Assembly

Dedicated to the memory of Kathleen Shannon, this experimental short Assembly is inspired by the NFB's Studio D filmmakers. Featuring a rhythmic soundscape and paint-on-glass animation, the film shows a woman’s hands reaching in and out of the frame, cutting and editing a reel of film on a flatbed editing table. She splices, scrubs, rewinds and rolls the sound and images. Fragments of animated archival footage flash across the screen: women walking in chains, protesting with placards, speaking at podiums. We hear bursts of words and the percussive whir and click of the Steenbeck—until a “message” is finally revealed.