Sunday, April 22
(Go W I D E)
It's hard to believe it's really all over for 2001 already.
It was one of those long-yet-short weeks. Much sleep is to be caught up on by
organizers, volunteers, and audiences following a truly spectacular 11 days
of independent film, video and installation work from all over the world.
Today's programme included some award winning work (which we'll get to in a
moment) but before we sleep there are people to thank and congratulate:
First of all, congratulations to Artistic Director Chris Gehman
and his wife Rachel MacHenry who are brand new parents. Rachel obligingly held
out until a couple of days before festival's end and then promptly gave birth
to an 8.5lb baby boy. Congratulations to all three of you. Chris, we'll look
forward to your hommage to Stan Brakhage.
Thanks of course to the audiences who showed up in record numbers
and demonstrated yet again that Toronto really does have the largest appetite
for moving pictures in the world.
Thanks to the Festival staff, board members and volunteers
who made the event a success.
But in particular, thanks to these three who dealt with the nuts and bolts of
putting on a festival all day, every day:
Larissa Fan is the full-time Images Festival Coordinator.
So much of what makes it to the event happens because Larissa manages to tame
the tornado of details - which she does with complete grace. Larissa, please
enjoy the 6lbs of leftover pate while you recuperate.
Alexi Manis
is our indefatiguable projectionist. Her particular genius is to be handed a
pile of films, videos, and sound sources - all in different sizes and formats
- and make them all look and sound as if they were meant to be together.
You may notice that the otherwise
fabulous picture above is slightly out of focus. That's because poor Alexi thought
she was losing it when she couldn't get several of the Art Dyke 2001 Super8
films to focus - a problem that was all in the original footage. Your eyes are
fine, Alexi.....for now.
Jeanne LeSage
seemed to the festival a bit of a luxury as a house manager. She was the festival's
treat to itself for not having to deal with the door at all times. She very
quickly proved to be an absolute necessity - accomodating the biggest line-ups,
fullest houses, and tightest turnaround schedules in Images history.
It's virtually
impossible to sum up a festival like Images 2001 which brought so much to the
artistic table but at least we can recap the awards which were presented this
morning just prior to the final screening. Two of the Images jurors presided
over the presentation: Art Fag in Perpetuity Andy Patterson and Deanna Bowen,
Membership Coordinator of the Liason of Independent
Filmmakers of Toronto.
The esteemed judges ponder their next decision before the throngs.
And here are the results
The
Homebrew Award: For best work by an
emerging Toronto Artist
Chris Chong for
Let Me Start By Saying
The
GIFTS Award: For best student film
Korbett Matthews for
Lezenvizib
The
WIFT-T Award: For best Canadian female
direction
Michele Cournoyer
for Le Chapeau
The
Marian McMahon Award
Elida Schogt for
The Walnut Tree
The
Best International Film Award
Shiho Kano for
Rocking Chair
Honourable Mention also to Gerard Holthuis
for HKG and David Gatten for Moxon's Mechanick Exercises
Best
Installation Award
David Rokeby for
Guardian Angel
Honourable Mention
also to Dara Gellman and Leslie Peters for Darkwood
Best
International Video Award
Simon Pummell for
Blinded By the Light
Honourable Mention
also to Seoungho Cho for Cold Pieces
The
Overkill Award
Shu Lea Cheang for
I.K.U.
The Toronto Community Foundation / InterAccess Electronic Media Arts Centre Emerging New Media Artist Award:
Michelle Kasprzak
The
TeleFilm Canada Prize ($4000): For
best Canadian film or video
Phillip Hoffman for
What These Ashes Wanted.
To learn
more about the awards and their sponsors, click
here.
Art System stretches the Spadina Gallery
Corridor further to the north - between Dundas and College Streets. It's well
worth the few extra blocks for two excellent installations.
When the first film audiences in Paris experienced the Lumiere Brothers film
of a train arriving at the station, some patrons were reported to have jumped
out of the way to avoid being hit - so real was the experience. Today's audiences
who spend the better part of every day in a tele-mediated environment are invited
to re-capture that visceral sense of train + movement in Panorama - a
kinetic celluloid sculpture by Calgary-based artist
Joe Kelly. Be sure to move your cursor over the image.
In David Clark's Chemical Vision,
the Periodic Table becomes a kind of maze. Negotiating the journey to the centre
poses the question "Who exactly is the lab animal in this experiment?".
Jeff Toyne's viewer-determined soundtrack finds symphonies in the theoretical
construction of sodium hydrochloride and titanium oxide. Be sure to roll your
cursor over the image to find out who eventually got the last crumbs of cheese
on the Periodic Desktop.
And I am outta
here !!!!
Sincerely,
Your Faithful Secret Agent
IMAGES 2001
