FILM DETAILS
Pretend not to See Me
THE ART OF COLETTE URBAN
2009 52 minutes & 47.5 minutes – HDCam / DVD-Colour-StereoDirector and Producer: Katherine Knight
Cinematographer: Marcia Connolly
Producer: David Craig
Composer: Sam Shalabi
Editor: Anthony Seck
Photo & Video Gallery
Life and art intersect on a spectacular Newfoundland farm where visual artist Colette Urban mounts thirteen art performances in the fields and barns of her property. Resilient, determined, self aware and funny, Colette embraces the transformative power of art as she restages the significant art performances of her thirty-year career. With the camera as her audience she transforms the quotidian into a playful world of the imagination with elaborate costumes and idiosyncratic self invented rituals. The film features the astonishing juxtaposition of Urban’s enigmatic art performances set against the rugged beauty of the Newfoundland landscape. She emerges as an empathetic, courageous and visionary character that has achieved artistic excellence through a focused and solitary journey. Urban takes her art out of the gallery and rediscovers it in the natural environment. The film documents the passion of an artist carving out her own distinctive place in the world. Pretend Not To See Me transports audiences to that place.
SELECTED SCREENINGS
Yorkton Short Film and Video Festival, 2009
St John’s International Women’s Film Festival, 2009
Reel Artist Film Festival, Toronto, 2009
Reel Artist Film Festival, Calgary, 2010
Ecofilms, Rhodos International Films and Visual Art Fesitval, 2010
CREDITS
Director: Katherine Knight
Producer: David Craig, Katherine Knight
Performer: Colette Urban
Cinematographer: Marcia Connolly
Additional Camera: Katherine Knight, Almerinda Travassos
Editor: Anthony Seck
Original Music: Sam Shalabi
Musicians: Xarah Dion, Sam Shalabi, Jason Sharp, Molly Sweeny, Josh Zubot
Recorded by: Moumneh at HOTEL 2 TANGO
Graphic Designer: Barr Gilmore
Sound Edit: Alan Geldart
Music
Art, written and performed by Tanya Davis in 2006
Upside Down Story (traditional) performed and recorded by Stephanie Stella Payne and Daniel Obediah Payne in 2008. Original version recorded 1950, Port au Port, Newfoundland. MUNFLA 78-054
Ten Commandments (traditional) performed and recorded by Stephanie Stephanie Stella Payne and
Daniel Obediah Payne in 2008 Hard, Hard Times (traditional) performed and recorded by Stephanie Stella Payne and Daniel Obediah Payne in 2008
Ode to Newfoundland, written by Sir Cavendish Boyle, composed by Hubert Parry in 1902, performed and recorded by Stephanie Stella Payne and Daniel Obediah Payne in 2008Blue Sunshine, written and performed by Shalabi Effect in 2004
Kinder Surprise, written and performed by Shalabi Effect in 2004
Orchestrina Songs, written and performed by John Gzowski in 2004
Tropical Thunder, written and performed by John Gzowski in 2004
Film/Video
Trash Stash Store, archival super 8 by Pamela Johnston and Colette Urban
Orchestrina archival video by David Craig
Recalling Belvedere, archival video by Sonya Schönberger
Photos/Props
Performance photographs by Elisabeth Feryn
Newfoundland Resettlement Photographs (PF-317.483, PF.317-482, PF-317.037) courtesy of the Maritime
History Archives at Memorial University, St. John’s and the United Church Archives, Newfoundland and Labrador Conference Joey Smallwood’s Ceremonial Scissors courtesy of Dave LeDrew at The Newfoundland Emporium, Corner Brook, Newfoundland.
Funding credits:
Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council, Canada and York University. Created with the assistance of the Canada Council for the Arts.
Filmed on location at Full Tilt Creative Centre, McIvers, Newfoundland; at the Sir Wilfred Grenfell College
Art Gallery and in the communities of Meadows, McIvers, Twillingate, Newfoundland. All performances © Colette Urban: Hey! (2008); Bare (2008); Mega Moose (2008); Spellbound (2006); Sphincter Moment (2002); Recalling Belvedere (2004); Big Guy (1999); Pretend Not To See Me (1996); Augur (1996); Two Heads Are Better Than One (1996); Round Peg in a Square Hole (1995); Consumer Cyclone (1993); Orchestrina (1989); A Song to Sing, A Tale to Tell, A Point to Make (1989); I Feel Faint (1985); and Blindspot (1987).