FIFA Festival: Fringe Arts Picks the Flicks

Fringe ArtsAshley Opheim — Published March 22, 2011

The International Festival of Films on Art is a dream for any artist. This multi-disciplinary 10-day festival is the largest of its kind in the world and continues to grow and diversify every year. FIFA is devoted to a worldwide consciousness of art in film and films on art. The festival marries cinema and art together poetically. Whether it be theatre, dance, literature, visual arts, music, design—FIFA has something for everyone. 600 films were submitted to the festival from over 20 countries this year. While the festival boasts screenings of over 200 films during its run, we have weeded through and chosen some we think will be worth checking out.

Breaking Boundaries: The Art of Alex Mask

This film profiles Alex Masket, a young man with autism.

Despite his complex condition, which affects his ability to communicate and interact with others, he has been experimenting with colours, letters and numbers his whole life. Entirely self-taught, he has created an astonishing and varied body of work.

The film asks this: Is this how he expresses himself? Is this his language, and is it our own disability if we can’t understand it?

Through interviews with art experts and a community of supporters, the film reveals the young artist’s kinetic energy and individualistic style, shedding new light on the concepts of artistic communication and the creative impulse.

Kinngait: Riding Light Into The World

Cape Dorset is the epicentre of Inuit Art. The remote community is located at the southern tip of Baffin Island in Nunavut and is recognized around the world for its soapstone sculptures and unique folk art.

This film takes us up north and to Kinngait Studios, formerly known as the West Baffin Eskimo Co-operative, an Inuit-managed and owned art centre.

Combining commentary and images of iconic works, the film looks at how art took over from the fur trade in the 1950s. It sheds light on the relationships between the artists and Kinngait Studios. Examples of works by different generations illustrate the profound experiences that the Inuit people have experienced through their lifestyle, art and environment.

Wednesday, March 23 / 9:00 p.m. / Cinema ONF / 1564 St. Denis St.

Futurism: An Art/Life Movement

Based on exhaustive research in cooperation with his family, this docudrama portrays the revolutionary views of Filippo Tommaso Marinetti (1876-1944), the leading advocate of Futurism.

Futurism is an intellectual and artistic movement. Created in Italy in 1909, Futurism advocates for a new aesthetic based on progress, machines and speed.

The narrative voice of Marinetti himself conveys the language of this movement, which sought to encompass all forms of creativity.

The film combines historical re-enactments, drama and action, interviews with Italian and international scholars and critics, 3D computer graphics and archival footage. Don’t miss this film. The future is now.

Sol Lewitt: Wall Drawings

This film takes you on a journey through the 40-year career of Sol LeWitt (1928-2007), an acclaimed pioneer of minimalism and conceptual art. Lewitt has produced more than 1,200 wall drawings that use a conscious limitation of lines and geometrics that create works of depth and complexity. LeWitt believed that the idea that generates the work of art is often more important than its execution.

In November of 2008, over a hundred of the works he created since 1968 went on display for a 25-year run at MASS MoCA in North Adams, Massachusetts. It took six months of intensive work by a team of 65 artists and students to mount this retrospective, which occupies 40,000 square feet in this huge museum that is housed in a former mill. Sol Lewitt: Wall Drawings explores the artist and his legacy.

Tuesday, March 22 / 6:30 p.m. / Musée d’Art Contemporain / 185 Ste. Catherine St. W.
Edgar B. Howard / United States / 2010 / Colour / 55 min / English