Through formal experimentation based on the artist’s personal struggle with gender identity, a singular self has been split into two.
Supported by
Media Partner
Community Broadcast Partner
Community Partner
Taliesin Mason-McCrea
Canada
2022
English
Flashing/Strobing Lights
Featured in:
VIFF Short Forum: Program 2
Fear, doubt, and loneliness give way to pleasure, empowerment, and reclamation—or, is it the other way around?
Missing VIFF? Check out what's playing at the VIFF Centre
Shifting Baselines
Towering rockets rise as wetlands vanish in this sly black-and-white documentary about SpaceX’s conquest of Boca Chica, Texas. With sci-fi aesthetics and observational calm, the film exposes how cosmic dreams begin with the quiet erasure of Earth.
A Poet
When embittered poet Oscar Restrepo takes a job at a local high school, he meets Yurlady, a talented student from a poor background. Seeking to help her cultivate her art, he draws her into the poetry world — to disastrous and comedic results.
La Salsa Vive
An exuberant celebration of salsa that traces the genre's evolution from New York City in the 1960s and 70s to Cali, Colombia — the salsa capital of the world. Carvajal’s documentary highlights the rich legacy of this musical form and the joy it inspires.
Memory of Princess Mumbi
Can a filmmaker depict the future without AI? Damien Hauser crafts a genre-blending Afro-speculative fable about love, war, and the future of storytelling in a resurrected African kingdom. A micro-budget epic fueled by digital invention and heart.
Winter Light
Da-bin has a broke mother, a runaway brother, and a sister who’s going deaf, but gets by thanks to his best friend and caring girlfriend. Poignant and poetic, this is a film that explores the pain of adolescence and the stress of competing loyalties.
The Nonsense
Insurance investigator Yoo-na is working a case of death by drowning; her company claims suicide, but the truth is unclear. Confronting an eccentric beneficiary with great powers of persuasion, Yoo-na finds herself in a fog of doubt and suspicion.
Credits
Producer
Sidney Gordon
Screenwriter
Sidney Gordon
Cinematography
Emil Vargas
Original Music
Aysha Dulong
Director
Sidney Gordon
Sidney Gordon is a queer multimedia emulsion-based artist, born and raised on Treaty 4 territory. They hold a Bachelor of Media Arts in Film + Screen Arts from Emily Carr University of Art + Design in so-called “Vancouver,” where they currently reside. In 2022, they won the Chancellor’s Award, Best Experimental Film, and the VIVO Distribution Award, and were longlisted for The Polygon Gallery’s Lind Prize in 2021. Their film and cameraless-photo works have been shown both locally and internationally.