Program Notes: The Eyeslicer Presents: “Marlon said to me, ‘Maria, don’t worry, it’s just a movie.'”
Program Run Time: 1 hr. 15 min.
How to Bake a Pie
Animated by Kelly Gallagher, 2019
The introduction to and interstitials of tonight’s program are by animator Kelly Gallagher. Melting, slicing, mixing, scorching. We don’t want a slice of the pie, we want the whole thing.
Applied Pressure
Kelly Sears, 2018, 6 mins.
Ease the pain from past physical and mental distress. The body remembers. Aches may linger. Lie prone, breathe deeply, release tension. Instructional massage images sourced from dozens of bodywork books are altered, reordered, and overlaid to shift the emphasis from the actions on the body to reception of the touch. The tone of the animation changes from one of relaxation and healing to the dissociative and traumatic, reflecting on conversations from this past year surrounding bodies, massage, and assault.
Before the Portrait
Karissa Hahn, 2012, 2 mins.
Before the Portrait imagines the musings of artist John William Waterhouse in response to his painting A Mermaid (1900), portraying both its immobile creature and idealized images of femininity.
American Reflexxx
Alli Coates, 2015, 14 mins.
American Reflexxx is an experimental documentary by filmmaker Alli Coates and artist Signe Pierce. On August 13, 2013, the pair ventured to the Myrtle Beach boardwalk, Pierce scantily clad and wearing a reflective mirrored mask and Coates armed with a camera. The duo knew it would be a visually interesting experiment, but they never expected bloodshed. Over the course of an hour, as Pierce sauntered down the street, the performance quickly gained a crowd, which turned to street harassment, and then escalated to an angry mob lashing out in a violent assault.
This chilling film is a study of mob mentality, violence, and the hostility surrounding gender ambiguity in American culture. It has been screened in over 30 countries and attained a cult following thanks in part to its viral success on YouTube and an appearance on Fox News.
I Dream You Dream of Me
Jennifer Reeder, 2018, 10 mins.
A lone woman (Angelica Ross) marks her trail and sheds some excess baggage along the way. Reeder’s feminist horror fever dream offers a fresh take on the modern Western.
(rough cut)
Walter Woodman, 2016, 3 mins.
A director pressures an actress into full nudity on the morning of her first sex scene.
Growing Girl
Marnie Ellen Hertzler, 2017, 11 mins.
As the director notes, this is “a PowerPoint presentation about snakes and all of the things I wish I would have done.”
Takako vs. Nine Lives
Lauren Wolkstein, 2018, 9 mins.
This short experimental dance for screen tells a story using a visual language that juxtaposes classical ballet and masked professional wrestling in the lucha libre style.
Pryings
Nishat Hossain, 2014, 7 mins.
Drawing from Vito Acconci’s video work Pryings (1971), this two-part performance explores intimacy, trust, and violence.
Perils
Abigail Child, 1986, 5 mins.
This homage to the classic melodramas of silent film—with their clash of ambiguous innocence and unsophisticated villainy—foregrounds theatrical postures to reconstruct our ideas of romance and action. Director Abigail Child says, “I had long conceived of a film composed only of reaction shots in which all causality was erased. What would be left would be the resonant, voluptuous suggestions of history and the human face.”
Mahogany Too
Akosua Adoma Owusu, 2018, 3 mins.
Inspired by the Nigerian film industry’s distinct re-imaginings that take the form of unauthorized sequels, Mahogany Too interprets the 1975 cult classic Mahogany, a fashion-infused romantic drama. Starring Nigerian actress Esosa E., Mahogany Too examines and revives Diana Ross’s iconic portrayal of Tracy Chambers, a determined, energetic African American woman enduring racial injustice while pursuing her dreams. Mahogany Too uses analog Super 8 film to achieve its vintage tone and emphasize the essence of the character, re-creating Tracy’s qualities through fashion, modeling, and styling.
