Images Festival is honored to present the 37th annual festival Rehearsing Refusal taking place from April 11-16, 2024 in Toronto, Canada. Rehearsing Refusal presents moving images from around the world that emphasize resistance and the subversion of oppressive systems through experimental film. Programs will debut at Innis Town Hall with additional programs online and at off-site venues: VTape, Mercer Union and TIFF. Tickets are on sale now at imagesfestival.com.
Rehearsing Refusal is curated by Programming Director Jaclyn Quaresma alongside Images’ inaugural Curatorial Residents: Annie Wong, Nasrin Himada, wave~form~projects (Liz Ikiriko and Toleen Touq) and 2024 Images Festival Emerging Curator, Cole Forrest. This year’s edition presents 39 films, a performance by maryam tafakory—her first appearance in Canada—an art game night by DISNOVATION.ORG, a workshop series with Vanessa Machado de Oliveira Andreotti and more!
Two feature-length Canadian premieres bookend the festival: Coco Fusco returns to Toronto for La Noche Eterna (The Eternal Night) on opening night. Set against the ideological repression in Cuba, The Eternal Night rings with the transcendent potential of imagination, depicting the delicate dance of refusal as told through the story of three Cuban young men condemned for their beliefs and creations. Svetlana Romanova closes the festival with The Voyage of Jeanette, an experimental, discursive essay film that navigates western ontologies and its myths of “discovery” alongside Yakutian realities.
“This year’s theme of Rehearsing Refusal emerged from the films submitted to our annual open call, thus speaking to our artistic and socio-political climate” says Magdalyn Asimakis, Executive Director. “We aim to provide spaces for gathering and sharing around the crucial ideas put forward by artists, filmmakers, curators and writers,” says Jaclyn Quaresma, Programming Director at Images Festival. “This in itself is a rehearsal of refusal”.
Highlights include: dreamworlds curated by Nasrin Himada; featuring Kamal Aljafari, NIC Kay, Rhayne Vermette, Sky Hopinka and Tacita Dean with a conversation between Himada and renowned curator Wanda Nanibush.
Measured by Some in Seasons curated by Jaclyn Quaresma; featuring Felippe Mussel, Diana Vidrascu, and Nour Ouayda. A Tyrant’s Fear of Songs curated by wave~form~projects; featuring Aryel René Jackson, Michael J Love, Rana Nazzal Hamadeh, Maya Jeffereis, Lananh Chu, Charles Officer, Jayce Salloum, Hoda Afshar, Colectivo Los Ingrávidos, and Firas Shehadeh. Curated by Annie Wong; Maia Gattás Vargas (Viento del este (East Wind)). Physical Rehearsal - Our bodies’ identities through narratives curated by Cole Forrest; featuring Xinli She, Yuka Murakami, Jasmine Liaw, Natasha Woods, Nathan Clement and Arina Chernova. Pre-opening the festival at TIFF is Wang Bing’s Man in Black.
An online, child-friendly screening A Little More Connected highlights animated films by Miranda Javid, Jamal Ademola, Darcy Tara McDiarmid and Chantal Rousseau and Nadine Chantal Leclerc.
Two programs—a city in pursuit and Viento del Este (East Wind)—will feature ASL interpretation. On April 16, a screening for the visually impaired will include audio descriptions for Oriana (Beatriz Santiago Muñoz) and Creases of Time (Lananh Chu). Assistive listening devices are available on a first-come, first-served basis for all in-person screenings.
For the closing party, Automaticamore (Diana Chan McNally) will conclude the festival with vibrant sounds at Ace Hotel Toronto.
For tickets and the full calendar of programs, please visit imagesfestival.com
About Images Festival Images Festival is a leading presenter of independent film and media culture in dialogue with contemporary art. We aspire to elevate conversations between artists, scholars, and the public about the politics of the moving image.