Does anglophone Canada have a culture?

 

Le Canada anglophone a t’il vraiment sa propre culture?

Does Anglophone Canada Really Have A Culture? Mark Bourrie, among others, think this is a topic that deserves serious discussion.

Full video at YouTube: 

https://youtu.be/QyHb7q1FGUs

High School 1976

 

An authorial moviestory — published in the 80s, and made into various video forms from 2019 to now. The most recent below.

High School 1976

https://youtu.be/psk5tQXr4Ys

The short story vs. AI?

 

Note: this is a new version of a video I posted a few days ago. I’ve improved the audio levels, and hopefully that makes it more listenable. Regarding the animation sequences in the background of this video: they’re from a moviestory entitled High School that I write a long time ago, and first made into a movie in 2019. At that time, I shot the footage around the university where I teach (because it resembles a high school). But I didn’t have actors and deliberately avoided shooting the faces of random strangers. However, since this story is very much character-driven, I’ve always wanted to have actors play the main roles. AI animation allows me to create them. Do these animations work as well as real actors? Obviously not; human actors will always be irreplaceable. But the new version of The moviestory (now entitled High School 1976), works, I hope, as a bridge between a spoken word rendition of a story and a filmed version that has real production funding behind it.

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Artist Statement: On Authorial Moviestories

I make video art, and one genre I’ve created is what I call authorial moviestories; these are literary narratives transformed into short cinematic pieces. Each moviestory began as an original short story written entirely the old fashioned way: by sitting down with a paper notebook or blank computer screen, and creating a work of fiction based on my own imagination and experience. Over the several years (starting in 2012), I’ve filmed many of these short stories. 

I did all the work myself, including the music. That solitary effort has some negative characteristics: it’s painfully obvious the videos are low budget (no budget, really). But at the same time, for better or worse, these videos are, like traditional short stories, very much the result of one consciousness. 

Recently, I’ve started adding clips made with AI programs. These clips are sometimes based on prompts and sometimes based on my own artwork (I started my creative career as an illustrator and fine artist).

I incorporate AI-generated video clips into my moviestories. These serve as illustrative elements that create characters. In a sense, the characters I’ve created in my written work now become visualized versions of the same.

By creating a fusion of human-made literature, art and music, and adding clips generated with the help of AI animation apps, I hope to create a hybrid form of literary art that is rooted in my own lived experience and able to reach out to a wider audience.

#shortstory #shortfiction

Too many short stories?

 

Too many short stories?

The army versus hungry vets

 

In the 1930s, vets were desperate— sometimes committing suicide they were so impoverished. The government of Herbert Hoover decided their protests were a sign of “incipient revolution” and sent in the troops.

The Business Army: The Bonus March

https://youtu.be/SiYT9ObB6W0

More on nursing homes

 

Nursing Homes and Medical Staff: Do They Tell Families Enough?

#nursinghomes #elderlycare

Full video at YouTube:

https://youtube.com/shorts/OouoARKRInM?feature=share

Nursing homes

 

Nursing Homes and Medical Staff: Do They Tell Families Enough?

https://youtu.be/B5ay1WLUaIQ

High School 1

 

Can the short story be reinvented?

The form has a lot of potential. But, culturally, it’s been sidelined by the novel and even the poem. The latter two have adapted to a digital world. (Viz Philip Marchand.)

YouTube: High School — new version, part one 

https://youtu.be/pBfV_iZ9X-c

Truth Marathon, new opening

 

I’ve been experimenting with illustrated screenplay narratives (novels and short stories) for over twenty years. This is a recent example…

Truth Marathon 1 — smoother audio, September 12/25

YouTube link:

https://youtu.be/qhIemOlg-r0

Green tea and kimchi

 

#Korea #RuralAsia

Synopsis: A personal documentary about the agricultural life in Hadong-gun, the region of South Korea where my wife grew up. Filming was on the farm belonging to her family, and in the marketplace of the nearby town.

Green tea production is particularly prevalent in Hadong. But its farmers are under extreme economic pressure. More than this, Koreans’ habits in terms of favored beverages are changing, and the popularity of coffee is having a severely detrimental effect on green tea sales.

Kimchi, on the other hand, remains a staple of the Korean diet. And kimchi-making (kimchang) remains a traditional activity in most Korean households. Usually a group activity, after my mother in law’s death, my wife took this over duty solely.

[Note: a .txt file transcript is available for translation]

(Note: I have both 2K and 4K versions of this project.)

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Screenings and awards:

Mokkho International Film Festival

May 6, 2021 (winner)

Sprouting Seed International Short Film Festival 2020

Nov 28, 2020

(Winner)

Sunfest International Short Film Festival

May 15, 2021

 

Pune Short Film Festival

Oct 8, 2021

 

INTERNATIONAL FOLKLORE FILM FESTIVAL - IFFF. Jan 2, 2021

Anatolia International Film Festival

Feb 3, 2021

 

Great Message International Film Festival

Mar 20, 2021

 

Indo Global International Film Festival

Dec 25, 2020

 

K. R. MOHANAN MEMORIAL INTERNATIONAL DOCUMENTARY FILM FESTIVAL

Jan 10, 2021

 

Jharkhand Film Festival

May 8, 2021

 

Alibag Short Film Festival

Jan 20, 2021

 

Goa Short Film Festival

Dec 10, 2020

 

Golden Tree International Documentary Festival

Jul 25, 2020

Stockholm Film Festival 

(Finalist)

Ashoka IFF

January 20, 2022

 

From my collection of ambient and authorial movies. My focus is on videopoetry; however, I work in other genres and art forms as well.

Facebook: 

https://www.facebook.com/finn.harvor

VideoStorage:

https://www.facebook.com/groups/250816849097045/