Francine Langdeau

Third Page from the Sun

Three books: a film festival catalogue, a dictionary, the Bible. Three works whose materiality has become obsolete by the digital dematerialization. A commentary on the fragility of culture.

Bydlo

An allegory of mankind heading for disaster, this animated short is a tragic vision inspired by the 4th movement of Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition. Drawing on the composer’s brilliant ability to evoke work and labour in his music, animator Patrick Bouchard brings earth to life through animated clay sculptures, creating a tactile nightmare in which man is his own slave driver.

Rated R for Nudity

A playful stab at mass hypnosis. Celebrating the mesmerizing power of movies, mischievous glimpses into a subconscious world inhabited by Bergman, Spielberg... and Bo Derek.

The Trenches

This animated short by Claude Cloutier is a pictorial account of an attack on Canadian soldiers during WWI. On the edge of the battlefield, recruits are dreading the order to attack. At the signal, a young soldier leaps into a hell of fire and blood where the earth engulfs both the living and the dead. Blending archival images and Cloutier’s hypnotizing brushstroke, the film is a dazzling illustration of the futility of war.

Drux Flux

Partly figurative, partly abstract, Drux Flux is an animation film of fast-flowing images showing modern people crushed by industry. Inspired by One-Dimensional Man by the philosopher Herbert Marcus…

Blue Like a Gunshot

With its interplay of shadow and light, of paint in movement, BLUE LIKE A GUNSHOT is a work of great visual power. It is also a reflection on our world. In its evocation of the conflict between civilization and nature, the absurd vanity of human warfare contrasts with the harmony of the natural world.