Friday, April 14, 2023
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Curated by Jaclyn Quaresma
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Work by Adam Mbowe, Jasmine Callis, Madyha Leghari,
María Silvia Esteve, Nadia Ghanem, TJ and Ruth Cuthland
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Images Festival, Toronto
Co-presented with the Digital Arts Resource Centre, Ottawa
Once a Prison, Now a Portal features the work of seven filmmakers who focus on the family as a unit of unease and the hard-won potential for healing. While acknowledging that families can be rife with conflict and are often sources of deep, generational trauma, the films presented in this program explore what might be possible should boundaries be enacted, communication supported, and healing prioritized.
The name of this screening comes from writer and poet Ocean Vuong. In a
TV interview, Ocean describes the writing process for his book On Earth We Are Briefly Gorgeous as one that required hiding from his roommates, a lovely but loud family. The writer found solace in an unlikely place: the closet. As a gay man having left the metaphorical closet, Ocean willingly re-enters the physical one, and transforms it. As he describes the experience—“what was once a prison became a portal for me”—a portal to a story that foregrounds a complicated family and their shared vulnerability.
Likewise, the works by Maria Silva Esteve, Madya Jan Leghari, Jasmine Callis, Adam Mbowe, Nadia Ghanem, and TJ and Ruth Cuthland themselves are sites of transformation where cycles of familial trauma break down. Though distinct in genre and aesthetic approach, their works come together to present a host of tender possibilities: manifold inherited futures that are a little less haunted by those who came before.
List of Works
THE SPIRAL
María Silvia Esteve
TORONTO PREMIERE | ARGENTINA | 2022 | DIGITAL | 19 MIN
ENGLISH, SWEDISH WITH ENGLISH SUBTITLES
Audio begins, and with it, a downward spiral unfolds. The
voice of a woman sinking into a health anxiety attack quickly
entangles a complex labyrinth of fears and emotions.
The Spiral is a dive into a lonely ride, a hypnotic escalation
towards childhood, family, and the loneliness of “home.”
The Love Machine
Jasmine Lynea
USA | 2022 | DCP | 10 MIN | ENGLISH WITH SUBTITLES
An ancestor dreams of present-day Philadelphia. Nasir
Smith, a teenage scientist has a desire to heal his family’s
past and welcome back love and compassion into their
household. With a device that is more than a time machine,
Nasir sends his sister to the past site of trauma to reframe
moments of their childhood.
Choose Your Own Father
Madyha Jan Leghari
TORONTO PREMIERE | PAKISTAN | 2021 | DIGITAL VIDEO | 12 MIN
ENGLISH
This essay film delves into the British artist John Latham’s
lineage and early history in Zambia found during extensive
archival research that connects the artist with the filmmaker’s
own father. Exploring paternalistic order, the fantasy of “The
West,” and myths of origin, the filmmaker considers whether
one can ever be free to choose their father.
ة إختفاءت ثلاثة Three Disappearances and a Song
Nadia Ghanem
EGYPT | 2021 | DIGITAL VIDEO | 27 MIN
ENGLISH, FRENCH WITH ENGLISH SUBTITLES
In Three Disappearances and a Song, Nadia revisits the
family archive, picks up her camera and films three people
struggling to find new ways to be: her mother, her father, and
herself.
Halves and Doubles
Adam Mbowe
CANADA | 2022 | DIGITAL VIDEO | 15 MIN | ENGLISH
WITH SUBTITLES
Despite the close bond between Adam and her sibling
Khadija, there is trauma unspoken between them. In this
short documentary, the two hold a conversation where they
attempt to find mutual understanding through the winding
road of expressing emotions.
Neurotransmitting
TJ and Ruth Cuthland
CANADA | 2021 | DIGITAL VIDEO | 8 MIN | ENGLISH
WITH SUBTITLES
TJ Cuthand and his mother Ruth Cuthand have a candid
conversation about TJ’s last hospitalization for bipolar
disorder in 2007. While TJ only knew his manic episode
from the inside, Ruth had to deal with caregiving decisions
and trying to find help. While they reminisce, they also have
to reckon with the feelings of animosity that arose between
them during these events.
Jaclyn Quaresma 