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Independents' day The annual showcase of film and video returns to Montreal by MATTHEW HAYS
This week the Alliance, which was established in 1981, is presenting its annual showcase of indie works, as well as its national media arts conference in Montreal for the first time in five years. And if the lineup at Toronto's International Film Fest felt a bit too commercial for you--with the likes of L.A. Confidential and Seven Years in Tibet headlining--then the Alliance's showcase might be just the ticket. This year's anthology of films is intentionally motley; showcase organizers decided to choose various films and videos created over the past two years to reflect the current state of production. Provocative, thoughtful works vary, from Gail Noonan's uproarious Your Name in Cellulite, a wicked take on the beauty myth plaguing the female psyche, to Closet Case, Wrik Mead's wrenching take on the confines of sexual boundaries, to Buffalo Bones China, which documents Dana Claxton's compelling performance art about the destruction of First Nations culture. Much of the mandate of the IFVA has been to lobby government film-funding agencies across the country for greater backing for in-between projects, as opposed to the bigger-budget fare. The IFVA scored a coup this past year, when its lobbying of the Canada Council paid off. The IFVA argued that more and more young people were turning to video and film to tell their stories, as virtually all of them had been brought up on movies and TV, therefore this component of the council grants needed a boost to its budget. An all-important body for young and developing artists, the Canada Council saw the light, and this year's budget for short films and videos will see a half-million-dollar jump (from $4.3 to $4.8 million), despite overall cuts to the Council by the federal government. "We're trying to convince Telefilm to set up a risk fund that would allow for development of feature filmmakers. I've nothing against Road to Avonlea, but investing in only those kinds of projects is no way to build a national film industry." The IFVA's National Media Arts Conference and their Showcase 1997 continue until this Saturday, Sept. 20 at Thomson House, Centre international d'art contemporain and the Cinémathèque québécoise. 522-8240 |
With the feature-centric nature of the summer's heavy film fests, it's easy to forget that many of the great feature filmmakers began by making low-budget shorts, including docs, experimental films and music videos. Peter Sandmark, national coordinator of the Montreal-based Independent Film and Video Alliance, would also like us to remember that a number of Canada's film luminaries--Atom Egoyan, Lynn Stopkewich, Thom Fitzgerald and John Greyson among them--began experimenting in film with local co-ops, for which the IFVA serves as an umbrella group.