Join us for a week-long online screening of Portraits of the Past, Contemporary Perspectives: Videographic Insights into Time and Transformation, a program curated by Archive/Counter-Archive (A/CA) artist-in-residence Chantal Molleur. This initiative is part of the Groupe Intervention Vidéo (GIV) case study Through Feminist Lenses: Women and Video Works at Groupe Intervention Vidéo.
Spanning 1975 to the present, the project examines women’s perspectives and expressions through GIV’s video collection. During a virtual residency within the GIV catalog, Chantal Molleur curated this thought-provoking program, originally screened live at GIV on November 27, 2024.
Now, White Frame (WF) brings a selection of this program to its ongoing WF Online Series. Join us December 12–19, 2024, for this free online event.
For details and to watch, visit Current Upcoming — WHITEFRAME.
(...) The nine selected videos cover a span of just over two decades of production (1986 to 2007), predating the era when two-thirds of the world’s population began using the web. The artistic endeavors of these nine filmmakers find their expression through documentary, performance, and animation forms. We delve into autobiographies, family stories, immigration, wars, poverty, multiculturalism, questions of identity, pioneering efforts, and globalization. At the heart of these nine productions is the depiction of women whose narratives provide insight into their aspiration to surpass the confines of their reality, with the portrait serving as a pivotal element. The explored themes encompass boundaries, control, self-censorship, constraints, and navigating interactions with an environment that can be adversarial.
Excerpt from the curator statement. Full version: https://bit.ly/3UR3dnU.
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PROGRAM
Freak Girls - Tamara Vukov
Video essay, Canada, 2005, 4:04, English
Freak girls is a tribute to the women who pioneered the art of the female spectacle.
La Petite Fille D’avant - Hind Benchekroun
Documentary, Canada, 2005, 15:00, French and Arabic, with French subtitles
After 15 years spent in Montreal, Hind returns to her home country, Morocco, and initiates a dialogue with key figures in her life: her mother and her cousin, two women from different generations who have shaped her identity.
Violence - Stéphanie Pihéry
Music video, Canada, 2004, 4:30, French with English subtitles
Female rapper ZM from Niamey, Niger, denounces the violence committed against her sisters. As a woman and marginalized artist, she speaks out for those who are not heard in her country where power is still only a male attribute.
Fun with Girl - Diyan Achjadi
Animation, Canada, 2006, 3:44, No dialogue
A young golden-skinned girl (simply named “Girl”) in a sweet red dress lives in a brightly coloured, post-apocalyptic world, populated entirely by herself and her clones.
Avec le froid, la pluie, la chaleur... con frio, con lluvia, con calor… - Lotty Rosenfeld
Documentary, Chile, 1986, 7:00, Spanish with English subtitles
Portrait of a Chilean worker who must, in order to survive, sell the cardboard she collects from garbage bins to large industries. A revealing testimony on poverty in Chile.
Keeping Quiet - Diyan Achjadi
Animation, Canada, 2001, 0:07, No dialogue
A girl learns to censor herself.
Une Fille de ma Gang - Marilyn Burgess
Documentary, Canada, 1989, 20:00, French with English subtitles
A young lesbian joins the Canadian Armed Forces in the hope of meeting her soulmate. An allegory in three parts about the power of desire in the face of the constraints of military thinking.
Don’t Blink For 45 Seconds (After Kathy Dillon) - Sheena Hoszko
Performance/Experimental, Canada, 2007, 1:31, No dialogue
Don’t Blink For 45 Seconds (After Kathy Dillon) is a 45-second performative video work addressing the thresholds and limitations of the body in relation to control.
Leylouna, Notre Nuit - Yasmine Khlat
Documentary, France/Lebanon, 1987, 52 mins, French, Arabic, English with French subtitles
Behind the walls of a Beirut apartment building, Yasmine Khlat filmed women from diverse social and religious backgrounds—solitary neighbors, confidants, and tenants living in the limbo of a confined world. The emotions of their daily lives serve as a barometer for the events unfolding outside. Through fragments of life shared over a cup of coffee, unfinished sentences or smiles, and the intrusion of news on television, we glimpse the accumulated grief of years of violence, quiet sadness, hope, solitude, and inner exile.
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ABOUT THE CURATOR: CHANTAL MOLLEUR
After working for more than two decades in the Canadian media arts field, during which she was involved in distribution and exhibition production, Chantal Molleur co-established White Frame several years after moving to Switzerland in 2005. Since the inception of White Frame, she has curated more than 45 media art projects, comprising both screenings and exhibitions. Her primary focus is on moving images, intermittently exploring the worlds of photography and sound art. In addition to her curatorial role, she mentors students in film and art, providing promotional plans and distribution support to graduates of the Lucerne School of Art and Design in Switzerland. Molleur has further contributed to the arts community by serving on the boards of directors and grant juries for art institutions in both Switzerland and Canada.
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This project was supported by Archive/Counter-Archive, the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC), the Conseil des arts de Montreal and GIV.
Still©: Diyan Achjadi, Fun with Girl, 2006.