Kay Armatage

Considered one of Canada's most important women artists of the second half of the 20th century, Joyce Wieland's art embodies the essence of her homeland, feminism, and ecology. Artist on Fire: Joyce Wieland captures the vibrant spirit of this painter, collagist, quilt maker, and filmmaker. In the early '70s, Wieland was involved in filmmaking, producing movies with a political message. In her 30-year career, she worked in a variety of mediums, including cloth, pastels, colored pencil, oils, bronze, and watercolor. Her works and her influence are examined in this detailed video portrait.

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The catalyst for this unusual documentary, which took the Silver Plaque at the 1980 Chicago Film Festival, was the attempt by Toronto striptease artists to form a union. The film is structured around the strippers themselves, as they speak directly to the camera about their attitude toward striptease, as work.

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A remake of Abram Room's 1927 silent Russian feature, "Bed and Sofa". Heralded as a revolutionary feminist film, Room's version was suppressed for its radical treatment of sexual freedom, women's rights, and abortion. Armatage's version shifts the emphasis to the woman's point of view and stylizes the narrative. A comedy.

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This experiment in point of view, narrative structure, and time attempts to reproduce cinematically Gertude Stein's notion of a "continuous present." In four rhyming shots/scenes, it suggests the development of a relationship over many years. Based on biographical details from the lives of Gertrude Stein and Alice B. Toklas, with improvised performances by Jackie Burroughs and Anne Anglin.

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A writer and her girlfriend engaging with women while touring Toronto.

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Editing is more than just assembling shots in a certain order, it's an art form, and this documentary celebrates the craft and how it has grown and evolved through the history of the cinema. Edge Codes.com: The Art of Motion Picture Editing traces this story from the world of pioneering silent auteurs such as Georges Méliès and D.W. Griffith through the bold stylings of the masters of the French New Wave to the technical and creative innovations of films like The Matrix, Memento, and The Sixth Sense. Edge Codes.com includes interviews with noted directors George Lucas and Norman Jewison, as well as top editors Thelma Schoonmaker, Zach Staenberg, Dody Dorn, Andrew Mondshein, and many more.

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