CONTRE COURANT - Experimental Film Festival
A Main Film event organized with the support of the Conseil des arts de Montréal
DAY 1 - ROUND TABLE 1
> Conservation: Techniques, Equipment and Processes
Does the future of film lie in the hands of artists, film collectives and media centres? For decades these organizations and individuals have been discussing the importance behind preserving the countless number of motion picture films that have been created throughout the years. This panel looks at another area of preserving film and proposes the question: Why preserve traditional filmmaking equipment, techniques and processes?
Moderator : Roger D. Wilson
Panelists : Dave Johnson, Pixie Cram, Kelly Egan
Moderator: Roger D. Wilson
Roger D. Wilson is an experimental film scientist who lives in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. Roger’s artistic practice begins and ends with film, 16mm and 35mm formats; his need to continuously investigate the filmmaking process has lead him to discover innovative experimental film processes. He creates his films using techniques such as pixilation, time-lapse photography, hand processing and cameraless animation. Roger is known for his technique of manipulating film emulsion prior to photographing images. He treats his unexposed film stock to processes that alter the films emulsion. He has buried black and white film in soil, bathed it in baking soda, berg colour toner, household bleach and photographic bleach all before photographing images. Roger has also begun to create his own film emulsion recipes and film developers, he has processed black and white film in Welch’s Grape Juice, Tea made from Timothy Hay, Argon oil, Red Clovers and algae infested river water. Roger co-founded the Windows Collective (2008), a group devoted to the creation and exhibition of experimental works using film as basis. www.rogerdwilson.ca
Panelist: Dave Johnson
Dave Johnson is an Ottawa based artist, who has worked in various roles of production and post-production in the motion picture and broadcast industry. He developed and taught a film class, Introduction to Alternative Cinema, at Flinders University of South Australia, and established a non-profit Canadian underground film exhibition group, CAUS(e). In 2008, he earned his MFA from Concordia University’s Mel Hoppenheim School of Cinema. His thesis involved a body of work exploring with the documentary form for which he received the Henry P. and Thomas R. Schriner- National Film Board of Canada Research/ Production Grant in Documentary.
Currently Dave is a lecturer of Time Based Art, and Film Studies at Algonquin College a producer at SDC video, a freelance sound designer and film artist. His work has been exhibited both nationally and internationally.
Panelist: Pixie Cram
Pixie Cram is a filmmaker originally from Ottawa and now based in Hull, Quebec. Her work includes fiction, animation, documentary, and installation. Pixie studied theatre performance and playwrighting at Concordia University in Montreal before taking up filmmaking. She is co-founder of the Windows Collective, a group devoted to the creation and exhibition of experimental works using film. On top of her own art practice she works as a freelance director, editor and cinematographer.
Pixie Cram est une cinéaste originaire d’Ottawa qui vit actuellement à Hull, Québec. Son travail comprend des œuvres documentaires, de fiction et d’animation, ainsi que des installations. Pixie a étudié le théâtre et la scénographie à l’Université Concordia à Montréal avant de passer au cinéma. Elle est co-fondatrice du Windows Collective, voué à la création et présentation d’œuvres expérimentales utilisant le cinéma. Elle travaille en tant que réalisatrice à la pige, monteuse et cinématographe.
Panelist: Kelly Egan
Kelly Egan is a Peterborough-based filmmaker, scholar and archivist. She holds a Bachelor of Arts in Mass Communication from Carleton University, Master of Arts in Communication and Culture from York/Ryerson University, Master of Fine Arts in Film/Video from Bard College, a Certificate in Film Preservation from the Selznick School of Film Preservation at George Eastman House and a PhD in Communication and Culture from the York/Ryerson Joint Graduate Programme in Communication and Culture. Her films have been screened internationally at renowned festivals like the Rotterdam International Film Festival, the Toronto International Film Festival, Images Festival, and the New York Film Festival, amongst others.
