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Patricia Gruben

Writing

Biography

Patricia Gruben is an American-born filmmaker who taught film studies at Simon Fraser University in British Columbia, Canada until 2018. As a director, she has made four feature films and several shorts. Gruben has worked in many different positions within the film industry, from being a property master to directing a feature film. In 2015, Gruben was the recipient of the Teamsters 155 Woman of the Year Award given by Vancouver Women in Film and TV.

Known For

Heartaches
5.5

A young wife becomes pregnant, but the child's father is not her husband. Afraid to tell him, she leaves home, and meets an outgoing, free-spirited woman on a bus. Although the two are polar opposites, the wife moves in with the young woman, and finds out that they have much more in common than she realized.

Heartaches

1981
Deep Sleep
7.5

An emotionally disturbed young woman who is obsessed with the death of her father delves into the mystery.

Deep Sleep

1990
Heart of Gold
7.0

Texas, 1969. Michael infuriates girlfriend Mary-Bob by accepting the draft to serve in Vietnam. But after a violent incident at boot camp, he deserts and escapes over the border to British Columbia. Here he finds shelter with a group of Russian pacifists, the Doukhobors. Meanwhile back in the US, Mary-Bob becomes a militant anti-war activist... Their stories are told through letters they are writing to each other but cannot send, because both are on the run.

Heart of Gold

2023
Sifted Evidence
9.0

A woman is telling the story of how she went to Mexico looking for an obscure archaeological 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.

Sifted Evidence

1982
The Central Character
N/A

"A woman's attempt to keep chaos at bay by naming, classifying, and ordering her domestic environment. This ultimately results in a total loss of ego and verbal capacity. Through the innovative juxtaposition of printed text, graphics, step printing, and disintegrating soundtrack, Gruben constructs a narrative breakdown that parallels the unconscious patterning of her character's mind." - Richard Stanford, National Gallery of Canada

The Central Character

1978
No image
9.0

"Low Visibility" finds a man wandering alone on a snowy mountain roadside, waving his arms and shouting at the sky. The enigmatic Mr. Bones, an apparent amnesiac, is unable or unwilling to explain what has happened to him.

Low Visibility

1984
No image
N/A

The director traces her family tree across the globe.

Ley Lines

1993