Waves

On his way to the Occupy movement demonstration in Toronto, Mike Hoolboom intercepts a flickering stream of female consciousness. Encounters with a writer, biologist, nun, artist, and even the angel of history provoke him to create poetic portraits of women who are attempting to redefine themselves. Drawing inspiration from rebels, he presents their fragmented herstories using a new language. Reflecting on the body, communal polyphony, the open wound of the past, and power, the director illustrates these contemplations with images that defy the traditional visual experience. Mike Hoolboom: The film asks: is it possible to make a group picture out of individual portraits, especially when they are haunted by thoughts and ideas that come from the others? Each appears as the subject of ventriloquism, offering internal monologues collaged out of gender philosophers, novels and newspapers. How does the inner voice that each of us carries around permit other voices to speak through us (and is this part of a political project of solidarity?), while contributing to the project of singularity, helping to create an individual as unique as a blade of grass, or a stone on the side of the road.

TW: flashing lights which may affect people hypersensitive to light or suffering from epilepsy.