Practical dreamers: conversations with movie artists

"The streets are full of admirable craftsmen, but so few practical dreamers."--Man Ray What if there were movies made the same way as suits, custom fitted, each one tailored for one person' Not broadcast, but narrowcast' Not theatres around the world showing the same globalized pictures, but instead a local circumstance, a movie so particular, so peculiar, it could cure night blindness or vertigo' Welcome to the world of fringe movies, where artists have been busy putting queer shoulders to the wheels, or bending light to talk about First Nations rights (and making it funny at the same time), or demonstrating how a personality can be taken apart and put together again, all in the course of a ten-minute movie which might take years to make. Practical Dreamers takes us to this other side of the media plantation. In it, twenty-seven Canadian artists dish about how they get it done and why it matters. The conversations are personal, up close and jargon free, smart without smarting. The stellar cast includes smartbomb Steve Reinke; visionary Peter Mettler; Middle East specialist Jayce Salloum; queer Asian avatars Richard Fung, Midi Onodera, Ho Tam, and Wayne Yung; footage recyclers Aleesa Cohene and Jubal Brown; overhead projector king Daniel Barrow; First Nations vets Kent Monkman and Shelley Niro; international art presence Paulette Philips; and documentarian Donigan Cumming. These in-depth talks come lavishly illustrated in an oversized volume

Smartbomb / Daniel Cockburn -- Pricless / Helen Lee -- Beyond the usual limits / Deirdre Logue -- Miss Chief / Kent Monkman -- Ironic nostalgia / Nelson Henricks -- I am a conjuror / Emily Vey Duke and Cooper Battersby -- The singer / Benny Nemerofsky Ramsay -- The Red Army is the strongest / Shelly Niro -- Gambling, gods and LSD / Peter Mettler -- Reality and motive in the documentary / Donigan Cumming -- Memos of resistance / Izabella Pruska-Oldenhof -- Camera obscura for dreams / Midi Onodera -- Home is a movie / John Price -- After Charlie Brown and Liberance / Daniel Barrow -- My heart the travel agent / Wayne Yung -- From Leabanon to Kelowna / Jayce Salloum -- Soft like me / Jeff Erbach -- After science / Su Rynard -- Doubling / Monique Mournblow -- My rectum is not a grave / Steve Reinke -- Twice-told tales / Aleesa Cohene -- Season of the boys / Ho Tam -- Colour processing / Christina Battle -- Blinding light / Alex MacKenzie -- Life is pronography / Jubal Brown -- Monster / Paulette Phillips -- Thinking picture / Richard Fung.