The Cinematheque

In Person: Laura Taler

“For depth of feeling, photographic sensitivity, and movement invention, the central (duet) portion of Laura Taler’s 1995 the village trilogy may be the most memorable footage in the [Dance Camera West] festival … Her mastery of choreography and direction is unquestioned.”

Lewis Segal, Los Angeles Times

Join Ottawa-based artist and filmmaker Laura Taler for a special 30th anniversary screening of her 1995 dancefilm classic the village trilogy accompanied by a genre-defying new work, Matryoshka Crush. In tandem with FORM’s 10th anniversary, this program honours the evolution of storytelling through movement on screen across the past three decades.

the village trilogy
Canada 1995
Laura Taler
22 min. DCP

Heralded by Dance International as marking the beginning of the dancefilm boom in Canada, the village trilogy alludes to the millions of people uprooted through emigration in the past century, while exploring ideas of home and family. Employing the characteristics of early cinema, filmmaker-choreographer Laura Taler and her dancers capture a time and place that is beyond our grasp, but not beyond our memory.

Best Experimental Short Film
Chicago International Film Festival 1996

Matryoshka Crush
Canada 2025
Laura Taler
47 min. DCP

Poison, exorcism, gender trouble, music, and movement intermingle in this darkly funny and disturbing tale of intense yearning. When a series of adorable monsters reveal themselves near an old tavern, their ordinary acts transform into a chain of micro-disobediences. Told entirely through song, dance, and action, Matryoshka Crush straddles dancefilm, contemporary video art, and personal narrative. Like the history of the Matryoshka doll, a symbol of Eastern European culture that can be traced back to the Japanese Fukurama doll, Taler’s film magnifies the desire for translation and transformation, a lament to the old world and how we are enmeshed in one another.

Followed by a conversation with Laura Taler.