A CALL TO CREATE OF LE LABO
FOR THE MEDIA ARTS SECTION OF THE CINÉFRANCO FESTIVAL
« Do well with nothing, do better with little, and do it now « *.
La Verticale is an artistic initiative by Le Labo, Toronto’s Francophone media arts center, in partnership with Cinéfranco, inviting professional Francophone or Francophile artists living in Canada to create a 2-3 minute film using only their smartphones. This project aims to free artists from material and budgetary constraints, and offer them the opportunity to take risks in exploring and experimenting with their artistic practice.
A true media arts counterpart to the Cinéfranco festival, this creative challenge aims to subvert the conventions of classic cinema by exploring the vertical format (16:9 inverted). During the festival, from November 1 to 9, six of the short films produced will be selected and exhibited on vertical screens in the Labo studio, located at 401 Richmond. This media arts exhibition will attract both festival and Le Labo audiences.
Let your imagination run wild!
*The Kino Movement (an international film movement in which no-budget films are made in a spirit of mutual aid, non-competition, freedom and benevolence).
Above you’ll find instructions on how to get started-the rules of the game. Inspired by the Surrealists and the work of Yoko Ono, these instructions are designed to awaken your creativity and stimulate your imagination. A framed freedom to think beyond limits, on the edge of the ordinary, in the margins.
LES MARGES | CURATORIAL ORIENTATION
In its original sense, margin refers to the part of a page not occupied by text, but it can also designate a third space, set back from the main object. This project invites us to explore these spaces, « where lines and forms are not yet completely defined » (Rainer Maria Rilke). Here are a few ideas to get you started:
The margin of a document-what’s outside the frame-represents what remains unexplored, vague and undefined. Margins can also be geographical: peripheries opposed to centers, rural areas in contrast to urban spaces. They are singular places, offering unique landscapes and a culture all their own.
Margins also include marginalized people or communities, whether nowadays or historically-groups removed from social structures, sometimes by constraint, sometimes by choice. Exploring the margins also means questioning the mechanisms and instances that define centrality, thereby creating the margins. This means looking at oppressive systems and the persistence of hierarchies.
Finally, the margins are about redefining the concept of art, inviting you to take an interest in what the traditional definition of art doesn’t yet encompass, in the spaces it excludes. But doesn’t this quest for « permanent revolution » question the very concept of margin? In the ever-breaking field of contemporary art, hasn’t the margin become the norm, the new center?
~~~In the manner of the scribbles and drawings that unfold in the margins of our school notebooks, give free rein to your imagination and your unconscious to offer us a different, subjective, partial and personal cinema.
THE CONDITIONS
To submit a file, the artist must :
- Be living in Canada
- Be francophone or francophile
- Have a professional artistic practice
- We are limited to a $200 artist fee.
- Le Labo is not in a position to cover extra costs for additional artists/participants.
- Le Labo does not offer production fees.
- Le Labo cannot guarantee the design of a publication presenting the artists, their research and their achievements, but will do its best.
- Le Labo can provide a letter of support to seek further funding from granting bodies.
- Le Labo is responsible for staging the short films.
DOCUMENTS REQUIRED FOR SUBMISSION
From now on, the only way to submit an application is via this single form, which must be received no later than midnight (Eastern time) on September 30.
In the form, you will be asked:
1- Your contact details.
2- Your artistic CV.
3- Your experimental short film, 2-3 minutes long, to be made exclusively with your smartphone, in 9:16 vertical format, and exported in mp4 or .mov format (H.264 and PNG codecs).
4- A description of your approach to creating this short film.
https://airtable.com/appX55d7inyIUEBk5/shrwY7MSfTVzo1DWa
Deadline: midnight September 30, 2024
For more information:
Email – programmation@lelabo.ca
SELECTION PROCESS
All applications will be carefully examined by a committee specially set up for the occasion. You will be informed of the final decision no later than October 20, 2024.
At Le Labo, we are aware that the arts programming system perpetuated over the years has harmed and continues to harm disproportionately the most marginalized people in society, including First Nations, Inuit and Métis people, people of color, working-class people, women and LGBTQ+ people. Because we believe that these communities must be at the heart of our reality, we strongly encourage applications from people with these identities or from other marginalized communities. Candidates who have difficulty providing the requested material in the suggested form can contact the team at programmation@lelabo.ca and we will take appropriate steps to submit a file.
