Life and art intersect on a spectacular Newfoundland farm where visual artist Colette Urban mounts thirteen art performances in the fields and barns of her property. Resilient, determined, self aware and funny, Colette embraces the transformative power of art as she restages the significant art performances of her thirty-year career. With the camera as her audience she transforms the quotidian into a playful world of the imagination with elaborate costumes and idiosyncratic self invented rituals. The film features the astonishing juxtaposition of Urban’s enigmatic art performances set against the rugged beauty of the Newfoundland landscape. She emerges as an empathetic, courageous and visionary character that has achieved artistic excellence through a focused and solitary journey. Urban takes her art out of the gallery and rediscovers it in the natural environment. The film documents the passion of an artist carving out her own distinctive place in the world. Pretend Not To See Me transports audiences to that place.

SELECTED SCREENINGS

Yorkton Short Film and Video Festival, 2009
St John’s International Women’s Film Festival, 2009
Reel Artist Film Festival, Toronto, 2009
Reel Artist Film Festival, Calgary, 2010
Ecofilms, Rhodos International Films and Visual Art Fesitval, 2010