About Greetings from Isolation
Created by Canadian veteran film programmer Stacey Donen in the hopes of finding inspiration and enlightenment from our shared human experience of isolation under COVID-19, Greetings from Isolation has invited a broad range of Canadian filmmakers to participate in a capsule collection film project.
The project will include new and original works filmed while living in isolation from Matthew Rankin (The Twentieth Century), Sadaf Faroughi (Ava), Brett Story (The Hottest August) Ann Marie Fleming (Window Horses), Richard Fung (Sea in the Blood), John Greyson (Lilies), Larry Kent (Bitter Ash), Barbara Sternberg (Like a Dream That Vanishes), Peter Lynch (Project Grizzly), Gariné Torossian (Girl from Moush), Alan Zweig (Hurt) and Yuqi Kang (A Little Wisdom) among others. The collection of films will be released online beginning in May, 2020
Currently there are around around 100 participating Canadian filmmakers creating short films across genres, including fiction, documentary, essay, and video diary, with more filmmakers expected to come on board in the coming months. Each filmmaker will use their own phone or personal camera and anything else that is available to them in their living space, with no budget attached.
“A few weeks ago, I began my involuntary new life as an at-home kindergarten teacher with my 5 year-old Sophie, who incidentally thinks I am pretty boring. With the few minutes of the day not building forts, struggling with origami, or watching Buster Keaton movies, I reached out to a group of my filmmaker friends to gauge their interest in participating in this project,” said Stacey Donen. “What’s happening around us is unprecedented, momentous, and frankly hard to believe or understand. All around the world we find ourselves forcibly separated from one another. With our extraordinary new everyday routines, connecting with one another is more important than ever.”
Stacey Donen of VeryNiceVeryNice and his daughter Sophie.
Browse the Collection:
Show/Hide Filters
Window Visits
director: Katerina Cizek
Toronto, Ontario
Images and Illustrations from March - June 2020
2min 50sec
Window Visits documents a family’s weekly afternoon visits to a long-term care facility from a child’s perspective.
On the Road
director: Alan Zweig
Swansea, Toronto, Ontario
May 23, 2020
6min 10sec
A search for a place to walk, a space to dance and a mask that fits.
Advanced Search Terms
director: Daniel Barrow
Montreal, Quebec
April, 2020
2min 35sec
The first in a series of interactive “digital puppet shows” telling the story of a wealthy woman (ostensibly Melania Trump) quarantined in a luxurious penthouse condominium.
29 Doors
director: Anna Maguire
London, England
March 18th - June 15th, 2020
4min 30sec
My door is my keeper. It keeps me safe, keeps me isolated, keeps me disconnected. I’m lucky I have a door. If eyes are the window to the soul what are doors?
Try to Remain Calm
director: Alexandra Grimanis & Steven Woloshen
Montreal, Quebec
2010 shooting and June 2020 post-production
1min 40sec
Made on glorious super-8 film,Try to Remain Calm is a fun look at pandemics in fiction films and how they are treated without any real consequences.
Typhoid Aphorisms
director: Solomon Nagler
Halifax, Nova Scotia in our garden
Phytograms made April/May 2020. iPhone footage shot by Zev Nagler on June 12th
3min 35sec
Fleeting images and text created during these months of uncertainty document lucid COVID dreams that manifest as aphorisms.
i’ve known rivers
director: Miryam Charles
Montreal, Quebec
May 27, 2020
3min 50sec
A woman calls the police thinking she witnessed a crime.
INT. HOUSE – DAY/NIGHT
director: Jeffrey St. Jules
Toronto, Ontario
Last week of May 2020
3min 45sec
Everything’s kind of weird when you look at it too much.
Journey to Nothing
director: Roger Boyer
Winnipeg, Manitoba
April - May 2020
5min
After a storm destroys his home, a man journeys to the edge of the universe only to realize he’s needed back on earth to help rebuild.
Breakdown #29
director: Dana Inkster
Lethbridge, Alberta
June 5, 2020
3min 20sec
“I have been warned, my homemade face-masks are affecting my meetings. I’m not feeling safe or healthy. Thank you for asking. All the very best, Dana.”
Certain Uncertainties
director: John Price
Toronto and Pickering, Ontario
March to May 2020
6min 15sec
Certain Uncertainties is an elaborate audio and visual mash-up of a family and a city during the pandemic.
The Time It Takes to Hear It
director: Christina Battle
Edmonton, Alberta
May 26 – May 31, 2020
3min 10sec
Slowing down, looking closer, and listening to what has always been there just under the surface.
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