(Miriam Goi, Italy, 4 min)

A non-linear representation of the frenzy of renewal, and the mental and emotional chaos that comes with finally taking some decisions for oneself: the paradox of how getting more in control of your life also translates into letting go of perfectionism, idealization, and defensive over-planning.

(Riccardo Palladino, Italy, 8 min)

A “shadowy” cinematographer, with a unique point of view and an old Beaulieu camera, discovers the World as if for the first time, confused and uncertain about the mysterious relationship between himself and the rest of the world.

(Jennifer Hardacker, US, 4 min)

A stark, experimental film. A mood. Exploring our fears of Armageddon, our lived isolation, and the haunting beauty of nature’s persistence.

(Rennie Taylor, Canada, 3 min)

What does a building look like on the verge of demolition? The structure at 888 Dupont has had many functions throughout the years. Recently, it served as an oasis for artists. Its future looks more mundane and typical: glass-clad condominiums. When a building with a history of community, opportunity and creativity is slated for the chopping block, does it make a sound? What would this building say to us if given the chance?

(Masha Godovannaya, Austria, 9 min)

Based on a poem by art historian Koivo, the film departs from his inquiry on how the architectural elements of the past manifest themselves in the everyday: in bridges, elevated highways, and underpasses. 16mm camera in hand, I walked Vienna tracing architectural residues of the ancient architecture transformed in the urban landscape of the modern city with the haunted history.

(Alexander Bickford, US, 8 min)

The dizzying dreams of summertime.

(Wyatt Cunningham, US, 5 min)

An exploration of Boston’s urban environment through sound and super 8, with an emphasis on the rhythms of city life.

(Ignacio Tamarit & Tomás Maglione, Argentina, 3 min)

A handheld camera tries to empathize with urban objects that have inherited animated potential. These elements, disconnected from each other, are related through camera movement and montage, which slides through the city looking for its definitive form.

(Alex MacKenzie, Canada, 11 min)

Created using a 35mm film tin modified into an outward-looking 59-pinhole camera that registers images on a single film loop mounted in the tin. Each loop is exposed in one moment with 59 pinhole “lenses” to create as many distinct images that, when presented in series, create a panning of the landscape in various directions.

The work was exposed on outdated black & white 35mm print stock acquired from Archives Canada discards, and processed by hand in Caffenol chemistry, a less environmentally impactful developer made with coffee, vitamin C and washing soda.

The film documents a city park (Burrard View Park in Vancouver—unceded territories of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm Musqueam, sḵwx̱wú7mesh Squamish, and səlilwətaɬ Tsleil-Waututh nations)—using light, motion, abstraction and film chemistry to render a near-empty space re-activated during the pandemic.

(Tracy Peters, Canada, 4 min)

Dam’d illuminates parallel behaviours between human and invasive species and their impact on waterways. The mutation of film footage acts as a metaphor for the erosion and evolution of the aquatic ecosystems it records.

(Josh Weissbach, US, 6 min)

A city symphony in miniature, dedicated to anyone who has gotten lost in thought while stuck on the midwinter train. To all that unfolds in those private reveries.

(Kathleen Rugh, US, 3 min)

Before all magic was lost, the sun awoke to meet me on the surface of the river. The film captures an in-camera edit of this fleeting encounter.

(Erin Weisgerber, Canada, 12 min)

Vertiginous masses of carved granite give way to an ecstasy of light and living colour through an alchemical spell of elemental transformation. Hierarchies dissolve as the transient quotidian inspires the monumental. Imprinting successive layers of time in a ritual of repeated gestures, active attention, walked paths, shifting seasons, and cycling years, Dans les cieux et sur la terre combines the alchemical potential of photochemical film with the ritual of the filmmaker’s performance. Filmed over 7 years in the neighbourhood around the filmmaker’s Montreal home, a foundational local monument meets fleeting traces of urban flora. Bipacked with traveling mattes, the vibrant reversal filmstrips pass many times through the camera’s gate, sedimenting layers of time. Golden autumn leafmeal meets the cool of a late-spring iris within the frame’s architectural ground.

The film was shot and hand-processed entirely on reversal films, with all of the composite images created in camera. Sound design by Andrea-Jane Cornell.

The Engauge Experimental Film Festival, now in its 5th year, celebrates the art of analog experimental filmmaking. Only films that originate on celluloid film are eligible for the festival. In 2022, Engauge features 73 films from 15 countries, showcasing a wide variety of experimental techniques.

Most films will be presented as digital transfers, but the majority of film programs will also include 16mm and 35mm film prints. The festival closes with a solo show and expanded cinema performance by Kristin Reeves that will deploy nine 16mm projectors simultaneously in the NWFF lobby!

⚠️ Please note: NWFF patrons will be required to wear masks that cover both nose and mouth while in the building. We are not currently checking vaccination cards.