'The streets are full of admirable craftsmen, but so few practical dreamers.' -- Man Ray What if there were movies made the same way as suits, custom fitted, each one tailored for one person? Not broadcast, but narrowcast? Not theatres around the world showing the same globalized pictures, but instead a local circumstance, a movie so particular, so peculiar, it could cure night blindness or vertigo? Welcome to the world of fringe movies, where artists have been busy putting queer shoulders to the wheels, or bending light to talk about First Nations rights (and making it funny at the same time), or demonstrating how a personality can be taken apart and put together again, all in the course of a ten-minute movie which might take years to make. Practical Dreamers takes us to this other side of the media plantation. In it, twenty-seven Canadian artists dish about how they get it done and why it matters. The conversations are personal, up close and jargon free, smart without smarting. The stellar cast includes smartbomb Steve Reinke; visionary Peter Mettler; Middle East specialist Jayce Salloum; queer Asian avatars Richard Fung, Midi Onodera, Ho Tam, and Wayne Yung; footage recyclers Aleesa Cohene and Jubal Brown; overhead projector king Daniel Barrow; First Nations vets Kent Monkman and Shelley Niro; international art presence Paulette Philips; and documentarian Donigan Cumming. These in-depth talks come lavishly illustrated in an oversized volume.

The book is constructed as a series of conversations between filmmaker Mike Hoolboom and moving-image artist Chase Joynt. Hoolboom was diagnosed with HIV/AIDS in the 80s and would have died if not for the introduction of the 'cocktail' therapy in 1995. Chase Joynt is a transgender individual (female-to-male). The book's title refers to the notion that they are both currently living 'second lives.' Mike and Chase have a fascinating dynamic and will perform the book well in public. They'll also produce a high-quality book trailer and investigate other moving-image strategies to promote the book. YOLT is true fiction, part of the auto-genre wave that includes the diary crypts of Knausgaard, the friendship recordings of Sheila Heti and the theory-fiction of Maggie Nelson and Chris Krauss. High-profile trans people (Caitlyn Jenner, Laverne Cox, Chaz Bono) have put the trans experience and transgender cultural production in the spotlight recently. YOLT offers an intersectional perspective and an embodied experience of our post-biopolitical world. Seeking blurbs from Maggie Nelson, Lana Wachowski and Michelle Tea. The conversation is framed through the life and work of filmmaker Chris Marker (La Jetee, the inspiration for the film 12 Monkeys).