Gariné Torossian’s films have often been framed around diaspora, memory, and the search for identity, articulating these themes through found and heavily distressed footage, direct-to-the-film-strip lacerated collage, interruptions of photographic negative, and the reworking of rhythms through an optical printer. Born in Beirut in 1970 to an Armenian family, Torossian moved to Canada in 1979. As a teenager she took up photography, and in Toronto, an encouraging meeting with Atom Egoyan at the Armenian Community Centre led her to begin working with the moving image, first with performative videos made while she was still in high school, and later with 16mm film while studying at York University.
Ad Hoc is proud to present a selection of Torossian’s 16mm films. Torossian’s films mark a vital and influential chapter in Toronto’s recent experimental film history, and she joins us in person to introduce them.
AD HOC aims to rethink what an experience of cinema can be. We seek to reposition historical landmarks and buried treasures within the on-going tradition of experimental and other non- commercial modes of filmmaking, drawing on work from Toronto, throughout Canada, and internationally. Within these parameters, we aspire to diversity in programming, as well as to multimedia and interdisciplinary screening events that bring together varied communities.
AD HOC = Stephen Broomer, Madi Piller, Jim Shedden, Bart Testa.
Thanks to James Leo Cahill, Charlie Keil, Karen Reid, Eyan Logan, Sean Rogers, Robert Trevisan, Denise Ing, and the audio-visual staff of Innis College.
Programme:
Babies on the sun
Shadowy encounters
Pomegranate tree
Girl from moush
Visions
Platform
Dust
Death to everyone
Sparklehorse
TRT: 62 minutes