David Rimmer

A recipient of the 2011 Governor General’s Award for his achievements in the visual arts, filmmaker, photographer and professor David Rimmer (1942–2023) helped kick-start experimental film in Canada with his classic 1970 shorts Surfacing on the Thames and Variations on a Cellophane Wrapper.

Rimmer’s first film with the NFB, Jack Wise: Language of the Brush (1998), offers a unique encounter between the eponymous visual artist, composer Dennis Burke and Rimmer’s own experimental work, while celebrating Wise’s life and career. His second—and last—NFB film, Gathering Storm (2003), is a hand-painted, camera-less six-minute-film, in which he fuses the spirit of contemporary world music with disorder and chaos, crafting a beautiful yet disturbing abstract work. 

Rimmer was a unifying figure for a generation of filmmakers who would permanently shift the landscape of cinema in British Columbia and Canada. As noted by the Canadian Film Encyclopedia, Rimmer explored the structure of the film medium while simultaneously operating on a metaphorical level. He started making films in 1967 and completed over 40 titles in the ensuing four decades. Rimmer remains one of Canada’s most internationally acclaimed experimental filmmakers.