OFF KEY

‘Off key’ – dramatic short movie dealing with the relationship between artist and subject.
Shot in Vancouver, BC 1994. Format: 35 mm. Running Time: 22.10

 

Production photo © Alex Waterhouse-Hayward

 

Writer/Director: Karethe Linaae
Producer/DP: Wade Ferley
Executive Producer: Ron French
Original Score: Schaun Tozer
Movie stills : Alex Waterhouse-Hayward

Cast:
Gabrielle Rose
David Lovgren
Kim Kondrashoff 

Synopsis: A young Russian prodigy pianist is chaperoned by his agent to a session with a famous NY photographer. Left alone for half an hour, the initially uptight Russian is gradually encouraged to undress, until he plays backwards, naked in front of the lens. The ease with which he follows her directions points to an increasing sexual chemistry between the two. The agent returns, shepherding his charge out in the nick of time. The short movie touches on a weighty theme; the politics of the gendered gaze; the tensions when traditional roles (male artist, female subject) are reversed.

‘Off Key’ was selected for Cannes’s Semaine de La Critique and nominated for Canadian Genies in 1994. The film won awards at film festivals in Drama (Greece), Grimstad (Norway), Portland (USA), Moscow (Russia) and Sydney, (Australia).