dreamscapes
Wednesday, October 19, 2022 | 6:00 PM – 8:00 PM | FREE
Djavad Mowafaghian Cinema – SFU Goldcorp Centre for the Arts, 149 West Hastings Street, Vancouver
‘Across the veil of dreams, a distant beach shifts, intimacies collide, somewhere in a cabin, whispers abound… Across the veil of dreams, something ephemeral, like a poem, breathes...’
Join us on Wednesday October 19th for dreamscapes, a retrospective screening of three short films by collaborators Cameron Mackenzie and Suzanne Friesen. These films explore different interpretations of a dreamscape – a landscape infused with mystery and open for personal reflection. Friends and collaborators since 2014, Cam and Suz have created short films together that integrate their shared approach to filmmaking as a poetic and evocative art form.
After the screening, Mackenzie and Friesen will be in attendance to discuss their films in conversation with Luis Alvarez, the Program Coordinator for Cineworks Independent Filmmakers Society.
Email education@cineworks.ca for more information.
We wish to thank our generous funders for helping to make this event possible — Canada Council, BC Arts Council, the City of Vancouver, and BC Gaming.
Program
Venusian
Co-Directed by Cameron Mackenzie & Suzanne Friesen
16mm | 9:48 | 2019
A woman reconnects… Love's liberation from physical and temporal realms are examined through painterly, surreal compositions and the characters' alien relationships with each other and their environments.
The Constant Evening
Directed by Cameron Mackenzie, Cinematography by Suzanne Friesen
Digital | 11:03 | 2019
Images of past and present intertwine as a troubled man reenacts intimate memories of his former lover with a naive and mysterious young stranger.
tu
Directed by Suzanne Friesen, Production Design by Cameron Mackenzie
16mm | 9:38 | 2020
"tu" translates to "here", in the Polish language. In the shape of a visual poem tu narratively explores a meditative respite from the human condition, and formally investigates the relationship between viewer and medium via temporal stasis and "play back”. Here we are, in a film where memories, identity, and inter-generational trauma and diaspora become merged and confused. Several voices culminate in unrest, but in parallel, one unshakeable and foundational truth remains: “I am here.”
Co-presented by Cineworks Independent Filmmakers Society and the SFU School for the Contemporary Arts.
Biographies
Suzanne Friesen is a Canadian/Polish cinematographer and filmmaker based in Vancouver, BC. Her work has exhibited at the Polygon Gallery, The Edge, and Flatlander’s Studio, as well as the Sundance Film Festival, Clermont-Ferrand, Toronto International Film Festival, Palm Springs Film Festival, and Vancouver International Film Festival. Suzanne was shortlisted for the Lind Prize in 2021, and received a Leo nomination in 2022 in the category of Best Cinematography in a Motion Picture for the feature film Be Still. In addition to her career as an artist, Suzanne is an Instructor at Capilano University’s School for Motion Picture Arts where she teaches first year cinematography and film production. Suzanne’s current artistic practice is based in filmmaking and is influenced by her background in experimental darkroom practices and documentary photography. Her work is inspired by a curiosity for the handshake shared by image-creators with the machine-eye’s reflection of consciousness.
Cameron Mackenzie is a film / video editor and filmmaker based in Vancouver, BC. He studied Visual Arts at The University of British Columbia and Film Production at Simon Fraser University School for the Contemporary Arts. His work has screened in several festivals and galleries including Vancouver International Film Festival, FIN Atlantic International Film Festival, Julien Dubuque International Film Festival, Vancouver Queer Film Festival and the Art Gallery of Greater Victoria. His experimental short films explore how personal identity is shaped by psychological, social and environmental factors. As a resident filmmaker at The Cinematheque and recipient of BC Arts Council's Early Career Development Grant, he created short films and filmmaking workshops for youth to promote an appreciation for film as an empowering form of artistic self expression. He currently works as a commercial film / video editor while continuing his independent filmmaking and editing practice.
