If This Ain't Heaven

If This Ain't Heaven

16mm, color, sound, 27.25 min
"Mr. G is a 50 year old black man who speaks to and for his cat, Africa. 'Speak darling, speak,' his voice implores as images of dark exotic jungles swirl by. Roberta Cantow's camera ...
Rental format: 16mm

Stills

About

"Mr. G is a 50 year old black man who speaks to and for his cat, Africa. 'Speak darling, speak,' his voice implores as images of dark exotic jungles swirl by. Roberta Cantow's camera work shimmers between shadows and light, hard edges and softly blurring imagery. 'I'll speak for you,' he says in his gravely seductive voice, a voice that trails off into choppy hesitating grunts as he begins to talk about life... Anthropomorphism is a tender form of ventriloquism. With the invention of a voice and a language emerges a complete character from the imagination of the pet owner in much the same way that a ventriloquist invents a character... Cantow has made an oddly beautiful and powerful film, a discourse on extreme solitude that is frightening because nobody wants to be lonely and estranged, endearing because Mr. G is a kind and lovable man." – Lee Sokol: "Art Papers."

Films

  • Other films by this artist in our catalogue

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    Autostop
    Experimental
    Narrative

    Autostop
    Roberta Cantow

    16mm, black and white, sound, 17 min
    Rental format: 16mm
    • Literarature / Theater
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    Rites of Passage
    Experimental
    Narrative

    Rites of Passage
    Roberta Cantow

    16mm, color, sound, 17 min
    Rental format: 16mm
    • Personal / Diary / Journal
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    Clotheslines
    Documentary
    Experimental

    Clotheslines
    Roberta Cantow

    16mm, color, sound, 32.25 min
    Rental format: 16mm
    • Ethnographic
    • Family
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    Iluminada
    Experimental

    Iluminada
    Roberta Cantow

    color, sound, 10 min
    Rental format: 16mm
    • Environment / Nature
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    The Book of Laughs
    Documentary
    Experimental

    The Book of Laughs
    Roberta Cantow

    color, sound, 45 min
    Rental format: 16mm
    • Family
    • Personal / Diary / Journal
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    Doctor Clown
    Documentary

    Doctor Clown
    Roberta Cantow

    color, sound, 30 min
    Rental format: VHS NTSC
    • Body
    • Children / Youth
    • Personal / Diary / Journal
    • Science / Medicine
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    Mosaics
    Documentary

    Mosaics
    Roberta Cantow

    color, sound, 15 min
    Rental format: VHS NTSC
    • Ethnographic
    • Political / Social Activism
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     Bloodtime Moontime Dreamtime (Trilogy) : Women Bringing Forth Change
    Documentary
    Experimental

    Bloodtime Moontime Dreamtime (Trilogy) : Women Bringing Forth Change
    Roberta Cantow

    Digital File, color, sound, 120 min
    Rental format: Digital file
    • Body
    • Arts / Artists
    • Spiritual / Mystical
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    Not a Still Life
    Documentary

    Not a Still Life
    Roberta Cantow

    Digital File, color, sound, 59 min
    Rental format: Digital file
    • Psychology / Mental Health
    • Biography / Autobiography
    • Spiritual / Mystical
    • LGBT / Queer
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    Accordions Rising
    Documentary

    Accordions Rising
    Roberta Cantow

    Digital File, color, sound, 73.43 min
    Rental format: Digital file
    • Music
    • Arts / Artists
    • Ethnographic