Directing

Kay Armatage

Acting credits

Behind the camera

Strip Tease poster
10.0

The catalyst for this unusual documentary, which took the Silver Plaque at the 1980 Chicago Film Festival, was the attempt by Toronto striptease artists to form a union. The film is structured around the strippers themselves, as they speak directly to the camera about their attitude toward striptease, as work.

Strip Tease

1980

Gertrude & Alice in Passing poster
NR

This experiment in point of view, narrative structure, and time attempts to reproduce cinematically Gertude Stein's notion of a "continuous present." In four rhyming shots/scenes, it suggests the development of a relationship over many years. Based on biographical details from the lives of Gertrude Stein and Alice B. Toklas, with improvised performances by Jackie Burroughs and Anne Anglin.

Gertrude & Alice in Passing

1978

Artist on Fire: Joyce Wieland poster
8.0

Considered one of Canada's most important women artists of the second half of the 20th century, Joyce Wieland's art embodies the essence of her homeland, feminism, and ecology. Artist on Fire: Joyce Wieland captures the vibrant spirit of this painter, collagist, quilt maker, and filmmaker. In the early '70s, Wieland was involved in filmmaking, producing movies with a political message. In her 30-year career, she worked in a variety of mediums, including cloth, pastels, colored pencil, oils, bronze, and watercolor. Her works and her influence are examined in this detailed video portrait.

Artist on Fire: Joyce Wieland

1987

No artwork available
7.0

A writer and her girlfriend engaging with women while touring Toronto.

Jill Johnston October 1975-6

1977

Bed and Sofa poster
4.0

A remake of Abram Room's 1927 silent Russian feature, "Bed and Sofa". Heralded as a revolutionary feminist film, Room's version was suppressed for its radical treatment of sexual freedom, women's rights, and abortion. Armatage's version shifts the emphasis to the woman's point of view and stylizes the narrative. A comedy.

Bed and Sofa

1979