DOCNOW 2013 festival

D CNOWRYERSON UNIVERSITY DOCUMENTARY MEDIA FESTIVAL

MAY 29 - JULY 14, 2013 | WWW.DOCNOW.CA

A Message from the Chairs of DOCNOW 2013

Welcome to DOCNOW!

After much anticipation the fifth annual DOCNOW festival has finally arrived! Over the past two years, Ryerson’s MFA Documentary Media students have worked to produce original documentary projects and organize the DOCNOW Festival. From May to July, 19 films and 11 photography and new-media projects will be screened and exhibited throughout the city of Toronto.

Without the incredible efforts of all of the artists, generous donations and sponsorships, and the support of Ryerson’s faculty and staff this festival would not have been possible. Each of the organizing committees involved in planning the festival had an integral role in creating and implementing this event. In addition to creating their own creative works, each student has devoted invaluable time and energy to making the festival a success. Alongside the executive committee, we would like extend our gratitude and thanks to everyone who contributed their time and effort to the festival.

As chairs of the festival, we invite you to join us in celebrating the innovative and provocative works presented at DOCNOW 2013.

Andrew WallerCo—Chair 2013 organizing committee

Laine Zisman NewmanCo—Chair 2013 organizing committee

Andrew WallerCo—Chair 2013 organizing committee

CONTENTS |2|

About DOCNOW 2013 3

Festival Highlights 4

Screenings 5

Exhibitions 7

IMA Gallery 9 Bloor Hot Docs Cinema 10 Ryerson School of Image Arts Commons 29 Oz Studios 30

Milk Glass Co. 32

Toronto Image Works 34

IMA Gallery 35

Art Bar: Gladstone Hotel 37

Ryerson Image Centre, Student Gallery 38

Map 39

Credits 40

Sponsors 41

Index 42

|3| ABOUT DOCNOW 2013

The DOCNOW documentary media festival celebrates the work of graduating students from Ryerson’s Documentary Media Master of Fine Arts program. With 30 documentary works in film, new media, photography, and installation, this year’s edition of DOCNOW brings audiences a rich variety of works ranging from a film exploring how musicians in Rio de Janeiro are responding to the favela pacification program, to an interactive video installation that looks at gender through the eyes of transgender people, to a photographic exhibition chronicling the life of a young man seeking an authentic connection with nature.

Established in 2007, Ryerson’s Documentary Media program is the only MFA degree program in Canada dedicated to developing tomorrow’s documentary filmmakers and visual artists. The program contributes to Canada’s world-renowned reputation for excellence in documentary by nurturing new talent and critical approaches. A unique facet of this program is its cross-disciplinary structure in which students produce work in film, new media, photography, installation, or combinations of the above.

DOCNOW kicks off with Dan Epstein’s Defenders opening reception at IMA Gallery on May 9, from 6 - 9 pm. Film screenings at Toronto’s Bloor Hot Docs Cinema, 506 Bloor Street West, follow on May 29 - 30, from 6 - 11 pm. Exhibitions are on view from May 1 - July 14 at the following locations:

. Art Bar: Gladstone Hotel

. IMA Gallery

. Milk Glass Co.

. Oz Studios

. Ryerson Image Centre, Student Gallery

. Ryerson School of Image Arts Commons

. Toronto Image Works

All screenings and exhibitions are FREE and open to the public.

For more information, visit: www.docnow.caFor any questions or comments, email: [email protected]

FESTIVAL HIGHLIGHTS |4|

Thursday May 96 - 9 pm IMA Gallery Opening Reception

Wednesday May 296 - 11 pm Bloor Hot Docs Cinema Generations, There and Here, Spaces

Thursday May 30 6 - 11 pm Bloor Hot Docs Cinema Reflections, Journeys, Against the Tide

Friday May 31 6 - 9:30 pm Ryerson School of Image Arts Commons Opening Reception

6:30 - 9:30 pm Milk Glass Co. Opening Reception

7 - 10 pm Oz Studios Opening Reception

Thursday June 6 6:30 - 10 pm IMA Gallery Opening Reception

7 - 9:30 pm Toronto Image Works Opening Reception

Saturday June 8 1 - 6 pm Ryerson Secondary Screenings Generations, There and Here, Spaces

Sunday June 9 1 - 6 pm Ryerson Secondary Screenings Reflections, Journeys, Against the Tide

Wednesday June 19 6 - 8 pm Ryerson Image Centre Opening Reception

Thursday June 20 7 - 10 pm Art Bar: Gladstone Hotel Opening Reception

|5| SCREENINGS May 29, 2013

Screenings on May 29, from 6 - 11 pm

Bloor Hot Docs Cinema506 Bloor Street West bloorcinema.com

Generations, 6 pm Corinne Dunphy, Well-fished Lara Johnston, The (Real) Mean Girls: Notes on Power Chris Beaver, On Reserve

There and Here, 7:45 pm Mariam Zaidi, Safar (journey) Lakhbir Sodhi, Kathak in Motion Robinder Uppal & Marc Serpa Francoeur, The World in Ten Blocks: Stories From Bloor Street

Spaces, 9:30 pm Serene Husni, Zinco Julie Yan, The Heart of the Dragon Cass Gardiner, The Edible Indian Rebekah Reiko, In Art We Trust

A brief Q&A, moderated by Min Sook Lee, will follow each screening program.

Secondary screenings on June 8, from 1 - 6 pm

Ryerson School of Image Arts122 Bond Street, Room 304imagearts.ryerson.ca

Generations, 1 pmThere and Here, 2:45 pm Spaces, 4:30 pm

SCREENINGS |6|May 30, 2013

Screenings on May 30, from 6 - 11 pm

Bloor Hot Docs Cinema506 Bloor Street West bloorcinema.com

Reflections, 6 pm Lisa Rideout, While We Wait Chenxing Liu, To Live as One Catharine Tamas, SEEKERS

Journeys, 7:45 pm Marcia Iglesias, Astudillo: A Voice of Hope Gillian Greenfeld, Going Beyond Myself Gabi Veras, Healers

Against the Tide, 9:30 pm Ben Goloff, Open Water Laine Zisman Newman, You’re Not My Target Audience. Jason O’Hara, Rhythms of Resistance

A brief Q&A, moderated by Min Sook Lee,will follow each screening program.

Secondary screenings on June 9, from 1 - 6 pm

Ryerson School of Image Arts122 Bond Street, Room 304imagearts.ryerson.ca

Reflections, 1 pmJourneys, 2:45 pm Against the Tide, 4:30 pm

|7| EXHIBITIONS May 1 - July 14, 2013

Opening May 9, 6 - 9 pm

IMA Gallery | May 1 - 25 80 Spadina Avenue, Suite 305Wed - Sat 12 - 5 pm imagallery.ca Dan Epstein, Defenders * Featured Scotiabank CONTACT Photography Festival Exhibition

Opening May 31, 6 - 9:30 pm

Ryerson School of Image Arts Commons (Lobby) | May 31 - June 15 122 Bond StreetTues 11 am - 6 pm, Wed 11 am - 8 pm, Thurs - Sun 11 am - 5 pm imagearts.ryerson.ca Rob Allen, Extended Portraits: Bringing Artists into Focus * Scotiabank CONTACT Photography Festival Exhibition

Opening May 31, 7 - 10 pm

Oz Studios | May 31 - June 16134 Ossington AvenueTues - Sat 12 - 7 pm, Sun 1 - 5 pmozstudios.ca Maegan Broadhurst, 87 Percival Sarah Gladki, Navigating, Fences

Opening May 31, 6:30 - 9:30 pm

Milk Glass Co. | May 31 - June 16 1247 Dundas Street WestTue - Sun 1 - 7 pmmilkglassco.com Zoë Heyn-Jones, Domestic Product Judy Ruzylo, The Order of Things

Opening June 6, 6:30 - 10 pm

IMA Gallery | June 6 - 22 80 Spadina Avenue, Suite 305Wed - Sat 12 - 5 pm imagallery.ca Mina Momeni, The Silent War Andrew Waller, Entangled Spaces

Opening June 6, 7 - 9:30 pm

Toronto Image Works | June 4 - 30 80 Spadina Avenue, Suite 207Mon - Fri 9am - 7 pm, Sat 11 am - 3 pmtorontoimageworks.com Ryan Walker, Cousin, We Have Grown Up

Opening June 20, 7 - 10 pm

Art Bar: Gladstone Hotel | June 19 - July 21214 Queen Street WestDaily 12 - 5 pmgladstonehotel.com Larisa Kurzemnieks, This Way to the Beach

Opening June 6, 6 - 8 pm

Ryerson Image Centre, Student Gallery | June 19 - July 14 33 Gould StreetTue, Thurs, Fri 11 am - 6 pm, Wed 11 am - 8 pm, Sat, Sun 12 - 5 pmryerson.ca/ric/ Ken Woroner, Hardscrabble

EXHIBITIONS |8|May 1 - July 14, 2013

Dan Epstein’s Defenders employs multimedia installation to paint a living ethnographic portrait of Canadian and American criminal defence lawyers in three cities: Detroit, New York, and Toronto. The project addresses the personal experience of criminal justice by focusing on the individuals who defend the accused.

After more than a year of conducting interviews with his subjects, Epstein assembled a database of recorded video and still portraiture that depict lawyers in their work spaces. The stories that inform this work are diverse and engaging, ranging from firm indictments of the criminal justice system, to staunch defences of a lawyer’s work, to sad stories of justice gone sour.

While Defenders seeks to address larger, systemic questions about criminal justice in the twenty-first century, it does so by offering an intimate window into the personalities and quirks of the people it portrays. As a portrait of a profession, Defenders hopes to provide an in-depth and informative look at an under-examined aspect of the complex world of crime and justice.

Dan Epstein, Defenders (Multimedia installation: chromogenic prints and video)

|9| IMA GALLERY May 1 - May 25, 2013

Corinne Dunphy, Well-fished (HD Video)

Grace and Fallon are no “shore captains.” They favour the salt, wind, and wet tresses of the sea to working ashore. Well-fished is a documentary film exploring the lives of two young women who, unlike other girls their age, have big dreams of living a life working on the Atlantic. The film portrays Grace and Fallon’s connection to the older and disappearing fishing traditions of Nova Scotia.

Nova Scotia’s population and landscape have drastically changed throughout the decades. The role of women was also transformed with the passing of traditional gender roles and the decline of the male dominated fishing industry.

Women have always participated in the ever-important shore work, but today it is becoming more common for women to be stepping onto boats as well. The film speaks to the rapidly changing society of Nova Scotia and the pride associated with working on the sea.

The film was shot during the two-month lobster-fishing season in 2012. Through an intimate approach and point-of-view perspectives, the film follows the women’s daily work routines while drawing on anecdotes and scenes of maritime life. Well-fished champions the preservation of a way of life for younger generations who call the province of Nova Scotia their home.

BLOOR HOT DOCS CINEMA |10| May 29, 2013, 6 pm

|11| BLOOR HOT DOCS CINEMA May 29, 2013, 6 pm

The (Real) Mean Girls explores female bullying among teenage girls. Audio interviews of women recounting their experiences of being bullied as adolescents are woven with recollections from the artist’s memory of being a bystander during a bullying incident as a teenager. The work employs visual collage—incorporating live-action re-enactments, animation, archival footage, and images from an old high school yearbook—representing that time in a girl’s adolescence when she cobbles together a cohesive identity from the many forces trying to shape her. The work addresses themes of memory, guilt, trauma, and girlhood.

Lara Johnston, The (Real) Mean Girls: Notes on Power(HD Video)

The relationship between First Nations people and broader Canadian society is hindered by a perpetual lack of understanding. Starting from this premise, On Reserve is a film imbued with belief in the transformative powers of storytelling. Influenced by the style of Allen King’s actuality dramas, On Reserve invites the viewer into an experience of reserve life. The film, set in Alderville First Nation, Ontario, home of Canada’s first industrial school (precursor of the residential school), explores the consequences of Canada’s aggressive assimilation policy. By following elder Carl Beaver, the film takes viewers through the life rhythms of the community, showing various characters along the way. Though directly affected by First Nations politics, it is curious how little Carl (like many others) knows about the history of aboriginal people in Canada. This begins to change as Carl’s curiosity is provoked by talk of the growing Idle No More movement. Carl begins to see that while Idle No More began as a First Nations effort, the issues at stake affect all Canadians. Our democracy and our environment are on the line. If there was ever a time for people to set aside their differences and unite, this is it.

Chris Beaver, On Reserve (HD Video)


|13| BLOOR HOT DOCS CINEMA May 29, 2013, 7:45 pm

Mariam Zaidi, Safar (journey)(HD Video)

Safar (journey) is a film about Mariam Zaidi’s sister, Rabab, who has cerebral palsy. As part of the UAE’s expatriate population, Zaidi’s family is one of many that has no access to government healthcare and no option for permanent residency. Contrasting the opulence of Dubai with its absence of social benefits, Safar examines the lack of security felt by the UAE’s expatriate population. The film focuses on Zaidi’s family’s attempt to migrate from the UAE to Canada, and its subsequent rejection based on the “excessive burden” clause of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act.

With challenges from Canadian immigration, Zaidi attempts to embark on an alternate route by applying for citizenship alone, in the hopes of sponsoring Rabab as her dependant. The film addresses the loss of support the filmmaker’s family has felt in her absence. Questioning rigid Canadian immigration policies that do not consider the nuances of each family situation, Safar challenges the way we look at people with disabilities in and outside of Canada as a “burden.”

Kathak is an ancient Indian classical dance form dating back many centuries. Kathak was primarily performed by male dancers, who told the stories based on Hindu mythology in temple settings. Now it has been shaped by modern influences and gone through many iterations to come to the theater stage.

Kathak in Motion traces the dance’s journey using the life experiences of Sandhya Desai (72), exploring past and present dance practices, and how traditions evolve from one generation to another. Sandhya began dancing at age 24, after her marriage to Atul Desai—an Indian classical musician who played a significant role in her success as an established Kathak dancer, teacher, and choreographer. Atul was a music pioneer who introduced novel musical compositions that changed the focus of the Kathak repertoire from traditional temple stories to tales of contemporary life. He has worked closely with one of India’s renowned Kathak dancers and choreographers, Kumudini Lakhia. Set in Atul and Sandhya’s adopted hometown of Toronto, the film explores the journey of Kathak dance through conversations with Sandhya, her dedicated dance disciples, and their performances.

Lakhbir Sodhi, Kathak in Motion (HD Video)

BLOOR HOT DOCS CINEMA |14| May 29, 2013, 7:45 pm


Robinder Uppal & Marc Serpa Francoeur, The World in Ten Blocks: Stories From Bloor Street (HD Video)

The World in Ten Blocks: Stories From Bloor Street is a documentary film (in interactive and theatrical versions) that presents the experiences of immigrant entrepreneurs who own and operate small businesses along the 10 blocks of Bloor Street West between Dufferin and Crawford Streets. Hailing from all over the world, the film’s participants share their stories in detail, relating why and how they came to Canada, the difficulties they faced along the way, and the transformations they’ve experienced as a result. In the interactive version, users can choose to hear from various participants as they progress through themes that trace a rough chronology through the immigration experience. The World in Ten Blocks creates a mosaic of personal narratives that explores the challenges and rewards of immigration to Canada.

Serene Husni, Zinco (HD Video)


Zinco is a portrait of Al Talbieh (Zizya), a Palestinian refugee camp in Jordan established in the wake of the 1967 June War. Decades later, the camp has become less of a temporary solution and more of a permanent “zone.” By retracing the development of the camp, from the canvas that once made up refugee tents to freshly painted cement roofs, the film looks for visual manifestations of Palestinian displacement, taking the slowly changing construction material of Palestinian refugee shelters as a signifier for exile.

“Zinco” is an Arabic slang word that refers to the corrugated tin rooftops that still cover most of the camp’s habitats today. The film relies on anecdotes and personal narratives in telling the story of the camp, and explores new ways of representing oppressed peoples and histories.


Julie Yan, The Heart of the Dragon (HD Video)

The Heart of the Dragon is a photo-based essay film documenting the lives of factory workers in China. Still images of factory workers, their factories, and the products they make from factories in Dongguan and Shanghai show the human side of manufacturing. Incorporating video footage and ambient sound recordings, the film aims to shift viewers’ pre-existing notions of what “Made in China” looks like. The visual and aural information presented aims to humanize the collective Chinese factory and draws attention to the human components of manufacturing that keep China’s economy powerful. The Heart of the Dragon also documents a process that does not regularly enter our consciousness. It is important to recognize the human labour behind the products we buy and sell, to show respect and understanding for the factory workers.

The Edible Indian is a short documentary film that takes an intimate look at the issues of First Nations identity in Canada through the lens of food. Three aboriginal chefs of different backgrounds are asked the same question, “What is your favourite meal?” and asked to prepare that meal in their kitchens.

The Edible Indian re-examines the traditional role of the kitchen as not only a space for cooking but also a place of storytelling and cultural exploration. While cooking, these chefs share stories of their personal relationship to their cultural heritage, their culinary passions, and what being First Nations in the twenty-first century means to them.

Cass Gardiner, The Edible Indian (HD Video)



In Art We Trust is a documentary film about the last days of the art house Tacheles. After the fall of the Berlin Wall, Tacheles played an iconic role in the artistic life of the German capital. Located on Oranienburger Strasse in Mitte (“centre”), the art house and its history reflected the changing social climate in Berlin. It was a place where diversity found free expression, where international artists flourished. It also provided an example for alternative centres around the world which were also experiencing the consequences of going against the grain of society. In Art We Trust explores the historical and socio-political impacts on the fate of Tacheles while also portraying the art house as a symbolic reflection of Berlin’s contemporary alternative culture (from 1990–2012).

Rebekah Reiko, In Art We Trust (HD Video)

“The meaning of life is that it stops” —Franz Kafka

We are all going to die. Our bodies will cease to exist in their current form, and what will follow is uncertain. Regardless of its unavoidability, common understandings emphasize the prevention of death. The foods we eat, activities we participate in, and lifestyle choices we make are driven by a desire to extend life as long as possible. When we fall ill, those in the medical field assist in battling the disease in a steadfast evasion of death. We actively avoid its imminence.

While We Wait is a film that navigates through three experiences with terminal illness and death. Edwardo, Augustina, and Donna, recall their personal encounters with the death of their loved ones, terminal diagnosis, and medical treatment. Their varied experiences paint a complex portrait of what it means to face loss, surrender control, and come to terms with the inevitability of death. While We Wait presents a poetic narrative that encourages its viewers to confront their own mortality.

Lisa Rideout, While We Wait (HD Video)


|21| BLOOR HOT DOCS CINEMA May 30, 2013, 6 pm

To Live as One is a self-reflexive documentary film that traces the changes of Liu’s perspective on Buddhism. Growing up in a Buddhist family gave the agnostic Liu extensive experience visiting temples and attending religious ceremonies. In those early years Liu was very skeptical about Buddhist beliefs because at first glance they appeared superstitious. In his early 20s, searching for the purpose of life, Liu rediscovered Buddhism and studied its tenets in more depth. He was impressed by some of the core ideas of its teachings, such as the notions of Impermanence, Dukkha, and Causality, which are self-justifiable without requiring blind faith.

To Live as One employs a narrative driven by Liu’s inner change. The film addresses some often misinterpreted aspects in Buddhism, such as “worshipping,” burning incense, chanting, and “aversion to materialism.” Liu’s story is interwoven with footage shot in the Fo Guang Shan Temple (Mississauga, Ontario), including Buddhist ceremonies and daily practices. The film presents discussions with senior practitioners regarding some of the more confusing Buddhist concepts and also shows aspects of their secular life.

Chenxing Liu, To Live as One (HD Video)

Catharine Tamas, SEEKERS (HD Video)

SEEKERS is a film that explores a movement by a growing number of people in the West disillusioned with the direction the world is taking politically, economically, and environmentally. The film documents their attempts to seek deeper spiritual meaning in their lives. As the director sets out on her own journey to discover what’s missing in our world and to understand the seekers, she delves into the connection between two of the world’s oldest wisdom traditions, Buddhism and Native American spirituality, leading us on a larger journey of interconnected consciousness. The film explores whether the answer to shifting our worldview is found in science or spirituality, or both. Filmed in Arkansas, Colorado, Ontario, and elsewhere, SEEKERS is centred on two events: an 800-person gathering at the base of a mountain sacred to Native Americans in Hot Springs, Arkansas, to raise worldwide spiritual consciousness, and a gathering of 800 at the Wake Up Festival, an inaugural assembly of seekers and spiritual teachers in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado. SEEKERS documents a growing counter-tradition, a weave of voices and ideas that have nothing to do with today’s mainstream consumer society.



Astudiollo: A Voice of Hope is a documentary that follows the journey of a Latin American political refugee who became an Anglican Priest in Toronto. After escaping prosecution in Ecuador because of his political ideals of socialism and liberation theology, Padre Hernan Astudillo settled in downtown Toronto in the late 1980s, singing in subway stations and hoping to create a church that preaches solidarity, love, and social justice. Once he became a priest in Canada he made it his mission to help those in need. This commitment would lead him to his biggest initiative, the Caravan of Hope.

The Caravan of Hope project was a response to the 2001 earthquake in El Salvador that left 100,000 people homeless. Padre Astudillo’s church, San Lorenzo Parish, began to drive ambulances from Toronto to El Salvador in support of its underfunded public health system. The film follows the journey of the caravan as it traverses 6,000 km of different countries and cultures with their own stories of social movements and their leaders. The stories encountered along the way exemplify Padre Astudillo’s vision of solidarity and social justice. Astudillo: A Voice of Hope explores Latin American immigrant storytelling by connecting Latin American myths and history with the experiences of Padre Astudillo.

Marcia Iglesias, Astudillo: A Voice of Hope (HD Video)

Going Beyond Myself links the stories of two women from post-industrial European societies with that of a woman from rural Mexico. Lucy Cherrington of London, England and Izaskun Cassanova of the Basque country of northern Spain travel to the small Mexican town of Zipolite in La Costa Chica on the Pacific. They set out to shed their preconceived identities as single working women and to build new, different lives. We also meet Miriam del Angel Garcia, a Zipolite local who finds strength in her independence as a tamale vendor. From different worlds, with different opportunities in life, these women share similar stories of the struggle to redefine themselves in a rugged environment.

Going Beyond Myself questions why women from post-industrial societies chose to leave their families, histories, and lives to settle in a remote area with few modern comforts and overt violence against women. It documents the possibility of “being at home anywhere” and exposes the difficulties this choice brings. How these three women deal with the local macho culture underlines their similarity. Their testimonies reveal how this struggle has brought more meaning to their existence, raising questions about exceeding limitations no matter where one is.

Gillian Greenfeld, Going Beyond Myself(HD Video)



Gabi Veras, Healers (HD Video)

This story began in 2010 with Veras’ journalistic project concerning the impact of female leaders in poor rural communities in north-east Brazil. This professional experience soon became a personal journey about hope, a promise, and a re-encounter. Healers tells the story of a woman known as Dona Josefa who has been a health care worker, midwife, and community leader for over 50 years. Besides taking care of villagers, she can deeply affect people who cross her path, like filmmaker Gabi Veras—who had a dream of becoming a mother. After a promise made by Veras, the director returns to Sertão—Brazil’s most neglected area—and discovers the world of herbal medicine.

Healers shows that despite the lack of support from authorities in these remote areas, traditional medicines which combine prayer with the use of herbs are slowly making governments realize their power. Today, some communities in the region that have been served by these herbal-based treatments have shown themselves to have efficient, trustworthy, and economical systems of alternative medicine. Intrigued by such an effective way of promoting health, Veras takes the viewer on her personal journey, uncovering an unconventional world that exists and functions thanks to women like Dona Josefa.

Open Water follows endurance swimmer and coach Kim Lumsdon’s quest to swim 52 km across Lake Ontario. At age 56, in the twilight of her career, when most are making plans for retirement, Kim has planned to undertake one of the most grueling physical endeavours. The daughter of famed Canadian swimmer, the late Cliff Lumsdon, Kim has been involved in swimming since youth but is no typical athlete. Born with a congenital condition that turned her knees inward, even walking can challenge her. Water, on the other hand, sets her free.

With an initial attempt scheduled for summer 2012, Kim was sidelined by a kneecap infection requiring emergency surgery. With shattered plans, questionable health, and her glory days long past, Kim faces immense obstacles in steeling herself for another attempt at Lake Ontario—and to become the oldest woman to swim across it.

Following Kim over a two-year period from the start of her training in 2011, Open Water portrays a woman searching for meaning and defying expectations when confronted by seemingly impossible odds. In probing further into Kim’s personal life, Open Water touches on universal truths about the strength of dreams, the power of will, and the harsh lessons of reality.

Ben Goloff, Open Water (HD Video)



You’re Not My Target Audience. is a documentary film, created by queer women and intended for queer women. Following three professional performers as they navigate their careers as queer women artists in Toronto, the documentary uses interviews, spoken word, and performance pieces to address issues of access, invisibility, and oppression. Theatre creator Moynan King, hip-hop artist MC Jazz, and performance artist Jess Dobkin discuss their artistic works and the mandates and uses of various performance spaces in Toronto.

By no means are the women of the film victims. This is not a story of women defeated. You’re Not My Target Audience. demonstrates how women are still creating, producing, and supporting one another as they determine their own destinies despite the challenges they face. With a cast of all queer women, the film negotiates the obstacles and celebrates the achievements of queer women performers in Toronto.

Laine Zisman Newman, You’re Not My Target Audience. (HD Video)

The criminalization of poverty in Rio de Janeiro emerges from a history that began with slavery, continued via the economic servitude of the oppressed classes after emancipation, and culminated in the explosive growth of favelas (urban slums) in the second half of the twentieth century.

Rhythms of Resistance explores the controversial new community policing program (UPP) in Rio, which purports to “pacify” communities previously dominated by drug traffickers. The film presents musicians living in recently “pacified” favelas who compose freedom songs recounting their experiences as victims of police violence and social exclusion. Internationally acclaimed samba composer Cathola is shot by police shortly after UPP forces arrive in his community of Cantagalo. Inspired by his near-death experience, Cathola posits a better future through his lyrics of resistance. Cathola’s story is woven together with a series of colourful vignettes in which politicized street artists unravel the rhetoric of the pacification program, charging that the UPP is exacerbating the criminalization of poverty in Rio. Imagining a more peaceful society promised by pacification, the film’s cast of characters has given up waiting for basic rights to be guaranteed by the state and is instead asserting those rights through music and performance art.

Jason O’Hara, Rhythms of Resistance (HD Video)


|29| RYERSON SCHOOL OF IMAGE ARTS COMMONS May 31 - June 15, 2013

The notion of the “extended portrait” has a long history in photography and implies capturing a multitude of revealing moments as well as the possibility of certain moments lasting longer than others.

The exhibition Extended Portraits: Bringing Artists Into Focus attempts to push the conventional boundaries of portraiture, documenting individual artists’ lives, utilizing still photography, motion picture, video and the hybrid “still-video.”

Two of the artists Allen has documented are Québecois: legendary cineaste Michel Brault and sculptor Claire Brunet. Another sculptor, Catherine Heard, the poet Paul Dutton, and photo-based museologist Vid Ingelevics round out the list. The artists’ own works were taken into account as Allen considered the best approach to create their extended portraits.

Allen’s interaction with Catherine Heard was somewhat typical of his time with his other subjects. After an initial meeting to establish goals and comfort levels, Allen returned to photograph and videotape Heard in her studio on three occasions; first to make long-exposure 8x10 photographs that imply movement, again with the 8x10 to freeze her with flash, and finally with a smaller digital camera to capture more spontaneous, fleeting moments and details of her surroundings that give the viewer more awareness of Heard as a creative artist.

Rob Allen, Extended Portraits: Bringing Artists Into Focus (Toned, silver-gelatin prints, inkjet prints)

“We shape our buildings, and afterwards our buildings shape us.” —Winston Churchill

87 Percival investigates notions of space, identity, memory, and loss in relation to the childhood home. The work contemplates the dualistic nature of our domestic spaces as places of belonging, but also as sites of unresolved histories. It does this using the theoretical framework of the German concepts of heimlich and unheimlich, identifying the domestic as homely but simultaneously un-homely.

Five years after Broadhurst’s parents’ divorce, her childhood home was hastily renovated and sold, marking the fracture of over 60 years of family heritage in this location. The installation questions the role of art as a method of coming to terms with loss, informed by Broadhurst’s experience mediating on loss through her artistic process. 87 Percival holds out the hope that acts of family reconciliation may be multi-generational and cumulative in nature.

The work also reflects on the childhood home as a significant site for the formation of our adult identities, acknowledging that dwellings have a role in manifesting personal histories. 87 Percival attempts to raise universal questions regarding what it means for an ageing house to be cleansed of the markers of its past, asking whether it is ever possible to return home.

Maegan Broadhurst, 87 Percival(Video installation)

OZ STUDIOS |30| May 31 - June 16, 2013

|31| OZ STUDIOS May 31 - June 16, 2013

Navigating, Fences is an installation comprised of photographs, video, and hand-drawn maps. The subject matter of the installation is the everyday, overlooked fences that exist everywhere in the city of Toronto. What began as an exploration into artist Sarah Gladki’s obsession with looking at fences has evolved into a project that considers how seeing and studying elements of the overlooked can reveal new insights about the city and the self. To communicate this, the installation Navigating, Fences expresses Gladki’s experience as she travelled through the streets of Toronto in search of fences to photograph, while it also shows how Gladki sees fences: Each possesses its own unique character.

Gladki’s focus on fences explores the emotive aspects of architectural structures and their innate connection to their geographical locations. This way of seeing introduces a new or unrealized experience of the city, bringing attention to a structure that is often overlooked, and commonly perceived as an obstruction—limiting and barring. The interplay between architecture and individual perception is at work here, where both act to shape and influence the other.

Sarah Gladki, Navigating, Fences(photo book, installation: gelatin silver prints, maps, video projection)

Domestic Product is a film-based sculptural installation that employs home movies, family snapshots, and ephemera to explore the expatriate, settler, and indigenous Maya cultures of the Lake Atitlán region of Guatemala.

Domestic Product examines the border zones between art and anthropology, questioning the possibility of representing cultural differences and contiguities through landscape, routes, and kinetic motion. Regarding highland Guatemala—with its legacy of civil war, indigenous genocide, and land rights struggles—through the lens of domestic ethnography allows for a consideration of image ethics, privilege, proximity, and the codes of documentary representation, positing film-based visual art as a tool of decolonization.

Zoë Heyn-Jones, Domestic Product(16mm film and audio field recordings)

MILK GLASS CO. |32| May 31 - June 16, 2013

|33| MILK GLASS CO. May 31 - June 16, 2013

Gender plays a central role in the creation of social identity. It is fundamental to how we see ourselves and how we order the world around us. We learn to read and decode gender from a young age. Conventional wisdom holds that sex, as designated at birth, determines gender but in fact gender is a construct. It is learned, idealized, and reinvented.

The transgender exist outside the binary of man or woman and, consequently, are often relegated to the periphery of mainstream society. The changes they undergo emphasize how gender is a continuum. However, having moved along this continuum, the transgender are in a paradoxically privileged position to understand things about the gendered world that most do not.

A video installation, The Order of Things explores the relationships between gender, identity, and society. Transgender individuals from a range of ages, backgrounds, and circumstances share their observations of, and lived experience in, our gendered world. Inspired by Levinas’ claim that “the face presents itself and demands justice,” these individuals turn to face the audience only when a viewer is close to the screen. This rudimentary interaction reframes the image as an encounter that challenges one to contemplate the notion that the ways in which we do not understand things are as important as the ways in which we do—that, perhaps, there exists some order beyond the binary.

Judy Ruzylo, The Order of Things(Video installation)

Cousin, We Have Grown Up provides an intimate exploration of nature, identity, and spirituality. The project focuses on Jon, a young man seeking an authentic connection with the land as he attempts to discover his true, raw self.

Having lived in a tepee for three years, Jon adapted to a sustainable lifestyle, developing a connection with nature and reshaping his identity to be harmonious with naturalistic spiritual beliefs. Though he assumed an untraditional lifestyle, Jon remained linked to the outside world through his job as a massage therapist.

Initially intended as an examination of “back-to-the-land” sustainability and environmental stewardship, this project evolved as Jon’s life took an unexpected turn. Recently, he made the difficult decision to leave his tepee and start a new life in a house with his partner, Jess. Despite this, Jon intends to continue his physical, spiritual, and emotional relationship with the land as he seeks to coexist between two conflicting ways of life.

Cousin, We Have Grown Up depicts the complexities and contradictions of a man coming to terms with larger questions that involve self-identity, rejection of modern society, and the often problematic appropriation of aboriginal culture. Combining photographs, video, and candid journal entries, Cousin, We Have Grown Up produces a layered portrait: an intimate adventure-misadventure story of a young man trying to live freely.

Ryan Walker, Cousin, We Have Grown Up(Chromogenic prints, video installation, and photo book)

TORONTO IMAGE WORKS |34| June 4 - June 30, 2013

|35| IMA GALLERY June 6 - June 22, 2013

Mina Momeni, The Silent War(Photography and video installation)

The Silent War is a photography and video installation inspired by the cemetery for martyrs of the Iran-Iraq War, one of the bloodiest wars of the twentieth century. Momeni recreates a cemetery by simulation, to illustrate the effects of the war and its subsequent memorialization.

As a metaphoric translation of this unique space, Momeni’s installation presents gravestones made of the pictures of the cemetery, video projections, soldiers’ letters, and the wills written for their families. This material was collected from actual graves and the Iran War Museum archives or obtained directly from the families of martyrs. The installation is mounted in a dark space to create an unsettling experience for the viewers, to evoke respect, and provide a contemplative atmosphere.

The Iran-Iraq War was an armed conflict between the armed forces of Iraq and Iran, lasting from September 1980 to August 1988. In this conflict, the estimated casualties were 1,000,000 for Iran and 500,000 for Iraq. It was the intercession of the United States in1988 that was crucial in bringing the war to an end.

Andrew Waller, Entangled Spaces(Video installation)

As a photographer who has worked in the advertising world for over 20 years, Andrew Waller is drawn to the impact visual branding and advertising have on the world around him.

The form of the natural world is changing around us—with the urban environment becoming the predominant natural environment for most of humanity: More than 3.5 billion people live in cities. Understanding how this environment is formed and how it affects us is essential to understanding both personal and cultural identity. Through the installation Entangled Spaces, Waller explores the impact of visual branding and advertising on forming that environment. Often the sheer volume of visual branding material in our daily environment is overwhelming, obscuring the city it is built on, producing new architectural forms and spaces. We need new ways of seeing and analyzing these spaces. By highlighting the presence of visual branding, this project seeks to engage the viewer in a discourse with these new architectural forms, and present new critical ways of understanding them. By exposing the spaces formed by urban signs and symbols and removing the environment that supports them, Entangled Spaces hopes to reveal the complexity of the branded space and its role in forming cultural and personal identity.

IMA GALLERY |36|June 6 - June 22, 2013

|37| ART BAR: GLADSTONE HOTEL June 19 - July 2, 2013

Travelling north along Highway 400 and west on 26 is a route familiar to thousands of Torontonians seeking to escape the city on weekends. A major point of interest is Wasaga Beach, Ontario–the longest freshwater beach in the world. Situated between the gentle Nottawasaga River and the ocean-like Georgian Bay, Wasaga Beach is a narrow stretch of shoreline offering shallow water, firm sand, and a spectacular view of the distant Blue Mountains.

Its popularity peaked in the 1950s when a hodgepodge of amusements, accommodations, and snack bars sprung up along the shore. With the influx of weekenders and construction, the natural beachfront property quickly became overrun with traffic congestion, rowdy behaviour, and poorly maintained operations. As the November 2007 fire has destroyed the famous beachfront strip, and the remaining operations require more amenities and higher standards, the future of Wasaga Beach as an iconic summer holiday destination has become uncertain.

This Way to the Beach is a photographic exploration into this delicate microclimate where tourists, residents, and cottagers coexist, and where promises and failures are as frequent as the coming and going of weekend visitors. Photographs of the beachfront, the adjacent built environment, and the seasonally travelled pedestrian mall make up the series, in an examination of the collision of built and natural worlds.

Larisa Kurzemnieks, This Way to the Beach(Inkjet prints and photo book)

Ken Woroner, Hardscrabble(Inkjet prints)

Now known as Golden Valley, Hardscrabble was the name European settlers first gave to this small northern Ontario community upon their arrival in the 1870s. These two names neatly bracket the combination of struggle and promise present in this rural location and its starkly beautiful, economically challenging terrain.

Informed by the “city symphony” documentary film tradition, with its lyrical observation of people in urban environments, Hardscrabble is presented as a “country symphony” comprised of three movements. The first—“The Road In”—explores Woroner’s personal attachment to this place, which stretches back more than two decades. The second movement—“Survival”—branches out to explore the marks made on this locale in the short time that non-aboriginal people have inhabited the area, with emphasis on the centrality of family and the fluctuating clash between nature and humans. The final part—“The Road Out”—posits Golden Valley as a microcosm of the widespread disappearance of sustainable small-scale rural communities in Ontario.

Straddling a divide between subjective concerns and empathetic engagement, this series of photographs blends personal reflection with social commentary. While disparate elements arc from introspection to wider perspectives, veiled references to intergenerational trauma imbue the work with a somber subtext. These images of Golden Valley focus on the struggle to survive—the hardscrabble.

RYERSON IMAGE CENTRE, STUDENT GALLERY |38| June 19 - July 14, 2013

|39| MAP

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1. Art Bar: Gladstone Hotel416.531.46351214 Queen Street West gladstonehotel.com

2. Milk Glass Co. 416.356.64551247 Dundas Street Westmilkglassco.com

3. Oz Studios647.228.8227134 Ossington Avenue ozstudios.ca

4. Bloor Hot Docs Cinema 416.637.3123506 Bloor Street West bloorcinema.com

5.A. IMA Gallery 416.703.223580 Spadina Avenue, Suite 305 imagallery.ca

5.B. Toronto Image Works 416.703.199980 Spadina Avenue, Suite 207 torontoimageworks.com

6.A. Ryerson Image Centre416.979.516433 Gould Street ryerson.ca/ric/

6.B. Ryerson School of Image Arts416.979.5000122 Bond Streetimagearts.ryerson.ca

CREDITS |40|

Festival Co-chairs: Laine Zisman Newman, Andrew Waller

Treasurer: Judy Ruzylo

Film Curatorial Committee: Cass Gardiner (chair), Zoë Heyn-Jones, Marcia Iglesias, Jason O’Hara, Marc Serpa Francoeur, Lakhbir Sodhi, Catharine Tamas, Robinder Uppal

Gallery Curatorial Committee: Ken Woroner (chair), Rob Allen, Maegan Broadhurst, Sarah Gladki, Mina Momeni

Fundraising and Sponsorship Committee: Rebekah Reiko (co-chair), Ryan Walker (co-chair), Rob Allen, Dan Epstein, Ben Goloff, Gillian Greenfeld

Media and Marketing Committee: Lisa Rideout (chair), Corinne Dunphy, Dan Epstein, Larisa Kurzemnieks, Chenxing Liu, Gabi Veras, Julie Yan, Mariam Zaidi

Media Relations: Gabi Veras

Reception Committee: Corinne Dunphy (chair), Sarah Gladki, Marcia Iglesias, Mariam Zaidi

Website Design: Serene Husni, Chenxing Liu

Social Media Coordinator: Dan Epstein

Trailer Committee: Chris Beaver, Corinne Dunphy, Lara Johnston, Mariam Zaidi

Volunteer Coordination: Corinne Dunphy, Mariam Zaidi

Editing: Sara Angelucci, Mark Thompson

Festival Faculty Supervisors: Sara Angelucci, Gerda Cammaer, Blake Fitzpatrick, Don Snyder

Program Director MFA Documentary Media: Blake Fitzpatrick

School of Image Arts Chair: Alexandra Anderson

|41| SPONSORS

P-FACS

A heartfelt thank you to our sponsors and supporters without whom this festival would not be possible

PLATINUMProject-Funds Allocation Committee for Students (P-FACS)

VistekYeates School of Graduate Studies

Ryerson University Office of the President Ryerson Documentary Media Program

GOLDRyerson Faculty of Art and Design

Ryerson School of Image ArtsRyerson Student Union

The Imperial Library Pub

SILVERDocumentary Media Graduate Student Association

Ryerson Office of the Provost

A generous thank you to all our in-kind sponsors for donating their spaces, time and products to making our festival a great success.

Anna Harasym Visual Communication, IMA Gallery, Sky Blue Sky, Grapefruit Moon, Steam Whistle,

Toronto Image Works, Mark Thompson, Kid YEARS

INDEX |42| Artists

Allen, Rob 29

Beaver, Chris 12Broadhurst, Maegan 30

Dunphy, Corinne 10 Epstein, Dan 9

Gardiner, Cass 18Gladki, Sarah 31

Goloff, Ben 26Greenfeld, Gillian 24Heyn-Jones, Zoë 32

Husni, Serene 16Iglesias, Marcia 23Johnston, Lara 11

Kurzemnieks, Larisa 37Liu, Chenxing 21

Momeni, Mina 35O’Hara, Jason 28

Reiko, Rebekah 19Rideout, Lisa 20Ruzylo, Judy 33

Serpa Francoeur, Marc 15Sodhi, Lakhbir 14

Tamas, Catharine 22 Uppal, Robinder 15

Veras, Gabi 25Walker, Ryan 34

Waller, Andrew 36 Woroner, Ken 38

Yan, Julie 17Zaidi, Mariam 13

Zisman Newman, Laine 27

Venues

Art Bar: Galdstone Hotel Bloor Hot Docs Cinema

IMA GalleryMilk Glass Co.

Oz StudiosRyerson School of Image Arts CommonsRyerson Image Centre, Student Gallery

Toronto Image Works

8, 375, 6, 10 - 287, 9, 35, 36 8, 32, 337, 30, 31 5 - 7, 298, 388, 34

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Vistek_Ryerson_Doc_Now_2013.indd 4 2013-04-05 5:31 PM

DOCNOW 2013 festival

Documents

Transcript of DOCNOW 2013 festival