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North America’s largest festival for experimental film, Toronto’s Image Festival, is having its 25th anniversary this year! And they have 10 days, 88 films and videos, 26 installations, and 5 live performances with which to celebrate, beginning on Thursday, April 12. There’s lots of interesting and unique works on offer for viewers looking for something a little more thought-provoking than your usual cinema fare.

Opening this year’s festival is the Canadian premiere of John Akomfrah’s The Nine Muses (2011). The latest from this Ghana-born British artist is a “contemporary epic about migration,” and has already screened at both the Venice Film Festival and at Sundance. Akomfrah will also be on hand for opening night at the Royal Cinema (608 College St), and it all begins at 6:45 pm.

Closing out the festival this year will be the Canadian premiere of The Sounds of Science with live original soundtrack accompaniment from indie band Yo La Tengo. The film features classic footage from French avant-garde filmmaker Jean Painlevé’s science films about life under the sea. The show starts at 8:00 pm at Toronto Underground Cinema (186 Spadina Ave) on Saturday, April 21.

And there’s so much more going on! The programme includes the Canadian premiere of Two Years at Sea from Ben Rivers; the Canadian premiere of local talent Simone Rapisarda Casanova’s El Arbol de las fresas (The Strawberry Tree); and in S is for Student, we’re treated to a collection of the best experimental student work from home and abroad.

If all this interesting programming wasn’t enough, the Images Festival is offering up some pre-festival events just to get you in the mood! First up, on Wednesday, April 4 at 7:00 pm at the Royal Cinema (608 College St) is a preview of Canadian director Marielle Nitoslawska’s Breaking the Frame profiling performance artist Carolee Schneemann – and both Nitoslawska and Schneemann will be in attendance following the screening for questions. The second pre-festival event, on Wednesday, April 11 at 7:00 pm at TIFF Bell Lightbox (350 King St W) is a free screening of The Pettifogger, a new feature from collage artist Lewis Klahr (who will also be on hand for a Q&A).

The 2012 Images Festival runs from April 12 to 21 at a variety of venues across the city. You can get more information or purchase tickets online at the festival website.

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Pam Fossen

Obsessed with watching movies as far back as she can remember, Pam loves film enough to have two university degrees in the subject. When not focused on a movie screen, she can usually be found reading, cooking, touring vineyards, or planning where to spend her vacation time.

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