Bio
Scott Miller Berry is a cisgendered, able-bodied, white, queer, Jewish settler with lived mental health experiences. A full-time cultural worker and part-time filmmaker, currently Managing Director at Workman Arts, an arts + mental health organization and previously Director at the Images Festival and proud recipient of the 2015 Rita Davies Margo Bindhardt Award for cultural service in Toronto. Most of his films address themes of mortality, grief, memory and collective histories; his film ars memorativa (2014) screened in competition at Oberhausen after debuting at Experimenta India. Recent screenings include New York, Jakarta, Ottawa, Lisbon, Montréal, Seoul, Vienna and a fall 2015 solo screening with Colectivo Toronto.
Hiroshi Yoshimura 吉村弘 (1940-2003) was a Japanese musician and composer. He is considered a pioneer of ambient music in Japan; mostly the miminimalist genre of kankyo ongaka or 'environment music'. This film uses a sample from "Creek" from the album Green reissued in 2020 by Light in the Attic Records.
Chris Chong Chan Fui is an artist who works with varying materials in an installation format whose works are curious about the definition of authenticity. Chong has exhibited his works at the Hirshhorn Museum & Sculpture Garden, Palais de Tokyo, EYE Film Institute Netherlands, Museum of Canadian Contemporary Art, and Singapore Art Museum. He has also premiered at prestigious film festivals such as the Cannes’ Directors’ Fortnight, BFI London, and Toronto’s Wavelengths. Chong is a Smithsonian Institute Fellow and a Ford Foundation Fellow, and most recently, he has been awarded the 2019 Rockefeller Foundation’s Bellagio Arts Fellowship.
Adam Segal is a Toronto psychotherapist who dabbles in independent filmmaking and painting.
PHOTO CREDIT: Kelly O’Brien
Questionaire
Why did you get involved in this project?
It was great to have a creative outlet during corona times -- and to feel a connection to other creators while we're all isolated.
Did the one week turn-around for the work help or hinder your creativity?
Having one week definitely helped...my attention span (deficient on the best of days!!) has felt even more limited in corona times; and let's face it deadlines are always helpful 🙂
How did you feel about working on a project where you didn’t know who you were collaborating with?
I found the anonymity quite exciting; and it was really fun to not know who was involved until after it was done; in a way it provided its own challenge - i wanted to contribute strong audio to hold up each others' lovely contributions.
Has being involved in the project changed your thoughts on creativity?
Taking risks; working differently and short deadlines -- these are good things; and ones I outta try more often!
If you worked on several videos, what kept you coming back for more and how many did you do?
I contributed two audio collages -- I loved the tight turnaround and the reveal at the end -- knowing the audio was Re: EXC-19 information here the last component before finalizing made the fast reveal even more gratifying!!