The Botanical Turn, Saturday Nov. 2 at the Hamilton Playhouse /  by Francisca Duran

The Botanical Turn November 2 at 7 pm
Playhouse Cinema, Hamilton 177 Sherman Ave. North Hamilton
FREE ADMISSION

Known for her innovative use of phytography and hand-processing film techniques, Francisca Duran’s art practice intersects with a deep commitment to teaching, mentorship and community-building. For this special screening, the Dandelion Film Collective invites Duran to present her film “compendium” in the cinema alongside a selection of experimental plant-based films that influenced her path towards the recent exhibition Research Garden and its offshoots.

Direct engagement with film material has been a constant of artist filmmaking throughout the last century, but a significant strain of recent work bears the unmistakable mark of plant life on modes of production. Tried-and-true methodologies, notably hand-processing and direct animation, have proven fertile ground for experiments with plant material. This vibrant program demonstrates the ways analog film has become a medium through which artists are engaging directly with the nonhuman and from which they are considering the political, economic, and ecological conditions of late capitalism and the Anthropocene.

Verdant and wild, The Botanical Turn is a celebration of the circle of filmmakers who have inspired Duran’s plant-based films, as well as those she continues to inspire.

Films by Cecilia Araneda, Yuula Benivolski, Cristal Buemi, Larissa Fan, Dawn George, Siyao Guo, Bea Haut, Derek Jenkins, Robin Riad. This screening also includes the communal film created by participants at the 2023 Phytogramming Workshop facilitated by Franci Duran.

Post-screening Q&A moderated by Derek Jenkins.

The Botanical Turn is part of the Light Study Series. This event is co-presented by Dandelion Film Collective and Factory Media Centre and generously supported by the Canada Council for the Arts.

Film Farm Salon! /  by Francisca Duran

It was an honour to be a part of the inaugural Artist Salon at Film Farm (Independent Imaging Retreat) hosted by Phil Hoffman and Janine Marchessault.

It was a feast of ideas film, art, conversation, community and nature food featuring work by Karel Doing, JP Marchant, Sonya Mwambu and Phil Hoffman.

June 4–15 S(8) Mostra de Cinema Periférico, A Coruña, Spain /  by Francisca Duran

So excited to announce that I will be at S(8) Mostra de Cinema Periférico this year!

June 5–8
INPUT PERSONALISED TUTORING SPACE FOR FILM PROJECTS IN DEVELOPMENT

June 9
DIRECT ANIMATION EXPLORATORY WORKSHOP
Collaborating with Philip Hoffman, Robin Riad and Rhayne Vermette to lead an exploratory direct animation workshop for visual arts students:

June 9th, 19:30
FRANCI DURÁN: ANTÍDOTOS CONTRA EL OLVIDO
Film programme curated by Elena Duque

June 14 and 15
XPRESA WORKSHOP WITH FRANCI DURÁN
teaching a phytography workshop as part of XPresa

May 8, 7pm It Matters What at TIFF Lightbox! /  by Francisca Duran

Wednesday May 8, 7pm

It Matters What screens at TIFF Lightbox as part of Film Talks: a touring programme of experimental cinema

“Film Talks: 15 Conversations on Experimental Cinema, edited by Andrew Vallance and Simon Payne, is a collection of unique conversations on experimental cinema, involving a range of international film and video makers from the United Kingdom, Europe, and North America. The book represents a snapshot of diverse ways that several practitioners have come to think about the field of experimental cinema in relation to other art forms, moving image culture at large, as well as wider social issues. This touring film programme features more than 20 16mm films and video works by several of the artists featured in Film Talks, drawing out new ideas and connections that span different visions of cinema.

Andrew Vallance and Simon Payne will be present to introduce the screenings. Copies of Film Talks will be available for purchase. For more details of the book, please see here.”

Film Talks tour schedule
8 May: TIFF Bell Lightbox, Toronto (Programme 1)
9 May: Film Studies Centre, University of Chicago (Programme 1)
10 May: Block Cinema, Northwestern University (Programme 2)
13 May: Visions, Cinémathèque québécoise, Montréal (Programme 1)
14 May: Visions, Cinémathèque québécoise, Montréal (Programme 2)
16 May: Ad Hoc, Toronto (Programme 2)

Saturday March 30, 2024: It Matters What will screen at the 62nd Ann Arbor Film Festival (Copy) /  by Francisca Duran

Honoured that It Matters What will screen in a Special Program at the 62nd Ann Arbor Film Festival on Saturday March 30 at 7pm in the State Theatre 1

An Animal is Not a Metaphor 
Curated by Kornelia Boczkowska
 
Since the early days of avant-garde cinema, some iconic experimental films, including Private Life of a Cat (Maya Deren and Alexander Hammid, 1947), Mothlight (Stan Brakhage, 1963), Berlin Horse (Malcolm Le Grice, 1970), and Jamal (Ibrahim Shaddad, 1981), have abundantly featured animals, usually presented not as mere props or companions, but as central characters both closely interlinked with and independent of humans. In response to the animal crisis and the current developments of the Anthropocene, this program will demonstrate how artist-made films bring in the animal viewpoint so that animals become not just a subject or a metaphor, but a real object of the film, and provide clues to reexamining and transforming species co-existence. @aafilmfest @cfmdcfilm #experimentalfilm #phytogram #ecoprocessedfilm