Occasionally eccentric and always thought-provoking, Microcinema showcases new experimental films while sharing stories, ideas, and connections about Canadian identity and is one of the only permanent exhibition spaces for film and media in Western Canada. See film, video art, animations, and short documentaries, on three media monitors throughout Arts Commons. Through a curatorial selection process, Microcinema programs up to 24 local and national media artists annually in exciting micro-cinema exhibitions running three months in duration.
Are you a media artist?
Arts Commons invites media artists to submit their short films, animations, video art, media art, and short documentaries. Visit our Artist Opportunities page for more information.
Stored Community Energy
featuring a collection of shorts by Simulations
Kyle Hinton
Creating, Using, Exchanging and Storing Community Energy
Exploring the material dimension of the global community through a chaotic, absurdist stop-motion collage, this work investigates the evolving transfer of value and the invisible forces that shape community energy. What creates community energy? Is it the work and labor we put in? Is it in the things we create? Is it a belief? Is it in the act of exchange? How? Is it all a game? Does exchange create community?
Maybe community energy isn’t something we trade, but something we co-create—an evolving fiction that holds us together through our labor, our creations, our systems and collaborations.
Flight of the Raccoons
A scrolling puppet show (a crankie) that simulates those moments when you go shopping, find that perfect piece of treasure, and must protect it from the horde to add it to your hoard.
Microbe Mutation
A short puppet show, performed from a suitcase, that reveals the consequences of not washing your hands before sending satellites into space.
Long Distance Communication
A friendly wave from me to you.
Trans & Tired
Levin Ifko
Trans & Tired (2024) is a short film that blends stop-motion and video footage to depict the process of creating my first large-scale quilt. The quilt, which in its final form reads “Trans & Tired” was created from September 2023 to April 2024. It was made with a lot of anger towards the fact that trans people in this province are experiencing significantly more setbacks than when I came out a decade ago. It was also made at a time when (by coincidence, mostly) I was feeling more connected with my sense of community than I had in a long time.
Together, I think of the quilt and the process of creating it, as an ode to the multidimensionality of trans existence. We cannot divert our attention from the harm being enacted upon trans people at this moment (read: please pay attention – we need you to be upset enough to care, enough to change), and I cannot begin to imagine my life without the kinds of love and connection that being trans has turbulently guided me towards. Rather, my hope is to acknowledge that all of these things continue to exist at the same time; the anger, the euphoria, communities of a loss and the found, and the feeling of aloneness that may just be tamed by a collective energy and power experienced through being with one another.
Portia
a new face, desires attention, brazen motion.
Keep Count Dance Collective
Keep Count Dance Collective values creative collaboration through dance film, community-centric dance, contemporary and jazz mediums, and mixed media. Throughout the years, co-creators Sarah Vander Ploeg and Maddy Faunt of Keep Count Dance Collective have bloomed into a vibrant and fierce duo. The pair continue to explore the question “What is the relationship between the body and film?” Defining their work as: fun, funky and a bold expression of human emotion and embodiment. The collective is thrilled to see where their creativity and passion will take them as they continue on this journey through dance and film.
Start With A Face
Ryle Ramirez in collaboration with Ankur Desai
"Start With A Face" is a short film by Ankur Desai and Ryle Ramirez that offers a behind-the-scenes glimpse into the creative process of contemporary artist Ryle Ramirez, of Calgary, Alberta. Utilizing mixed media, object creation, and media art, Ramirez employs the concept of MATA-MATA, a Cebuano term meaning "keen observation" or "visionary insight," as a foundational approach to begin his paintings. The film showcases how Ramirez translates his lived experiences into an experimental collage of abstract and figurative moments, exploring a diverse range of mediums, including painting, drawing, sculpture, and installations. Ankur Desai, a University of Calgary graduate and skilled videographer, captures this unique artistic journey, highlighting the interplay between observation and creation in a typical artist's studio space.
Ryle Ramirez was inspired to use the Mata-Mata process by a deep-rooted belief in the power of keen observation and visionary insight. This Cebuano concept emphasizes the importance of being present and aware of one's surroundings, which allows artists to draw from their lived experiences. By translating these observations into art, Ramirez aims to create a more authentic and relatable connection between the viewer and the artwork. This process also encourages experimentation and the integration of diverse mediums, enabling him to craft abstract and figurative moments that reflect his unique perspective.
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