Rating: NNNNN
REHAB (various, 1999-2001) flaunts the orgy of filmmaking talent living in Parkdale, where posh old houses cozy up alongside treatment centres. The third year of this free event features freakishly accomplished short films and videos. There’s no overriding theme or aesthetic, so you’re liable to see Curtis Wehrfritz’s Icarus, a poignant modern dance film steeped in gold, spliced into the black-and-white dementia of Stacey Case’s Parkdale Wrestler series. It’s a bit of a head trip, but then so is the neighbourhood. On the arty side we have Deirdre Logue’s Enlightened Nonsense, 22 minutes of a woman splashing water, taping her head, being hit by a baseball, etc. Don’t know what it means, but the hand-tinted images are lovely. Christina Zeidler puts more substance into Traces, a kaleidoscopic city tour that plays over a woman telling stories about her dog. Over on silly street there’s Dual Citizen, Christy Garland’s shrewd comedy about Canadian retirees in Florida, and Liz Rosch’s operatic satire of catwalk models, The Orange Number. Best of the lot is Elida Schogt’s The Walnut Tree, an evocative documentary about a Dutch family’s Holocaust experience. It’s been acclaimed at bigger film festivals — now pop your head into a pub and catch it. NNNN (June 17, Club OV’s)
