2018 Images Festival Program
April 12–20, 2018
Images Festival showcases artistic excellence in contemporary moving image culture through screening programs, gallery exhibitions, live performances, and discursive events. Since 1988, Images has presented media works that open critical dialogues and provides alternative ways of thinking and seeing, expanding the understanding of moving image art through our programming and education-based initiatives.
The 31st edition of Images Festival presents 13 gallery exhibitions, 78 on-screen works, and five live performances taking place throughout the Greater Toronto Area.
Festival highlights include a focus on the work of Steve Reinke, as the Canadian Artist Spotlight, which includes a solo screening program, an exhibition at Vtape, and the presentation of What Weakens the Flesh is the Flesh Itself, a collaborative work with British artist James Richards, and an essay on Reinke’s work by curator Jon Davies. Artist Lucy Raven and musician Deantoni Parks will present Bullet Points for a Hard Western, a live performance inspired by the artwork and music of Walter De Maria. Nicolás Pereda will present his new cinema lecture, The Private Property Trilogy: Survey of the Life and Films of C.B., and scholar and critic Erika Balsom will present a lecture titled "Mere" Recording?: Documentary, Contemporary Art, and the Orthodoxy of Ecstatic Truth.
The festival opens with SHAKEDOWN by Leilah Weinraub which features a weekly party founded by African American women in Los Angeles’ underground lesbian strip club scene in the early 2000s. The closing night program includes Djamilia, by French filmmaker Aminatou Echard, which will be followed by a performance by the Egyptian-Iranian performer and musician Lafawndah.
On Screen programs include feature-length and mid-length works by Moyra Davey who is presenting Hemlock Forest, Filipa César with her acclaimed first feature Spell Reel, Ben Rivers and Ben Russell with the North American premiere of their collaborative film The Rare Event, renowned German filmmaker Heinz Emigholz presenting Streetscapes [Dialogue], and James N. Kienitz Wilkins with Mediums.
Images Festival will present short form works by a number of renowned international artists including Korakrit Arunanondchai (With History in a Room Filled with People with Funny Names 4), Patrick Staff (Weed Killer), Karrabing Film Collective (Wutharr, Saltwater Dreams), Christine Sun Kim and Thomas Mader (Classified Digits), Sky Hopinka (Anti-Objects, or Space Without Path or Boundary), Sara Magenheimer (Art and Theft), Hiwa K. (View From Above), Chris Kennedy (Watching the Detectives), Sharlene Bamboat (The Wind Sleeps Standing Up), Kevin Jerome Everson (Fastest Man in the State), Midi Onodera (Down the Drain), Ute Aurand (LISA), Sylvia Schedelbauer (Wishing Well), and Mike Hoolboom (3 Dreams of Horses).
Historical films in the program include Dear Phone by Peter Greenaway, Sex Without Glasses by Ross McLaren, Love and Torment-—Albert Becker by Rosa Von Praunheim, Perfect Film by Ken Jacobs, and Invocation of My Demon Brother by Kenneth Anger.
The Informants, a program that was guest curated by Adam Khalil, Zack Khalil, and Jackson Polys features works by Sky Hopinka, Shelley Niro, Kent Monkman, Diane Burns, Guillermo Gomez Pena, Suzanne Kite, and others. Through video and performance, The Informants poses the question: can the desires that push Indigenous people to an ideal and irretrievable past instead be channeled to promote the imagining of Indigenous futures?
The festival presents exhibitions in its Off Screen program including Sophia Al-Maria (Black Friday) at Mercer Union, Trisha Baga (Biologue) at Gallery TPW, Sara Cwynar (Rose Gold, Soft Film) at Oakville Galleries, Oraib Toukan (When Things Occur) at YYZ Artists’ Outlet, Philip Scheffner (Haverie) at the Goethe-Institut Toronto, Soft Turns (PLANT/PIXEL) at 8eleven Gallery, Annie McDonnell and Maïder Fortuné (Communicating Vessels) at Gallery 44, Onyeka Igwe and Aliya Pabani (Corrections) at Trinity Square Video. There will also be a site-specific project titled Public Intimacies with works by Jon Wang, Dani Restack and Sheilah Restack as installations in hotel rooms at the Super 8 Hotel.
Images Festival is curated by Aily Nash, Head of Programming, and Faraz Anoushahpour, Programmer.
