Presented in collaboration with The Cinematheque and FORM (Festival of Recorded Movement)
the village trilogy (1995) & Matryoshka Crush (2025)
by Laura Taler (Ottawa)
November 10, 2025 | 7:00pm - Screening at The Cinematheque (1131 Howe St, Vancouver)
November 11, 2025 | 10am - 1pm - Masterclass at Cineworks (1131 Howe St, Vancouver)
Learn more & Register for the Masterclass HERE
About the event:
Join artist & filmmaker Laura Taler to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the village trilogy with a screening of this 1995 dancefilm classic accompanied by her genre defying new work, Matryoshka Crush. In tandem with FORM’s 10th anniversary, the program honours the evolution of storytelling through movement-on-screen over the past three decades.
the village trilogy (22min)
2025 marks the 30th anniversary of the village trilogy. Heralded by Dance International Magazine as marking the beginning of the dancefilm boom in Canada, the village trilogy alludes to the millions of people uprooted through emigration in the past century, while exploring ideas of home and family. Employing the physical characteristics of early cinema, filmmaker/choreographer Laura Taler and her dancers capture a time and place that is beyond our grasp, but not beyond our memory.
In 2002, the Los Angeles Times' critic Lewis Segal wrote: "For depth of feeling, photographic sensitivity and movement invention, the central (duet) portion of Laura Taler's 1995 'the village trilogy' may be the most memorable footage in the festival. ...[H]er mastery of choreography and direction is unquestioned."
Awards:
- Best Experimental Film, Toronto Worldwide Short Film Festiva
- Gold Hugo, Short Subject Experimental, Chicago International Film Festival
- Cinedance Award for Best Canadian Dancefilm, Moving Pictures
Matryoshka Crush (47min)
Poison, exorcism, gender trouble, song and dance intermingle in this darkly funny and disturbing tale of intense yearning. When a series of adorable monsters reveal themselves near an old tavern, their ordinary acts transform into a chain of micro-disobediences. Told entirely through song, dance, and action, Matryoshka Crush straddles dancefilm, contemporary art video and personal narrative. Like the history of the Matryoshka doll, a symbol of Eastern European culture that can be traced back to the Japanese Fukurama doll, Matryoshka Crush magnifies the desire for translation and transformation. It’s a lament to the old world and how we are enmeshed in one another. Ancient stories linger, but Matryoshka Crush crushes our crush on narrative conventions, leading to liberation and self-invention.
Tuesday, November 11 | 10:00AM-1:00PM PST
Location: Cineworks
In a masterclass that traces the evolution of her practice. Bookended by her 1995 dancefilm classic the village trilogy and her genre defying 2025 new work Matryoshka Crush, this half-day class will give participants a behind-the-scenes experience of experimental, movement-based filmmaking.
About Laura Taler
Romanian-born Canadian artist Laura Taler works across a range of media including performance, film, sound, sculpture, and installation. Her work explores how memory and history are linked to movement and how the body is able to carry the past without being oppressed by it. Taler began her career as a contemporary dance choreographer before turning her attention to filmmaking and visual art. Her work has been praised for its unique combination of emotional resonance, wit, and striking visuals. She has been a resident at the Banff Center for the Arts, Centro Cultural Recoleta (Buenos Aires), Carleton Immersive Media Studio (Ottawa) and a fellow at the Institute for Cultural Inquiry (Berlin). Awards include a Gold Hugo from the Chicago International Film Festival, the Best Experimental Documentary award from Hot Docs!, and Best of the Festival from New York’s Dance on Camera Festival. Publications include Tension/Spannung(Turia+Kant, 2010), Revisiting Ephemera (Blue Medium Press, 2011) and Embodied Fantasies (Peter Lang Publishing, 2013). In 2020/21 she was artist-in-residence at the Ottawa Dance Directive. Taler is the most recent recipient of Galerie SAW Gallery's Dennis Tourbin Prize for New Performance. Her public art audio work MONAHAN was awarded the 2024 Creative City Network of Canada’s Public Art Legacy Award.
"For depth of feeling, photographic sensitivity and movement invention, the central (duet) portion of Laura Taler's 1995 the village trilogy may be the most memorable footage in the festival. ...[H]er mastery of choreography and direction is unquestioned."
Presented with
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- The Cinematheque
the village trilogy Promotion Partner: Collection Regards Hybrides
You can also access village trilogy online through Regards Hybrides’ online platform https://collection.regardshybrides.com/en
