Thursday November 7 * 7pm * $10-20 * TICKETS
We are excited to present an evening of short experimental films by members of our current microcinema curatorial team: Alex Atienza, Pat Doyen, Rebecca Reynolds, and Vinny Terlizzi. Followed by Q&A with the filmmakers.
Screening order to be determined.
Alexander Philip Atienza is a filmmaker, artist, and writer. He has an MFA from the University of Southern California, where he studied film and television production, and a BA from the University of Pennsylvania, where he studied cognitive science and philosophy.
Underworld, 2018, HD video, 6 minutes 2 seconds
“Underworld” is a candid portrait of morning rush hour, documenting the microscopic interactions and spontaneous orders of itinerant souls over a two-hour span on the corner of 13th and G Street, outside Metro Center in downtown Washington, D.C.
Downtown Los Angeles, March 28, 2020, 2020, HD video, 2 minutes 55 seconds
At the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, barely two weeks after the nation went on lockdown, I traveled to downtown Los Angeles to film the streets, where the car traffic often associated with the city was dramatically absent.
I paired these two shorts because their portrayals of urban life, one a bustling street scene and the other an empty city, capture sharply contrasting moments in time.
Pat Doyen makes, preserves, programs and writes about films and other media arts. She works independently and as part of the Arsenic Cookie Film Collective in Baltimore, MD. By day she is a film archivist with a passion for home movies and orphan films. Her work has been exhibited both nationally and internationally and she has taught hand processing and filmmaking workshops for both children and adults. She is a contributor to "The DIY Guide to Film & Video" published by Parcell Press and editor of the book "Hell Yeah! Heavy Metal Parking Lot @ 30".
Math Problem, 2024, 7:16, digital
The US has a math problem. Embedded in the constitution is the idea that some of us are only three-fifths of a person, a "compromise" that has repercussions to this day.
Creole Love Call, 2021, 3:21, digital
Made as part of the Seven Tones Project, joining filmmakers and musicians to celebrate Duke Ellington.
Hand in Hand, 2024, 7:25, digital
An elegy to environmental loss and a meditation on the human impact of a landscape devoid of humans.
Caravan, 2005, 3:20, super 8
A train trip through a cold war hangover, set to Soviet era jazz.
Rebecca Reynolds uses cinematic "parlor tricks" to construct and pervert systems of logic with surreal and provocative imagery. Ideas are played out through uncanny juxtapositions within a divided frame, created with 16mm Bolex camera and matte box. She is currently experimenting with phytogram image-making on 16mm and 35mm film.
The 2nd Screen
2024, color, silent, 4:40
Phytogram process on 16mm film, digitally modified and presented.
There’s always another breath inside my breath.
Tableau Vivant
2024, color, sound, 2 min
16mm film presented digitally
Inspired by the work of Pierre Klossowski.
The Space Between Two Figures
2019, 16mm, b&w on color film stock, sound, 5:40
Inspired by filmmaker Shellie Fleming, hijacked b&w images are reshot on expired film stock with in-camera effects and editing using Bolex and matte box. Identical cousins transform the stereotype back into the intense impulses of phantasmatic simulacra.
Palindrome
2001, 16mm, b&w, sound, 11 min
Images created extemporaneously within a structure of in-camera effects and editing suggest the workings of a mechanism. This is a film about the mechanism of desire and the desire to become formless.
Exquisite Corpse
2017, 16mm, b&w, silent, 6 min
A film made by Arsenic Cookie members Agnes Moon, Rebecca Reynolds, and Pat Doyen. Made in the tradition of a surrealist "exquisite corpse” collaboration, this silent experimental film features randomly spliced together shots photographed by the three filmmakers, each unaware of what the others had shot, at locations across Maryland. The exposed footage was hand-processed using a coffee-based developer and old US Army processing tanks.
Vinny Terlizzi - My work explores themes of perception, memory, and transformation, to reconsider the familiar. I use a mix of 16mm original negative, digital video, found footage, and visual effects to create new works. My process is driven by a fascination with how images, shapes and sounds can be deconstructed and reassembled, using repetition, color manipulation, digital glitches, and other effects to evoke something entirely new. I’m interested in reimagining the familiar and pushing the boundaries of footage while maintaining a sense of engagement.
Wheels on a Family Church, 5 min
Experimental music video featuring Zack Be blends found footage with vivid color manipulation. The visuals follow a rhythmic repetition exploring themes of motion, and tradition.
Lemonade, 3 min
Lemonade is a short experimental film crafted from 16mm lost loop elements. Using distorted images and rhythmic noise to explore themes of focus, memory, and disintegration. Through chaotic repetition, the film meditates on the instability of perception and the fragility of visual media.
WORMhole, 3 min
WORMhole is an experimental glitch film that warps archival photos and footage into unrecognizable forms. The film explores how memories can distort over time, questioning our perception of the past and the way we process visual information.