Media muscle

>> The FCMM digs deep into technology with Digital Works

by GENEVIEVE PAIEMENT

To join in the fun at the New Cinema and New Media Festival is to get just what you came for: a big ol' jumbalaya of cinematic, videotic, digitastic to-dos to overwhelm you. This year, the art-happenings leg expands to encompass DJ/VJ events at both the SAT (Société des arts technologiques) and the MAC (Musée d'art contemporain), as well as a brand new series entitled Digital Works. Housed in the Fellini room of Ex-Centris, the series includes Web animations, installations, short films, 3D games, DVD-ROMs and more. Plus, it's all free and open to the public, with the artists themselves presenting their brain-children so you can understand them better.

The idea is to showcase works that push the boundaries of filmmaking through the use of digital technology, be they documentary, fiction or some fantastical mélange of both. Take for instance, the 3D interactive Web game Banja (www.banja.com). Created by Frenchies Team cHmAn, the game is an animated adventure in which you get to be Banja, an endearing little Rasta intent on discovering the keys to all the mysteries of the colourful island he inhabits. Whatever you do in real time affects players around the world, who you can interact with at freaky moments when you can "embody" them--or something. Find out more from Team cHmAn himself, Oct. 13, 3 p.m.

Then there's Austrian duo Virgil Widrich and Martin Reinhart, who, with the help of their trusty tx-transform technique, are sparking a "revolution in perception" by messing with time and space. According to Widrich, their presentation will consist of "Martin as the mad scientist who makes it work and Virgil as the filmmaker who makes it happen--somehow." Visit www.tx-transform.com for more rational explanations, or meet them live in person at 2 p.m., Oct. 19.

On the socio-political tip, 360degrees.org: Perspectives on the U.S. Criminal Justice System, by Picture Projects, takes a critical look at the dramatic rise in incarcerations and prison construction in the U.S. in the last few years. Using 360-degree photos, video and audio interviews, a judge's chambre or a prison cell is recreated and issues like the death penalty or juvenile justice are addressed. Oct. 17, 8:30 p.m.

Hiroshima, mon amour

Le Conte du monde flottant, by Alain Escalle, is a 24-minute 3D animated trip to Japan and a dream-like look at the atomic bombing of Hiroshima. Oct. 19, 7 p.m. Then along come Brit twosome Simon Pummell and Janine Marmot with their Body Song, which they describe as "a datascape embracing a movie, a Web site and a gallery exhibition." Oct. 16, 8:30 p.m. To find out what the kids are up to, peep Dérapage, a collection of students shorts by Collectif (Oct. 12, 8:30 p.m.), or witness the seminal Steina and Woody Vasulka (founder of The Kitchen in New York) 1971 work, Participation (Oct. 13, 8:30 p.m.) And lastly, but arguably not leastly, Julia Heywarth's Miracles in Reverse is an interactive, autobiographical tale that moves from fear to love (Oct. 14, 3 p.m.), David Muth's "Java-toy" the Sodacostructor is an absolutely astounding musical thingamabob (Oct. 19, 2 p.m.), and locals Sophie Malouin, Michel Jolicoeur and Tram Design present Salut Riopelle!, a biography of the Refus global-iste painter (Oct. 15, 8:30 p.m.). Enjoy!