The Artists

It’s 1968 and two failed Dadaists struggle to find an audience for their work.

Creative team

Writer/director/producer: Nicole Dorsey & Denver Hayes

Directors’ statement

Nicole Dorsey and Denver Hayes say:

“The initial idea for The Artists came during a design and concepts class that we were both taking. While sitting there slightly bored by an arts and crafts project we were working on, the very art school question “What is art?” began to creep up.

Was this mash of collage we were haphazardly piecing together art? We weren’t sure of the answer or if there was an answer. Did we possess the power to call anything we did art?

From there the jokes began and a couple of years later a script. Stylistically we’ve always loved the look of old National Film Board of Canada films.

After we  decided to tell a story of two Dadaists 40 years behind their time, we felt that the 16mm doc style would be a perfect medium for the telling of our short.

The Artists is part satire and part an honest telling of two struggling individuals trying to make it in an undefined art world.”

About Nicole Dorsey

Nicole Dorsey has been working as a writer and director for the last five years.

Her extensive dramatic training, including a special focus on improvisational acting and directing, have honed her documentarian eye.

Within her roster of films Nicole has created several improvised shorts, yet part of her will always lean toward dramatic storytelling.

In 2010 her film Ivadelle played across the globe and won Best Narrative Short at the RiverRun International Film Festival.

Nicole is a 2009 graduate of Ryerson’s Film Production program.

About Denver Hayes

With a love for the cinema verité style, Denver’s films often explore the humour in the banal and the engaging details within the ordinary.

Since graduating from a Fine Arts Film program at Ryerson University in 2009 he has continued to build on these simple principles and indulge his comedic side more than ever.

In addition to more personal and experimental video art projects, Denver recently delved into music video production.