Inside The Bucket Collective: Vancouver's New Experimental Film Collective
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graphic design by morgan sears-williams. image courtesy of the bucket collective.
Founded by Chris Chong Chan Fui, Marianne Thodas, Morgan Sears-Williams, Noé Rodriguez and Terra Long, The Bucket Collective describes itself as a “lo-fi container of possibility.” In practice, that container has held hands-on workshops on phytography and experimental film processes, as well as screenings that prioritize accessibility and collective exchange.
“The bucket is both practical and symbolic to us, it holds what we bring, but at times leaks/spills, and changes depending on what we need.”
This Saturday, September 27, The Bucket Collective will present Light of a Thousand Stars, a short film program at The Cinematheque, the first in their new visiting-artist series OPEN BUCKET. Programmed by Toronto-based Diffusion Festival with re:assemblage, the program includes seven experimental works that address death, imperialism, and ecological collapse through material and formal experimentation.
Ahead of the screening, I spoke with collective member Marianne Thodas about the ideas behind The Bucket Collective, what makes their collaborative approach distinct, and what audiences might expect from this first edition of OPEN BUCKET.
Rebecca Keevil: What does the name The Bucket Collective signify for you and the other collective members?
Marianne Thodas: For us, the bucket is this everyday container that can hold almost anything. It's simple but generous - passing things around, sharing - sometimes overflowing. That was the image that came to mind of how we want to work together and the energy that we want to bring to the community. No hierarchy, everyone contributing their own knowledge and experience, and accessible to all. We try our best to move generously but slowly, in how we organize, how we share resources, or even how we think about money as all events are under a pay-what-you-can model. The bucket is both practical and symbolic to us, it holds what we bring, but at times leaks/spills, and changes depending on what we need.
RK: How did the collective come together? What’s unique about working as a collective versus as individual artists?
growing images screening with karel doing. image courtesy of the bucket collective.
MT: We have all worked independently in the city for quite some time, curating screenings, hosting events, creating our own work, and we all really just admired what one another was doing. We came together, I think, over a shared respect and it just made sense to gather our energy together under one shared umbrella.
I think for me, what makes the collective special is that we bounce ideas off one another, challenge each other, and join all the networks we've built. It's pushed our ideas of cinema and how we want to present it. And practically speaking, it makes the work possible. Just doing something like a screening by yourself is a lot of work, you have to book the theater, design posters, curate the screening, get materials from artists, run tech checks, do public outreach, the list goes on and on. The labor shared between the five us makes the work doable and more exciting.
RK: re:assemblage has described their programming as “reassembling assumptions” about film/video. Do you feel Bucket is doing something parallel in Vancouver?
MT: That there is kinship is true. Like re:assemblage, we are not only just interested in the films themselves but also in their presentation. We ask: How do you make a screening room a place of exchange? I think that's part of the reason why we also do workshops as well as screenings with the artists/filmmakers we bring in. These workshops function in tandem with the screening as a space where people can learn, experiment and be sort of on the inside, rather than just watch from the outside at screenings.
We program films that defy easy categories; documentary and poetry, memory and politics, visibility and opacity. But equally important is how we resist reproducing traditional structures of cultural presentation collectively. We organize non-hierarchically, trying pay-what-you-can models and making events more like gatherings than transactions.
Like re:assemblage, we are less interested in enforcing cinema's rules than in exploring what other worlds might be possible, on screen and in the spaces where we watch and create.
RK: If you imagine someone’s first encounter with experimental film happening at this screening, what do you hope they take away from it?
MT: So it is tricky for me to articulate what I hope people take away from our screenings/work because part of the point of these events is to create a space where perception is fluid. But in general, I would hope that newcomers come surprised and with a few ideas shaken inside of them. I find a lot of people have some pretty intense conceptions of experimental film, that all experimental films are opaque or difficult to access, and thus, sometimes don't come to a screening. But to me, many experimental films exist to challenge us. Filmmaking is such a young art form, and experimental work reminds us that there are no fixed rules and the boundaries can always be reimagined.
growing images workshop. image courtesy of the bucket collective.
If this is your first experimental screening, I guess I would advise watching what feels different, where the film does not fit your expectations, see what that opens up for you. And then, afterwards, we always have time for discussion so audiences can ask questions or voice thoughts to the curators and filmmakers.
RK: The collective describes itself as a “lo-fi container of possibility.” What’s a meaningful experience that’s found its way into that bucket?
growing images workshop. image courtesy of the bucket collective.
MT: One that sticks out for me was our first workshop with Karel Doing. We were hosting it at the UNIT/PITT gallery, and participants went outside together to go work in the garden and collect plants for their own projects. Then, they all came inside, leaning over tables pressing them into 16mm film emulsion to make phytograms. They were comparing results between tables, giving feedback, sharing some material, just working together as a collective.
That’s the kind of energy we love: not just people coming to see a film, but people making and sharing together, connecting with artists and with each other. I think those are the moments that we are after and I think that's why we keep volunteering to put these events on.
RK: Does Bucket have anything planned in the future, after this screening?
MT: Yes! We’re really excited to be hosting Sharlene Bamboat in October. On the 18th we’ll screen her feature if from every tongue it drips at SFU, and the following day, she will be running a workshop on creative captioning, thinking of subtitles as a means of poetry and expression instead of just translation. She really explores sound, history, and identity in such a rich way, we are really excited to bring her here.
RK: What would you like to see for the next OPEN BUCKET (if there will be more)?
MT: We’re definitely planning more. The first year has just been about finding our rhythm, but looking ahead, we want to keep at it, hosting more screenings, more workshops, maybe even a retreat for artists and audiences to spend time together outside the city.
RK: Thanks Marianne!
The Bucket Collective’s “lo-fi container of possibility” continues to expand as OPEN BUCKET launches this Saturday, September 27 at 2pm, with Light of a Thousand Stars. Come watch the short films, followed by a Q&A with Scott Miller Berry and Faraz Anoushahpour, who are part of the programming collective for Diffusion Festival. The screening will run approximately 50 minutes, followed by a 30 minute Q&A. Find out more info and how to get tickets here.
The collective is already looking ahead to future visiting artists and workshops, so follow their Instagram @thebucketcollective for upcoming events, and pay close attention for more details on the feature screening and creative captioning workshop with Sharlene Bamboat on October 18 & 19.
Rebecca Keevil is a graphic artist and archivist. She likes to experiment with mid-century print design and the creation of playful, faux-historical materials. You can find her on Instagram @r.e.d.k.e.y and online at rebeccakeevil.net.
