Weekend in Alphaville

Edward Poitras & Bruce LaBruce with Robin Poitras and Ziyian Kwan
November 10, 2010

November 20, 2010

Weekend in Alphaville

Live Cinematic Performance

Saturday, November 20, 8:00 pm

“Weekend in Alphaville”

Edward Poitras & Bruce LaBruce with Robin Poitras and Ziyian Kwan.

Presented by Neutral Ground and Soil Digital Media Suite.

Queer City Cinema, partner organization; Sâkêwêwak First Nations Artists’ Collective Inc, Saskatchewan Filmpool Co-operative and Rouge-gorge for co-sponsorship.

In a futuristic, fascist society, a car made of organic material hits a mechanical deer dislodging its spirit from its body. The driver of the car engages with the spirit deer through a series of dialogues, dances, and musical interludes, a kind of Pas de Deux between the organic and the mechanical, between the spirit and the flesh, between nature and culture, between the past and the future.

-Bruce LaBruce

Tickets $10.00 at the door.

Doors open at 7:00 pm

Artist Bios:

Bruce LaBruce

Bruce LaBruce is a Toronto based filmmaker, writer, director,

photographer, and artist. He began his career in the mid eighties making a series of short experimental super 8 films and co-editing a punk fanzine called J.D.s, which begat the queercore movement. He has directed and starred in three feature length movies, “No Skin Off My Ass” (1991), “Super 8 1/2” (1994), and “Hustler White” (1996). More recently he has directed two art/porn features, Skin Flick (2000)(hardcore version: Skin Gang) and The Raspberry Reich (2004)(hardcore version: The Revolution Is My Boyfriend), and the independent feature Otto; or, Up with Dead People (2008). After premiering at Sundance and Berlin, The Raspberry Reich took off on the international film festival circuit, playing at over 150 festivals, including the Istanbul, Guadalajara, and Rio de Janeiro International Film Festivals. He was also honoured with retrospectives at the end of ’05 at the Madrid and Hong Kong Gay and Lesbian Film Festivals. Otto; or, Up with Dead People also debuted at Sundance and Berlin and played at over 150 film festivals, culminating in a screening at MoMA in New York City in November of 2008. His new film, L.A. Zombie, will be released in 2010.

LaBruce had his first solo show of photographs presented by the Alleged Gallery in New York in December 1999. He has had subsequent solo exhibits of his photographs at the Pitt Gallery in Vancouver, MC MAGMA in Milano, Italy, Bailey Fine Arts Gallery in Toronto, Peres Projects in San Francisco, and at John Connelly Presents in New York. His show Heterosexuality Is the Opiate of the Masses opened on July 16th/05 at Peres Projects in Los Angeles. In July/06 he mounted Polaroid Rage: A Survey of Polaroids, 2000-2006 at Gallery 1313 in Toronto. He has also participated in numerous group shows. In October of 2006 he was the featured artist at the Barcelona International Erotic Festival. His latest solo shows include Untitled Hardcore Zombie Project, which opened at Peres Projects in Culver City, LA, on May 23rd, 2009, and L.A. Zombie: The Movie That Would Not Die, which premiered at Peres Projects Berlin on January 30th, 2010. LaBruce has also made a number of popular music videos in Canada, two of which won him MuchMusic video awards.

Edward Poitras

Poitras, Edward, painter, sculptor, photographer, performance artist

(b at Regina, Sask 1953). His studies include the 1974 Indian Art Program at the Saskatchewan Indian Cultural College, Saskatoon, under the direction of Sarain STUMP; participation in the 1976 art program at Manitou College, La Macaza, Qubec, under Domingo Cisneros; and the receipt of an audio/visual technician’s certificate from the Saskatchewan Indian Cultural College. He also undertook studies at the UNIVERSITY OF MANITOBA and SASKATCHEWAN INDIAN FEDERATED COLLEGE.

Poitras is noted for using organic materials such as a vehicle for spiritual concepts in combination with the ideas and formal vocabulary of European art. His highly conceptual sculpture/installations are characterized by the combination of such varied and disparate elements as stone, weathered prairie bone, traditional beadwork and historical photos with transistor boards, electrical wires, audio tapes and plastics. The juxtaposition of seemingly incongruous elements from the past and present result in visually stimulating and intellectually challenging statements that combine inspired self-expression with a biting sociopolitical comment assessing the interrelationship of native and European culture.

Poitras’ position as senior Canadian artist was underscored when he was selected to represent Canada at the 1995 Venice Biennale. Other exhibitions include Horses Fly Too, organized by the Mackenzie Art Gallery, Regina, in 1984; Indian Territory, organized by the Mendel Art Gallery, Saskatoon, in 1988; Canadian Biennial of Contemporary Art, organized by the NATIONAL GALLERY OF CANADA in 1989; and Indingena, organized by the CANADIAN MUSEUM OF CIVILIZATION in 1992. In 2002 he was the recipient of a Governor General’s Visual and Media Arts Award.

Robin Poitras

Internationally acclaimed for her production of lyrical multi-disciplinary performance events that respond to conditions in Saskatchewan, Robin Poitras is a dance artist whose practice embraces music, visual art, poetry and theatre. She co-founded New Dance Horizons in 1986, where she continues to act as Artistic Director. With an interest in research into diverse fields of artistic and somatic practice she has developed a unique interdisciplinary approach. Robins works have been presented across Canada, in Spain, France, Germany, Mongolia and Mexico. She is a recipient of the Lifetime Achievement Award, the 2006 Mayors Awards for Business & The Arts in Regina, and the 2004 Women of Distinction Award for the Arts. For many years Robin has traversed the formal worlds of dance and performance art. Her practice is rooted in a physical world comprised of choreography, dance and actions/acts. Her work often involves the use of found or formed objects, texts, images, sound and/or other media. Rouge-gorge is a project-based company led by Artistic Director Robin Poitras. A foundation for research, creation, production and touring, Rouge-gorge produces contemporary dance and performance works by Robin Poitras and guest artists. Traversing between the fields of dance and performance art, Robin’s work brings elements of visual and performance art into an inseparable arena. Intense collaboration with artists in dance, theatre, visual, music and performance art is a mark of Robins creative practice. Launched in the spring of 2009, Rouge-gorge has realized two major new works by Robin Poitras and has recently began touring in province. The first commission of Rouge-gorge, SHE by Paul-Andr Fortier, premiered in July at the 2009 Dancing on the Edge Festival in Vancouver.

an arresting, vivid contribution by a deeply skilled performer (Plank Magazine)

she is one of Canadas greatest dancers and he (Paul-Andr Fortier) is one of the countrys best choreographers, their teaming up results in pure gold (Globe and Mail)

The company was featured at the 2010 Canada Dance Festival in Ottawa and will be presented in Toronto and Calgary fall 2010.

“A Weekend in Alphaville”, marks Robin’s 3rd collaboration with Bruce La Bruce.

Ziyian Kwan

Ziyian lives in Vancouver with her fianc of 14 years and their cat. Over the course of 4 months in 2010, she succumbed to the charm of the Prairies, interpreting the work of Robin Poitras in Regina and studying privately with Amelia Itcush in Davidson. As a professional dancer of 20 plus years, Ziyian has performed across Canada and in Belgium, Germany, France, Italy, Poland, Scotland and the USA. Memorable projects have been with: Vancouver’s Anatomica, battery opera, Co.Erasga, David Khang, Kokoro Dance, Mascall Dance; Montreal’s parB.L.eux, Daniel Danis, Danse-Cit, David Pressault Danse; Calgary’s Nicole Mion and Regina’s Rouge-gorge. Ziyian also performs in projects of her own invention and since 1999, has commissioned 7 solos and 1 duet by choreographers: Peter Bingham, Barbara Bourget, Benoit LaChambre, John Ottmann, Angelique Wilkie and a duet by Susan Elliott. When underemployed as a dancer, Ziyian moonlights as a person of another invention.

Technical Team Bios:

Anna Hansen

Anna Hansen in a Lamp Operator by trade. Starting on features such as Hybride, The Short Cut and Dollan’s Cadillac her most recent commercial job was on Crime Stories where she was able to Gaff, lamp operate and do the still photography. Anna’s home town is Three Hills Alberta where she spent the first years of her life until she left for high school in British Columbia. After recieving two National metals for rowing in her senior year and graduating with honors, Anna made her way to Regina, Saskatchewan to pursue her dreams of making films. Anna has currently finished her BFA at the University of Regina in Media Production and is working to release her first film out of film school in the next few months.