Here are our experimental documentaries.
"News from the Sun"
3min, 16mm in-camera edit, 2016
*please watch with headphones and/or professional audio equipment as the bass levels are very low*
Description:
An apocalyptic narrative unfolds through the words of "The Sun", a British tabloid created by media mogul Rupert Murdoch. 4000 single frames were exposed, unedited, and accompanied with the pulsing rhythms of the sun collected by NASA, resembling the Buddhist "Om", the sound of our universe.
The Smyth Brothers were commissioned to make this film by Ben Russell for Moogfest 2016 in Durham, NC as part of a 9-part screening series entitled "Memories of the Space Age". Thanks to Josh Lewis at Negativland Motion Picture Lab for his beautiful processing/printing work!
SCREENINGS/AWARDS
2017 Girona Film Festival
2017 Moviate Underground Film Festival
2017 FEST - New Directors/New Films Festival (Portugal)
2017 Chicago Underground Film Festival
2017 Minneapolis St. Paul Int'l Film Festival
2017 Athens International Film+Video Festival
2017 Short. Sweet. Film Fest- Award: Honorable Mention
2017 Big Muddy Film Festival
2017 Alchemy Film and Moving Image Festival- U.K. Premiere (Scotland)
2017 OtherZine Issue #32: cinema of resistance
2017 Oxford Film Festival
2016 Virginia Film Festival
2016 Black Light Film + Video Series: Trouble Found Me
2016 Antimatter [Media Art]- Canadian Premiere (British Columbia)
2016 BIDEODROMO- European Premiere (Spain)
2016 Moogfest- World Premiere (Durham, NC)
"Death Songs & Car Bombs"
6.5min, 16mm in-camera edits, 2013
Guided by a ceremonial death song, an attempt to reach the unholy sea transforms into a chaotic place study of Bali's infamous tourism district- car-bombed one year after 9/11. Osama bin Laden declared the attack to be a direct response to the United States' War on Terror. Now, a dimly-lit memorial stands amidst a sea of Western signage, and by fate, an identical Mitsubishi L300 passes ground zero as the roll flares out.
[ Published by Ohio State University's Journal of Short Film: click HERE to purchase! ]
SCREENINGS / AWARDS:
- Official Selection 2014 Milwaukee Underground Film Festival
- Anthology Film Archives curated by Lorenzo Gattorna entitled "The Improbable Made Possible: Farewell From A Dying Star"
- Official Selection 2014 Winnipeg Underground Film Festival
- Official Selection 2014 Edinburgh International Film Festival
- Official Selection 2014 Kolkata Shorts International Film Festival
- Official Selection 2014 Columbus International Film & Video Festival
- Official Selection 2014 Antimatter [Media Art]
- Official Selection 2014 Transient Visions Festival of the Moving Image
- Official Selection 2014 Virginia Film Festival
- Published by The Journal of Short Film at Ohio State University
- Official Selection 2015 Florida Experimental Film Festival
- Official Selection 2015 $100 Film Festival
- Official Selection 2015 Ethnografilm Festival (Paris, France)
- BronxArtSpace curated by Mitsu Hadeishi entitled, "Synthetic Zero Event"
- Official Selection 2015 Moving Film Festival (Kyoto, Japan)
- Official Selection 2015 Speechless Film Festival
- Official Selection 2015 Atlanta Film Festival
- Official Selection 2015 Athens International Film and Video Festival
- Published by OtherZine Issue #28: Autonomous Zones!
- Official Selection 2015 Brooklyn Film Festival
- Duke University (Durham, NC)
- Franklin & Marshall College (Lancaster, PA)
"Rice for Sale"
31min, 16mm to video, 2013
An experimental tale distorting Bali's modern world into a historical account depicting the demise of its former cultural motto, "Rice is Life." Ten wordless vignettes, all in-camera edits, are strung together to compose a two-part mythological venture down the heavenly mountain toward the demonic sea, culminating at the site of the 2002 terrorist bombing.
SCREENINGS / AWARDS:
- Official Selection 2014 Chicago Underground Film Festival
- WINNER- Best Experimental Film 2014 Indie Grits Film Festival
- Official Selection 2014 Iowa City International Film Festival
- Vinyl Perk (Carrboro, NC)
- Mono No Aware's Connectivity Through Cinema (Brooklyn, NY)
- Sight Unseen Screening Series (Baltimore, MD)
- Big Mama's Cinematheque (Philadelphia, PA)
- The Other Room (Lancaster, PA)
- WINNER- Grand Prize Brattleboro Film Festival's Young Filmmakers Showcase
- Mechanical Eye Microcinema (Asheville, NC)
- Cooper Union (NY, NY)
- Duke University (Durham, NC)
"Por Dinero"
31min, 16mm to video, 2012
Quotes from an ancient Mayan hero tie together the life of an undocumented Mexican, his indigenous family, and their dying language in this experimental documentary.
SCREENINGS / AWARDS:
- WINNER- Special Jury Prize for Emerging Filmmakers 2012 Cincinnati Film Festival
- Official Selection 2012 Atlanta Underground Film Festival
- Official Selection 2012 Louisville's International Festival of Film
- Official Selection 2012 Costa Rica International Film Festival
- WINNER- Honorable Mention 2013 Big Muddy Film Festival
- Official Selection 2013 Chicago Underground Film Festival
- Official Selection 2013 Indie Grits Film Festival
- WINNER- Inter/Trans/National 2013 Iowa City International Documentary Film Festival
- WINNER- Best Short Documentary 2013 Seattle True Independent Film Festival
- Official Selection 2013 Antimatter [Media Art]
- Official Selection 2014 Atlanta Film Festival
- Anthology Film Archives curated by Tova Beck-Friedman entitled "Experimental Documentaries"
- Mono No Aware's Connectivity Through Cinema (Brooklyn, NY)
- Sight Unseen Screening Series (Baltimore, MD)
- Big Mama's Cinematheque (Philadelphia, PA)
- The Other Room (Lancaster, PA)
- Mechanical Eye Microcinema (Asheville, NC)
- Ball State University (Muncie, Indiana)
- Duke University (Durham, NC)