2017 Film

Infiltrating and Dismantling Dominant Narratives: The Manifestation of Intersectionality in Modern Feminist Shorts
Curated by Amanda Foote & Ami Kenzo

Friday November 17
Panel: 6:15PM – 7:00PM
Screening (on a loop): 7:00PM – 9:00PM
EMMEDIA 2005 10 Ave SW

Presented by EMMEDIA Gallery & Production Society
Part of Femme Wave Feminist Music & Arts Festival’s Femme Film series

The feminist landscape in Calgary has been shaped by many forces. As filmmakers working from a specific feminist lens there are heavy responsibilities to share and much work to be done. Today’s feminist filmmakers have inherited a legacy of triumph but also challenges.

These challenges, which have defined the modern feminist movement, range from topics exploring inclusion, access, and intersectionality. Tonight’s programming celebrates the women engaging in the revolutionary act of activism to induce change through the art of storytelling. Each piece addresses by means of unique visuals, voice and perspectives concepts relating to identity, space, representation and narrative control.

This program has been produced through EMMEDIA’s Homegrown Curatorial Program.

ABOUT THE CURATORS:

Amanda Foote has worked in community-based settings across North America, and is particularly interested in the use of heritage in community development. She utilizes diverse media, such as film, art, and music, in much of her work, and is passionate about the responsibility we all have to youth and our communities. Amanda is a founding member of the Nakoda A/V Club, a youth run collective of Indigenous artists and allies, that believes in the power of story. She produces for the club, organizing events and assisting youth in telling their stories. As a cultural specialist she works with museums and artists in research, development, and administration. She is also a film director/editor for projects such as Whore Logic, Residency Unlimited, and the Italian American Museum.

Ami Kenzo is a writer, emerging filmmaker and activist concerned with subjects addressing the agency, voice and space of the marginalized. The act of balancing two cultural spheres of existence, a spiced Congolese core identity with a glazed coating of Western influence has inevitably influenced the way she navigates the world and negotiates her existence. It is this process of negotiation that forms the foundation for her desire to align herself with organizations, causes and artistic projects that properly reflect the space she occupies and champions the causes of the disenfranchised. She has participated in collaborations and projects that range from production and researching role on a documentary on feminism, served as Assistant Director on a short experimental art film, and has written for Our Legacy Newspaper. In addition to these collaborations, Ami is Board Secretary for Antyx Community Arts and a co-curator for Femme Wave.

PANELISTS:

Vicki Van Chau is a filmmaker and media artist from Calgary. She graduated from the Alberta College of Art + Design in Media Arts & Digital Technologies, and is currently the Programming Director at EMMEDIA Gallery & Production Society. In her time there, she co-founded the PARTICLE + WAVE Media Arts Festival and co-publishes Luma, a quarterly online publication about film & media art. She is an active arts community member and has sat on the Board of Directors for the Untitled Art Society, EXPOSURE Photography Festival, and most recently, the Alberta Media Arts Alliance Society. In 2014, she was the recipient of the Spirit of Helen Award for her contributions to the media arts community in Alberta.

Anna Cooley is a filmmaker from Calgary who loves telling stories. She spends her time crafting projects, learning new skills and teaching anything she happens to learn. Anna is currently an Apprentice in the inaugural Canadian Academy of Cinema and Television Woman Director Apprenticeship Program. Sleepwalker is her first narrative project in quite some time, but she has also made a feature documentary call A Sauropod Abroad and her production company Erratic Pictures has all sorts of things in development.

Cheryl Foggo, a descendent of the Black pioneers of Alberta and Saskatchewan, is an award-winning writer of fiction, non-fiction and plays and has also written for TV and written and directed for film. Her most recent play, John Ware Reimagined, won the 2015 Writers Guild of Alberta Gwen Pharis Ringwood Award for Drama and will be seen next at Edmonton’s Workshop West Theatre Company November 9th-19th, 2017. In 2014/15 she co-produced Alberta’s first Black Canadian Theatre Series with Ellipsis Tree Collective Theatre Company. Cheryl is continuing her exploration of the life and roots of legendary Black cowboy John Ware in a new documentary with the National Film Board of Canada, scheduled for release in the fall of 2018.

Suza Singh is a writer, director, and producer. She is the founder of Reel Diverse, a non-profit organization that creates opportunities for diverse groups, and supports lead roles for women of colour. She is also a martial artist and former National Taekwondo Champion, and works with a wide range of fighters in her films. She received a Lifetime Achievement Award signed by past president Barack Obama, at the Legend of Martial Arts event in LA. She is currently in post production for a short film, Replecan, which the teaser trailer and the starring actress’ (Asha Annais) stunt reel has been selected for the Urban Action Showcase Expo in Times Square (New York), sponsored by HBO.

Amber Twoyoungmen is an inspiring young woman who is driven to celebrate her community though film and the arts. One of the first members of the Nakoda A/V Club, she has created three of her own short films, and collaborated on many projects. She dreams of attending film school, and has worked her way through various film education programs near her Morley, Alberta home.