User:ZarhanFastfire/sandbox

Joe Gibbons
Nationality	American
Education
Occupation(s)	Video artist, film director, performance artist, professor
Years active	1970s-Present
Notable work
Awards
Website	http://joegibbonsfilmmaker.com

Joe Gibbons is a singular figure in the history of American experimental cinema. He is widely regarded for the incomparable, dryly humorous works that he began making in the mid-1970s. At the time, Gibbons was considered a pioneer of Super 8 filmmaking, however he left this intimate home movie format behind in the late 1980s to work in 16mm and video. His dynamic output has been featured in four Whitney Biennial exhibitions (1995, 2000, 2002, 2006) and he is the recipient of fellowships and awards from the New York Foundation for the Arts, the NY State Council on the Arts, the Creative Capital Foundation, The LEF Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts, the Massachusetts Council on the Arts and Humanities, and the John Simon Guggenheim Foundation. Over the years Gibbons has taught at the Massachusetts College of Art and Design, the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Pratt Institute and most recently at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

The majority of Gibbons’ films and videos center on a protagonist named Joe Gibbons. This guy looks, speaks and even behaves like the filmmaker, however you might say that he is an intensified, more performative and fictionalized version of the artist. Existential, megalomaniacal, paranoid and ultimately doubtful of the direction that life is taking him, Joe tends to live on the margins of society. He hates working and instead makes ends meet through less legitimate means. Whether avoiding parole officers, dreading the day ahead or contemplating another scheme, Joe’s self-reflective monologues break the fourth wall by being addressed directly to the camera. Critic J. Hoberman noted that Gibbons “invented a new mode of psychodrama which might be termed the ‘confessional’". Possessing a razor sharp sense of comic timing and an uncanny improvisational imagination, Gibbons miraculously turns his distressing self-indulgence into something compelling and deeply amusing. His slippery sense of narrative and faux-diaristic leaves one wondering if Joe is simply documenting his life on camera or instead living his life for the camera. Discussing his approach to filmmaking, Gibbons comments that:

I guess in most drama there’s some kind of flaw that drives the drama and I think by exaggerating things—I mean, I play pretty messed up characters, but there are aspects that everybody to a greater or lesser degree exhibits, especially the psychopathic ones; people can identify with that. So many movies are made involving these characters. I started out making more abstract films or structural films and it wasn’t until I discovered using myself as material that I thought I had something. But I had to keep making more—I needed content. By finding flaws and working on those—that was a goldmine.

-Andrew Lampert, Anthology Film Archives

San Francisco Summer 1967
Genre	Documentary
Directed by	Don Shebib
Country of origin	Canada
Original language	English
Production
Producers	Ross McLean (executive producer)
Cinematography	Stefan Larner Don Shebib Ron Dexter Carroll Ballard (uncredited)
Editors	Don Haig Don Shebib
Running time	59 minutes
Production company	CBC Television
Original release
Network	CBC
Release	24 March 1968 (1968-03-24)

San Francisco Summer 1967 is a 1968 Canadian short television documentary film created by Donald Shebib about the Summer of Love made for CBC Television's The Way It Is.

Synopsis

San Francisco in the Summer of 1967 is the centre of hippie life, a "youth revolution" characterized by the long hair, unconventional dress, and drug use by those who participate in it. A bus driver remarks while driving his route to the intersection of Haight and Ashbury Streets, the heart of it all, that many hippies do not stand out while they work regular jobs by day, but change clothes once off the clock.

Neighbourhood residents, both hippie and straight, comment about what it has been like to live there the last several months. A young man from a family of means has walked away from their wealth. An older woman says she sympathizes with the hippies' stance against the Vietnam War but suggests their drug use is dangerous, "from experience".

A collage artist rejects the path laid out to marriage and children. He lives in a house supposedly haunted by ghosts, along with other hippies, including another artist and one who expresses his religion through the practice of white magic. After a meal, the group rolls marijuana cigarettes and discusses the politics surrounding its use and being tuned in, the scene intercut with comments by the local chief of police who believes that its habitual use (with LSD) eventually leads to the cessation of the user's function as a human being.

The scene shifts to a festival with music and dancing. Author Richard Brautigan takes the stage and reads one of his poems. A montage of Haight-Ashbury's nightlife ensues. McClure is now at home reading more of his poetry talking about life of the last sixteen years living in San Francisco, his work. He is seen walking walking through Panhandle Park, and says (in voice-over) that the hippies want a connection with nature like the Native Americans, whereas their own society since the Industrial Revolution has been "thrown off balance". In the next scene, hippie weddings take place in the name of the Supreme Being in Golden Gate Park.

A member of The Diggers, a hippie community organization, talks about its origins and the spirit of neighbourhood, where there are free medical and counselling clinics, and non-profit businesses. The Hip Job Co-Op helps individuals find jobs whose appearance does not conform with established views. There is a store where everything is free. Most of it is not worth much; people in this community want to "live free" but also "live free from possessions."

says: "This ain't Eisenhower's America no more... Minds are up for grabs." 

Along with footage of weddings and concerts in , there are rare shots of ,

and scenes from his play The Beard after a montage of

and the Freedom movement. 

"Turn on, tune in, and drop out," the immortal phrase of Timothy Leary, prescribes turning on to LSD, tuning in to your spirit and dropping out of society. Many do, leaving their homes and parents, schools and jobs, and abandoning organized religion and conventional morality for their own values of love, peace and freedom. They congregate in all major cities, but San Francisco's Haight-Ashbury is the movement's true home.

Hippies distrust the older generation following the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, the escalation of the Vietnam War, race riots, and other violent social upheavals. They distrust the government, parents, teachers, and police, feeling suffocated by their middle-class upbringings, their parents' sense of right and wrong, and the roles they're supposed to play in life. Their protest is to follow Leary and drop out of society, refusing to play the game.

Visionary poet Scenes are shown from his play The Beard, the Straight Theater, and the Psychedelic Bookshop. The Grateful Dead are seen at their Ashbury Street home. a visit to the , The Straight Theater, scenes from McClure’s play The Beard and rare shots of the bard of the Haight,

Production

Background

Canadian Broadcasting Corporation public affairs show The Way It Is was launched in 1967. The series offered a balance of entertainment and music with its coverage but was best known for its "earnest, respectable, and solid research and reporting."

Don Shebib, who made several short documentaries for the CBC, National Film Board of Canada, and the CTV series This Land Is People, was one of the in-house directors for The Way It Is. He was sent by the producers to San Francisco in the summer of 1967 to document what presenter John Saywell refers to as the hippie "phenomenon".

Music

The film's opening sequences are set to the Summer of Love anthem "San Francisco (Be Sure to Wear Flowers in Your Hair)". Other songs featured in the documentary include "San Franciscan Nights" by Eric Burdon & The Animals in a montage that begins after Michael McClure reads his poem,

"Love Is All Around" by The Troggs "Section 43" by Country Joe and the Fish,

Release and reception

San Francisco Summer 1967 was first broadcast on Sunday 24 March 1968 at 10 pm. It was televised again on CBC News Network on 26 September 1992 as the third episode of the network's The Passionate Eye documentary series.

Blaine Allan considers the documentary to be one of the two "finer" non-fiction films that Shebib ever produced, the other being Good Times, Bad Times. Martin Schneider considers it noteworthy for avoiding "histrionics," and for taking the hippie movement seriously.

Haight-Ashbury
Genre	Documentary
Directed by	Don Shebib
Country of origin	Canada
Original language	English
Production
Production company	CBC Television
Original release
Network	CBC
Release	1967 (1967)

Related work

Haight-Ashbury (1967)

Several months prior to the airing of San Francisco, Shebib's other documentary Haight-Ashbury was broadcast on The Way It Is.

It was screened theatrically in Toronto in August 1968 at an exhibition of Canadian films sponsored by the Cinecity Theatre Group.

Shebib discusses its production in a Take One interview with Alan Collins and Joe Medchuk.

References

The Big Step
Il grande passo
Directed by	Antonio Padovan
Written by	Antonio Padovan Marco Pettenello
Produced by
Starring	Giuseppe Battiston Stefano Fresi Roberto Citran Camilla Filippi Vitaliano Trevisan Flavio Bucci
Cinematography	Duccio Cimatti
Edited by	Paolo Cottignola
Music by	Pino Donaggio
Production companies	Ipotesi Cinema Stemal Entertainment Rai Cinema
Release date	November 2019 (2019-11)
Running time	96 minutes
Country	Italy
Language	Italian
Box office	€ (Italy)

The Big Step (Italian: Il grande passo) is a 2019 Italian comic science fiction film directed and co-written by Antonio Padovan, his second feature film

Synopsis

When he was six years old, Dario Cavalieri watched the live broadcast of the first Moon landing and ever since then he has dreamed of going there. Mario Cavalieri runs a local hardware store in Rome, until one day his life is turned upside down when the phone rings. His brother Dario is in prison. Mario discovers he is the only person who can take care of that brother, who he has only seen once in his lifetime. The two brothers, who resemble each other physically but have completely different personalities, find themselves alone in the face of an impossible venture.

Cast

• Giuseppe Battiston as Dario
• Stefano Fresi as Mario
• Roberto Citran (l’avvocato/lawyer Piovesan),
• Camilla Filippi (Carlotta),
• Vitaliano Trevisan,
• Flavio Bucci

Production

Giuseppe Battiston at the 68th Venice Film Festival, in 2011

Reception

Accolades

Awards

Notable nominations

External links

Category:2019 films Category:Italian films Category:Science fiction films Category:Italian comedy films Category:2019 comedy films

Walter Katelnikoff
Born	1918 (1918)
Died	1974 (aged 55–56)
Nationality	Canadian
Alma mater	University of Manitoba
Occupation	Architect
Spouse	Marguerita Katelnikoff
Children	2 sons, 1 daughter
Parents	Andrew Katelnikoff Polly Katelnikoff
Buildings	École Varennes Kirkfield Park School #2 Trend house Transcona Public Safety Building

Walter L. Katelnikoff was a Canadian architect.

Together with partners Ernest Smith and Dennis Carter, he founded Smith Carter Katelnikoff before starting his own company.

Early life and education

Walter Katelnikoff was born in 1918 to Russian immigrant parents Andrew and Polly Katelnikoff. He had three sisters.

Katelnikoff obtained a Bachelor of Architecture degree in 1944 from the University of Manitoba's Faculty of Architecture, which has been described as "notably progressive" at that time, its graduates making "important contributions across Canada and abroad." He made a pact with fellow students Ernest Smith and Dennis Carter that the three of them would start their own firm upon Smith's return from a postgraduate fellowship at MIT.

Career

Apprenticeships (1944-1947)

Katelnikoff worked for one year as an apprentice with the firm of Northwood and Chivers and for two years with Moody and Moore Architects.

Smith Carter Katelnikoff (1947–1958)

In 1947 the business partnership Smith Carter Katelnikoff was formed, with offices on 289½ Garry Street. Katelnikoff completed the final six months of his architectural certification program there, registering as an architect on 6 November 1947.

Smith Carter Katelnikoff made their name locally with the 1948 renovation of their own offices on Portage Avenue East and, due to the demand created by Winnipeg's expanding population in the 1950s, several schools. At the same time, the firm grew on the strength of commissions for large schools in rural Manitoba and Western Canada where modern centralized facilities were replacing one-room schools.

Architectural historian Kelly Crossman remarks that in the 1950s Manitoba architectural firms "consistently ranked among the best in the country" and that the provincial capitol Winnipeg "played a significant role as an early centre of architectural modernism in Canada", identifying Smith Carter as one of two "especially" important Winnipeg design firms.

Smith Carter played a central role in the "architectural renewal and development" of Winnipeg's public and commercial buildings. Their work included "major projects, public and private." One of the most "prolific and influential" design firms in Winnipeg, they earned a reputation in the 1950s and 1960s for "slick, understated, lucid, refined and experimental architecture keyed directly into site and landscape" which "changed the urban character" of the city.

The company went through a number of name and partner changes and eventually became known simply as Smith Carter Partners and later Smith Carter Architects and Engineers, Smith always serving as the managing partner until his retirement in 1985.

The three young men made their name locally with the 1948 renovation of their own offices on Portage Avenue East and, due to the demand created by Winnipeg's expanding population in the 1950s, several schools, many designed by Katelnikoff. At the same time, the firm grew on the strength of commissions for large schools in rural Manitoba and Western Canada where modern centralized facilities were replacing one-room schools. By 1954, demand for the firm was such that the firm welcomed a fourth partner, E. Fitz Munn. As the firm's commissions grew, attention was increasingly paid to interior functions and appropriate materials, advocating a modernism adapted "to express local climatic and cultural circumstances."

Trend home (Katelnikoff Residence)

The firm was also building private homes, including the modernist "trend house" on South Drive designed by Katelnikoff in 1953, one of ten model homes opened across Canada in 1954 by Vancouver company Western Woods. Uniquely, its overall footprint creates a sun trap play area between the garage and the kitchen, "allowing for easy supervision of children." Katelnikoff's trend home would ultimately become his residence. Smith and Carter both also designed their own family homes on Kildonan Drive and South Drive, where several other architects also resided (Roy Sellors, Allan Waisman, and John A. Russell).

Red Cedar Extensively Employed In the 10 Trend Houses across Canada, homebuilders are find- mlied Western red cedar siding variety of uses. It appears as interior wall finish. Carpenters used it to frame several Trend Houses. It is applied in various forms of exterior siding and shakes. Some of these demonstration homes sponsored by B.C.'s forest industries are sheathed in it. And all have roofs of Westen red cedar shin- gles. Such versatility sterns from the basic qualities of this Western itself, without which it would not be suited for the pur- PLASTERING in the TREND HOUSE by BENNETT PLASTERING 227 Washington Ave. Phone 50-1875 poses to which Trend House, ar- chitects have put it. In its handbook of standard grading and dressing rules, the B.C. Lumber Manufacturers as- sociation of Vancouver indicates some of these qualities. SOFT IN TEXTURE the association report says, "is very straight- grained. It is soft in texture, and one of the lightest in weight of the commercial softwoods. "No other softwood is superior, to it in durability under the most favorable conditions. It has a low shrinkage factor, and does not warp, twist or check. "The high percentage of dead air-space resulting from its, thin cell-walls and uniform structure gives it an insulation value be- yond most woods. It is very easily worked and takes and holds nails without splitting. "It finishes to a smooth silky surface, and will take find hold stain, paint and enamel better than most woods. It also has su- perior gluing properties." NOVEL USE; A novel use is made of cedar sidewall shakes .in Winnipeg and Calgary Trend Houses where they finish one wall of the re- creation room. Cedar panelling forms the finish of the basement clothing room. In London, the kitchen cupboards are cedar. All 10 Canadian Trend House roofs use Western red cedar shin- gles exclusively. In some cases, the roof sheathing is Douglas Fir plywood. In others, cedar shin- gles are applied on spaced or solid sheathing.

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Murdanie Maclver, Sgt. Instructor Ernest Wareham, B. G. Anderson and H. E. Ronald; (back row) W. R. Lohvinen, J. H. Warwick, J. Himik, L. B. Lofvendahl, St. Boniface, and E. Spalding. Douglas Fir Plywood Widely Used Hidden structural values, those construction 'details not always evident to casual observer, will be found in all I'O Western! Woods Trend Houses., Builders of the Trend' Houses across Canada have achieved many of these hidden values by using Douglas fir plywood. Fir plywood panels are used in Trend Houses for wall sheathing; roof sheathing, sub-flooring and floor underlay. None of these stru- ctyral panels is seen in the fin- ished house, but make Ml use of tough fir plywood qualities to the advantage of both: builder, and owner. SHEATHING PANELS Take sheathing panels. Each standard panel covers 32 square feet, saving" time and labor in application. Each is made of lay- ers of fir Veneer bonded with waterproof glue and each is the best .sheathing material by tesl for strength and rigidity. The 4x8 foot panels go on walls quickly, meet at the studs anc need no costly diagonal bracing. Storage and handling is simpli- fied and costs are cut. Fewer joints occur and all joints', are. on studs, girts or plates. Air infiltration from out- side is reduced, resulting in bet- ter insulation. But structural values of Doug- las fir plywood do not end here The waterproof glue panels are built for rugged, outdoor use, pro- viding hidden protection agains' weather, Girls' Boss Faces Charge In U.K. 'Love Potion9 Deaths A 45- year-old office manager of a chemical factory 'Friday was charged with majnslaughter in the "love potion" death of two girl employees who died after eating drug-spiked candy. The man, Arthur Ford, was re- leased from hospital Thursday where he had been, under treat- ment since Monday after he and two girls had shared candy bars: in the factory Police said they believed the candy contained a derivative of the potent sex stimulant cantha- rides. Charges were filed against Ford in.the death of one of the The second poison victim pretty 19-year-old former beauty queen June Malins. SENIORS WED BURNABY, B.C. of George Hope, retired Saskatch- ewan farmer, and Mrs. Jessie Mtia- shaw, former Vancouver muve in their tns first among residents of the .United Church home for old folks here since it opened three years ago. LANDMARK DESTROYED DEWINTON, Alta. (CP) The former St. Joseph's Indian indus- trial school in this Calgary dis- trict, a historic landmark was de- stroyed by fire. Built in 1883 by the late Rev. Father Lacombe, it once housed boys and girls from girlk, 27-year-old, Betty Grant.'all Alberta Indian reservations. St. John the Baptist Anglican church social club is holding a concert at 8 p.m. Thursday in the University of Manitoba Resi- dence auditorium. ALSIP'S are featuring WESTERN WOODS and BUILDING MATERIALS As Shown In THE TREND HOUSE Drop in Today for Further Information ALSIP'S BRICK, TILE and LUMBER 508 PORTAGE AVE. PHONE 74-4447 Class 37 of the city police department graduated Friday after 10 weeks' Instruction on elementary police duties. In the class are (standign, back row, left to right) L. Domaratzki, S. J. Dzikowski, C. Colquhoun, C. Varey, W. B. Cooke and E. VV. Hall; (front row) W. D. Jones, St. Vital; P. Pollock, Fort Garry; W. A. Koley, Supt. Murdanie Maclver, Sgrt. Instruc- tor Ernest Wareham, S. E. Scarr and K. A. K. Johnston. STAMP CORNER Indies Issues Prove Popular In Canada Many older Canadian homes are being re-roofed with Western red cedar shingles. You don't have to strip off old wood shin- gles. This is a wasteful and un- ecessary practice. Leave them n place and over-roof with new edar shingles. This gives double nsulation. For The TREND HOUSE Smith, Carter and Katelnikoff WINNIPEG Stamps of the British West Indies are becoming more Colorful. Recent issues include (top, left to Jamaica's stamp for a 1952 Boy Scout jamboree, Barbados stamp for the centenary of its first postage stamps, Grenada stamp with coat-of-arms of colony, and (lower, left to yachts shown at anchor on a Bermuda stamp, flamingos in flight on stamps of the Bahamas, and a sailing ship on a stamp of the Turks and Caicos Islands group. DOMINION OILCLOTH LINOLEUM CO. LIMITED MONTREAL BY -JAMES MONTAGNES Probably most popular with Canadian stamp collectors are ,he stamps of the British West Indies. Wiln even a complete collection British Common- vealth and Empire stamps be- ,-oming burdensome to keep up- ,o date, because numerou-, ssues, many collectors have in years turned to collecting inly British West Indies stamps. With the possibility that some if these islands may in the not ,00 distant future cease being in- lependent stamp issuing colonies the collecting of British West Indian stamps also has an in- vestment value. In recent years the stamps of. -nany of these islands have :hanged from simple stamps fea- turing only the current ruler to pictorials featuring industries and scenery in the islands. These colorful stamps have aided in a small way in publicizing the tourist attractions of the islands. Western Woods House? will he warm in winter and coo in summer thanks to the insulat ing qualities of wood. An inch o wood has insulating qualities equal to 4% inches of ordinarj bricks, seven, inches of concrete and 12y> inches of stone. HEADQUARTERS FOR WESTERN WOODS FEATURED TREND HOUSES I p BERNHARD LUMBER Co, Ltd., 598 Mtunroe Ave. Init Klldanon Phone 59-6323 BATHROOM FIXTURES featured exclusively in Trend Houses across Canada, And a wonderful choice fot your house, too! 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Come see fot yourself why they were chosen lot the Trend House you'll find 'hem in basins, tub and showers. Completely _ they cost no mote than old fashioned taps. 831 Portage WINNIPEG Ftoxt 

Walter L. Katelnikoff and Associates

Katelnikoff left the practice in 1958 and established his own office with associates John Stuart Allison and James P. Lewis. The practice, Walter L. Katelnikoff and Associates, was located at 412 Rue Des Meurons in St. Boniface throughout the 1960s. Lewis was a university contemporary of Katelnikoff, Smith and Carter but service overseas during the Second World War had delayed his education. John Stuart Allison left Katelnikoff and Associates in the late 1950s, while the remaining partners moved their offices to 130 Scott Street. In 1965, Lewis also left (to teach as a member of the faculty of the School of Architecture). Katelnikoff remained in practice, working on such projects as the Transcona Public Safety Building (730 Pandora Avenue West) in 1968.

Not long before his death, in 1974, Katelnikoff entered into an association with architect Mel Craven, at Katelnikoff’s Scott Street office.

Personal life

Notably, Walter Katelnikoff lived at 762 South Drive – he was one of several architects living on that street at that time. Others included Roy Sellors, Allan Waisman, Dennis Carter and John Russell.

References

Robin Poitras
Born	Robin Wiens 1958? (58 in 2016) Regina, Saskatchewan
Nationality	Canadian
Education	B.F.A.
Alma mater	York University
Known for	Dance, performance art, installation art, curation
Spouses	Edward Poitras Tim Murphy
Awards	Lieutenant Governor's Lifetime Achievement Award City of Regina Mayor's Awards for Business & the Arts Lifetime Achievement Award YWCA Women of Distinction Award for the Arts
Website	https://www.newdancehorizons.ca/

Robin Poitras (née Wiens) is a dancer, performance and installation artist based in Regina, Saskatchewan, actively engaged in contemporary dance practice since the early 1980s.

One of Saskatchewan's most prolific dance and performance creators, Poitras co-founded New Dance Horizons in 1986 with Dianne Fraser. Through her research in diverse fields of artistic and somatic practice, Poitras developed a unique interdisciplinary approach. Her works have been presented across Canada and internationally.

Early life and education

Robin Poitras is the second child of architect Clifford Wiens and artist and educator Patricia Wiens. The family visited art galleries, attended powwows, and played music at home. She said she began her artistic life studying the cello but always loved to dance.

In her 20s, Poitras completed a B.F.A. (Special Honours) in dance at York University, where she came to feel disillusioned and discouraged with her program, until the day Paul-André Fortier made an appearance:

I was getting really frustrated. I felt I wasn't getting enough of the "art" of dance... One day Paul-André came to guest-teach, and all we did was walk. I thought, "Wow, this is so exciting." It became a real turning point for me, and I decided to stay in the program based on that experience. I remember saying, "Can you imagine dancing with someone like that someday?"

Poitras undertook further studies at Duke University, the American Center in Paris, and the Bill Evans Summer Institute of Dance in Winnipeg in 1984. She also studied in as well as in Montreal and Zurich.

Career

Poitras began her professional dance career with Regina Modern Dance Works in 1984.

New Dance Horizons

In 1986, Poitras co-founded Saskatchewan's only professional dance company, New Dance Horizons, with Dianne Fraser, a nationally recognized project-based company mandated to support the creation, development, production and presentation of contemporary dance and related performing arts in the province featuring national, international, regional and local Canadian artists, often contracting with visiting dancers. Over time, the not for profit company developed a relationship with a local hotel providing sponsorship, allowing the organization to do unplanned events. New Dance Horizons was consciously organized into three distinct "strands".

Rouge-gorge

Originally called Intempco (a short form of In Temporary Company), Rouge-gorge (French for "robin") is a project-based company dedicated to the original work of the two artistic directors (now of Robin Poitras alone).

The first Pelican Project procession was staged in 1998, at the Lanterns on the Lake festival in Regina. There have been about 50 processions since then, in Regina, Moose Jaw, Yorkton, Fort Qu’Appelle, and outside Saskatchewan as well. The most recent, a procession with children dressed as animals—horses and bison—and carrying lanterns that represented different kinds of fruit that grow on the prairies, took place at Culture Days in Regina in the fall of 2017, in partnership with another arts organization, Prairie Puppet Underground. The Pelican Project has been invited to create another procession in Vancouver in the summer of 2018. Because pelicans don’t nest in Vancouver, the theme of that procession will be the great blue heron.

Poitras said incorporating somatic movement in her dance likely extended her career. "I think that that work really allowed me to be able to dance longer," she said.

performance and installation artist.

In the mid 2000s, the company moved into its own building on Harvey Street, including a box office, fifty-seat theatre and administration space.

and performed a dance piece at the 2005 retrospective in Saskatoon and Regina two years later. In 2014, she performed in another piece with set pieces designed by her father.

Installations

• [1]

Philosophy

Influences and aesthetics

Poitras, who believes the purpose of art is to "make the invisible in our lives visisble", has read the ancient Greek philosopher Plato and draws on his ideas of being and becoming ("static perfection" versus "the flow of things, the transformation from one state to another", as developed in the Republic, but unlike Plato, her utopian ideal "would be characterized by change, development and exploration"; utopia in the usual sense would "never be achieved, because it is always evolving and never finished. Utopia is not a thing, a place, or a state but a process." For her, this notion is represented in dance by the concept of "centre arch", as developed by Amelia Itcush, a founding member of the Toronto Dance Theatre: a "nowhere place" or "moving place" in the foot, "that place where the weight of the body moves downward into the ground and the force of the body moves upward into space", a notion underscoring the idea of dance "as a flow or a process of movement rather than a series of fixed positions."

My practice is rooted in a physical world comprised of choreography, dancing and actions/acts.

Robin Poitras

Creative process and practice

Poitras contrasts other forms of the utopian Platonic idea reflected in the history of dance, citing the Romantic classical ballet in which the ballerina sought to "float" above the floor "as though gravity did not exist" with her own practice, which involves "working with the forces of intentionality and gravity to discover what the limits of action might be."

I am curious about relationships and resonance among the worlds of art, science and nature and in exploring how these worlds feed back and forth in mythical, mysterious, elusive and sometimes obvious ways.

Robin Poitras

Eschewing an ideal body type along with other traditional facets of classical dance, Poitras selects dancers solely based on their skills, and likes to work with children and older people as dancers, "mixing the professional and the amateur", and often makes use of improvisation, found or formed objects, texts, images, sound and/or other media. She constantly explores what might be possible to achieve.

Critical assessment

Alex MacDonald reported that some observers find certain pieces by Poitras "challenging", which she believes is a "legitimate function" of art, and that some could also be interpreted as being "political", to which she responded that she does not "set out to make political statements."

Accolades

Robin Poitras is a recipient of the 2016 Saskatchewan Lieutenant Governor Lifetime Achievement in the Arts award, the 2006 Mayor's Awards for Business & The Arts' Lifetime Achievement Award, and the 2004 YWCA Women of Distinction Award for the Arts.

Personal life

Clifford and Patricia Wiens had six children and twelve grandchildren. The family visited art galleries, attended powwows, and played music at home. Robin Poitras, second of their six children and wife of Métis artist Edward Poitras, The only son, Nathan, became a naturalistic designer, best known as a craftsman of custom wood furniture pieces based in Vancouver.

Marriages

She collaborated with her husband Edward Poitras in several performance-based works as early as 1984 with Das Cheval Dance. These collaborations have continued since the couple's divorce.

Pastimes

hobby: “I do birdwatching, but I don’t know all the names of the birds.”

Selected choreographic works and performance art pieces

• Das Cheval Dance (1984, with Edward Poitras)
• In Fur Till Spring (2011, with Edward Poitras)
• End of Summer, Orange Leaves Falling (2013, with Edward Poitras)
• Misfit Blues (2014, with Paul-André Fortier and Edward Poitras)
• A Silk Ode to the MacKenzie (2019)

Filmography

• Weekend in Alphaville (2010, dir. Bruce LaBruce)
• The Bad Breast, or, The Strange Case of Theda Lange (2010, dir. Bruce LaBruce)

References

Our Lady of the Lake Chapel
Silton Chapel
Location	Saskatchewan Beach, near Silton, Saskatchewan
Country	Canada
Denomination	Roman Catholic
History
Status	Inactive
Architecture
Functional status	Chapel
Architect	Clifford Wiens
Architectural type	Modernist
Completed	1969
Construction cost	under C$25,000
Administration
Archdiocese	Archdiocese of Regina

Our Lady of the Lake Chapel, more widely known as the Silton Chapel, is an inactive Roman Catholic consecrated church without walls designed by Clifford Wiens, located near the village of Silton, Saskatchewan.

Description

Area and materials

The chapel consists of a 40 ft. x 40 ft. wood frame, heavy timber and concrete structure.

Structural and interior design

A pyramidal roof which appears to hover or float above the congregational area, supported by glulam support beams, the seemingly floating corners suspended by tension rods embedded in the wood-frame structure of the roof, requiring periodic adjustment; the rods in turn are connected to a compression plate at the apex, transferring the load of the corners to the top, then down the roof structure to the glulam beams.

The beams in turn are held up on concrete pillars, a natural boulder serving as an altar, while a small cast-concrete pillbox provides a vestiary, and the baptismal fount fills with water running off the cedar-shingled cantilevered roof down an iron chain serving as an improvised drainpipe.

Seating

When first built, the chapel had no pews and a dirt floor later replaced by a layer of pebble stones.

History

Commission

Site and concept

Having determined that a Roman Catholic community of summer cottagers required a chapel near the village of Silton, the Archdiocese of Regina commissioned Clifford Wiens, who surveyed many locations, discarding one design idea after the other before finally settling on a site. The site, which can be approached either from the prairie plateau by a footpath or from a lower road, is on a bench of land just below the brow of the embankment overlooking Last Mountain Lake at Saskatchewan Beach, a short drive from Lumsden, or about 45 minutes from Regina. Even this spot seemed "unattainable" at first due to the steep valley slopes and the limited budget, but as Wiens walked the slopes, he found a brush-filled "pocket of space": "it soon became apparent that nature was to offer us a ceremonial bowl protected from the prevailing winds", and he put forward the idea of a chapel "with shelter from the sun and rain only", which Church representatives accepted and with whom he agreed an initial commission of $20,000, a sum "somewhat arbitrarily established"; it was done for less than $25,000, a "considerable achievement of cost control".

Design and construction

Alternate description The Silton Chapel, sited in a similar fashion to the Nugent Studio, on a bench of land just below the top of the valley at Saskatchewan Beach, exhibits perhaps the most sublime connection of a building to the prairie landscape. The summer chapel is composed mainly of a pyramidal roof supported by glue-laminated cross beams positioned at the centre points of each side of the roof–rather than at the corners–with one beam appearing to engage the upward slope of the hillside. A tension rod in the centre of the pyramid conducts the forces from the connection point of four beams to the apex of the pyramid and down the slope of the roof, transferring these forces to a point on the beam nearer the concrete foundation supports. The corners of the roof edge beams are mitered and connected with hidden metal splines and countersunk bolts. The compression plate at the peak of the pyramid that accepts the tension force of the visible centre rod also picks up four hidden tension rods connected to the bolts that join the roof beam at the corners. This allows the corners to be levelled and for the entire pyramid to be post-tensioned, creating a rigid three-dimensional space frame. The building reveals itself in stages as visitors walk down the stone path: first the roof, its supporting structure, the cast concrete baptismal font and vestment room, and finally, a large glacial-erratic boulder as the altar.

-- Bernard Flaman

Decline and closure

In 2011, the chapel was vandalized, and when heritage conservation architect Bernard Flaman went to investigate the damage, he found the chapel was in danger of collapse from a slump in the valley hillside. The chapel was saved from imminent collapse by a single post hastily placed below the sagging north beam, though more work needed to be done. By September 2011, there were concerns that the Church would opt to demolish the chapel rather than have the chapel designated a heritage site. That fall, the Archdiocese announced that it could not pay the estimated $200,000 repair cost. Attempts at fundraising have fallen short, leaving the chapel slated for demolition and the land to be sold. In 2013, Lisa Rochon found it "deeply concerning" that such a "sublime" work should be allowed to fall into ruin "despite decades of adoring use by Catholic worshippers and visiting cottagers." In November 2015, Flaman wrote the community's efforts to raise funds and awareness had failed to generate the necessary amount to repair the building. As of 2020, according to the site's Facebook page, it is scheduled for demolition.

Reception

The most primeval piece of land architecture in Canada.

Lisa Rochon, Up North: Where Canada's Architecture Meets the Land

Half the art of architecture is knowing the site.

Clifford Wiens (quoted by Trevor Boddy)

The Silton Chapel is a structural tour de force and touches the ground ever so lightly on four concrete piers.

Bernard Flaman

Critical response

When the chapel won Wiens his third Massey Medal in 1970, Robert Gretton, editor of Canadian Architect magazine, described Wiens as one of Canada's most sensitive architects.

Thompson says that the structure has been called "sublime" for the way it pays particular attention to the landscape and "reveals itself to the visitor." Architecture critic Trevor Boddy curated a major exhibition titled Telling Details: the Architecture of Clifford Wiens, which toured nationally. Writing in 2008, Boddy asserted that the design appeals regardless of religious affiliation:

Whether one is pagan (natural vistas provide the "stained glass" for worshippers on the bench-pews), Roman Catholic (this is a fully consecrated church), aesthete (the design is a chef d'oeuvre of minimalism) or engineer (with a steel vertical tie-rod at centre, the foursquare roof acts structurally as an innovative space frame). Seldom has Mies van der Rohe's dictum of "less is more" resonated as forcefully as here – architecture reduced to its essence, and in so doing, amplified cosmically.

Bernard Flaman is disappointed that the chapel has not influenced other architects in its vicinity: "this masterpiece has not inspired the design of subsequently built cottages and houses in the community, which have typically defaulted to the standard suburban tract house model with vinyl siding, a large garage and irrigated landscaping." Flamand suggests that the chapel, the Nugent Studio and the Heating and Cooling Plant share similarities despite serving "radically different" purposes and being formally and materially unique: exhibiting "strong, simple forms" and "ignoring modernism's dogmatic side and the dictum of flat roofs". All three find ways of filtering "the strong prairie sunlight" and establish "a delicate relationship with the landscape."

Most striking, however, is the way each building springs from the combination of a structural and an architectural idea, beginning with a close analysis of tension and compression elements that are resolved with architectural details of startling invention.

Some background to the chapel's construction is discussed in the 2007 Edifice & Us episode.

Accolade

Royal Architectural Institute of Canada • Massey Silver Medal (1969)

External links

• Silton Chapel on Facebook

Arctic Mission
Directed by	Jean Lemire Thierry Piantanida Caroline Underwood Carlos Ferrand Patricio Henriquez Alain Belhumeur
Written by	Jean Lemire Thierry Piantanida Caroline Underwood Carlos Ferrand Patricio Henriquez Alain Belhumeur
Produced by	Jean Lemire; Éric Michel, Colette Loumède, Stéphane Millière (co-producers) Sally Bochner (executive producer)
Narrated by	Joël Le Bigot Jean Lemire
Cinematography	Martin Leclerc Marc Gadoury François Laliberté Carlos Ferrand Sylvestre Guidi Mario Cyr (underwater)
Edited by	Frédéric Lossignol Bruce Annis Dominique Sicotte Michel Grou Alain Belhumeur
Music by	Hervé Postic Ganesh Anandan
Production companies	Glacialis (coproduction: National Film Board of Canada, Gedeon)
Distributed by	National Film Board of Canada Terranoa (France)
Release date	31 October 2003 (2003-10-31) (FCMM) (La grande traversée)
Running time	260 minutes (5 films)
Countries	Canada, France
Language	French
Budget	C$5.8–5.9 million
Box office	C$12,113 (La grande traversée, Canada)

Arctic Mission (French: Mission Arctique) is a 2003 Canada-France series of short documentary films made over the course of a five-month 2002 scientific expedition aboard the Sedna IV on a voyage from Montreal to Vancouver through the Northwest Passage, with the "beauty and fragility" of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago on full display. Made to foster awareness of global warming as seriously jeopardizing a fragile Arctic ecosystem, the series was written and directed by... Jean Lemire and Thierry Piantanida, as well as co-produced and co-narrated by Jean Lemire.

Synopsis

Overview

The five films tell the story of a journey, told partly in the form of a travel diary. A crew of filmmakers, scientists, and seasoned sailors, undertake a five-month, 21,000-kilometre scientific mission to record the impact of global warming on the islands of the Canadian Arctic. The crew navigate the three-masted sailing yacht Sedna IV through the Northwest Passage, a treacherous, ice-choked route. The voyage begins in the Magdalen Islands near Montréal and ends in Vancouver, with stops including Beechey Island, where John Franklin and his crew wintered in 1846 during his last expedition, underscoring how survival is a daily struggle in the Far North: the crew face unusually cold weather that makes navigation exceptionally perilous.

Contacts with Northern inhabitants both help guide the crew and reinforce the documentary's message concerning the impact of human activity on the world. The mission sounds the alarm on the disastrous consequences of climate change on the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. Observations were made that indicated the region was warming, the ice was melting, and the sea level rising: a whole village of about 700 people was forced to move; polar bears were seen stranded on a sandspit far from shore, and more were seen starving in Hudson Bay; and robins were spotted in Iqaluit.

The Great Adventure (La grande traversée)

Main article: La grande traversée

Jean Lemire and his crew undertake a voyage to record the impact of global warming on the Arctic. The crew navigate a three-masted sailing ship through the legendary Northwest Passage - a treacherous, ice-choked route that has captured the imaginations of great explorers for centuries. The Sedna IV and her crew face unusually cold weather that makes navigation exceptionally perilous.

• Directed by Jean Lemire and Thierry Piantanida.

Lords of the Arctic (Les seigneurs de l'Arctique)

Ice plays a critical role in maintaining the fragile Arctic ecosystem. Will these northern plants and wildlife be able to adapt in the face of rising temperatures? Through footage of bowhead and beluga whales, seals, walruses, muskox, caribou, polar bears, thick-billed murres and many other species of birds, it is possible to observe the impact of climate change on the wildlife of the North.

• Directed by Caroline Underwood.

People of the Ice (Le peuple de la glace)

For over 4000 years, the Inuit have lived in harmony with their Arctic environment. Global warming threatens both their habitat and culture. Climate change is seen through the eyes of Inuit from several generations. Sheila Watts-Cloutier, president of the Inuit Circumpolar Conference, also weighs in on the issue: in her view, as the planet heats up, the Inuit must draw on their ancient traditions to survive.

• Directed by Carlos Ferrand.

Washed Away (À la dérive)

Two island communities struggle to prevent the disappearance of land they have lived on for centuries. Residents of Shishmaref, Alaska, in the Far North, and tropical Tuvalu, a small country in the South Pacific Ocean, the situation grows more urgent every day.

• Directed by Patricio Henriquez.

Climate on the Edge (Menaces sur le toit du monde)

The Arctic is on the front line of climate change and global warming is having a serious impact on the planet. As temperatures increase, the ice caps will recede significantly. The documentary attempts to take an objective look at a complex issue through interviews with leading experts: climatologist Jean Jouzel, oceanographer Eddy Carmack, computer modelling expert Francis Zwiers and glaciologist Fritz Koerner.

• Directed by Alain Belhumeur.

Production

Background and development

A biologist by training, mission leader Jean Lemire worked for the Canadian Wildlife Service before becoming a documentary filmmaker. He dreamed of filming an "environmental awareness journey" for twelve years. Writer Thierry Piantanida chronicled the work of the legendary marine documentarian Jacques Cousteau. Frédéric Back and David Suzuki were honourary presidents of the project, which was two years in the making, a period of "intense efforts and negotiations".

The documentary persepctive is simultaneously international and local, featuring analysis of world politics surrounding global warming, as well as the effect on the region's people, as Lemire explained:

It was important for me to make something on the North with people in the North, to be sure we really get Inuit involved... Very often what we do is go up North then come back and make the film. I think now it's important to give a chance to the Inuit to say what they have to say about the climate and global warming.

The Sedna IV

Financing

The series had a collective budget of between $5.8 and $5.9 million. Canadian public-sector partners on the project included the Government of Canada, Telefilm Canada, the Canadian Television Fund, SODEC and the Quebec Ministry of Culture and Communications, while French participation was officiated through the Centre national cinématographique Canada-France and the Ministère délégué à la recherche et aux nouvelles technologies. Bell Media also contributed from its fund to the project.

Filming and the Sedna IV

Originally, the team hoped to find a modest 18-metre sailing vessel that would suit their purposes. In 2001, Lemire and five others acquired a 51-metre steel-hauled sailboat which had been refurbished from a North Sea fishing boat in 1992, and re-fitted it into an expedition vessel with cabins to sleep twenty crew, two DVC Pro editing suites, three high-density cameras and a system of satellite communication which would allow hundreds of thousands to follow the voyage. Rechristened the Sedna IV after the Inuit goddess of the sea, the three-masted schooner was now an oceanographic vessel and seagoing cinematographic studio, specifically designed for filming documentaries, collecting data for scientific studies, and serving as a "floating media lab" for students around the world.

Principal photography for the five films took place simultaneously over the duration of the expedition under Lemire's leadership, around 400 hours of footage. Each of the documentaries is considered an independent effort, each director exploring a different aspect of the impact of global warming. The other four directors were not present for the expedition and relied both on Lemire's and their own cinematography.

Crew and supplies

For a journey projected as lasting up to six months, the Sedna IV had a permanent crew of fifteen, including a doctor, skilled underwater divers and cinematographers, picking up other researchers and scientists along the way, with a supply of 7.2 tonnes of food and 78,000 litres of fuel.

Itinerary

The ship was supposed to depart on 16 June 2002 from the Gulf of Saint Lawrence, but was delayed almost two weeks due to heavy ice conditions off the coast of Labrador. After sailing along the Labrador coast, the ship would continue through the Hudson's Strait and Isabella Bay near Clyde River before visiting Pond Inlet for two or three weeks, then moving on to Resolute Bay to await the best window to the Northwest Passage. From there it would move into the Beaufort Sea and come through the Bering Strait to reach Vancouver. The Sedna IV was only the seventh sailboat in history to make the legendary Northwest Passage from east to west.

Release and reception

The first documentary, La grande traversée, had the earliest theatrical release, premiering at the Montreal International Festival of New Cinema and New Media on 31 October 2003. It was also screened at other film festivals in Canada and Europe, earning awards.

David Suzuki in 2006; one of the honourary presidents of the project, co-narrated the English version of the documentary series on The Nature of Things.

Broadcasts

All five documentaries were made for broadcast on television in Canada and Europe. La grande traversée was first broadcast in Canada as part of Télé-Québec's Grands documentaires series, the evening of 12 November 2003, followed by a broadcast in December in France on France 5, as well as a special screening before a United Nations commission. A special 90-minute long version of La grande traversée was was broadcast on France 2.

The English version of Arctic Mission was first broadcast in Canada on the CBC's The Nature of Things, with narration by Lemire and David Suzuki, in the second half of the show's 44th season beginning on 28 January 2004 and airing weekly until 25 February 2004. In the United States, it premiered on 24 February 2004 on Discovery HD with episodes sometimes aired under different titles, the first as Voyage of the Sedna, the second as Climate of Change, and the fourth as Eyes of the Inuit.

The series was estimated to have been seen by ten million viewers worldwide by 2004.

Home media

Initially, La grande traversée was made available based on the 52-minute theatrical release on VHS by the National Film Board of Canada. A 90-minute special edition video CD was released on 11 November 2004. DVDs were also released.

In 2005, Arctic Mission was released on a 5-disc DVD box set (260 minutes).

Accolades

The series as a body of work won a Prix Gémeaux from the Academy of Canadian Cinema & Television for Best Web Site, and John Lemire won a Multimedia Personality of the Year award from Ciné Tv Multimédia.

La grande traversée

• Academy of Canadian Cinema & Television, Gemini and Gémeaux Awards, Best Sound in an Information/Documentary Program or Series, 2004
• Yorkton Film Festival, Golden Sheaf Award, Nature/Environment, 2004

Seigneurs de l'Arctique

• Academy of Canadian Cinema & Television, Gemini Award, Best Direction in a Documentary Series, 2004 (Caroline Underwood)
• National Geographic Society, Earthwatch Film Award
• EarthVision Film & Video Festival, Santa Cruz, California, First Place Award - Category: Pollution and Global Warming 2004
• International Wildlife Film Festival, Finalist Award, 2005

À la dérive

• ACCT, Prix Gémeaux, Best Cinematography in a Documentary Series, 2004 (Michel Grou)

Marketing and related works

Game

In 2005, an educational interactive quiz game DVD for children 9 to 12 was released. Arctic Mission: An Interactive Adventure allows its players to take four different voyages aboard the Sedna IV along with Jean Lemire and his crew through the Northwest Passage. The players' mission is to save the polar bears while rescuing the ship from potential dangers by answering multiple choice questions correctly. The game also includes a map, bear tokens, and a study guide offering suggestions to teachers of how to use in the classroom.

Jean Lemire in 2008

Later series and books

Lemire was moved by what he saw in the Arctic, recalling his experience in an emotional text posted to the Domaine bleue website in 2007, describing polar bear carcases along the beaches of Hudson Bay; how he once found himself up to his knees in melting permafrost that smelled of methane; and the despair of those who vainly tried to stave off the waves of a swelling sea, calling them the North's forgotten inhabitants, the first "climate refugees". He went on to make four more documentary series aboard the Sedna IV: Mission Baleines (Whale Mission), in search of the "last of the great whales" threatened with extinction; Mission Antarctique (Antarctic Mission), one of the "great expeditions of modern times," spanning 430 days of sailing, isolation, and extreme adventure in an uncompromising climate; Le dernier continent (The Last Continent), which became the most successful feature documentary in the history of Québec cinema; and 1000 jours pour la planète (1000 Days for the Planet), which set out to document and bear witness to the state of the biosphere, seeking out field researchers working to protect species and habitats around the world. As a collective body of work, the films made on the Sedna IV's expeditions set new standards in the field and have enjoyed remarkable success, having been distributed worldwide and have earned numerous prizes and awards.

On his return from the Antarctic, Lemire took advantage of the unparalleled popularity of that mission to launch an awareness campaign and actions to fight global warming, the biggest environmental public awareness campaign in the history of Québec. Both of his books based on the documentaries published by Éditions La Presse, Mission Antarctique (2007) and Le dernier continent: 430 jours au cœur de l'Antarctique (2009), enjoyed exceptional success in bookstores.

Soul Cages
Directed by	Phillip Barker
Written by	Phillip Barker
Produced by	Simone Urdl Jennifer Weiss (co-producer)
Starring	Srinivas Krishna Andrew Scorer Susanna Hood
Cinematography	Luc Montpellier
Edited by	Jeff Bessner
Music by	Tom Third
Production company	Fill in the Blanks
Distributed by	The Film Farm (IMDb)
Release date	September 1999 (1999-09) (TIFF)
Running time	22 minutes
Country	Canada

Soul Cages is a 1999 Canadian short experimental film written and directed by Phillip Barker.

Synopsis

Among the grasses and reeds of a river, a nude young woman (Susanna Hood) takes photographs of her reflection as ripples form and dissipate in the water. She hears the high pitch of a flying mosquito and closes her eyes. Unseen, it lands on her back. She pauses, and eventually removes the insect from her back, gazing at the remains in the palm of her bloodied hand.

Elsewhere, in a one-hour photo processing shop, an employee (Srinivas Krishna), after observing some photographs of a family on a small motorboat, responds to a beeping sound and removes a camera from a plastic bag, and finds the camera is full of water.

The family from the photographs arrives in the boat. Seeing them, the young woman hunches down in the water, submerging her camera in the process. The father (Mike Barker) sets up a camera with an automatic timer on a tackle box in the boat so that they can take a photograph together. It makes a beeping noise and seems to take a long time to work. The scene switches to the camera and back to the processor, now in his own boat in the river, taking the same type of automatic photograph, striking a pose with his arms out and his mouth open. He looks into the rippling water, and the scene transitions into him sleeping on his back in his bed, sitting up, putting on his glasses and examining the family photo once more, which is now different: he appears behind the family at the back of the boat, his own image superimposed behind the family's.

The young woman takes pictures of a restaurant and its patrons, including several of the processor. The processor himself pauses to look at himself in the photographs.

Returned to the river, the young woman takes photographs of a crane operator (Bruce Blacktop) working. When he steps out of the machine, she climbs aboard and switches it on, then paddles in a boat to the crane digging scoop, which is like a seat, tying the boat to it. The rope is also attached to a switch in the cabin, causing the scoop to rise, to the young woman's joy, lying back in it. She gets up, drops a rope into the water and goes through her things in a bag. She takes one of several cameras from the bag and affixes it to the scoop with duct tape and proceeds to undress to her underwear. She sets the camera's timer and climbs down a chain and, hanging from it from both hands, looks up and smiles before letting go and dropping into the water below. This photograph is being examined by the processor while he is in the restaurant and being photographed by the young woman.

becomes convinced that one of his clients is capturing people's souls with her camera. A determined, silent relationship develops between the processor and the photographer. Outside, her reflection walks up to the window where he is sitting. She wets a finger with her mouth and brushes an eyebrow and her hair back. In a close up, The pupil of the eye beneath dilates. The processor notices her standing outside. She looks back at him through the window, pulls her jacket over head so only he can see her, and begins to unbutton her blouse, then caresses her stomach and breast. Just as he is momentarily distracted, she takes his picture and pauses behind the wall outside, smiling, before getting into a car and driving off. The processor gets into his own car and follows, leaving behind the photographs he was examining. He passes her car in a wooded area almost drives into the river.

Having sustained a minor cut, the processor has undressed and gone into the river to recuperate and relax.

Un court métrage poétique et sans paroles où rêve et réalité se confondent à travers le support de la photo et une étrange bande son mêlant musique et bruits. Une jeune femme adore se p re n d re elle-même en photo et photographier les autre s dans des positions et des situations inhabituelles. Ses clichés ne manquent pas d intriguer un employé dans le laboratoire qui les développe. Jusqu au jour où il se reconnaît sur une photo.

Characters and cast

• Photographer • Susanna Hood
• Processor • Srinivas Krishna
• Waiter • Andrew Scorer
• Family in boat • Karina, Sonja and Mike Barker, Emily Roy
• Crane operator • Bruce Blacktop

I was inspired by the story of the Soul Cages. Legend states that the souls of drowned sailors are captured by underwater spirits and held in clay pots at the bottom of the ocean. A mortal man becomes compelled to set the souls free so that they can continue their afterlife journey.

Phillip Barker

Themes and inspiration

The self

The idea for The Soul Cages began as a series of self-portraits taken by a woman "in a very fractured exploration of self." "We find ourselves observing someone, observing herself. It becomes a film within a film", expressing how the filmmaker sees himself whenever someone takes his photograph: "they are capturing his essence."

The photograph as a captured soul

Phillip Barker explored the notion of capturing the soul, an idea common in many cultures. Barker likes "myths around water ... the ideas behind sirens, mermaids", but he has "an aversion to art and film that simply recreate them." He wanted to create his own myth, which he says released him from "this illustrative reinterpretive way of working." "I was inspired by the Soul Cages myth to construct a narrative that explores how a subject's soul can be captured in an image. The notion that photography is a certifier of truth is no longer valid, as photo manipulation provides a second chance, a narcissistic reordering of reality."

Production

Simone Urdl and Jennifer Weiss first produced together on the feature film, Jack and Jill, after the success of which, they began a partnership in the form of The Film Farm in 1998. Sudbury-born Luc Montpellier had previously worked on music videos before collaborating with John Kalagnis, the director and star of Jack and Jill, after which he returned to videos until meeting Phillip Barker.

The film farm has produced such critically acclaimed films as Soul Cages, which screened at many international festivals, was the winner of the CSC Award for best cinematography in a short film and received a Genie® nomination for Best Dramatic Short Film and

Financing

Produced with the assistance of: The Canada Council (Media Arts), The Ontario Arts Council, The Toronto Arts Council, The National Film Board of Canada-FaP

With the support of: Deluxe Canada, Mad Dog Digital, Soho Digital Film, Exclusive Film, Film Opticals Of Canada, Trackworks, Complete Rentals, Eyes Post, Kodak, Lightsource, By Davids, Shoots Catering

• http://www.phillipbarker.com/pages/credits.html

Filming

Soul Cages was shot on an Arriflex 35mm camera with some Super 8 film. Barker and Montpellier together "came up with a look" for shooting scenes "that allow the viewer the time to absorb their gentle, hypnotic images, many of which incorporate water," and which "often then surprise the viewer by changing context via experimental camera techniques." Barker first developed an earlier form of the technique for A Temporary Arrangement, in which he created composite images by combining nine Super 8 frames in a grid which was transferred onto 35mm film. In Soul Cages, the process is taken a step further, "creating a grid of 45 super 8 films." This was accomplished with a grid on plexiglass:

He creates the grid by hanging lengths of exposed 35mm film side by side and tracing the frames with a permanent marker. Then he places the grid on a grip arm, which swings in front of the scene, and outlines the position of the actress into the grid. The Super 8 camera is then positioned in a frame in the grid, the grid is swung out of the frame, and the camera rolls.

In shots such as this, Barker invited the actress to improvise, thereby not letting "the technical overpower the emotional importance."

Technical difficulties arose with the Super 8 stock during principal photography: every second cartridge jammed, resulting in filming with a 1:1 ratio instead of the 2:1 ratio orginally budgeted. Consequently, there could be no second takes, among other issues. Some time later, Tina Hahn learned that Barker was not the only one dealing with the problem: the same thing had happened to Caroline Wong and another filmmaker, owing to a bad batch of Super 8 cartridges. When it was brought to Kodak's attention, the company pulled the stock and reimbursed the filmmakers with both stock and money.

Soul Cages won Montpellier the 2000 Canadian Society of Cinematographers Award for Dramatic Short Cinematography, which subsequently secured him representation by The Characters agency.

Music

While the film is nonverbal, Soul Cages includes vocal music.

Release and reception

Soul Cages had its North American premiere at the 24th Toronto International Film Festival, in the Perspective Canada section, September 1999.

Critical response

Barker confronts... the tension between the literal and the metaphorical properties of the photographic image, ...intelligently alludes to everything from the theoretical notions of photography's relation to death to the superstition that the act itself steals the subject's soul. Adding to the mix, Barker takes the relationship between the photographer and the developer through a series of inversions that enlightens the whole notion of voyeurism, turning the simple question "who's watching whom?" into a provocative inquiry.

Brenda Goslawski

Tina Hahn said that the tension in Barker's film between the technical and emotional is what makes it a pleasure to watch. She says there is a "playful, curious quality" to his work, an assessment echoed by Brenda Goslawski, who called Soul Cages "delightfully engaging" and "playfully surreal," as well as "a highly self—conscious construct that revels in the sheer pleasure of the visual." Goslawski recognizes that Barker borrows techniques from A Temporary Arrangement, but in Soul Cages "he places them in a narrative context that enriches both their effect and their meaning."

In 2001, Cameron Bailey included Soul cages in his list of "Top 20 Toronto Films since 1981".

In 2017, Philippe Gajan, co-director of programmaing for the Festival du nouveau cinéma, included the short on his list of 100 Best Canadian Films.

“Soul Cages, yet another subtle, gorgeous reflection on looking. Barker's films are in perfect balance, a rare feat.”

- Cameron Bailey, 10 best filmmakers, Now Magazine

Audience response

Distin Dinoff reported that The Soul Cages was "a hit with festival audiences," referencing the audience choice award at the Local Heroes Film Festival.

Accolades

Awards

• 2nd Local Heroes Canada Film Festival (Winnipeg, 2000) • Best Film (Audience Choice) ($1,000)
• Atlantic Film Festival (Halifax) • Best Canadian Short Film
• Canadian Society of Cinematographers • Best Cinematography in a Short Film (Luc Montpellier)

Nominations

The short was nominated for Best Live Action Short Drama at the 21st Genie Awards (2000) but lost to The Little Varius.

External links

• Official site

Lesser Apes
Directed by	Emily Vey Duke
Release date	2009 (2009)
Running time	55 minutes
Country	Canada
Language	English

Lesser Apes is a 2011 Canadian experimental film.

Jean Lemire OC
Jean Lemire at FrancoFolies de Montréal.
Nationality	Canadian
Alma mater	University
Occupation(s)	Explorer, biologist and film director
Years active	(as film director):
Awards	RCGS Gold Medal, Sir Christopher Ondaatje Medal for Exploration

Jean Lemire is a Canadian filmmaker from Québec interested in biology and oceanography. Il fut chef des expéditions Mission Arctique (2002), Mission Baleines (2003), Mission Antarctique (2005-2006) et la mission 1000 jours pour la planète (2012-2016), toutes réalisées à bord du voilier Sedna IV.

Biography

Biologiste de formation, Jean Lemire entame une carrière parallèle en cinéma en 1987 pour conjuguer ses passions pour la recherche et la communication scientifique. En 2001, il transforme un grand voilier océanographique en plateforme de recherche scientifique et studio de production. Il sillonne depuis les océans de la planète pour sensibiliser les populations aux grands enjeux environnementaux.

Ses travaux sur les changements climatiques et la biodiversité ont initié de grandes missions scientifiques. Avec son équipe de marins et de scientifiques, ils franchissent le légendaire passage du Nord-Ouest en 2002 (Mission Arctique), hivernent en Antarctique en 2005-2006 durant une mission de 430 jours (Mission Antarctique), et entreprennent en 2012 la série 1000 jours pour la planète, un tour du monde sur trois ans, pour traiter de l’état de la biodiversité mondiale, en collaboration avec le Secrétariat de la Convention sur la Diversité Biologique de l’ONU.

Il reçoit un doctorat "honoris causa" de l'Université du Québec à Montréal (géographie) en 2015, un doctorat "honoris causa" de l'Université du Québec à Rimouski (océanographie) en 2007, et est nommé "Grand Ambassadeur" de l'Université de Sherbrooke. Le secrétaire général de l'ONU, Ban Ki Moon le nomme "Ambassadeur honorifique de la vague verte de l'ONU en 2010.

Parmi les autres grandes distinctions de sa carrière, notons:

• Ambassadeur de la vague verte pour la diversité biologique, nommé par Ban Ki Moon 2010
• Prix MODORI, Fondation AEON – Nations unies, COP 10 Nagoya, Japon 2010
• Officier de l’Ordre du Canada 2007
• Citation of Lifetime Achievment, Gouvernement du Canada 2007
• Prix spécial Phénix en environnement, Gouvernement du Québec 2007
• Prix Georges Préfontaine, Association des biologistes du Québec 2007
• Personnalité de l’année La Presse / Radio-Canada, sciences humaines, sciences pures et technologie 2006
• Hero of the year, Reader’s Digest 2006
• Motion de félicitation, Assemblée Nationale du Québec 2006
• Représentant du Canada à l’exposition universelle d’Aïchi Japon, 2006
• Prix spécial du ministre de la culture de l’Argentine 2005
• Prix Mobius international (UNESCO), meilleur site web éducatif 2005
• Médaille d’or de la Société Géographique Royale du Canada 2004
• Personnalité multimédia de l’année au Québec 2004
• Personnalité de l’année – prix hommage – Gala des affaires, Drummondville 2003

En association avec la Fondation Sedna, il conçoit sur le web de nombreux programmes pédagogiques qui sont devenus, au fil des ans, des références dans le domaine scolaire.

À titre de producteur, scénariste ou réalisateur, il participe à la création de plus de 60 œuvres cinématographiques et télévisuelles. Ses films obtiennent une multitude de prix prestigieux, dont plus d’une vingtaine de prix Gémeaux et Gemini, récompensant les meilleures productions télévisuelles ou ses artisans. Parmi ceux-ci, notons:

• 8 prix Gémeaux et Gemini individuels, meilleurs émissions télévisuelles et/ou sites webs de l’année:
• Rencontres avec les baleines du Saint-Laurent, Mission Arctique, Mission Baleines, Les Derniers géants, Mission Antarctique
• EarthWatch Award, National Geographic and EarthWatch Institut 2004 (Mission Arctique - Caroline Underwood, réalisatrice) 2004;
• Grand Prix Festival international du film francophone, meilleur documentaire de l’année, prix du public et prix TV 5, (Mémoires de la Terre - avec Frédéric Back) 2004;
• Prix d’excellence en vulgarisation scientifique, festival « Va savoir » (Mission Arctique) 2004;
• Meilleur film Nature / Environnement, Festival de Yorkton (La grande traversée) 2004;
• Grand Prix du festival Techfilm, Prague (Touch – the forgotten sense - Kun Chang) 2002;
• Meilleur film de la Francophonie, Téléscience (Le premier sens - Kun Chang) 2001;
• Meilleur film scientifique de l’année, Téléscience (La grande mouvée - Alain Belhumeur) 2001;
• Félix de la meilleure émission télévisuelle dans le domaine de la musique, (Les enfants d’un siècle fou - Pierre Brochu) 1997;
• Prix international de l’Institut de la Mer. France (Rencontres avec les baleines du St-Laurent), 1994;
• Grand Prix – International Television movie festival, New Jersey (Encounters with whales), 1994;

En 2009 et en 2010, Disney Nature nomme M. Lemire comme porte-parole environnement et il deviendra le narrateur des films « Terre » et « Océan ».

Jean Lemire est un communicateur scientifique et un auteur qui a publié de nombreux ouvrages:

• Le Dernier Continent, 430 jours au cœur de l’Antarctique Les Éditions Michel Laffon (France et monde) et Les Éditions La Presse (Québec) 256 pages
• Mission Antarctique Les Éditions La Presse (Québec) 160 pages 2007
• Biodiversity and Ecosystem Insecurity : A planet in Peril, auteurs multiples, University of Chicago Press 264 pages 2011
• Manifestement Vert, auteurs multiples Librex 240 pages 2009
• 12 héros parmi nous, auteurs multiples Éditions La Semaine 2008

Il a aussi été chroniqueur en environnement pour différents journaux et diffuseurs:

• Chroniqueur environnement, journal Le Devoir, 2002
• Chroniqueur en environnement, journal La Presse, 2008-2009
• Animateur de radio et chroniqueur en environnement, Radio-Canada, 2008
• Chroniqueur en environnement, Réseau de I’Information (RDI), 2005-2006

Conférencier, il a prononcé près de 200 conférences à travers le monde.

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Flesh Computer
Directed by	Ethan Shaftel
Written by	Ethan Shaftel
Produced by	Dain Ingebretson
Starring	Rob Kerkovich Elle Gabriel Anthony Guerino David Chalmers
Cinematography	Hanuman Brown-Eagle Ben Curry Sean Flannery
Edited by	Michael Black
Music by	Daniele Carretta
Production company	easyAction
Distributed by	Unstable Ground (Galaxy of Horrors)
Release date	January 29, 2014 (2014-01-29) (Indie Horror)
Running time	13 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English

Flesh Computer is a 2014 American independent short science fiction film written and directed by Ethan Shaftel, starring Rob Kerkovich. Woven into the narrative is a non-fictional interview with Australian philosopher and cognitive scientist David Chalmers, who discusses the contemporary understanding of consciousness in counterpoint to the action.

In 2017, Flesh Computer received a general theatrical release through its inclusion in the Canadian science-fiction horror anthology film, Galaxy of Horrors.

Plot

In a derelict future city, a weary handyman does his best to maintain order and care for his cybernetic "pet project", a strange mix of machine and flesh. But when a pair of thuggish residents threaten a young girl, the line between human and machine becomes blurred.

The point of view jumps between the perspectives of the weary handyman, the young girl, the thuggish scavengers and a tiny housefly, as they go about their evening in a decaying apartment building. When the handyman's cybernetic pet project is put in jeopardy, he finds himself allied with the girl and the flesh computer.

Noted philosopher David Chalmers raises deep existential questions in counterpoint to the action as the handyman struggles to defend his creation and the line between human and machine becomes blurred.

Cast

• Rob Kerkovich as The Handyman
• Elle Gabriel as Emily
• Anthony Guerino as Raymond
• David Chalmers as Himself
• Devin Pernell Murphy as Ernie
• Joe T. Thomas as Father

There was a time when I had fruit flies living in all my potted plants. Since I work at home, I would kill literally dozens of flies every day just by clapping them with my hands and casually brushing their carcasses into the trash. They are so small it didn't even seem gross, I wasn't even aware of "blood and guts" spilling out onto my hands. I couldn't feel their bodies being destroyed. And at some point I realized that my actions would be horrific if the flies were even just a little bit bigger — if they were puppies, or even small birds, crushing one in my hands would be absolutely disgusting and upsetting. And the reaction of the creature itself — the wriggling, the frightened cries, the accelerated heartbeat and struggle to escape — would make it very clear that it's own death is not something it regards ambivalently. And this is regardless of the mechanism that controls those reactions — as consciousness is not a given even if the creature flees pain and is driven to survive. The question of how much awareness the fly might have of it's own destruction leads one to think about the fly's awareness of it's own existence. Which is the connection with the next idea that lead to the short as a whole… I have long pondered the relationship we have with our electronic belongings, imagining a future where one would care about the welfare of your computer in a much more visceral way, as someone might view the safety of her pet or even her child. So I imagined a parent figure who cares for a computer that is as helpless and alive as a small child or an animal. Again, the logical next thought is about the awareness or consciousness of the computer itself. The main connection between both these stories is not so much the quality of the consciousness of the various creatures, but just the vast power differential that exists between different pairs of beings: the fly exists as an unimaginably tiny and insignificant thing to the man who carelessly swats it. To a lesser extent, that differential is also found in the various pairs of Owner/Pet, or Parent/Child. The greater of the pair understands the lesser completely, while simultaneously assuming that the lesser has no sense of the richness of existence. Other relationships with power differences presented as contrasts in Flesh Computer include the Bully vs the Victim, the Child vs. the Toy, and even the Conscious (in the sense of being awake) vs. the Unconscious — the person who is simply asleep, and thus unaware and defenseless.

"Fully-Conscious Filmmaking: An Interview with Ethan Shaftel" (John Ott, interviewer)

David Chalmers

Themes, inspiration, and influences

According to director Ehtan Shaftel, the origin of Flesh Computer lies in the "seemingly insignificant act" of killing a fly. A second source of inspiration was imagining a time when humans take care of a computer as if it were a child or a pet — "the responsibility you'd feel if it breathed and sweated and made sounds of pain if it wasn't cared for properly. Even worse would be your anxiety at having the computer out of your possession or control. Thirdly, Shaftel was also interested in point of view, or, as he puts it in his director's, "what it means to be a conscious being." In this film, one sees "through the eyes of a housefly being swatted, a prosthetic eye of a little girl and the lens of the fleshy 'computer' creature." Ultimately Flesh Computer tries to show that "everything has a point of view, and in some way everything is conscious."

And since that question is so big and so scary and could lead us in so many directions, I decided that the best way to tie together the story of a computer and its caretaker with the story of a fly's death was to get a sense of the "state of the art" in the philosophy of consciousness by weaving in an interview with a philosopher working on the cutting edge.

The huge difference in scale between myself and a fly means this is not a particularly upsetting or meaningful occurrence for me, though it is very significant for the fly: the end of its existence and its awareness, however limited it may be, of the universe.The other main concept in Flesh Computer is a world where the care of a computer resembles how we currently care for pets or for children, and the danger and anxiety that creates. Making the computer organic means it demands attention as a character in the story, but even more so is the fact that its point of view is portrayed. We see the world through its eye and experience, in a cinematically limited way, its consciousness. The world around the flesh computer is populated by characters that have, to a greater or lesser extent, mechanical or technological components. This dehumanizes them just as the flesh computer has been humanized, and continual makes us aware that the line between our bodies and our technology is not sharply defined."

Flesh Computer explores two "very different concepts" which Ethan Shaftel had been "mulling over" for quite some time, namely point of view and consciousness: "what it means to have a point of view, or, to put it another way, what it means to be a conscious being. In the movie we utilize point of view shots to see through someone else's eyes; we get inside the head of everyone, from the computer, to the housefly." "Ultimately 'Flesh Computer' is about the concept that everything has a point of view, and in some way everything is conscious."

Shaftel’s interest in perspective is echoed with compelling and stimulating words of David Chalmers in the background that undoubtedly cements the notion of perspective as one of the most integral parts of the film.

Director Ethan Shaftel tells us “The origin of the movie is imagining having to take care of a computer as if it was a child or a pet — the responsibility you’d feel if it breathed and sweated and in some ways resembled ourselves.” While the film is much more literal in terms of the computer being actually made of flesh, it’s not too far of a stretch considering how protective we often are of our computers. Some of us dress them in cases that express specific identities, clean them, name them, in some cases refer to them as their baby. In many ways computers have become extensions of ourselves (which is another discussion entirely) but I can assure you we would do everything we reasonably could to protect them if ‘our baby’ was being threatened. The film not only addresses how we protect computers, but also how we have come to rely on them to protect us.

That’s where philosopher David Chalmers comes into the project: his work on the theory of mind and consciousness in general was a great inspiration.

Production

Background

Ethan Shaftel made short films and games growing up in Kansas before receiving a scholarship (to USC) and a filmmaking award at the American Film Institute. Since 2004, he has worked in entertainment industry as both a director, editor, and game designer, co-directing the independent science fiction feature Suspension (2007) and a successful line of Hasbro games and screen content for musicians such as Foster the People and Jane's Addiction. His media work has put him in contact with "cutting edge neuroscience researchers, as well as academics and philosophers of consciousness around the world."

Pre-production

Pre-production — including writing the script from a set of loose notes — took three months. There are honestly too many pre-production challenges to go into here. It was just really hard. I was actually devoting almost full-time work on it myself because of a lucky scheduling break between of two gigs, but that meant zero flexibility with the shoot dates. One big challenge was finding the right location and reconciling myself to the fact that locations were expensive.

...call for casting, crew, and locations posted April 27, 2013.

Crew

Hanuman brown-eagle was the first on board with the project and his commitment to do it was basically the element that got the ball rolling very decisively. My specialty is post, so I definitely was looking for a very strong DP that was going to be constantly bringing ideas to the table that I wouldn’t have been exposed to otherwise, and showing me things that I hadn’t asked for or potentially didn’t even know about. Hanuman did just that. He was passionate about doing this with anamorphic lenses and called in his own favors to get the right set for the movie. I had a dense book of image references we used in our planning, but aside from top level requests, all gear and lighting was entirely in his hands.

Casting

I found people I loved using online casting options (LetItCast.com and Backstage.com, principally) and was delighted to discover that the actors were willing to travel to LA in two cases to be in the movie.I really think that the fact that the script was accompanied by really polished and well-drawn storyboards by [art director] Alec Joler made a huge impact in getting both cast and crew onboard for an unpaid or low-paid project. We didn’t do that on purpose exactly in order to land cast and crew, but Alec and I spent a lot of time on them and struggled to get them just right because we were passionate about the project and wanted it to be great.The upshot of that the passion and professionalism of the team was evident to people reading the script from the start, so I had a lot less “selling” to do to convince people I was for real and would follow this through. The boards had completely-realized character designs and were ‘inked’ in grayscale, maybe not finished comic quality but more like a well-drawn web comic. I combined the script and storyboards into a document that could be read very easily, full script on one side, full boards on the other as opposing pages. It got really good reactions.

Design and practical effects

Can you talk a bit about working with art director Alec Joler to create the grunge sci-fi look of the film? I’m really happy with the production design and overall look, and it certainly took a village. Alec Joler is a long-time collaborator and multi-talented filmmaker, so in addition to art directing and storyboarding he was also just contributing in ways that are hard to quantify with a title. He’s a very visual person so he also influenced the look of the movie and design of the flesh computer itself. Nathalie Ruiz was the production designer, and she worked closely with Alec while performing the more specific roles of actually sourcing or building the props and set dressings and transforming the space into what you see in the movie. The creepy hallway in particular is entirely defined by the multitude of exposed pipes, hoses, and duct work. Nathalie built the pipes from white PVC pipe, painted, and installed them, and added all the wires, hoses, and one rental duct, the only thing actually made of metal. And then George Troester’s role on the flesh computer obviously expanded to and influenced the entire world of The Handyman and the room that he’s in. So it was a team effort for sure.

basically the construction of the flesh computer itself — was mostly the work of one special effects makeup artist and filmmaker George Troester, based here in LA. I found George online during preproduction and he got excited about the project and took it on. He certainly ended up more of a partner in the process then a vendor, which is how it didn’t bust the budget. He’s also physically behind the computer itself pulling on strings and pressing levers in order to move the various organs, trigger the laser, and expel the various fluids. He did an incredible job, and that process was rewarding and definitely unique.Visual effects took a very long time and required many more artists then I had originally arranged for, which was my failure in planning. And inevitably when you get on set and are shooting, a problem or an opportunity (or maybe both in one) will arise that requires VFX work. So the modest VFX shot list begins to balloon before you even start editing.Instead of two VFX artists which was the original plan, we ended up with nine — who all contributed multiple shots. In addition I ended up doing about a third of the total VFX shot list — though not a third of the workload, my shots were the simplest ones. Some of those artists were already friends of mine here in LA, but the rest were people I found by watching short films on YouTube, looking through Behance portfolios, and even posting on eLance. We had compositors in Paris and Vancouver, design and animation in Mexico City, and all the CG animation for the fly was in Chicago.Regarding the budget: I wouldn’t have even taken this particular project on if I did not have professional VFX friends already through my post work. They knew about the project ahead of time and were also partners — and willing to donate work or take token rates. The availability of the VFX supervisor James McGillin and animator Frank Stringini, for instance, was just as import in scheduling the movie as the production crew, and they were committed and in place from the beginning. But the other artists I found one-at-a-time as new needs arose.I think it was a lot easier to convince people who I found to do it for free or cheap because there was so much done at that point. The footage looked great, so I was confident that if someone did have the time, that this would be a project that they would want on their reels. That doesn’t mean many working artists can take on unpaid work in addition to their professional schedule, but I managed to eventually find people who were able to fit it in on weekends or evenings, and make their contribution finite enough so they’d be comfortable proceeding with a sense of what they were getting into and what they’d get out of it.The VFX budget was definitely not as high-impact as you would guess watching the movie, and certainly nothing in post was a significant cost compared to the realities of production costs that are inescapable. But unless you are like me and already work with VFX artists professionally and have friends ready to jump on board or refer more people to you, the budget situation on a short like this one is probably the opposite, where the majority you’d be spending would be on the multitude of effects shots. You have to work with what you got when you are planning a passion project!

The Flesh Computer itself, including all the flesh and even the green lasers, is completely practical and built out of junked computers and electronics, plus latex organs and other fleshy substances. It was manipulated by the special effects artist George Troester (who’s now competing on Face Off on the Syfy Channel) who hide behind the whole contraption blowing fluids through pipes, flipping on the lasers, and manipulating the ‘mouths’. The big CG elements are the fly, which is completely CG, some matte paintings and buildings from the opening shots, the little girl’s eye, and of course the big red laser “ram” that comes out of the Flesh Computer. A lot of the practical stuff comes to life when you add small touches in post like sparks that come from the broken Flesh Computer and the guy’s hand when it is crushed.

Filming and post-production

Production was four days, not counting a couple pickup shots a little later. Post was spread over nine months. Of course, when there is considerable CG work, the distinction between post and production is less clear. The plates for the fly sequence were shot in less than half a day, but that animation work took several months.

Part of the look also comes from the lighting by d.p. Hanuman Brown-Eagle. Can you talk about that collaboration too? While shooting, I’m particular about what coverage I need and shot composition (again, from my editorial experience of what I want to have in the editing room) but the lighting and other photographic design making was again something that Hanuman drove in a big way.

Principal photography

Flesh Computer was shot in Los Angeles, June 6–9, 2013. "We ended up getting what I think is the best deal in town and shooting at The Escarpment Studios south of downtown LA. We shot everything there, even the exteriors, but the establishing shot of the building are actually down the street at the old Sears building."

The camera was the RED Epic used masterfully by Hanuman Brown-Eagle and his team, editorial was in Adobe Premiere. Visual effects were a mix of different artists, including myself, who worked in their preferred software. All the CG fly elements where Cinema 4D, compositing for the big shots was in Nuke, and many of the other effects and touches were After Effects. Sound was done on super pro equipment by a good friend doing a huge favor, Kevin Roache, who's worked on True Blood, Dexter, and many more high end shows.

"We had one actor drop out during the shoot the day before his scenes were to be shot and we scrambled for a replacement. We were lucky that a referral from one of the cast members on set that day was available and willing to jump in, so that was a lucky break. We also lost the cat we were planning to use, and our replacement was a professional team of three identical cats. You see two of them in the movie, by the way, and in one shot there is a hidden seamless cut from one of the cats to another!Post production was fun — it’s always fun for me because I’m an editor and love that process, and I also love the sound and visual effects process. Production is fast and intense and exhilarating, but post is slow and methodical and literally magical, like growing a garden out of a patch of wilderness. I was lucky to have a great editor named Michael Black cut the movie, but it’s my specialty so I’m more hands-on in that department then I am in, say, choice of camera format and lenses, which was very driven by the DP.We had picture lock in 8-9 weeks after the shoot, and the rest of the 9 months was all visual effects and animation."

With this in mind I presumed the greatest challenge in executing the film would come from the mechanics. But I was surprised to discover one of the greatest challenges stemmed from the cat, or should I say, cats. Shaftel states “…Nothing was more stressful than getting what we needed from the cat, which was actually a team of three identical cats. We were lucky to get a favor from a professional cat team, but the trade off was a VERY limited amount of time. The whole day was basically built around what to do in what order when the cats arrived.”

Philosopher David Chalmers speaking in Arizona. The philosopher appears in Flesh Computer as himself in extracts from a non-fiction interview made for the film.

Interview with David Chalmers

I wasn’t initially aware of David Chalmers’ work until I had really started researching while writing the movie. The nice thing about academia is that it’s usually very easy to get ahold of an email address for someone and reach out to them directly. I actually wrote three scientists to inquire about doing an interview, but as I did more and more reading, I realized David was going to be the right choice. When I saw online that he had been in a rock band made up of only philosophers, I had an inkling that he might be open to a strange project.After some back-and-forth he agreed to do the interview, but was in Australia for the foreseeable future. I found a green-screen studio in Canberra where David lives called contentgroup, and a producer there named Anna Pembroke worked with me on the fee and set up the shoot the whole thing. David sat in a chair in front of the green screen, looking at an HD camera with a teleprompter over the lens showing my Skype feed from Los Angeles so his eye contact was direct to the lens.His schedule wouldn’t allow the interview until after the shoot was over, which initially disappointed me as I was hoping what he said could influence some of my shooting decisions. But by that time I’d read quite a lot of his work, so it was that reading that was incorporated into the script and shoot plan.The interview took place about two weeks after the shoot, before we had a full edit of the movie, but enough into the process so that I knew what I was looking for. He was very affable and easy to talk to and I was able to explain that, for instance, I wanted to talk about a housefly specifically, and not an earthworm or a puppy when talking about consciousness, so that it would work with a sequence in the movie, etc. He had asked to read the script, but when I explained that I preferred that it not influence his comments, he agreed to proceed with almost zero knowledge of the final product. He did have my assurance that we’d remove his footage if he ended up hating it.While Michael was working on a version of the movie with no voice over, I worked only on the voice over in parallel, putting together a string out of fascinating statements, and then cutting it into a 2 minute “aural trailer” — with music and everything. That was basically the basis for what actually ends up in the movie.I sent the cut to David far enough along so that it would look complete, but no so far that it would be a disaster to take something out that he hated or felt I was misrepresenting. For instance I was a little worried about the last couple statements, because I juxtaposed some ideas about “combining” with a computer that sound pretty out-there — but are really not so “sci-fi” when the statements are in their proper consciousness. He has written papers about cognition as well as consciousness, two very different things, and I kind of smashed together the two of them into something that sounds a little more mystical. But David didn’t mind, said he like the movie and wished me luck, so I made no changes whatsoever!

I contacted him and David graciously gave me an interview after we’d shot the movie, agreeing to do so without reading the script or watching the rough cut so that he wouldn’t be distracted by the content and could answer the questions about his work just as he would any interview or science TV show. We did the interview remotely from Australia, “Errol Morris” style, with my Skype feed on his teleprompter so he could make eye contact with the camera. I found a video production company down the street from his office and they agreed to shoot it on their green screen. I think his interview is a great counterpoint and commentary to weave into an otherwise science fiction narrative. If you want to see more from him, a great place to start is the TED Talk he gave this spring:

Editing

Edited for a maybe two months, and then visual effects and finishing took six months.

Sound

Kevin Roache did sound design and mixing. He works on big, high-end TV shows and also did the sound for my feature Suspension several years ago. Again, he was a partner on the project, so what would be a huge and expensive component for a short film was a donation of labor and creativity from an “angel investor” so to speak. That is again a process in which I tend to be hands on, since that was a specialty of mine at film school and I do my own sound design on many projects that I edit. So my temp mixes tend to be pretty elaborate during the editing process. Kevin starts from scratch when it comes to the mix, and adds completely new elements like foley, but the sound effects editing I do early on gets delivered into his board and a lot of those choices and placement stays through to the final mix. Some moments where editing, VFX, and sound are very tightly aligned — for instance the POV shots from the computer’s “eye” and all the clicking and flashing and glitches of the image resolving into it’s unique vision — are really edited and sound designed by me at the same time, and then just polished in the finishing stages.Kevin uses a massive souped-up ProTools board. My temp sound effects mix was done in Premiere during editing and delivered as an OMF to import into pro-tools. I can’t speak to how much time he put into it, but I know we mixed together for 3 full days as the last step.

First person point-of-view was a central concept to Flesh Computer and a lot of my work, and it’s also very relevant to virtual reality. But it’s important to note that what is meant by POV is very different between traditional film and VR. In film, POV is an abstract concept that is constructed out of many many choices that all add up — camera placement, editing, and screenplay structure all work together so that the audience experiences the story vicariously through the protagonist, through their emotional POV. And occasionally in film there are literal POV shots where you look ‘through the eyes’ of the protagonist. But these are actually relatively rare because first person POV is a pretty bad way to see and understand action, and certainly the worst way to see the face and emotions of our protagonist and feel what they feel. POV shots in movies are used as detail to bring emphasis, as in Flesh Computer when certain moments are seen through the eyes of the computer, or through the eyes of the dying housefly — but those shots only have real meaning because of the juxtaposition with other coverage of the action to tell us WHAT is happening to these characters.In VR, POV is a concrete concept. It really is camera placement, where you are literally INSIDE the virtual world. In VR you can be inside the head of a character, or you might be an ‘objective’ camera seeing the action from outside the characters, but you are always located somewhere SPECIFIC in space, in a way that a viewer never is in traditional film.

Release

An official selection at more than twenty film festivals, Flesh Computer was shown at the Indie Horror Festival in Chicago on January 29, 2014, where it won an award for Best Special Effects, also playing at, among others, Fantasia, Sci-Fi-London, Dallas and the LA Shorts Fest before premiering online in full. It was described has having "set fire to the online movie blog community" within the first week of the online release, by which time it was already a Vimeo Staff Pick.

Distribution

Since a short isn’t really a “for profit” venture, my goal is to get it out there as much as possible. We played a work-in-progress cut that was very nearly complete at the Boston Science Fiction Film Festival, and were honored to be chosen as the opening film. Recently we were nominated for several awards including Best Short and Best Director at the Indie Horror Film Festival in Chicago, and ended up winning Best Special Effects. The European Independent Film Festival in Paris will be the international premiere, and I’ll attend which is exciting. There are a few more coming up this spring that should get the film in front of more people. That is an end in itself, but is unlikely to have too much impact on just how wide this might go online eventually. At this stage, I feel like getting it reviewed and getting more people on the mailing list and Facebook page is the main goal. Ultimately, we’ll release it online and there it will be for anyone who stumbles upon it.I think the Venn diagram of people who would like “Flesh Computer” include Horror/Sci-Fi Fans, Short Film Fans, and people interested in consciousness studies and David Chalmers. Of those people, the first two categories might find it through the various film festivals, and eventual reviews and mentions and posts on sci-fi and short film blogs. But the last group might be tricker to reach — they will hopefully find it eventually by stumbling upon the movie on YouTube amidst other interviews and video clips of David and other thinkers in this area. At that point I hope it will standout as something pretty unique.This is very cool world you’ve created and a radical departure in style if not genre from your feature Suspension. For your next project, will you continue to explore this dystopian world or will it be something totally different?All the next projects I’m pursuing are certainly broadly within the sci/fi or horror genre. I do have a feature concept that takes place in the world of “Flesh Computer”, but it’s unlikely to be the first out of the the gate. I have written another short script that could be describe as a horror black comedy that is very different the either Suspension or “Flesh Computer” — but it requires a very specific cast, which I’m going after now. We’ll see what happens.

Anthology film

Flesh Computer is included in the 2017 Canadian science-fiction horror anthology film Galaxy of Horrors, which comprises eight shorts within a larger narrative frame in which a man awakens from a cryogenic sleep pod and is forced to watch the shorts as entertainment while his damaged life-support runs out. The anthology film had its premiere in Toronto at Imagine Cinemas Carlton on March 1, 2017. the feature was conceived by Little Terrors short films festival founder Justin McConnell, who directed the narrative frame, and Indiecan Entertainment's Avi Federgreen. The production is the second collaboration between Rue Morgue Cinema and Little Terrors, following Minutes Past Midnight.

Home media and streaming

Flesh Computer is currently available for viewing in its entirety on YouTube and Vimeo.

The Galaxy of Horrors anthology was released on DVD and special edition Blu-ray in 2017. The anthology was made available through various video on demand options on the IndieCan Entertainment website, on March 7, 2017, and on Amazon Prime.

Reception

Critical response

Jeannette Bonds calls Flesh Computer "altogether a different brand of great" film: "It leaves us with so much to think about (perspective, special effects, technology, and to some extent acceptance) it is not difficult to decide where to start, but difficult to decide where to end."

Some critics compared Flesh Computer favourably to David Cronenberg's films, Videodrome in particular. Jeannette Bonds suggests that if Videodrome reflected the cultural paranoia of infiltration by the dangers of television, Flesh Computer does something different: "It goes so far as to not only recognize the fear from some of the members of their culture but also the importance of embracing and protecting it in a sense."

The sheer amount of practical effects used in this film is wholly impressive. If anything else it’s a great case reminding us the sort of impact these physical sorts of things can really be. While the film certainly uses CG to its advantage, the entire flesh computer is physically operated by George Troester who is, Shafter tells us, “…hiding behind the whole contraption blowing fluids through pipes, flipping on the lasers, and manipulating the “mouths.”

There is an interesting moment in the film that addresses perspective in a rather unique and interesting way. There is the scene in which the we travel around a room from a fly’s perspective. We see what he sees and how he sees it. He lands on a man’s face where stubble, which appears small to us, looks massive to the fly. The fly sits on the man’s face comfortably and out of the corner of the fly’s eyes we see the reflection of the man’s hand hammering down to swat the fly off his face. What results is the complete and utter destruction of the fly. What interests me most here is not only how Shaftel uses the fly’s perspective, but how he uses sound to enhance the perspective. We hear are shattering glass and other sounds of materials we can understand and in some ways are related to construction. This is a perfect demonstration of our inability to be able to look at other forms without projecting our own experiences onto them. Try as we might, which is better that we do than don’t, we are unable, as obvious as this is to say, to truly separate ourselves from our own point of view.

I’m not sure if Ethan Shaftel’s fantastic (seriously, this thing is amazing) short film Flesh Computer is an allegory for our growing dependence on technology and humanity’s tendency toward violence (both physically and sexually) or simply an incredibly well done sci-fi flick, but either way I demand that someone give him loads of money to flesh (no pun intended) this thing out so that I can sit in a theater and feel weird.And yes, the story of an apartment building super/handyman whose cybernetic pet is threatened by some asshole bullies will make you feel really weird inside, but that’s a good thing…’cause I’m pretty sure we’re meant to.So watch it after the break and feel free to discuss your emotions…and maybe, could someone give me a hug because I feel like connecting to another human being right about now.

Flesh Computer is a fascinating sci-fi short that takes a look at the philosophy behind consciousness and perception. From talented writer/director Ethan Shaftel (also a successful editor and game designer) this imaginative film kept me spellbound from start to finish.

   …this imaginative film kept me spellbound from start to finish.

Besides stunning visual effects – even if the fly doesn’t quite look real, artistic cinematography and a first-rate script, the presence of renowned philosopher David Chalmers (as he discusses ideas on consciousness in-between the action) also really helps sell what is an exciting and ultimately unique short film.The film begins with David Chalmers bringing up consciousness and how “it’s the thing we know best.” Instantly, from an audience perspective, we know what this film is all about. From there, Shaftel explores conscious thought and hierarchy as the story cuts from the perspectives of a housefly to a handyman, then a child, a pair of bullies and even a computer. In short, while this handyman takes care of his “flesh computer” (that looks uncannily like the true form of a Dalek from Doctor Who) inside of an apartment complex, a couple of bullies enter the scene only to harass him and a young girl who live in the building. Of course, all kinds of strange things happen next.What instantly draws you in is the Voice Over from Chalmers juxtaposed with striking images telling the story. In a way, his philosophical thoughts drive the entire narrative. One particularly captivating scene is when the camera follows the perspective of a fly. In this disturbing sequence, a man asleep on the couch, and therefore completely unaware of his actions, swats a fly. We watch as the fly shatters, killed in an instant. But seeing it in a larger size and from its perspective causes one to stop and think. How much of a consciousness does this “fly” that we often kill without thought actually have? These same questions arise in different, more complex ways as the film then turns to the perspectives of the young girl, the bullies and the handyman.Besides the deeper philosophical questions presented in a very strong script, one of the greatest strengths of the film comes from the believable performances of the actors.You have Rob Kerkovich (from NCIS: New Orleans) as the handyman, Anthony Guerino as one of the bullies and Elle Gabriel as the young girl (who reminds me of a young Drew Barrymore in ET). Every actor successfully inhabits their roles to help give the audience memorable characters to root for – or against – in what is a very short amount of time.In all, what I loved most about Flesh Computer is that it’s an interesting take on a familiar science fiction idea – that of where technology will bring us in the future. And on top of that, it’s obvious from the start Shaftel assembled a talented team to put together this short film. Even the music score was great. With Ethan Shaftel’s unique vision and flair, Flesh Computer is a captivating short film worth watching, especially for anyone who enjoys good science fiction.

"Sometimes injecting philosophy into your film can have the unintended consequence of sending eyeballs rolling into the back of their heads, but writer/director Ethan Shaftel does an excellent job of taking a potentially heavy concept and turning it into a digestible chunk suitable for a short film. The action and narration serve as excellent companion pieces that give the short film an excellent fluidity. Imagine scenes with a slimy sack of meat while a narrator drones on about the limits of the human mind, it would be easy for something like that to feel disjointed, but it all melds together nicely.Except for one detail, the inclusion of a little girl and her sleeping father. I found their placement in the short unnecessary as they serve no greater purpose to the overall plot of the short. The main thing they have going for them is that they have the TV on which is playing the Chalmers narration. Otherwise, their scenes could have been removed and the short would’ve had a tighter feeling to it.As for the practical effects, there are a handful of gross details that work well for what’s needed in the story. You won’t be reaching for the vomit bag, but it’s enough to make you feel repulsed at the idea of someone touching a pulsating skin bag with a slimy mouth. Also, everything has a very grimy aesthetic to it that makes you want to wash your hands after. The effects won’t blow you away, but they do serve the story and that is what’s most important. The only detraction I found was the CGI used for a fly being squished. Once again, this was tied to the little girl and her father and I felt the short would’ve been better without it.Overall this is a promising piece of work with impressive visual flair, so I look forward to seeing future projects from the creative talents involved in the production. For more information on the short, be sure to visit their official site here. You can also watch the film for yourself down below."

In a post-apocalyptic America obliterated by an economical breakdown, a nerdy janitor is building a computer half made of flesh. His experience on artificial intelligence takes a leap forward when the natural dumbness of man gets on the way. A few years ago we had a long chat with director Ethan Shaftel for Suspension, his long indie feature he co-directed, before meeting him at ECU (European film festival) last year in Paris where he presented this short. Flesh Computer deals with a classical science-fiction thema but adds a unique feature. All along the story, the australian philosopher David Chalmers discusses some of the ideas he developped during 30 years of research and lead to the inevitable climax for both man and machine. Flesh Computer is a metaphysical-geek approach of the question of self-consciousness. It even has a cat in its cast who gives two of three of the best performances in the movie. The climax references all the influences that got trapped in Shaftel’s mind : here comes Cronenberg, William Gibson, and even Shinya Tsukamoto‘s Tetsuo and even Chalmers’ thesis the most unknown philosopher in the « Shore » (France, as it should be named in hobbit terms despite many of french intellectuals dream that their country is still shining with the light of Descartes, b who once said « I think, therefore I am » but it doesn’t think anymore so it is not). So we spent a small time with Chalmers, the time of a TED conference you can watch just below, to try to understand his theories.Chalmer’s thinking is as complex as Flesh Computer is easy to understand. Essentially because Chalmer deals with a subject that only the origin of the Universe can compete with in its complexity : the nature of consciousness. He says that existence is like « a movie playing inside your head (…), a multi-track movie » with « 3D vision and surround sound, (…) smell and taste and touch, (…) a sense of your body, pain, hunger, orgasms, emotions, anger and happiness. (…) And it has this constant voiceover narrative« . Consciousness is a kind of anomaly regarding to the history of the Universe but is in the same time a part of its continuity. And like the laws that built this universe as established by Newton, Einstein and all their megamind-buddies, conscioussness should be considered as a fundamental force, an elementary brick. Like gravity and electro-magnetism. Chalmers use philosophy and prospective science, the only tools currently available now, to explore the mystery of consciousness. Without consciousness, we would be no more but robots processing inputs and outputs of datas and « life would have no meaning, no value« . Meaning, value and morals, that is exactly what the antagonists (the evil characters) lack in Shaftel’s short. The test of the mirror, created by the american psychologist Norman Gallup, tends to prove that the human beeing reachs self-conscioussness around the age of 18 (months…). Our ego-centric specy must have not been very pleased when, according to the same test, some primates, dolphins, elephants, some birds and even pigs (upper-class pigs probably), were granted of self-awareness. Anyway, none of these so called animals is capable of the deliberate cruelty that we, human, are authors and/or responsible of. This is what Flesh Computer achieves to illustrate : the absolute evil that inhabits some of our fellow human companions and lurks potentially inside all of us. An evil that won’t be so easily tolerated by these future hypothetic machines-flesh.

Accolades

Awards

• The Indie Horror Festival (Chicago) • Best Special Effects
• Latronic Horror Festival (Latronico) • Best Screenplay
• New York VisionFest Domani Vision Award • Sound (Kevin Roache)
• New Orleans Horror Film Festival • Jury Award Best Special Effects

Nominations

• The Indie Horror Festival • Best Director • Best Editing • Best Short • Best Sound
• New York VisionFest, Domani Vision Award • Emerging Talent • Short Form Score • Best Production Design (Nathalie Ruiz) • Film Competition Award - Short Subject Narrative
• New Orleans Horror Film Festival • Jury Award Best Short Film
• The European Independent Film Festival • Best Non-European Independent Dramatic Short

External links

• Official online release on YouTube
• Official online release on Vimeo

Freak Power: The Battle of Aspen
Directed by	Robert (Bobby) Kennedy III
Written by	Bobby Kennedy III
Produced by	Bruce Conrad (co-producer)
Starring	Jay Bulger
Distributed by
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$250,000

Fear and Loathing in Aspen (Freak Power: The Battle of Aspen) is an upcoming American independent film starring Jay Bulger as Hunter S. Thompson during his 1969 run for Sheriff of Pitkin County in Aspen, Colorado. The film is written and directed by Bobby Kennedy III, his first non-fiction film as a director, and produced by Stephen Nemeth. The film has been called a prequel to Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, which Nemeth also produced.

Production

Background and development

At age 12, Bobby Kennedy III met Thompson, who taught the boy to shoot a gun, while still inside his living room, an unforgettable experience: "it was loud and scary".

Stephen Nemeth produced Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, another film about Thompson which takes places later than the events of Fear and Loathing in Aspen.

Kennedy spent two years living in Aspen, Colorado researching the campaign, conducting interviews and finally writing the screenplay.

Cast

• Jay Bulger as Hunter S. Thompson
• Cheryl Hines as Eve Homeyer
• Laird MacIntosh as Carrol Whitmire
• Amaryllis Fox as Peggy Clifford

Production

Background and writing=

The film's working title was Freak Power.

Financing

The film was originally budgeted for $1.85 million, Kennedy secured $300,000 in the form of a tax rebate

The couple wrapped filming last year on another project, Freak Power, Battle For Aspen, a prequel to Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, about journalist Hunter S. Thompson's political campaign to become Sheriff of Pitkin County, Colorado. The movie was directed by Bobby Kennedy III, the grandson of Senator Robert F. Kennedy. Irish actor Jay Bulger plays Hunter and Weston took on the role of Skip Workman, one of the original Oakland Hell's Angels, best known for confronting Thompson on TV over his book about the motorcycle gang, which Workman dubbed '60 per cent cheap trash'. Weston said: 'Bobby Kennedy wrote and directed, he was very energetic and passionate. One of the producers involved had previously worked on Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, and Hila was an associate producer. Skip is so unapologetically himself, he almost has a Viking feel to him.'When it came to motorcycle tips, Weston turned to his wife, who has a Kawasaki Ninja in the garage at home. 'I don't ride as well as my wife. She's the expert. She gave me some advice and tuned me up a bit, so when I got on the bike in a scene, it came natural.'

References

Perry St
Directed by	Antonio Padovan
Written by	Antonio Padovan
Produced by	Merry Colomer, Marta Jover
Starring	Mark Epperson Catherine Mary Stewart Brittany Moore James Price Joe Zaso
Cinematography	Redmond Stevenson
Distributed by	FilmAnnex
Release date	2010 (2010)
Running time	15 minutes
Country	United States

Perry St is a 2010 American short comedy drama film directed and co-written by Antonio Padovan, a romantic comedy about a therapist and patient who struggle with the issues within their separate love lives, starring Catherine Mary Stewart.

Plot

The film revolves around the stories of Ryan and his therapist Elaine, their love lives and their attempts to solve their problems. Ryan, unable to find a stable relationship and a job that really satisfies him, doesn't really believe in any therapy anymore. Elaine engages in a battle of wills with her husband, Jake, while helping the insufferable Ryan at same time. Both of their lives will change when Sophie appears in Ryan's life, taking him from what he is, to what he wants to be.--Antonio Padovan on IMDb

Catherine Mary Stewart

Cast

• Mark Epperson as Ryan Thomas
• Catherine Mary Stewart as Elaine
• Brittany Moore as Sophie
• James Price as Jake
• Joe Zaso as Patient

Production

His next short film was his student thesis, Perry St.,

Release and reception

released in 2010, it was accepted at sixteen film festivals and well received, winning four awards and an honorable mention.

Perry St. screened in New York City International Film Festival in August 2011

   holmansmovie.com [Joe Holman]
   PanoPanoPano.com [Duccio Scheggi] (Italian)
   Rogue Cinema [Matt Barry]
   ShortFilmsHub [Jai Ganesh]
   Sonic Cinema [Brian Skutle]
   The Independent Critic [Richard Propes]
   YourMovieReviews.com [Michael James Lowry]

Accolades

Awards

• Honolulu Film Awards (2011) Gold Kahuna (Student film)
• Los Angeles Movie Awards (Los Angeles, 2010) Awards of Excellence • (Student) • (Best Supporting Actress, Brittany Moore)
• Double Feature Competition New York City • Best New York City Film

Honorable mention

• Metropolitan Film Festival of New York