© The Icarus Art. Lan Tham Vi. All Rights Reserved
Mikel Guillen
Mikel Guillen is a Toronto based Filmmaker, Photographer, Designer, Film Translator and Anarchist Poet. He has worked in over 30 films from PA to Cinematographer since the early 90’s. He grew up between Mexico, Canada, France, Italy and Switzerland.
Mikel has a background in Design, Art and Photography (Istituto di Arte e Disegno, Florence, Italy). He studied Film Theory (Ryerson University, Toronto, Canada) and Digital Cinematography (G. Brown, Technical College, Toronto, Canada). As well as Philosophy and Eastern Religions (Ryerson and School of Philosophy, Toronto, Canada). He has been involved in several art projects related to Film and photography such as: Interactive Stasi, music and images. (2010). 23.5 Steps (2011).
Mikel’s aesthetics and approach to filmmaking is based and inspired by subjects like: Sadness, Melancholia, Anonymity, Poetry, Philosophy, Isolation, Nostalgia, Displacement, Identity, Spirituality, Minimalism and Mysticism.
He was part of the Remodernist Film Manifesto films that was inspired by the manifesto written by Jesse Richards.
Short Films include:
“The Music within”. (Director 2008). “Sangria”. (Director 2009). Remodernist Film, Ascending (Co-Directed 2012 Art Gallery Dist.). “Soutenir F” (Director 2013 Omnibus film). “The Natural State”. (Director 2014).
“The Pirate Tapes”. (Co-Producer 2011 HBO Dist.). A feature Documentary film that describes the Somali pirates trade.
In 2012, Mikel and Nick Block wrote and directed “Ascending”. (18 mins). A film inspired by The Remodernist Film Manifesto. “Ascending” had a limited release and gather some comments from internationally known Avant-garde filmmaker Bruce Elder saying: “The Austerity is extremely elegant and the cinematography is astonishing, many of the images were reduced to stern minimal Architecture”.
In late fall 2012, Mikel joined a project called “Impression X” an Omnibus film. A Fauvist Celebration of the long take. 25 filmmakers from around the globe collaborated in this project produced by Roy Rezaali in Holland.
“The Natural State”. (15 mins). Inspired by the nihilistic writings of U.G. Krishnamurti, experimenting with voice and sound. It explores our unstoppable search for happiness, spirituality and memories.
“The Natural State is not knowing. We only have a state of wondering”.
In Development:
“The Sadness of the trees”. (2014) a collaborative Short film with UK artist-Filmmaker Scott Barley.
“Le Savoir-Faire de Nobody” (2014). A collaborative Short Film with Experimental Film Society Filmmaker Rouzbeh Rashidi.
“Mahdi” (Feature film) A Social Realist film about Immigration, Paternal love and Female mutilation.
The moral tale of Mahdi is that at the end of everything, the most important thing is paternal love and how this spirituality makes us all connected through blood and sacrifices. Yes, we can struggle and learn through our own mistakes but there will always be a spiritual path into the truth.
Ascending (2012) Trailer.
“Ascending is a construction of an elegy. Displacement can create
images about love, sadness, melancholia. It’s also about the
connection between space, spiritual time and depression. What
memories can do to us in a time when we are not aware of reality.”
images about love, sadness, melancholia. It’s also about the
connection between space, spiritual time and depression. What
memories can do to us in a time when we are not aware of reality.”
Mikel Guillen, Director.
Mikel Guillen has been an instrumental contributor to the development of the Remodernist approach to filmmaking, both through the creation of his own works such as “Ascending” and “The Natural State” as well as with his in-progress English translation of Florian Maricourt’s extensive recent historical and critical evaluation of the movement, “Le cinéma remoderniste – Histoire et théorie”.
Jesse Richards. Painter, Filmmaker and Photographer and co founder and publisher of the Remodernisf Film Manifesto.
“The austerity is extremely elegant and the cinematography astonishing, many of the images were reduced to a stern, minimal architecture”.
Bruce Elder, Avant Garde Filmmaker.
Bruce Elder, Avant Garde Filmmaker.
“What a delicious side-effect of such a devastating time, a soul-
raising heart-razing vignette, a woman and a man, a future, a
mystery, a magnificent unfolding about to descend upon the viewer: ASCENSION”.
Judith Fitzgerald, Canadian Poet and Journalist.