actor Sarah Gadon, comedian and presenter Andrea Martin, and Cameron Bailey, co-director of the Toronto International Film Festival, at the Toronto Film Critics Association 2011 awards gala at The Carlu, Jan. 10, 2012. Photo: Janice Lee.

Lee’s winning film was a CineSiege 2011 nominee and has already been screened at several festivals, including the 2011 Reel Asian International Film Festival (see story) and the inaugural Toronto Chinese Film Festival. Based on Lee’s own experience, it tells the story of a day in the life of a young woman as she helps her grandmother prepare for the Chinese New Year.

Faraway was selected as the best student film produced in Toronto in the 2010-11 academic year. The GTA’s four post-secondary film schools were each allowed to submit one hour of content to the TFCA jury, and Lee’s film rose to the top.

Production still from Janice Lee's award-winning short film "Faraway". Photo courtesy of Janice Lee.

Lee is thrilled with her win, and generous in sharing the credit. “Being in the same room with such talented people and fine critics was incredible all on its own,” she said.  ”Having Don McKellar read a synopsis of my film and then present the award to me was the cherry on top! It’s such an honour to have the Toronto Film Critics Association recognize Faraway, a film that’s so personal and dear to my heart – and that I definitely could not have made without such an outstanding cast and crew.”

That ‘outstanding’ crew was comprised of Lee’s classmates at York, including director of photography Joel Kim (BFA ’11), editor Senaa Ahmad and Adam Clark (BFA ’11), who handled location and post-production sound.

Asked about her plans for her award, Lee said: “I guess I have to make another film! I’ve been thinking of developing another short, and I’ve always wanted to shoot on film [rather than digital].” The Deluxe Prize will help make that possible.

Sharing the spotlight and the glory at the TFCA gala was Ingrid Veninger, a contract faculty member in York’s Department of Film. She received the Jay Scott Prize – making this the second consecutive year that York-affiliated talent has won that award (alumnus Daniel Cockburn (BFA ’99) was the recipient in 2011).

The $5000 cash prize, commemorating the legendary Globe & Mail film critic who was a strong supporter of emerging talent, was presented to Veninger by director Bruce McDonald.  TFCA president and Maclean’s magazine film critic Brian D. Johnson hailed Veninger as “…a true independent, a maker of intimate films that seem born of the moment.”

In her acceptance speech, Veninger said: “I make personal, micro-budget films and I hope they are genuine and provocative. I work with talented and committed people who want a filmmaking adventure. And I’m grateful to every person who comes out to see the films …because that exchange with an audience is the point of the entire process.”

Production still from Ingrid Veninger’s feature film "I am a Good Person/I am a Bad Person": Ruby (Ingrid Veninger) sits in Mauerpark, Berlin. Photo: Benjamin Lichty.

Veninger’s most recent production is i am a good person/i am a bad person, a feature film about a mother and daughter who confront life-changing choices while travelling to film festivals in Europe. View a clip from the movie.

Veninger wrote, directed and produced the film, and also stars in it alongside her real-life daughter, Hallie Switzer. York alumni talent on the creative team includes cinematographer Ben Lichty (BFA ’03), editor Chris Wiseman (BFA ’07) and assistant editor Anne Feldman (BFA ’11). Professor Paul Sych from York’s Department of Design designed the titles and poster for the film.

i am a good person/i am a bad person made its world premiere at the 2011 Toronto International Film Festival (see story) and has been reaping accolades ever since. Most recently, it won the Adrienne Fancey Best Film Award at the WIFTS Foundation International Visionary Awards and earned acting nominations for both Veninger and Switzer from the Vancouver Film Critics Circle. The film is currently on tour, slated to show at Raindance Canada in Toronto (Jan. 26), the Available Light Film Festival in Whitehorse, Yukon (Feb. 6) and the Canadian Front Series at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City (Mar. 14-19).

Veninger’s previous feature, Modra, wowed critics and audiences alike at the Toronto, Sao Paulo, Bratislava and Vancouver international filmfests, and was named one of Canada’s top ten films of 2010. View a trailer for Modra – or catch its screening on campus Jan. 23.

What’s next for Veninger? Another film, of course. She plans to use her Jay Scott Prize to help finance her next indie feature, which will be, she says, “a fantasy, musical, lesbian, road trip.”

* With files from the Toronto Film Critics Association and punk films