Photography, Film and Cultural Representation

This film series has been prompted by issues arising from the exhibition From the Background to the Foreground: the Photo Backdrop and Cultural Expression.

20 October - Notman's World

Albert Kish/NFB 1989, 29 minutes

and

Fixed in Time

Shelagn MacKenzie/NFB 1980, 20 minutes

Two portraits of the early Canadian photographer William Notman, and his studios in Montreal and Halifax. The use of backdrops and other Victorian conventions display a different understanding of how photography was practiced and accepted in the mid-1800s.

27 October - J.A Martin, itinerant photographer

Jean Beaudin/NFB 1979, 101 minutes

Winner of thirteen international awards, this deeply moving tale follows a late 19th century Quebecois photographer who makes an annual summer tour through remote rural regions, accompanied by his wife. The couple slowly discover themselves on their journey. A classic of the Canadian screen, full of insightful historical detail and quiet human compassion.

3 November - Moonilonnu

Hari Das, Canada, 1995, 80 minutes

Saint Mary's University business professor Hari Das has writte, produced and directed a taut, Hitchcock-like thriller on a shoestring budget. This compelling tale, about a manipulative playboy who tries to murder three sisters, was filmed entirely in India in Keralian (a Malayalan language), but it is surprisingly easy to folow, and a plot outline will be provided. 

10 November - Surname Viet, Given Name Nam

Trinh T. Min-ha, USA, 1989, 110 minutes

An unusual portrait of cultures resisting, blending and reinventing themselves. Min-ha's restrained and profound documentary is a prism that refracts and recombines her Vietnamese, colonial French and newfound American cultures.