Unsettled
English subtitles available in .srt format on request.
View with English subtitles here: https://vimeo.com/281348973/829e69f55d
"Unsettled" is a single channel video in color, with stereo sound. The work is a sarcastic and somber piece, looking at the power relations between an individual and an institution. Through construction of surreal, almost claustrophobic imagery, the work examines the influence of economic, and political structures on shaping individual opinions on wealth and politics, on marking acceptable determinations and views, institutionalized knowledge, and indoctrination of the society.
The video starts with mocking advertising pitches suggesting to find you an approved, and registered opinion, voice, that is “safe” for you and your environment. Why go into the trouble of thinking for yourself when you can comfortably adopt views that are “registered, tested, and approved.” After the sarcastic sales pitches happily suggesting to modify, improve, and fit you into the correct and approved way of being, the work gradually slides into a more meditative phase involving quotes from “Dialogues” by Gilles Deleuze on fixed social determinations.
"Unsettled" does not seek to create a fruitless duality of “us” people vs. “them” institutions, since the structures we live in are after all entirely human-made. The work is more of a contemplation on the subject of institutional power, including on how seductive, and at the same time corrosive and suppressive it can be.
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Anna GrigorianDirector
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Anna GrigorianWriter
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Anna GrigorianProducer
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Julia ThomasKey Cast
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Vronsky BelizaireKey Cast
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Amber JacksonVoiceover
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Julia ThomasVoiceover
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Vronsky BelizaireVoiceover
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Ashod NakashianCamera and sound recording assistance
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Kaja LevyCamera and sound recording assistance
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Adam TadrosCamera and sound recording assistance
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Project Type:Experimental, Short
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Runtime:7 minutes 4 seconds
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Completion Date:January 30, 2019
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Country of Origin:Armenia
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Country of Filming:Canada
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Language:English
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Shooting Format:digital
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Film Color:Color
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First-time Filmmaker:No
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Student Project:No
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Exploding CinemaLondon
United Kingdom
February 24, 2023
Official Selection -
Black Cat Award International Film FestivalOnline Festival/Awards Event
November 11, 2022
Official Selection -
Art Film Awards - Monthly CompetitionSkopje
Macedonia, the former Yugoslav Republic of
August 31, 2022
Finalist - Experimental Film Category -
Festival MidenThessaloniki
Greece
September 1, 2020
Official Selection
Currently, she is working in the mediums of video art and installation. Employing the surreal, the uncanny and “silly”, absurdist humor, her practice revolves around questioning the power relations between individuals, and sociopolitical systems. Her pieces are aimed at disrupting the habitual, and presenting the reality under an unexpected angle.
The main inspiration for her work comes from facing and challenging accepted socioeconomic realities, unspoken rules on individual well being, fixed structures that influence and often dictate our life. Constructing absurd, surreal situations and using humor allows her to present the accepted norms, and dominant structures of our society from a different angle.
Selected exhibitions and screenings
2020 Thessaloniki, Greece. Festival Miden (online screening because of COVID-19)
2019 MOMus-State Museum of Contemporary Art. Videoland. Screenings in Thessaloniki, Greece
2018 1st BCK Film Symposium. Balkan Can Kino, Screening in Athens, Greece
2018 ARTROC Le QUAI-développement interculturel Quartier des Arts MONTCALM; (curators: Alexandra Bérubé, Béatrice Larochelle, Kasia Basta) Quebec City, Canada
2018 "ONE SHOT" International Short Film Festival, Yerevan, Armenia
2018 Fest Miden, Video Art. Greece
2018 fliQs: Queer film night. Energy (jurors, organizers: Mélissa Tamporello, Logan James) Screening at Notre Dame Des Quilles, Montreal
2018 Altered States Intermedia Department Graduating Exhibition, Installation at Eastern Bloc, Montreal
2017 fliQs: Queer film night. Fluidity (jurors, organizers: Mélissa Tamporello, Logan James) Screening at Notre Dame Des Quilles, Montreal
2017 fliQs: Queer film night. Revolutions (jurors, organizers: Mélissa Tamporello, Logan James) Screening at Notre Dame Des Quilles, Montreal
2016 Bad Movie Night (curator: Daniel Rig) Screening at Bad Lunch, Montreal
2016 HI LATENCY (curator: Robert Scalia) Installation at The Mothership, Montreal
2016 Bring Your Own Beamer (curators: Lesya Nakoneczny, Amelia Robitaille, Michael Langiewicz) Installation at Bad Lunch, Montreal
2015 White Noise//Dark Matter Installation at Le Réacteur, Montreal
2014 Movements in the Dark (curator: Catherine Laframboise Desjardin) Installation at Studio 7, Montreal
GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2016 Art to Art collaborative exhibition between Art History and Studio Arts departments in Concordia. Project by Dr. Loren Lerner. Montreal
2016 Centerfold VII (curators/jurors: Brittne Potter, Sandro Papais, Adam Heard Rutledge, Nadim El-Asmar), Montreal
2016 Art Matters x Nuit Blanche (jurors: Hélène Sharp, Timothy O'Donnell Schauer) Mainline Theater, Montreal
2015 Salonesque Montreal Arts Interculturels (MAI)
2013 Through the Window Les Journees de la Culture a Montreal (curator: Natasha Henderson) Fleurbain, Montreal
2013 Pop-Up Art Expo Fringe Festival, GallerieFRINGE MTL, Montreal
2012 Fairytales in the City (curator: Natasha Henderson) Fleurbain, Montreal
2012 The Heat of Summer Montreal Art Center
Employing silly humor, and absurd imagery, I question the accepted norms, and structures of our society. My shorts do not follow a traditional narrative. Rather, using minimal camera movements, I work with the connection of camera frame and reality inside and outside of it, as well as montage as one of the key creative tools to warp the reality and present it under an unexpected angle.