Video & Film

All of Shawna Dempsey and Lorri Millan's art videos and films are available for public screenings, educational use and home use.
Please contact:

Video Pool
00-100 Arthur St.
Winnipeg, Manitoba R3B 1H3
(204) 949-9134
vpdist2@videopool.org

Super Feminist

(produced, written, and directed by Dempsey and Millan, performed by Dempsey) A reworking of the Wonder Woman opening sequence from 1970s television, a new superhero kicks butt!
2 minutes Video. 2008.
Video Clip 2.9 MB

Consideration Liberation Army

(produced, written, directed, and performed by Dempsey and Millan.) The Summer of Thought was unleashed upon the citizens of Winnipeg in 2007. For three steamy months, Consideration Liberation Army agitated for unbridled thought and thoughtfulness. These insurgents communicated to the world via a website (considerationliberationarmy.ca), graffiti, and video communiqués. The leadership of the movement has since gone underground, but the video missives remain and the revolution continues.
12 minutes. Video. 2007.
visit site

Archaeology and You

(produced, written, and directed by Dempsey and Millan, performed by Millan) This videotape in five parts manipulates shards of narrative into a meditation on the construction of self and culture through language. It juxtaposes historical theory with ever-timely questions such as “What do we have to say?” and “Why do we bother writing it down?” The tape was commissioned by the Royal Ontario Museum for exhibition alongside statuary in the Galleries of the Ancient World. Millan’s vulnerable, human presence was inserted into a colonnade of idealized Greek beauty and a history that focuses upon the chronicles of war.
7 minutes. Video. 2003.
Video Clip 2.9 MB

Lesbian National Parks and Services: A Force of Nature

(produced, written, directed, and performed by Dempsey and Millan.) This mock-u-mentary follows the intrepid Lesbian Rangers through Jr. Lesbian Ranger training camp, research missions, deep-sea rescue, and field work around the globe. Premiered at the Sydney (Australia) Gay/Lesbian Film Festival. 23 minutes. Video. 2002.
Video Clip 7.2 MB

Calamity

(produced, written, and directed by Dempsey and Millan.) Follow the Wild West heroine Calamity Jane through time. The cowgirl roams through her ever-expanding universe. Excluded from history, Jane revels in lore. “I dreamed it better. I dreamed it big.” North American Western mythology is subverted, celebrating an alternative outsider position. Featuring a scratched and mixed score by contemporary audio artist Michelle Irving. Commissioned by Out on Screen Gay and Lesbian Film/Video Festival, Ottawa. 5 minutes. Video. 2001.

Peril!

(produced, written, and directed by Dempsey and Millan.) A silent video (accompanied by Marilyn Lerner on piano) featuring amazing feats of dare-deviltry which map the territory of our everyday lives.

Homogeneity

(produced, written, and directed by Dempsey and Millan.) Suburban architecture is used to critique gay culture’s desire to conform with the mainstream. Shot on Super 8 film while in residence at Hallwalls Contemporary Arts Centre, Buffalo, NY. Funded by The Andy Warhol Foundation.
4 minutes. Video. 1998.

Good Citizen: Betty Baker

(produced, directed, written by Dempsey and Millan.) This serialized cliffhanger is full of unexpected twists and suspenseful endings. It features Betty, a civic-minded housewife who inhabits a 2-dimensional, 1950s-inspired world replete with narrow-minded peril. All costumes in this romp are giant paper doll dresses, attached to the actors’ highly structured 1950s underwear, and all sets are edged with pop-art, 2-D facing. Betty satirically examines the rise of the New Right. Winner of the 1995 “Blizzard” (Manitoba Motion Picture Industry Association) award for best short drama. 27 min. 16mm. 1996.

A Day in The Life of A Bull-Dyke

(produced, directed, and written by Dempsey and Millan.) From dawn to dusk we follow a bulldagger into skirmishes, drag, and the arms of a beautiful recruit. Both the public and the private lives of this “strange animal” are documented with the same mix of journalism and sensationalism found in the exposés that Bull-Dyke mocks. However, because we see the world through the eyes of the subject Sal, this fictionalized lesbian history is filled with all the joy, pain, and ambivalence each of us experiences. A companion to the In The Life magazine. Second prize winner at both the 1995 United States Super 8 Film and Video Festival and the 1997 University of Oregon Gay/Lesbian Film and Video Festival. Winner of the 1997 Manitoba Motion Picture Industry Association Blizzard award for best experimental. 10 minutes. Video. 1995.
Video Clip 5.2 MB

What Does A Lesbian Look Like?

(produced, written, and directed by Dempsey and Millan.) A spoken word piece co-produced by Much Music, and aired on rotation in 1994-5, this short video exposes every myth about lesbians and reveals... they’re all true! Featuring the beautiful and talented lesbians of Montreal. Audio available on the Virgin Records CD Word Up.
2 minutes. Video. 1994.

Object/Subject of Desire

(produced, written, and directed by Dempsey and Millan.) An exploration into the contradictory (and oddly amusing) nature of wanting and being wanted. Purchased by The Canada Council Art Bank. Screened at the Museum of Modern Art, NYC. 5 minutes. Video. 1993.
Video Clip 5.6 MB

Medusa Raw

(produced, written, and directed by Dempsey and Millan.) Dempsey and Millan’s first video, a re-telling of the classical Medusa myth from the Medusa’s own perspective.
9 min. 3/4". 1992.

We're Talking Vulva

(produced and directed by Dempsey and Tracy Traeger; written and art directed by Dempsey and Millan) A gleeful wear-and-care manual for anyone interested in “down there.” Created as part of the NFB Feminist Minutes. Winner of the 1993 Blizzard award for best rock video.
5 min. 16mm. 1990.
Video Clip 3.2 MB