Part of the Light Matters Film Festival

Tucked away in the village of Alfred in rural western New York, the experimental film and media arts festival LIGHT MATTER has become “a major East Coast showcase for experimental film and video” (Sicisnki, INRO) in three short years. Spurred by a desire to bring together the often disconnected worlds of Film and Media Arts, curator James Hansen constructs thoughtful, eccentric programs that seek to create conversation between individual works, showcasing both emerging and established artists. In 2024, LIGHT MATTER is taking its show on the road, traveling first to NYC, followed by stops in New Mexico and Chicago. Spanning a host of mediums, medias, and styles, “this festival regards experimental media less as a genre and more as an open question, a form whose identity flickers into being at the moment when light hits the screen.” (Sicisnki, INRO). This event is for any film lover with a sense of adventure, a tolerance for flicker, and an open mind.

PROGRAM 2 (FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 23rd):

A question of form in the form of a question. The ecological cut leaves remains in the ground, on the surface. Parts of a planet on the brink. What can the future look like? How do we remain? Lives in miniatures. The labor of archives, in process. Looking through.

* = NYC Premiere

1. Eduardo Gutierrez, Refraction, 9 minutes, Peru*

2. Jude Abu Zaineh, FORMatyions, 5 minutes, Canada/Palestine*

3. Esperanza Collado, Tragame nube, 13 minutes, Spain

4. Joanna Byrne, Diane (wrapped in plastic), 4 minutes, UK*

5. Valentin Sismann, Plasforms, 5 minutes, France*

6. Laura Kraning, de-composition, 3 minutes, USA*

7. Tina Sulc Resnik, Retreat, 1 minute, Slovenia*

8. Michael Lyons, Parts, 5 minutes, Japan*

9. Lorelei d’Andriole, The Halo is a Symbol of Our Death, 8 minutes, USA*

10. Teri Carson, Monolith, 14 minutes, Mexico*

11. Simon Payne, Intervals, 10 minutes, UK*

12. Abinadi Meza, Tlaloc, 9 minutes, USA/Mexico*

13. Linnea Nugent, In the Fishtank, 3 minutes, USA*

FORMations
Jude Abu Zaineh
2022
duration 5:15:49

FORMations reflects the natural ecology of food and flora in the region. Sampling the earth, indigenous and collected plant species, and leftover foods, FORMations examines the constant evolution within an ever-shifting cultural and geographical landscape; the petri-dish environment makes visible the invisible by providing a medium of growth for the microbial and bacterial communities that naturally exist within food and our overall surroundings. This enclosed environment gives metaphorical and visual connections to the often ignored or erased narratives and the layered complexities of hybrid existences that many newcomer (human and nonhuman species) experience in their respective, evolving habitats. 

The work gives a visual nod to the artist’s cultural heritage in referencing geometric forms found in South West Asia and North African architecture and Islamic art, while acknowledging the larger landscapes, foods, resources, and diverse ecosystems that make-up Southwest Ontario & region. Also taking additional inspiration from the Southwest Ontario landscape and Ron Benner’s adjacent public garden, As The Crow Flies.