New Memories

Patience is a photographer’s most important skill. New Memories is imbued with this talent for capturing, for seizing what time has wrought. Through images from Sylvestre Guidi, sublimely balanced between the beauty of lighting and framing, we see life slipping away at every second. In the shadows of the house where we first enter the world of photographer Anne J. Gibson, we see windows hung with curtains suspended in the air, embracing the breath of life. Troubled by years of abuse and a break with her family, Gibson’s very existence is an ode to resilience and redemption through art. With its Fellini-like touches, attentive to the circus of people and fairground atmosphere that reigns in Toronto’s Kensington Market, the film also pays homage to the notion of artistic solitude, as Gibson winds her way through the streets: always searching, looking for connections through her camera. New Memories, the final work of filmmaker Michka Saäl, was completed after her death and seems to mirror her own trajectory. Much like the solitary photographer in the center of a crowd, the filmmaker is alone before the world, welcoming paradoxes, attentive to the surprises that trouble our existence. Michka, like Anne, does not walk—she dances—she waltzes, before our eyes, from tragedy to comedy, crafting a film that celebrates life itself.

Jennifer Alleyn
Filmmaker