Journeys (Or alternatives to the Monomyth)

Online Screening curated by Jessica Murwin

Brief Encounters and Sustained Engagement by Freya Björg Olafson

2012 | 10:00

Brief Encounters & Sustained Engagement is part of the AVATAR series exploring methods of creating, validating and disseminating one’s identity through the use of technology and the Internet.  The series is inspired by the mantra “I post therefore I am”, whereby Internet users legitimize their existence by documenting their lives and uploading this media to personal webpages and blogs.  The work in this series facilitates an inquiry into our desire to share and publicize our lives.

Missed the online screening? Watch Brief Encounters & Sustained Engagement on VUCAVU.com now!

Eye Eye Captain! (Eau Claire) by Shawn Olin Jordan

2011 | 3:15

Narrated tale of the dynamics between passengers on a ship and extreme weather conditions using archived televised hurricane weather reports. The piece weaves together multiple layers of meaning: shifting perceptions, a mythological journey, and contemporary environmental issues.

Missed the online screening? Watch Eye Eye Captain! (Eau Claire) on VUCAVU.com now!

Roundtrip by Caroline Blais

2013 | 3:11

Leaving to travel, uprooting yourself, discovering new geographies, getting lost, finding yourself.

Partir en voyage, se dépayser, être dérouté, se changer les idées, revenir transformé.

Missed the online screening? Watch Roundtrip on VUCAVU.com now!

Call to Adventure:

Brief Encounters & Sustained Engagement (Freya Bjorg Olafson, 2010)

You have woken from a dream into somewhere even stranger. A woman dances alone in a room. The image is distorted, but you can make her out. A stream of individuals, one after another, watches the woman. Some are curious, some baffled, some upset. But there is no denying this act of dual voyeurism is exciting. Each new random individual representing a potential interlocutor, changing the experience of the performance.

Multiple paths branch out. This is our starting point. Initiation: Wherein we face the road of trails, woman is positioned as trouble source and temptress, and clarity comes.

Eye Eye Captain (Eau Claire) (Shawn Olin Jordan, 2011)

A harrowing tale, a myth, in which the Captain of a tall ship has god-like powers to summon storms and the narrator must be strapped to the mast for her own protection. What was it they were after? Where was it they were going? At it’s heart, however, is much different narrative about a journey less tangible.

Through experience we have become wiser. The Return:

Roundtrip (Caroline Blais, 2013)

It has grown dark. The rhythm and structure of Roundtrip is hypnotic as we move through landscapes that manage to be both nostalgic and unfamiliar; a cross-country through fragments of land and sky, seasons and climates. We have traveled far and in this calm we realized that we are home again, we have arrived.

Jessica Murwin is an independent filmmaker and programmer based in Montreal, Quebec. Her focus is championing stories about and by women, First Nations and LGBTQAI+ peoples in the hopes of reclaiming narratives from white-cis-hetero-patriarchy. She would love to get to know your pets.