Critical Writing Index

Independent Images

by Elizabeth Schroder, Marusia Bociurkiw and Bruce Barber

Fuse, Aug. 1989, pp. 32-37

This article is a review of some of the films and videos at Images 89.

The 5 day long independent film and video festival includes 100 works by mostly Canadian and some international film and video artists.

The festival, which was presented by Northern Visions Independent Video and Film Association was curated by Tom Waugh (Montreal), Francis Leeming (Ottawa) and Sarah Diamond (Vancouver).

India Hearts Beat is a thirteen minute long video produced by Calgary based artist Leila Sujir. It tells the stories of 3 Indian women and explores Indian culture through their memories.

The Canneries is a film by Bonnie Devlin & Stephen Insley that examines the development of canning industries in British Columbia. The film uses NFB style documentary techniques to deal with its subject matter.

Very Nice, Very Nice is a film by Arthur Lipsett. Comprised of still photographs, the film is a montage of imagery drawn from a variety of sources such as advertisments and newspapers to create a feeling of urban dystopia.

Anna Gronau's Mary Mary is the dream-like story of female filmmaker M and her attempt to create a feminist film. It contains spiritual themes and is complex in structure.

Jackass Johnny is a 25-minute experimental film by Alex Busby and David Coole. The film is a road movie that explores Canada and its physical landscape through the use of time lapse photography as well as interviews with various Canadians on a variety of social issues. These interviews serve as a rolling soundtrack over ever-changing imagery of landscapes, buildings, exteriors and interiors.

Taxi Sans Detour is a documentary by Gary Beitel & Mireille Landry that follows Haitian Taxi Drivers working in the Montreal suburb of Ville-Marie. The film follows the taxi drivers through their daily struggles with racist customers and company owners. Eventually the drivers rally and create their own taxi company that is non-discriminatory.

ITEM 1989.072 – available for viewing in the Research Centre

Videos, Artworks and Artists Cited

India Hearts BeatLeila Sujir

The CanneriesBonnie Devlin

Stephen Insley

Very Nice, Very NiceArthur Lipsett

Mary MaryAnna Gronau

Jackass JohnnyAlex Busby

David Coole

Taxi Sans DetourGary Beitel

Mireille Landry