f/ Bruce Elder-Speaker’s Bio

Bruce Elder is a Hamilton raised and educated film maker, critic and teacher at Ryerson University.  Elder received the 2007 Governor General Award in Visual  and Media Arts.  The jury described him as “highly innovative”, “influential” and “acutely intelligent” noting the enormous span of his practice and the demanding nature of his films.

Described by New York filmmaker and critic Jonas Meklas as “the most important North American avant-garde filmmaker to emerge during the 1980′s,” Elder combines images, music and text to create works that reflect his interest in philosophy, technology, science, spirituality and the human body.

film still from Bruce Elder’s “The Young Prince”

His first major film cycle (20 films), “The Book of All the Dead”, inspired by Dante Alighieri’s “Commedia” and Ezra Pound’s “Conatos”, grew out of his preoccupation with the horrors of modernity, its faith in progress and the loss of a sense of what is good and evil.

Bruce Elder’s current film cycle, “The Book of Praise” makes extensive use of computer-image generation, highlighting his fascination with mathematics and digital technology.  The Young Prince is his fifth in the film cycle “The Book of Praise” and will be screened on September 29, 2011. (see under Bruce Elder drop down button along the top of the screen).

Please visit  Please visit    http://www.ryerson.ca/~belder/

Sections from his upcoming film (sixth film from the “Book of Praise”) will be previewed at the Round Table Symposium:  “Black Box, White Box, Small Box, No Box” on Saturday, October 22.