BNMI Co-Production Archives 'A'
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95* Chimes
Superstring Theory claims that all matter exists as a result of the harmonics that form loops as they move through space and time. An infinite array of vibrating tubes is created through these harmonics; “95* Chimes” is a musical metaphor for these tiny elements of matter and the vibrations, harmonies, and energies they produce. Oscillating chimes of different sizes and materials are individually recorded, edited, layered, and outputted, resulting in a textured piece of sculptural music. A site-specific sound installation, “95* Chimes” relates string theory to music and the origin of matter through its emotional and spiritual essence.
Co-producer: Debra Swack (New York, United States), 2005
Format: Sound Installation
ABEL
Funded by CANARIE Inc., ABEL (the Advance Broadband Enabled Learning Project) was designed to create a model of related professional learning programs for teachers, in order to utilize broadband technology to its full potential. Through videoconferencing, online discussions with experts, and other training techniques, the ABEL project will use CANARIE’s CA*net 4 research network so teachers may work on professional development programs online. By innovative, collaborative means, this research will contribute to existing models and expand on broadband technology in the classroom.
Co-producer: York University (Toronto, Canada), 2002-2003
Format: Broadband, Research
The Aboriginal Music Experience
This internet and radio documentary focused on Aboriginal music from many genres, styles, and traditions, presented in three, one-hour audio segments. From an exploration of traditional Aboriginal music, to a study of native influence on the Blues, to a world overview of the future of Indigenous music, this documentary is extensive and thorough. From Australian Aborigine music, Maori music from New Zealand, the Inuit from Greenland, and the Sami people of Sweden and Norway, “The Aboriginal Music Experience” is a fascinating glimpse into the scope of Indigenous music across the globe.
Co-producers: Elaine Bomberry and David Deleary (Ohsweken, Canada), 2002
Format: Audio
¡Afrocubanismo!
In this television documentary, the influence of Afro-Cuban culture on contemporary music is explored using the workshops and festival activities during The Banff Centre’s 1995 Afrocubanismo Festival. Excellent archival photos and film footage of grassroots gatherings in Cuba set the musical and visual stage, while exciting scenes from the festival will leave all music lovers enthralled with this music. This video details the impact of Africa on Cuban culture and the rich mix of musical and dance expressions that epitomize the Afrocuban blend.
Co-producers: LaGauchet (Montreal, Canada) and Selwyn Enterprises (Edmonton, Canada), 1995
Format: Video, Length: 48 minutes
Aftermath
Aftermath is a documentary film chronicling the lives of Chechen and Afghani war veterans in Russia. The film follows three main characters, one Muslim, one Orthodox priest, and one mercenary, who, as a result of mandatory military service in Russia, will inevitably find themselves on the front lines. Regardless of religious differences, these characters reveal themselves to have much in common; each share the belief that religion is protection from the consequences of war. Their lives are shaped by their experience, and they offer insight into these conflicts and others around the world, in an unprecedented opportunity to witness a perspective unexplored by mainstream media.
Co-producer: Marianna Yarovskaya (Santa Monica, United States), 2005
Format: Video, Length: 56 minutes
All the World’s a Stage
When filmmakers Craig Anderl and Diane Park returned to the Victoria School for Fine and Performing Arts in Edmonton, Alberta, twelve years had passed since Craig’s graduation. Turned from a hard-edge vocational school to a full spectrum arts program, the Victoria school had enormous potential to engage young people in an academic arts driven education, outside normal curriculums. Armed with a hand-held digital camera and microphone, the filmmakers were overwhelmed by open-minded and articulate students, producing artistic works of unexpected merit. In a time of severe budget cuts and debt slashing, this film examined how the arts may have a positive impact on the lives of students and their community.
Co-producers: Craig Anderl and Diane Park (Vancouver, Canada), 2001
Format: Video, Length: 56 minutes
Amarok’s Song: The Journey to Nunavut
Amarok’s Song: The Journey to Nunavut outlines the history of a family of Caribou Inuit, Canada’s last nomads. This film details their wrenching journey from an independent existence on the tundra to a life under great pressure on the margins of white society. The voices are those of the family members – three distinct generations – who played an active role in producing the film. Amarok’s Song tells a tale of transformation for families of the Arctic, from distant past to the exciting future, eventually leading to the creation of the Inuit homeland, Nunavut.
Co-Producer: Inuit Broadcasting Corporation, (Iqaluit, Canada), 1998
Format: Video, Length: 76 minutes
Ambient Video
The widespread distribution of high-resolution display devices in our homes and offices could completely alter our experience of video. This new technology will inevitably lead to new conditions of reception, and could in turn become the catalyst for new forms of video production. Using this premise, the Ambient Video project explores the question, “If you are standing five feet away from a four-foot wide high-definition video screen, is it television or is it Imax? Or is it a magic window?” The Ambient Video project is a speculation on the future of entertainment, examining in a ‘proof-of-concept video demonstration’ the liminal nature of image and narrative.
Co-producer: Jim Bizzocchi (Vancouver, Canada), 2002
Format: Pre-production
The Amnesia Project: Monsters and Marvels
This full-length multimedia theatre work explores the violence of our present global situation, as we endure both marvellous wonder, and monstrous horror. Through the architectural use of projected image and sound to reflect themes of displacement, relationship, and memory, the story follows the daytime lives of eight people connected to the protagonist, Margaret. In three acts, Margaret is transformed from a young, gutsy, sophisticated reporter to a victim of Alzheimer’s disease, a wanderer between states of amnesiac aphasia and sudden lucidity. In both dreams and nightmares, fantastical beings drawn from mythology play on our sense of wonder, horror, and transformation.
Co-producer: Amy Guggenheim (Brooklyn, United States), 2004
Format: Interactive Performance
Another Brother
Another Brother is a moving biographical mosaic of one ordinary yet extraordinary man, Clarence Fitch. An African American veteran of the Vietnam War, Clarence was like many veterans in the hardships he endured – racism, poverty, substance abuse, and HIV/AIDS – yet uncommon in his ability to transform these experiences through a life of political activism. In telling Clarence's gripping personal story, the film provides a unique window onto the Vietnam War, racism in America, and a host of social problems which have ravaged America for the past three decades. The film is narrated chiefly by Clarence in an audio taped interview by William Short, a fellow Vietnam veteran, before Clarence’s death from AIDS in 1990.
Co-producer: Tami Gold, (New York City, United States), 1995
Format: Video, Length: 48 minutes
Archaeology of a Mother Tongue
This installation combines virtual reality with an interactive multimedia theatre piece. The audience is driven through a series of computer-animated rooms by one person wearing a data glove, combining performance with the immersive experience in a hybrid genre that Dove calls ‘cyber-theatre’ or ‘theatre without actors’. The immersive experience unfolds in the form of an investigation or archaeological dig led by two narrators. While the viewer is unearthing the ruins of a futuristic city, a coroner and a forensic scientist analyze the remains of a child whose body blends in with the wire-frame environment.
Co-producers: Toni Dove and Michael Mackenzie (New York City, United States), 1993
Format: VR Installation
Andre Markowicz: La Voix d’un Traducteur
More than a translator, Andre Markowicz is a creative artist. Originally from Russia and a French resident since the age of four, by age thirty-seven, he had translated more than fifty books of Russian literature, and planned to translate Dostoievski’s entire works over a ten year period. In this documentary film, Anne-Marie Rocher examines the notion that translation is a meeting, where the reader may hear the true voice of the original author in the connection made between artists. Set in Quebec, this work is ground-breaking in the genre of documentary, and in 1999 was awarded the prestigious Prix Pedagogique Litteraire at le Festival des Films sur l’Art et Pedagogie in Paris, France.
Co-producer: Anne-Marie Rocher (Montreal, Canada), 1998
Format: Video, Length: 53 minutes
The Audience Project
The Audience Project creates a virtual audience to observe and applaud its actual audience. The installation uses real-time, computer-generated humans and sensors to produce an illusion that reverses the traditional relationship between viewer and subject. For the first time, apparently living intelligent images may view the spectators. Using new techniques developed over years of research and experience in real-time 3D computer graphics, interactive autonomous character design, and artificial intelligence, the virtual characters inhabiting The Audience Project achieve an unparalleled illusion of life. Viewers actually feel as if they are being observed by a group of real human beings.
Co-producer: Adam Frank (New York City, United States), 2000
Format: Installation