Location: FMC – 228 James St. N., Hamilton, ON.
Time: 7pm – 10pm
The Factory Media Centre would like to send condolences to family, friends and colleagues of Josephine Massarella who passed peacefully on June 22nd surrounded by loved ones. Josephine was an integral part of The Factory family with her many years of board service and programming work. She will be greatly missed by everyone who has worked with her.
Thank you to former FMC board member and long-time friend of Josephine, Jim Riley, for sharing his memories of Josephine below.
MEMORIES OF JOSEPHINE MASSARELLA AND THE FACTORY
My first memory of Josephine and the Factory was when I began to attend programming committee meetings. Josephine was the first board member chair of programming at the Factory. Programming was key in establishing the Factory as a media arts centre and getting project funding. It was very difficult at times. Those of us who took on the role of programming curator had Josephine to represent us, and the members, at board meetings. Her quiet, supportive approach was at times overlooked. All through this stressful time, Josephine remained positive and supportive to curators and video/film makers. By keeping the programming projects strong, the Factory survived those early years with its first OAC grants.
Josie participated in hiring the first programming staff for the Factory. She curated group thematic screenings that involved such well-known film makers as Barbara Sternberg, Carl Brown and others. She wrote articulate essays to support the screenings.
Later, Josephine and I curated a symposium on the status of media arts. She cared for film making in Hamilton.
I did not initially know her background, or the quality of her own experimental films. She was almost shy about her own work. In the past couple of years she has been setting festivals afire with her beautiful experimental films.
Recently, she was awarded Best Short in the 2018 Ann Arbor Film Festival.
Film makers from across the planet have been posting thoughts about the death of Josephine Massarella on her Facebook page. She was a gifted film maker whose films mirrored her own caring, supportive and positive nature. Josephine Massarella supported and encouraged not only film makers in Hamilton but media artists across the world.
Thank you Josie. We will miss you.
Jim Riley
RETROSPECTIVE
Please join us at FMC on Friday, August 10, 2018 from 7-10pm for screening of the entire oeuvre of Josephine’s films, entitled, Josephine Massarella: Retrospective, co-presented by FMC, the AGH and the Hamilton Artists Inc., as a part of Photophobia (funded by Incite and Celebrate Ontario). This show will feature all of Josephine’s beautiful films, as well as, a series of speakers, photos and writings reflecting on her life and career. Don’t miss this opportunity to celebrate, remember and/or be exposed for the first time, to the wonderful life and films of a woman that is dear to the hearts of FMC, the Hamilton community, and the world of independent filmmaking. Here is the complete list of her films, which will all be screened at the event:
165708, 16 mm, experimental film, 2017
No End, 16 mm, experimental film, 2015
Light Study, 16 mm, experimental film, 2013
Night Stream, 16 mm, experimental, 1996
Green Dream, 16 mm, experimental film, 1994
Interference, 16 mm, experimental film, 1990
No5 Reversal, 16 mm, experimental film, 1989
One Woman Waiting, 16 mm experimental film, 1984
Descriptions of her films are available here: http://www.cfmdc.org/filmmaker/1218
Here is a link to a documentation slideshow from the event: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mRLpyrY9tbw&feature=youtu.be