Still image from In the Wind by Yue Hua
Join the AgX Film Collective during Waltham Mills Open Studios for an after hours screening program of recent works by AgX members, followed by a conversation with the filmmakers.
Doors open at 6:30pm, program starts at 7:00pm
$5-$15 recommended donation
PROGRAM:
A Small Lie, Ethan Berry, 2021, digital, sound, b&w, German with English subtitles, 3:54
1939 damaged 8mm found footage combined with a language lesson to see what associations arise.
Moth Print, Sarah Bliss, 2023, Handmade laser-printed 16mm transferred to HD, sound, b&w, English, 3:35
Moth Print is a collaboration with my deceased father. It traces lines of loss and confronts failure of memory. A cameraless handmade film, it employs a laser printer to image directly onto clear film leader, creating both (optical) sound and image. Each printed sheet contains 231 frames patiently composed and assembled one by one: 9.6 seconds of projected film. It utilizes two texts: digital video I shot of a Galium Sphinx moth compulsively divebombing a light that could destroy it, and a manuscript page from my father’s unpublished memoir in which he describes visiting his own father who was dying of Alzheimer’s. My father found him imprisoned in a state hospital, brutally beaten and bruised, strapped to a gurney unable to speak.
Move, Douglas Urbank, 2021, 16mm to digital, sound, b&w, 4:37
A nature of children, birds, and insects.
Put the Brights On, Raymond Rea, 2021, 16mm transferred to digital, sound, b&w, English with open captions, 17:02
PTBO is an experimental documentary about Transgender people who choose to live in rural areas (shot and recorded in "greater Minnesota") and speaks to the larger urban/rural divide.
Everything Comes Full Circle, Lilan Yang, 2023, 16mm transferred to digital, sound, color and b&w, English with English subtitles, 13:48
Following Wim Wenders' Paris, Texas (1984) filming locations from Houston, Texas to Los Angeles, California, I use a 16mm Bolex camera to capture the vastness of the American West. The footage draws me to reminisce about snippets of my everyday life. I contemplate how we perceive the world through analog optical apparatuses and how memories are multidimensional yet fragile. Our recollections of people and places can be distorted, unrecognizable, and fictitious. These memories would eventually diminish with the passing of time. Everything Comes Full Circle is a personal attempt to remember things that will soon be forgotten.
In the Wind, Yue Hua, 2023, 16mm found footage transferred to digital, sound, color, English, 5:39
“In the wind” is a thought experiment on Found footage that attempts to decipher myself and my experience of the physical world around me. By linking my senses through sound and images, I establish my connection to this diverse and ever-changing world. Walking in the wind is also a state that I try to maintain in the post-epidemic era, a state of confronting the world and maintaining myself - “everything happens, dissipates in the wind, and I observe, experience, feel, and keep walking.”
Down to the Water, David Bendiksen, 2022, Hand-processed 16mm transferred to digital, sound, b&w, 5:29
A journey down to the water, contemplating the meeting of water and land as a source of both tranquility and quiet vitality. Shot on the seacoast of Maine, summer 2022. Sound mix: Trevor McMahon.
Feather Family, Alison Folland, 2023, 16mm transferred to digital, sound, b&w, English, 5:23
A voice-to-text soliloquy. A child tastes loneliness, freedom, power and care via an animal simulator game. Roles are rehearsed and reversed.
CUENTOS PARA NIÑOS #1, Michelle Trujillo, 2018, digitized 16mm, sound, b&w, Spanish with English subtitles, 3:21
La Llorona transcends from the world of the living to that of infinite waters. Images were created on 16mm film through alternative techniques.
Tarot Portrait: Faith, Brittany Gravely and Ken Linehan, 2023, 16mm, sound, color and b&w, 8:50
FAITH is part of a set of cinematic tarot cards in which we collaborate with the subjects to create layered vignettes infused with personal symbolism. By choosing costumes, objects, actions and locations that represent their own visions, the stars of these films bring forth what they want to manifest mythically and physically within their lives. Inspired by their particular choices and personalities, we collaborate throughout the shoot, double-exposing each roll of film as a toss of the alchemical I ching while adding a spectral layer. Sealed into the receptive emulsion, these layered iconographies are then awakened with the projection of light and witnessed by those who may recognize parts of their own dreams.
(total runtime 72 minutes)
PLEASE NOTE:
Masks are strongly encouraged at this event to help protect the most vulnerable among our community. If you are hoping to attend but feel that you need a specific accommodation of any sort, please do not hesitate to reach out to hi[at]agxfilm.org.