Sifted Evidence

A woman is telling the story of how she went to Mexico looking for an obscure archeological site; how she met a man who promised to take her there; how they stayed together locked in cross-purposes and misunderstandings -- how, but never why. The central event has been reconstructed through stills, narration and enactment by two performers in a tableau limited by the boundaries of the front projection screen.

"In Sifted Evidence, the visual discourse is...complex, using a range of optical and cinematographic effects (front projections, travelling mattes, painted backdrops, dissolving pans, animation) to produce an almost garishly gorgeous image which operates a poetic and witty deconstruction of the cinematic illusion."

-- Kay Armatage

Sifted Evidence stands as a landmark exploration of feminist and colonial issues, using language against itself to complicate the story of one woman’s trip to Mexico in search of matriarchal history.

– Take One’s Essential Guide to Canadian Film

Drama, 42 min. Writer, Director, Editor. New York Film Festival 1983; Toronto Festival of Festivals; Festival du nouveau cinema, Montréal; Athens Film Festival (Golden Athena - First Prize Experimental Drama); Flaherty Seminar; University of Illinois (purchase); KUHT TV, Houston (PBS affiliate); University of Toronto; Honorable Mention, Village Voice Top Ten Films of 1983.

Writing about Sifted Evidence

Armatage, Kay, "About to Speak: The Woman's Voice in Patricia Gruben's Sifted Evidence," in Seth Feldman (ed.) Take Two: A Tribute to Film in Canada. Toronto: Irwin 1984.
Baert, Renee, "In Travel, Archetypes Become Alerted Symbolism," (review of Sifted Evidence) Fuse May/June 1982.
Handling, Piers, "Canada's Ten Best," Take One No. 6, 22-30
Hoberman, J. "Top Ten Films of 1983", Village Voice 20 December 1983.
Nadaner, Dan, "Metatourist in Metaworld: Patricia Gruben's Sifted Evidence. Millenium Film Journal, Winter 1987.
Silverman, Kaja, "Disembodying the Female Voice," in The Acoustic Mirror, Oxford University Press, 1988 pp. 165-174. (Sifted Evidence)
Wise, Wyndham (ed.) Take One’s Essential Guide to Canadian Film. University of Toronto Press, 2001.