AFK | Screenings

Physical Rehearsal - Our bodies’ identities through narratives

Arina Chernova, Jasmine Liaw, Natasha Woods , Nathan Clement , Yuka Murakami , Xinli She

Curated by: Cole Forrest

Black and white image of a close-up of a person’s face pressed against a glass surface, their face slightly distorting from the pressure.

Landscape of a shoreline on a blue sunny day, footsteps visible in the sand and a figure whose back is turned toward the viewer.

A collage of various 3D-rendered elements juxtaposed by scans of a sepia-toned passport photo and a photograph of a couple embracing outdoors, the image slightly sun-bleached.

A person swimming, focusing on her legs and arms which are fragmented from the water.

Hazy, small, red-walled room with a person standing in the middle, visible from the waist up. Their long black hair is in a half bun and they wear a black jacket with a white shirt underneath.

Close-up of a dark skinned woman resting her head gently on another person who is slightly visible. They are both lit by soft red and blue tones with a white key light illuminating the sides of their faces.

Echappe

Xinli She

Canada | 2023 | Digital | 3 MIN | English

Echappe is about the contradiction between the physical world and inner self. A journey of individualistic expression trapped under the confines imposed by society.

Location

Innis Town Hall

2 Sussex Ave, Toronto, ON M5S 1J5

Sidewalk-level entrance, elevator and ramp available, door width 32 inches, no automatic doors. No accessible parking on-site. Four wheelchair accessible seats in the cinema. 15 step-free seats in row 9. Accessible gender-neutral washroom located on the 2nd and 3rd floor.

For a map of Innis Town Hall, click here

COVID-19 Policy

Images Festival is committed to providing an accessible festival and continues to work to reduce barriers to participation at our events. This year, we are implementing a COVID-19 policy to reduce the risk of COVID-19 transmission for all, and to prioritize the participation of people who are disability-identified, immunocompromised, or part of an otherwise vulnerable group.

The following guidelines will be in place: Self-Assessment: We ask that staff and participants screen themselves for COVID-19 before visiting the exhibition.

Turning the 2024 theme Rehearsing Refusal on its head, this official selection of student shorts curated by the festival’s Emerging Curator, Cole Forrest, is a dynamic reflection of “refusing rehearsal.” These six unique, experiential works explore movement within and outside bodies that are remembering, suffering, moving through identity, taking up space, and experiencing change.

Arina Chernova

Arina Chernova was born on the 16th of February 1995 in St. Petersburg, Russia. Today, she is a filmmaker living in Berlin. Growing up as an immigrant in Eastern Germany, she is particularly interested in the perspectives of outsiders. She began producing artistic works at the FilmArche Berlin and has continued her studies at the German Film and Television Academy (DFFB) since 2018.

Jasmine Liaw

Jasmine Liaw is an emerging interdisciplinary artist in dance, performance, new media art, and experimental film. Her practice investigates methods of queering diasporic culture through dance-technology. Her work holds space for complexity, inspired by her own queerness, identity, and climate anxiety. She is an artistic associate of the Chimerik Collective in Vancouver.

Natasha Woods

Natasha Woods is a filmmaker and educator currently based in Columbus, Ohio where she is in pursuit of her MFA. Committed to using filmmaking as a tool for inquiry, collective organizing, and worldmaking, she has organized a number of screenings and workshops at DIY and artist-forward spaces.

Nathan Clement

Nathan Clement is a Réunion-born, Paris-based filmmaker and musician. He studied cinema in Switzerland at HEAD-Genève and has produced three short films. He is also a musician and sound designer.

Yuka Murakami

Yuka Murakami is a filmmaker and artist whose practice began in experimental sound. She has a BS in Cognitive Science from UCSD and an MFA in Film Direction from the California Institute of the Arts. Her awards include an Emmy in 2020 and the Allison Doerner Prize in 2021.

Xinli She

Growing up in China, and having lived in Toronto by herself since she was 15, Xinli She is interested in telling the stories of stuck-in-between identities. She strives to capture the vulnerability and imperfection of human nature in her films. Her most recent documentary, Flourishing, was shown at TIFF Lightbox in 2022.

Presented With:

Images Festival operates on land stolen from the Anishinaabe, the Chippewa, the Haudenosaunee, the Huron-Wendat, and the Mississaugas of the Credit First Nation. Tkáron:to is currently home to diverse Indigenous and Métis peoples as well as people who settle on this land. As part of Treaty 13 and the Dish With One Spoon Wampum Covenant, we acknowledge that we all eat from the same bowl and spoon, and must take only what we need, ensuring resources are available for all.

As art workers, artists, and curators, we see the process of untangling ourselves from settler complicity as internal, structural, and ongoing. It is not something to be taken lightly. The inclusion of Indigenous artists and curators into our program is just the first step of necessary and deeper change. Extending from our organizational accountability work, we strive to not only undo forms of complicity, but also actively create an environment and infrastructure that can support Indigenous peoples who work with us.

Images expresses our solidarity with Indigenous people on Turtle Island and globally. We are committed to continuing to learn, critique, and challenge the settler colonial structures we are complicit in.