Director/Producer/Editor!"$%&"'!(&")* Camera/Co-Producer!+,,&(!-")./0"1 Associate Producer!!23,4&!56*02$7!,2).& Narrator!5&(02!)8!/3"*02 Production Manager!9(!2)00"! Special thanks to the filmmakers!!!!!!!!!!'&4'!"((0"!!!!!&,!"&.7)2!!!!!:&)"$&!1"7/0*!!!!! $%"2!1&,,&1%0"!!!!!2)7",&!17**&"226*!! 9"9!)671&2!!!!!1&"3!,00;*64&!!!!!:0)0"!,:292 )6(!/"&'+66'!!!!!($%&0,!($1&""3 Written text: Richard Martin Layout/design: William Fritzberg!"2015 Moving Images Distribution $"acknowledge support from
)<=!'>?=@AB?CD!:64!"1971, at age 14, I discovered the films of David Rimmer. I was deeply impressed by their poetic and structural beauty. I went on to discover a world of Vancouver film artists all exploring different avenues of this phenomenon called Experimental Cinema. Their work inspired my own early explorations in filmmaking. Even as I moved into mainstream feature and television production, the adventurous speculation of the work continued to inspire me. In 2005, I returned to making short personal works and I had the desire to revisit some of this early inspirational material. Some of the work was available, but many interesting titles by wonderful filmmakers were languishing in vaults, basements, archives and my memory. Thus began!"$!%&'()*+,-./012)'3412561,7+8)5,16+. It was an opportunity to rediscover some of my heroes of Vancouver s underground film scene. It was a chance to revisit some of the un-sung filmmakers. At the same time, it was an occasion to explore the explosive cultural history of Vancouver in the 1970s as well as some of the key supporters of the movement.!"$!%&'$%not attempting a definitive look at experimental cinema& that is an ongoing and expanded discourse. It is an attempt to bring some context to a unique moment in Vancouver s cultural history. Even though the art-film movement was flourishing around the world, I wanted to express the unique voice that was the West Coast and Vancouver. These filmmakers, with their generosity and talent re-inspired me through this one hour documentary and nearly four hours of extended interviews to present their stories in an informative and accessible manner. Whether you appreciate experimental work or loathe it, or simply don t get it, these filmmakers represent the promise of all cinematic genres and styles. At the heart of all this unique and beautiful work is the essence that unites all filmmaking experience&that is, passionate artists searching for a new viewpoint, seeking a different narrative, revealing an alternate truth. It is an exploration as old and extraordinary as the medium itself. Richard Martin. Vancouver. 2015 Canadian Pacific I EFGHIJ David Rimmer! 1 BACKBONE PROGRAM 2
THE FILMS $&*&'&*!:&$-$! 1974 colour silent 9:30 A view from a dingy window on the Vancouver harbour facing the North Shore mountains cycles through the seasons. It is meditative and strangely emotional as the landscape plays hide and seek with our perception; a superb moving painting.!"$!%&$''(&%was quickly recognized as a key Canadian experimentalist with Variations on a Cellophane Wrapper (1970). His work and influence is consummate in Canadian filmmaking. Rimmer is a recipient of the 2011 Governor General s Awards in Visual and Media Arts. 3,7(K"0C2!)"&*!E&""4*1 &)!)%0!2)&)6* 1979 colour, b&w sound 7:30 Bold, hypnotic, cheeky and visually stunning, Lumiere s Train celebrates the birth of cinema, the rebirth of cinema through the avant-garde, and the machinations of cinematic inspiration itself. ")%&"*+,$-%has been spinning visual alchemy consistently since he arrived in Vancouver in the late 60 s. Razutis conducted film screenings at Intermedia, built his own optical printer, and inspired (or angered) a generation of filmmakers. He received a 1988 Los Angeles Film Critics Award, and his media art works are found in a number of international collections. www.alchemists.com BACKBONE PROGRAM 4
200*1!*!)%0!"&* 1981 colour sound 10:50 This electrifying work deconstructs a point-of-view from a city bus moving down Vancouver s Granville Street. The windshield wiper is the only constant as the image moves through the impermanence of time. 2)00,!(72%"66(2 1967 colour, b&w sound 7:30 This psychedelic hallmark of early Vancouver experimental cinema is a collage of shapes and textures shot in the back alleys of Vancouver s downtown east side and set against found footage of nuclear annihilation. A frenetic cacophony of sound and image../&$-%0"))"0/(&%is a steadfast avantgarde filmmaker and continues to make bold experimental work, most recently Time Being (2011) a feature-length exploration of time and our place in it. www.foxglovefilms.com 0"&1%)((234"%came to filmmaking as a natural extension of his artistic explorations in painting and sculpture. His work appears in the collection of The National Gallery of Canada. Lee-Nova blasted into the early film scene, left his indelible mark, and moved on to other artistic explorations. www.vancouverartinthesixties.com/people/74 5 BACKBONE PROGRAM 6
*!/,&$9!&*'!+%)0 1979 b&w sound 10:00 This unsung and significant spark of gay cinema charges off the screen exploring themes of preference, eroticism, sexual politics and harassment. A complete and masterful early work the stark depiction of entrapment pre-dates George Michaels Beverly Hills episode by a couple of decades. '$./"()%'.0"&&1%(1954-1989) was one of the tragic early casualties of AIDS. He left behind some fine films and the feeling that more was to come. What we have is a wonderful work of experimental drama and the thoughts of the people who knew and worked with him. 7!"$%&'(%)*&(+&"$&,-.),(/$&0(1234-"3(/&3/.456$7 '(*2%0' by Richard Martin 1980 color sound 6:43 A delicately structured non-verbal poem about loss, time and memory. A documentary of the heart -- Gene Youngblood )%0!$0*)"&,!$%&"&$)0" by Patricia Gruben 1977 b&w sound 15:30 Gruben explores the breakdown of feminine subjectivity. &!'&3!(7$%!,90!)%0!6)%0"2 by Sturla Gunnarsson 1977 b&w sound 3:40 An exploration of artistic longing set against the inability to find one s way. /&$9/6*0! by Tom Braidwood 1972 b&w sound 10:00 Found footage of a soldier yelling fire and a cannon discharging loop relentlessly. The image becomes increasingly unsettling as the rhythmic soundtrack slips sync and turns our perceptions inside out. A jarring reflection of war. 0$,:20 by Peter Lipskis 1979 colour silent 3:10 In a motel room a TV plays the live broadcast of an eclipse.)'9:;<') illuminates cinema s improvisational nature where chance meets design and creates a great moments. -&"!-"6(!L70/0$ by Kirk Tougas 1971 b&w sound 14:30 Abandoned whaling boats in a barren, forbidding landscape. The absolute stillness evokes a deathlike atmosphere of restless longing BACKBONE PROGRAM 10