Kick off LIFT's Fall 2009 Workshop Season with
STRATEGIES OF THE MEDIUM III: IN THE DARK
[img]http://www.lift.on.ca/mt/SOTMImages/InTheDark_graphic.jpg[/img] [size=10]Images: wooden lightbox: a secret art of seeing, Alex MacKenzie[/size]
This season's Special Focus explores the Bolex camera and the transformative possibilities of the darkroom. We host two evenings: one performance by Vancouver's Alex MacKenzie (October 10th) and one screening of films (November 21st). Each night includes a panel of cutting-edge film artists who have chosen to invest themselves in these unique film-based practices -with diverse and challenging results. Come hear their thoughts on the rewards, risks, and 'realities' that lie in wait for those who engage with the most extraordinary of film genres. These programs introduce and complement this season of specialized workshops in darkroom practices and camera techniques.
PERFORMATIVE SCREENING: IN THE DARK
"the wooden lightbox: a secret art of seeing"
Cinematic live performance by Alex MacKenzie
Co-presented with Pleasure Dome (http://pdome.org)
Saturday, October 10, 2009
Starts at 8:00pm
Cinecycle, 129 Spadina Avenue (down the alley)
Toronto, Canada
Map: http://maps.google.ca/maps?f=q&hl=en&q=129+Spadina+Ave,+Toronto,+ON,+Canada
Suggested donation: Members $5, Non-Members $8
The Liaison of Independent Filmmakers of Toronto (LIFT) presents "Strategies of the Medium III: In The Dark" featuring a live film performance of "the wooden lightbox: a secret art of seeing" by Vancouver's Alex MacKenzie on Saturday October 10th, 2009 at 8pm, CineCycle, 129 Spadina Avenue (down the lane). Admission is $5.00 for LIFT members & $8.00 for non-members. Contact LIFT at 416-588-6444 or visit http://www.LIFT.on.ca/mt for more information.
In this performative screening, LIFT continues with its medium-specific programming series to explore work produced through chemical manipulation in the lab. Alex MacKenzie's "the wooden lightbox: a secret art of seeing" is a vivid example of the possibilities of self-sufficient filmmaking. "the wooden lightbox: a secret art of seeing" is an exploration and reconfiguration of cinematic apparatus and emulsion. Using the early development of cinema as a marker for cultural, technological and economic change, these film cycles draw from turn of the century cinematic prototypes and long forgotten ideas surrounding the moving image and its early promise.
At the core of this approach is the use of a homebuilt hand-cranked projector in an expanded cinema format to present a striking array of handmade and processed emulsion. The vast potential of the film frame is drawn out through imagery both archaic and contemporary in shape and form. Hypnosis, panorama, motion studies, expectation, magic, the dream world and slight of eye conspire in this intimate and immersive framework.
Alex MacKenzie has been working as a media artist for over 15 years with a focus on various models of expanded cinema and light projection involving the handmade image. He was the founder and curator of the Edison Electric Gallery of Moving Images, the Blinding Light!! Cinema and the Vancouver Underground Film Festival. His live media works are presented at festivals and underground screening spaces throughout Europe and North America – most recently at the Rotterdam International Film Festival, Lightcone in Paris, the WNDX festival in Winnipeg and the Halifax Independent Film Festival. He is currently a guest teacher at LIFT (http://www.lift.on.ca/mt/archives/workshops_special_focus_6.html).
The "Strategies of the Medium" series is supported by the Canada Council for the Arts. Since 1981 LIFT has been Canada's foremost artist-run-centre for independent filmmakers.
For more information on workshops associated with this event, please visit:
http://www.lift.on.ca/mt/workshopschedule.html
