TIFF Wavelengths Presents is pleased to welcome artist Diego Marcon, who presents a special programme of his own films and a personal favourite that interrogates the cinematic image and its nefarious production of desire. 

Invited to curate a program for TIFF Wavelengths Presents, I thought to screen a very well-known movie that — as with many directed by Adrian Lyne — shaped the aesthetic (and perhaps even the broader imaginary) of the ’80s and the ’90s, apparently decades of happiness and richness for a large part of the world. Flashdance is probably my favourite film of all time. Each time I see it, I can’t help but be completely seduced by it. To enjoy each frame that composes it; every single note of its soundtrack; every tear, sigh, drop of sweat that Alex secretes. Each of her struggles and efforts. Every bike ride at sunrise. I want to be Alex: “In a world made of steel,” I want to dream such a dream; to desire such a desire; to feel such a feeling. But can I really “have it all?” No, I cannot. Within Flashdance lie both the desperate beauty of cinema and all its evilness. Flashdance is a lie murmured by the devil, after which my film, Untitled (All Pigs Must Die), works as a little, helpless waking up. While La Gola is an attempt to expose the obscenity of a machine made to feed desires with emotions.

― Diego Marcon

Playing as part of this programme:

• Adrian Lyne, Flashdance, USA, 1983, 95 min., English 35mm print!
• Diego Marcon, Untitled (All Pigs Must Die), Italy, 2015, 1 min., no dialogue
• Diego Marcon, La Gola, Italy, 2024, 20 min., English

Selections by Diego Marcon is presented in partnership with The Vega Foundation, complimenting the exhibition Diego Marcon: The Bubble Boy on view at the Art Gallery of Ontario opening June 5, 2026.