Frictions
Single-channel 4K video with sound, 55 mins. 35 secs.
2024
Frictions is a single-channel moving image work that could be described as a "videobook", featuring a series of literary narratives that reflect on the psychological effects of living alongside strangers in a time of intense polarization, technologically-mediated hostility, and perpetual uncertainty about the future. Inspired by my own dreams involving social discomfort and anxiety, the film comprises 12 short stories set against the backdrop of hazy, dreamlike visual sequences, punctuated with interludes of ambient soundscapes.
Written by me and narrated in voiceover by Canadian actor Ali Momen, each of the 12 chapters in Frictions portrays a protagonist who describes a brief and disorienting interaction with a stranger. In each story, a moment of friction arises between the unreliable narrator and the stranger they encounter, reflecting feelings that may be uncomfortably familiar to us all, but not so easy to articulate or rationalize.
Frictions was produced with support from the Canada Council for the Arts, Ontario Arts Council, and the City of Toronto through the Toronto Arts Council.
