Kirk TOUGAS

Nationality: Canadian

Kirk Tougas is a noted experimental film artist, director of photography, producer, director, curator, founder of the Pacific Cinematheque and initiator of Xinema in Vancouver, Canada.

With over 250 professional credits, he is recognized as one of Canada's pre-eminent feature documentary cinematographers. Representing many cultural, anthropological, social, and political themes, these films have been broadcast on every major network and have garnered more than 80 festival awards, including Emmy and Peabody awards, and 13 awards and nominations from the Canadian Academy of Cinema.

Creator of numerous experimental films, he has been variously described as a structural or conceptual artist. His experimental and personal films have broadly pursued three themes: the inherent nature of the film medium (and later the digital video medium) and its message; portraiture and self-imaging as a human phenomenon from cave walls to the Selfie; and the poetics of a medium composed of image, sound and time..

Nominated for a Canadian Academy Award, he is best known for THE POLITICS OF PERCEPTION and THE MEDIUM IS THE MESSAGE which along with his other works have been distinguished with screenings and installations in many countries. in museums, universities, art schools, art galleries and film festivals. Among the more notable international exhibitions:

PRIMAROLIA, Villa Kolla, Patras, Greece
XINEMA, Vancouver, Canada
VISIBLE EVIDENCE XXIX, Udine, Italy
ASOLO ART FILM FESTIVAL, Italy
VIDEO ART MIDEN, Thessaloniki
XINEMA #4 - VANCOUVER INT'L FILM FESTIVAL
SAIGON EXPERIMENTAL FILM FESTIVAL
ECRA#6 - MUSEU DE ARTE MODERNA, Rio de Janeiro
25th FESTIVAL INT'L DE VIDEOPOESIA, Buenos Aires
CINEMATEKET, Oslo
LIGHT INDUSTRY, Brooklyn, NY
PANTALLA ROTA, APOCALIPSIS TECHNOCRATICO, Buenos Aires
SPLIT VIDEOART FESTIVAL, Croatia
CINEINFINITO #118, Santander, Spain
65th OBERHAUSEN INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL, Germany
FRACTO, Berlin
EXPERIMENTADESIGN, Lisbon, Portugal
SYROS INT'L FILM FESTIVAL, Greece
TOKYO METROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF PHOTOGRAPHY
YEBISU INT'L FESTIVAL FOR ART & ALTERNATIVE VISIONS, Japan
MUSEE JEU DE PAUME, Paris
ECOLE DE BEAUX-ARTS, Bordeaux, France
ECOLE NATIONALE SUPERIEURE DE CREATION INDUSTRIELLE, Paris
MUSEO DE BELLAS ARTES DE BILBAO, Spain
CENTRE GEORGES POMPIDOU, Paris
CINEMATHEQUE QUEBECOISE, Montreal
THE INSTITUTE OF CONTEMPORARY ART, London, England
VANCOUVER ART GALLERY, PACIFIC CINEMATHEQUE, "The Impossible Self".
FESTIVAL OF FILMS ON ART, Montreal
AMERICAN FILM FESTIVAL, New York
11eme FESTIVAL INTERNATIONAL DU FILM D'ART, UNESCO,
CENTRE GEORGES POMPIDOU, Paris
MYKONOS BIENNALE, Greece
CINETECA NAZIONALE, Rome
ECOLE SUPERIEURE DES BEAUX ART DE GENEVE, Switzerland
MK2 TV, Paris
FILMOTECA ESPANOLA, Madrid, Barcelona
CINEMA DU REEL, Paris
6th VANCOUVER INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL
41st EDINBURGH INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL, Scotland
OREGON ART INSTITUTE, Portland
EMILY CARR COLLEGE OF ART, Vancouver
NATIONAL FILM WEEK, Canada
"ELECTRA - LES PLASTICIENS DE LA LUMIERE",
MUSEE D'ART MODERN DE LA VILLE DE PARIS
VANCOUVER ART GALLERY, "Art & Artists, 1931-1983"
FESTIVAL D'AVIGNON, France
SHERIDAN COLLEGE OF APPLIED ARTS & TECHNOLOGY, Ontario
XI BIENNALE D'ART MODERNE, CENTRE GEORGES POMPIDOU
& MUSEE D'ART MODERNE DE LA VILLE DE PARIS
ECOLE DES BEAUX ARTS, Tours, France
LA CINEMATHEQUE FRANCAISE, Paris
GRIERSON FILM SEMINAR, Ontario
MAISON DES BEAUX ARTS, Paris
MUSEE d'ART MODERNE, "CANADA TRAJECTOIRES", Paris
7th BELLEVUE FILM FESTIVAL, Washington
10th ANN ARBOR FILM FESTIVAL, Michigan


Completed works include:

the politics of perception
the framing of perception
Did you used to be R.D. Laing?,
Return to Departure: the Biography of a Painting or Watching
Pigment Dry and Other Realisms,
ARTIFACT (circa 2006)
the medium is the message
1972 Feminist Portraits 2020
Xtinction Songs (72 min)

Works in progress include:
Speak White Frenchie
Self ?
The Gardening of Earthly Delights

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5 MOVIES IN DISTRIBUTION

THE MEDIUM IS THE MESSAGE
2020 / 2K / b&w / sound / single screen / 7' 26 / 42 €
distribution: Digital file on server
ARTIFACT (CIRCA 2006)
2018 / Mini DV / color-b&w / sound / single screen / 64' 15 / 131 €
distribution: DCP on USB stick or Digital file on server
THE FRAMING OF PERCEPTION
1973 / 16mm / color-b&w / sound and silent / single screen / 33' 00 / 110 €
distribution: DCP on server or Digital file on server
LETTERS FROM VANCOUVER (1973)
1973 / 16mm / color-b&w / sound and silent / single screen / 66' 00 / 158 €
distribution: DCP on server or Digital file on server
THE POLITICS OF PERCEPTION
1973 / color / sound / single screen / 33' 00 / 178 € or 110 €
distribution: 16mm or DCP on server or Digital file on server