Where Do We Go From Here? 15 Years of CFMDC and LIFT at the8fest

Curated by Jesse Brossoit at CFMDC and Cayley James at LIFT

CFMDC and LIFT occupy opposite ends of the filmmaking spectrum - distribution and creation - and small gauge filmmaking has been an essential format for our respective organizations since their founding in 1967 and 1981. Over the past five decades our memberships have often overlapped and our goal with this retrospective was to provide a glimpse into that rich creative history we have shared.

While sifting through the past editions of the 8fest we were drawn to the joyfulness and possibility of the medium and although the films vary in style and approach they are connected by an indelible sense of place. Specifically the urban landscape. 

From abstract meditations on process, to diary and portrait films, and allusions to the travelogue, the city proves to be both familiar and frightening. It can be a lens through which to view the program, both as a literal and conceptual space. A place where we find community and can simultaneously decay our sense of self. But there are works that stretch those same themes into unexpected spaces: into the privacy of a bedroom, onto a familiar path through the woods, or long abandoned ruins. It is an intentionally eclectic lineup that exemplifies not only the past and present but future of small-gauge filmmaking in Canada.

July’s Wet Dreams

Kara Blake

3:34 / Canada / 2003 / Super 8 / Sound

Comprised of one continuous slow-motion shot, July’s Wet Dreams reveals several silhouetted figures amidst a fountain’s watery spray.

Facing the Waves

Eva Kolcze

4:30 / Canada / 2016 / Super 8 to 2k / Sound

A study of light and shadows on a late summer afternoon.

86 SE Marine

Lisa G

3:55 / Canada / 2016 / Super 8 / Sound

A chunk of Vancouver Real Estate as it sits, stuck in the no-zone.

Making a Scene

Martha Davis

3:55 / Canada / 1984 / Super 8 / Sound

Offers passersby the opportunity to don a mask and become either an elephant or a mosquito. A look at people's inhibitions.

fagtactics

Scott Miller Berry

5:25 / Canada / 2002 / Super 8 / Sound

fagtactics is an homage to Barbara Hammer's splendid and sexy Dyketactics and begs the question: so what ARE those faggots doing on the train tracks?

October 25 + 26th, 1996

Kika Thorne

8:23 / Canada / 1996 / Super 8 / Sound

During the Metro Days of Action, a 150’ long building was inflated using the air vents in front of Toronto's Nathan Phillips Square, to protest the erosion of our city.

The Day I Stopped Caring

Graham Hollings

3:21 / Canada / 2001 / Super 8 / Sound

A short comedy about depression with a melodramatic, Portuguese-guitar soundtrack.

What I Want / What I Have

E. Hearte

2:26 / Canada / 2013 / Super 8

Incongruities between body and gender become an obstacle for lovers as they navigate the painfully awkward rift between dysphoria and desire.

Mino-bimaadiziwin (The Good Life)

Jaene Castrillon

5:16 / Canada / 2016 / Super 8

Reconciling myself as a mixed-race indigenous Colombian settler “walking the red road" while being a person who lives with physical disabilities. Learning to live mino-bimaadiziwin as a settler to Turtle Island and Tkaronto.

Jatun Llaxta, Noh Kaah

Marcos Arriaga

8:00 / 2020 / Super 8 / Sound

A short experimental film that explores ancient native cities in America.