Images Festival announces the full program schedule for its 32nd edition, taking place from April 11–18, 2019. Images Festival showcases artistic excellence in contemporary moving image culture through 14 gallery exhibitions, 73 on-screen works, and eight live performances happening throughout the city. The 2019 program calls attention to histories, solidarities, and collaborations, providing vivid perspectives that further challenge and uproot the dialogue surrounding experimental media art.

Images Festival’s Opening Night film on Thursday, April 11 will be the Canadian premiere of Software Garden, a music video album by Rory Pilgrim at The Royal Cinema. In contrast to a recent fascination with technology’s dystopian impact on public and private life, the film asks how we meet from both behind and beyond our screens. Software Garden is preceded by Marnie Ellen Hertzler’s, Hi I Need To Be Loved and Andrés Baron’s Printed Sunset.

On Thursday, April 18 the Closing Night program titled Outer Worlds is curated by Janine Marchessault, featuring five new large-format digital film shorts in celebration of the 50th anniversary of the invention of IMAX. Taking place at the historic Cinesphere Theatre at Ontario Place, Outer Worlds include works by Oliver Husain, Lisa Jackson, Kelly Richardson, Michael Snow, and Leila Sujir.

This year’s Canadian Artist Spotlight is Vancouver-based filmmaker KC Wei whose work explores the liminal space of music, video and writing, with romance, euphoria and dissolution coursing throughout her narratives. Wei’s first film Murky Colours, draws from the made-for-Hollywood spy novel first written by her father, Menjin Wei, and applies a particular collage aesthetic to account for the work’s fragmented storylines and hybridized, cinematic genre.

The 2019 lineup includes an impressive roster of features and mid-length films by national and international artists and filmmakers such as Karolina Breguła presenting the world premiere of (Squere), award-winning experimental filmmaker Christopher Harris, Adam Khalil and Bayley Sweitzer, Lily Jue Sheng with the international premiere of Five Movements, Filipa César and Louis Henderson presenting the North American premiere of Sunstone, Simon Mercer (Gary), and Byron Peters ((Pure Difference) Anti-Racist Mathematics and Other Stories: Episode 1-3)).

Images Festival will present short form works by a number of renowned international artists including Cauleen Smith (Sojourner), Sky Hopinka (Dislocation Blues), Ja’Tovia Gary (Giverny I (Négresse Impériale)), Abigail Child (Mutiny), Kevin Jerome Everson (Aquarius), Laura Huertas Millán (jeny303), Ryan Ermacora and Jessica Johnson (Labour/Leisure), Elizabeth Molin (Myrmex), Colectivo los ingrávidos (Altares). The festival will showcase many outstanding Canadian artists counting Dana Claxton (The Patient Storm), Life of a Craphead (King Edward VII Equestrian Statue Floating Down The Don River), Charlotte Zhang (The Lining), Gabi Dao (The Protagonists), Paz Ramirez Larrain and Laura Acosta (A-5H1).

The 2019 Live program features two exciting performances by 2017 Polaris Music Prize winner Lido Pimienta at MOCA and Griffin Poetry Prize 2018 Canadian Shortlist poet and artist Aisha Sasha John at the Costume House. On Saturday, April 13, Images Festival is pleased to announce the annual Keynote Lecture by filmmaker and critic Charles Mudede titled Visions of Black Secret Technology.

In addition to Images Festival ON Screen programs, the festival announces its co-presentation of 14 original exhibitions across the GTA, including Basma AlSharif (Basma AlSharif) at MOCA, Pamila Matharu (One of These Things is Not Like The Other) at A Space, Arnait Video Collective (Arnait Ikajurtigiit: Women helping each other) at Art Gallery of York University, Denise Ferreira da Silva and Arjuna Neuman (Four Waters: Deep Implicancy) at Gallery TPW. Find the full list of participating artists here.

The 2019 Images Festival Program was curated by Steffanie Ling (Artistic Director) and Sarah-Tai Black (Programming Coordinator).

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