the8fest INTRODUCES… BAGEROO: MOSTRA DE CINEMA MEZCLA!
PROGRAMME
Sala (S8) Palexco | Sunday June 9th | 5:30 pm | Free entry to all venues until full capacity. It will not be possible to enter the venues after the screening has started.
INTRODUCING…THE8FEST!
the8fest | 2024 | Canada | Super 8 | 3 min
Introducing…. the8fest! Thank you to the Toronto Arts Council, Niagara Custom Lab, and the Liaison of Independent Filmmakers for your generous support. (the8fest)
DISSOLUTION
Rennie Taylor | 2022 | Canada | Super 8 to HD | 3 min
What does a building look like on the verge of demolition? Typically, there is no fanfare. Some, however, peek through the tiny metal meshes while the wrecking ball gets its due and wonder what was. The structure of 888 Dupont has had many functions throughout the years. Once, it was a broom factory for veterans with disabilities. At its most recent iteration, it served as an oasis for artists over many decades. Its future looks more mundane and typical: glass cladded-condominiums. When a building with a history of community, opportunity and creativity is slated for the chopping block, does it make a sound? What would this building say to us if given the chance? (Rennie Taylor)
MEMBRANA MORTIS (DEAD FILM)
Kyle Whitehead | 2016 | Canada | Super 8 | 5 min
Membrana Mortis is a meta-film, a chaotic assemblage of re-photographed and chemically manipulated image fragments culled from a damaged roll of film that was nearly un-projectable. The film’s title suggests a two-fold intention – here process and existence pre-suppose one another, at once an elegy to a dead film and observance of new genesis. (Kyle Whitehead)
PORTAL
Lina Wu | 2023 | Canadá | Super 8 | 3 min
A kinetic arm slinky becomes a connective portal revealing the magic of play, touch, and friendship. This scratch-animated film was commissioned as a trailer for the 2023 edition of the8fest. Thank you to Robin, Christine, Fan, Yoyo, the8fest, Niagara Custom Lab, and of course the Liaison of Independent Filmmakers for your generous support. (Lina Wu)
THE RETURN
Louise Noguchi | 2023 | Canada | Super 8 | 4 min
With the intention of finding an item they had left behind; two spirits return to an area where they once lived prior to the war. During the visit, they enjoy seeing how much the area has changed, while also being disheartened at the sight of an old rifle range that tested firearms destined for war. The Return is about what is lost, but not forgotten, and the responsibility that binds one generation to another. Commissioned by the8fest. Thank you to Niagara Custom Lab and the Liaison of Independent Filmmakers for your generous support. (Louise Noguchi)
WHERE WE ARE IS ALWAYS TOO FAR AWAY
Mivan Makia | 2022 | Canada, USA | Super 8 | 6 min
An auto-portrait conceived as a diptych, presenting linear and non-linear spaces as a transient body. Shifting between movement and stillness, time speeds up, slows down, and gets lost in the landscapes of memory. Commissioned by the8fest. Thank you to Niagara Custom Lab and the Liaison of Independent Filmmakers for your generous support. (Mivan Makia)
TIMELAPSE THROUGH LIMA
Marcos Arriaga | 2000 | Canada, Peru | Super 8 | 5 min
A timelapse through Lima, Peru. The filmmaker sits next to the driver on a minibus, a common mode of transportation in Lima, filming his surroundings through timelapse, clicking the trigger manually throughout the trip.
LONG HALL
Eric Hill | 2022 | Canada | Super 8 | 3 min
Two figures enter a hallway and find it difficult to get to the other end. Shot on B&W Super 8 film, all “edits” are in-camera captured in the order you see. Inspired by traffic rules for one-lane roads. (Eric Hill)
WHAT WORLD ARE YOU LIVING IN
Ema Walters | 2018 | Canada | Super 8 to 16 mm | 2 min
Embodied in our consciousness is the power to sculpt our reality from the clay of perception. As scenes blend between the palpable and the abstract, they show the interconnectedness of our external world and the vast expanse of our inner landscape. We invite the audience to examine the influence of their thoughts and emotions on the tapestry of existence, urging them to embrace the boundless realms of possibilities within the human mind. (Ema Walters)
ABGAD HAWAZ
Robin Riad | 2024 | Canada | Super 8 | 2 min
Learn how to pronounce the Arabic Alphabet in 28 easy steps!
SWAY/PULL
Morgan Sears-Williams | 2022 | Canada | Double 8 mm projected as 16mm | 5 min
Created during the COVID-19 pandemic when queer spaces were disappearing across Toronto, sway/pull is a meditation on the erosion of Hanlan’s point beach in both literal and figurative senses. Hanlan’s Point Beach, located on the Toronto Islands, was the site of Toronto first gay pride celebrations in the 1970s and remains a queer haven today. Additionally, the Toronto Islands have faced poor city planning that has led to a significant amount of erosion on the beach. This film plays with the concept of erosion by the physical pushing of sand to speak back to the literal erosion of the beach caused by late 20th century urban planning failures in Toronto, and the erosion of queer spaces during a global public health and economic crisis. sway/pull was created at the Womxn’s Island Residency at Artscape Gibraltar Point, founded by April Hickox in 2020. (Morgan Sears-Williams)
MOVING, PARTS ONE AND TWO
Sandy McLennan | 2021 | Canada | Regular 8, double 8 to 16mm | 8 min
Same shot of my house, thinking about moving. Moving out/moving in, emptying boxes one at a time. (Sandy McLennan)
GROUNDERS
Derek Jenkins | 2020 | Canada | Super 8 to 16 mm | 5 min
Confusion and fun go hand-in-hand on the playground. (Derek Jenkins)
THE DANSE MACABRE
Joanna Decc | 2023 | Canada | Double 8mm projected as 16mm | 4 min
A graveyard dance party. (Joanna Decc)
4X8X3
Chris Kennedy | 2004 | Canada | Double 8mm projected as 16mm | 3 min
Streetcars circle. The ferry leaves and returns in one gesture. Camera and character dance. (Chris Kennedy)
SECOND SUN
Leslie Supnet | 2014 | Canada | super 8 to 16mm | 3 min
The rising sound of drums emphasizes flashes of lights, images of the solar system and a post-apocalyptic imagining of the birth of our Second Sun. (Leslie Supnet)
CUPID
Wrik Mead | 1998 | Canada | super 8 to 16mm | 3 min
Cupid gets beaten at his own game. (Wrik Mead)
the8fest INTRODUCES… BAGEROO: MOSTRA DE CINEMA MEZCLA!
the8fest Small-Gauge Film Festival is for anyone interested in small-gauge, and the little gems people create with it. Every year, since 2007, we invite filmmakers from all over the world to submit to our annual call for submissions, our “Bageroo”, and we look for a variety of films: 8mm, Super 8, 9.5mm, installation, loops, personal, performance, and and and… ! If it’s small gauge, we want to see it.
If you’ve been to the8fest, or visited our website, or even just read this statement, you’ll see the word “Bageroo”. Try and look it up, you can’t find much about it! We think it came from the phrase, a “mixed bag”, as there’s always a wonderful assortment of films waiting to be watched year after year, for the past seventeen years. It’s a unique word that truly embodies the spirit of the8fest.
The films we are screening for you are from a wide range of Canadian filmmakers, with different experiences, techniques, and stories. Join us as we watch films from Canada’s small-gauge film community. Every year, we host workshops and commission emerging and established filmmakers to create new small-gauge work, wanting to keep the spirit of small-gauge alive for many years to come!
We would like to thank the S(8) Mostra de Cinema Periferico for their generosity in hosting us during their festival. We would also like to thank the Canadian Filmmakers Distribution Centre, the Liaison of Independent Filmmakers of Toronto, Niagara Custom Lab, and YOU for watching!
Robin Riad, Board Chair the8fest and filmmaker