Presents a Film Series by Winnipeg Film Group
Show Statement:
Third Space Galley presents a selection of three works from the Winnipeg Film Group catalogue. These videos represent some of their newest film acquisitions on the topic of dance, contemporary art, and performance; these look to engage the public in critical and theoretical dialogue about contemporary performance.
Treaty Number Three
a short film by Danielle Sturk | 4:18 | Documentary | HD | Colour | March 2013
“A portrait of visual artist Rebecca Belmore.”
SYNOPSIS
Through a competitive selection process, Danielle Sturk was awarded a commission by the Canada Council for The Arts to produce a unique video portrait of visual and performance artist Rebecca Belmore, 2013 Laureate of the Governor General’s Award in Visual and Media Arts. The filmmaker collaborated with Belmore who created a new visual art/performance artwork specifically for this video. The new work is inspired by the spoken words of chief Mawe-do-pe-nais from an 1873 treaty negotiation recording of Belmore’s ancestral land.
DIRECTOR STATEMENT
Our own treaty of artists: Rebecca entrusts me with the filming of a new work created for the camera, for this moment in her career, for this moment in Winnipeg, for this time inspired by the Idle No More movement, and Chief Spence’s hunger strike in Ottawa; and I trust her in all of her artistic wisdom to create a powerful work of art that will collaborate with the camera.
We work for the entire day and it is now night. The work appears to be completed, and Rebecca stands back to contemplate the work before putting her brush to one last virgin paper draped across the model’s chest. She decides only then what she will do. She marks her X across the young woman’s heart. The heart of a next generation. With her act, I too am marked. I too bear the X. Treaty Number Three.
The Broken Altar
a short film by Mike Rollo | 19:35 | Doc / Exp | Super 16mm | Colour | March 2013
“The Broken Altar is a portrait of abandoned and emptied drive in theaters.”
SYNOPSIS
The Broken Altar is a portrait of open-air theaters documented under the strange light of day, emptied of the once present hum of human voices, radioed-in soundtracks and tires on gravel. Scripting the landscape and exploring the residue of a cinematic history, The Broken Altar forms a sculptural treatment of the architectural artifacts of these abandoned spaces: speaker boxes rise from tall grass like grave markers and the screens themselves are monumental, sepulchral in their peeling whiteness.
where the myth fails
a short film by caroline barrientos | 9:01 | Experimental | 16 mm / HD | Colour | January 2014
SYNOPSIS
A visual meditation on who we believe ourselves to be as humans, what we expect of each other and how we connect.
DIRECTOR
caroline barrientos is an inter-media artist and crafter who works in many art-forms including film, video, photography, paint, textiles and multi-media collage. Her films have screened in several places including the CBC Radio-Canada’s website, where she won the Roots Challenge national contest in 2010 with her short film Life Stories; the Bike Shorts Film Festival which crossed Canada in 2009 with her short film Dream History; and also in 2009 the National Screen Institute’s Online Film Festival, with her short film Loss Studies. In 2011, part of her film Dream History was used in Bristol, England’s bike film festival Cyclescreen.