Part of SFFILM Festival
Shorts 4: New Visions
Description
From the high rises of Hong Kong, to carefully examined taxidermy, to home videos shot by Barbara Hammer on a motorcycle trip in Guatemala, these eight films travel far, but with a grounding of place and the space they operate within. While reflecting on the external world and its chaotic beauty each film internalizes something more profound, reflecting on history, memory, or a collective anxiety. The program features Festival regulars Janie Geiser and Max Hattler alongside newcomers such as Amanda Katz and Diana Sánchez Maciel.
Total running time 65 min
Titles are listed alphabetically rather than in order of play. All films are in competition.
How a Sprig of Fir Would Replace a Feather
At an extreme closeness, birds, insects, and other wonders of nature are tenderly examined, every inch of them within the frame, in this meditative silent film.
(Anna Kipervaser, USA 2019, 8 min)
Reverse Shadow
Planes hover, red shadows glow, earthly treasures cast shadows in the latest eerie and masterful work by experimental animator and Festival regular Janie Geiser.
(Janie Geiser, USA 2019, 8 min)
Serial Parallels
Max Hattler, another Festival regular, animates the windows, balconies, and façades of unnamed buildings in Hong Kong with such speed and repetition that the iconic high-rise architecture becomes something different altogether.
(Max Hattler, UK 2019, 9 min)
Spit on the Broom
Dreamlike and performative, The United Order of the Tents – a secret organization of African-American women that was founded on the Underground Railroad – is echoed and explored in this experimental documentary.
(Madeleine Hunt-Ehrlich, USA 2019, 11 min)
Standing Forward Full
Frenetic movements of carnival rides, bodies, and words are accompanied by a rhythmic soundtrack that accents the pleasurable images that keep moving even when they shouldn’t be.
(Alee Peoples, USA 2020, 6 min)
Stream (Corriente)
While flipping through a photo album, memories are pointed out, hands caught within the frame, a reflection on the material memories in a digital age.
(Diana Sánchez Maciel, Mexico 2019, 2 min)
This is a Cinema by the Bay film.
Under the paving stones, the beach
From early morning until night, NYC bustles and creaks, as life inside and outside of buildings is observed, heightened by the juxtaposition of labor versus leisure.
(Amanda Katz, USA 2019, 16 min)
Vever (for Barbara)
Working with abandoned projects by Maya Deren and Barbara Hammer, and personal voicemail, Deborah Stratman crafts an intergenerational tribute that is a reflection on art, the artist’s place, and the power structures that they function in.
(Deborah Stratman, USA 2019, 12 min)
