Looking forward to introducing this matinee screening at VIFF next weekend (03-01-2026) with live musical accompaniment by Gordon Grdina & Hamin Honari. This screening celebrates the centenary of this incredible work, the oldest surviving feature-length animated film. Tickets online here.
Organized in my current role as Chair of the ECU-Research Ethics Board, this event is a conversation with Dr. Charlotte Schallié, co-director of the Survivor-Centred Visual Narratives project. The conversation focuses on ethical considerations and protocols of arts-based research with trauma survivors. This hybrid event takes place 02-09-2026 at Emily Carr University (main Boardroom) and online
My review of the luscious exhibition Heart On: Joyce Wieland was published over the holidays in PUBLIC Journal online here. Below is a version of the review that includes my documentation of the exhibition.
Continue reading ““Ohhh, Canada… Joyce Wieland’s Erotic Citizenship” (exhibition review)”
I’m introducing this matinee screening of Walt Disney studio’s Fantasia (1940) at VIFF Theatre (Dec-14-2025) and moderating a post-screening discussion of the film. Looking forward to discussing this film in the context of Visual Music cinema, colour on screen, and feminized labour in the studio’s ink-and-paint department and animation at large .
Nic Sammond, founder of Rarebit Early Animation Wiki, invited me to curate this month’s issue of new entries. The spotlight theme is a celebration of direct animation innovator Len Lye, whose birthday is in July. Rarebit now has a biographical entry on Len Lye and an entry on his film 𝘒𝘢𝘭𝘦𝘪𝘥𝘰𝘴𝘤𝘰𝘱𝘦. The topical link of the month spotlights the Len Lye Centre, which is also celebrating its tenth anniversary this month. The chosen resource of the month is a catalogue for Zelluloid, a landmark 2010 exhibition devoted to cameraless film that preceded the recent wave of interest in celluloid film. All entries were cowritten with Beatrice Moldoveneau, an undergraduate student at the University of Toronto holding a work-study position with Rarebit.
I’m introducing this matinee screening of 𝘈𝘭𝘪: 𝘍𝘦𝘢𝘳 𝘌𝘢𝘵𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘚𝘰𝘶𝘭 (1974) at VIFF Vancity Theatre (June-15-2025) and moderating a post-screening discussion of the film. Looking forward to discussing its portrait of tenderness and human connection against a backdrop of social isolation and xenophobia. Since the screening takes place on Father’s Day, it’s fitting to acknowledge (a content warning, of sorts) its historic place in the German New Wave, popularized at the time under the slogan “Papa’s cinema is dead.” Tickets can be purchased here.
I presented this research-in-progress at the annual conference of the Film and Media Studies Association of Canada (FMSAC) at Queen’s University (May 28, 2025). My presentation discussed the adaptation of Inuit stories for contemporary animation, identifying the opportunities and challenges of interpreting oral storytelling through this media form.
Continue reading “Conference Paper: “Inuit Storytelling in Contemporary Animation””
Celebrating the global launch of Interlaced: Animation and Textiles (2025), a lavishly illustrated print catalogue that documents and critically expands on the popular exhibition at the Govett-Brewster Art Gallery | Len Lye Centre. This book explores the relationship between animation and textiles across over a century of media art, from early cinema experiments to contemporary algorithmically generated images. Curator Alla Gadassik’s deeply researched text is accompanied by captivating exhibition photographs, high-quality reproductions of all artworks and additional archival materials, and a Director’s foreword.
It was an honour and delight to receive an invitation from the famed GEIDAI animation program at Tokyo University of the Arts, to serve as an international reviewer for their Masters thesis projects. This animation school is bursting with creative energy, storytelling sincerity, and — under the leadership of the brilliant Koji Yamamura — fully committed to artisanal animation.
Continue reading “International Thesis Review: Tokyo University of the Arts”
Alla Gadassik: Media Scholar and Animation Curator 