Its been a busy summer at Images with planning our 23rd festival in April 2010 and helping to organize the 2010 International Experimental Media Congress. This 4-day conference will bring together makers, writers, teachers, theorists and lovers of experimental media art for lively exchanges about current issues, trends and developments in the field. More info to come as the conference develops. More information is available at experimentalcongress.org

Images staff have been traveling a plenty to see art around the world and bring it to Toronto this April. Artistic Director Pablo de Ocampo visited the 2009 Flaherty Seminar in upstate New York where he moderated two panels. He also visited the worlds oldest running short film festival in Oberhausen Germany. Operations Manager Rebecca Gimmi and Programmer Jacob Korczynski both visited the 2009 Venice Biennale this summer where they took in a plethora of media art throughout Venice. Executive Director Scott Miller Berry is taking two Images programs to Seoul this month where he is also participating in Asia Forum 2009 (see number 2 below!).

5:30 and 8:30 PM

Samillo Changgo Theatre

Seoul, Korea

Images is thrilled to be presenting two programs at EXiS, the Experimental Film and Video Festival in Seoul. Executive Director Scott Miller Berry will be traveling to Seoul to present the screenings and to participate on a panel at Asia Forum 2009 about experimental exhibition culture in Toronto and Canada.

The first program we are presenting, Siting Cinema, is a reprise of an On Screen competition program from the 2009 festival. Featuring works by Christine Lucy Latimer, Oliver Husain, Andrew J. Paterson, Jorge Lorenzo, Emily Wardill and Isabell Spengler, this programme explores and expands on the various contexts for the contemporary exhibition of film and video with the cinematic experience quoted through strategies that include choreography, historiography and the spoken and written word.

The second programme, Sequence Controller, delves into the archives and history of Canadian experimental media practice spanning three decades. Using optical printing and various forms of hand manipulation, the films and videos in Sequence Controller are engaged with the transformation of shape and light, the creation of motion and movement in the still and the fractured. The program features works by Ellie Epp, John Gagne, Alexandre Larose, Christina Battle, Louise Bourque, Isabelle Hayeur and David Rimmer.

For more information and tickets:

The Images Festival is now accepting FILM & VIDEO submissions for consideration for the 23rd Festival, April 1-10, 2010. The Images Festival is North America's premiere annual showcase for the innovative edge of international contemporary media art. Over the past 22 years, Images has presented thousands of vanguard projects in all genres, formats and configurations and has presented groundbreaking live performances and media art installations by renowned Canadian + international artists. Attended by 30,000+ people each year, the Images Festival is a critical forum for the independent media arts in Canada and around the world.

Early Deadline: 30 October 2009 [postmark]

**Discount for submitting your projects via our ONLINE FORM!

[Click here for link to entry forms and guidelines in PDF format as well as our ONLINE FORM]

**If you are unable to download submission files please request a copy from submissions [@] imagesfestival.com

The Images Festival has two pairs of tickets to give away to the first two replies to this email.

For these tickets send an email to images [@] imagesfestival.com with "TIFF TICKET CONTEST: Karaoke" or "TIFF TICKET CONTEST: Independencia" in the subject  line. 

Directed by Chris Chong Chan Fui (Malaysia, 75 min)

Wednesday September 16, 3:00PM

AMC 5, Toronto Life Square 

Former Images Film Festival staff and two-time TIFF Best Canadian Short Film winner Chris Chong Chan Fui returned to his native Malaysia and directed his first feature KARAOKE, which went straight to Cannes Directors’ Fortnight. He returns to Toronto with the North American premiere screening of the film – a homecoming, if you will. Indeed, homecoming is the major theme here. In this poetic and intelligent feature directorial debut, Chong improbably elevates karaoke videos into the realm of allegory. But the film is far from a treatise on the art of music videos. Instead, it concerns a young man named Betik, and his illusions regarding what it means to come home. 

Directed by Raya Martin (The Philippines/France/Germany/Netherlands, 77 min)

Sunday September 13, 6:15PM

AMC 5, Toronto Life Square  

The tumultuous colonial history of the Philippines is a subject rarely examined in Western film and literature. Raya Martin’s INDEPENDENCIA opens with the American encroachment and follows a mother and son as they flee into the jungle to escape the ensuing occupation. Far from a mere period drama, the critically acclaimed Cannes title INDEPENDENCIA is as much a formalistic examination of early cinema as it is a recreation of local history. Shot entirely in a studio against painted backdrops in the style of early film, the evocative cinematography and lush black-and-white film stock are accompanied by a rich score and vivid sound design. A good comparison is the works of Guy Maddin, though it is clear that Martin retains his own unique, quasi-anthropological take on cinema.

The Media Arts Network of Ontario (MANO) and the Independent Media Arts Alliance (IMAA) seek applications for the position of ON.Fire Conference Coordinator. The Coordinator provides MANO with administrative support, membership outreach, and financial management and oversees planning for ON.Fire, a national independent media arts conference that will be presented in Toronto in June 2010. 

The main priorities of the ON.Fire Conference Coordinator include working closely with the MANO Board, the Executive Director of the Independent Media Arts Alliance and conference organizing committees on the development, planning and fundraising for the conference. The Conference Coordinator provides assistance to staff and the Board in raising funds to meet the organization’s goals and objectives and undertakes the preparation of grant applications to municipal, provincial and federal public and private funding agencies as required. The ON.Fire Conference Coordinator will gain meaningful work experience and an understanding of the value and importance of media arts in Canada. 

Applicants should submit a letter of intent with a current resume to:

Lauren Howes, Chair

119 – 401 Richmond Street W.

Toronto, ON M5V 3A8

via e-mail: director@cfmdc.org SUBJECT LINE CONFERENCE COORD. 

or fax at 416.588.7956 

no later than 17:00 (5:00 PM) Monday 07 September, 2009. 

Only those applicants selected for interviews will be contacted. No telephone calls or email queries please. MANO is an equal opportunity employer, and is committed to diversity and inclusiveness in its employment practices and respects the right of applicants and employees to fair and equitable treatment.

www.workinculture.ca or watch for a full posting at cfmdc.org!