Films About Destiny and Escape in Cars and Trucks
Co-Curated with Jen Schneider
Saturday October 3, 7pm
$5
Zoe’s Car (Ardele Lister, 6min 30 sec)
Zoe’s Car originated from ordering “50 farm animals for $2.98″ from a newspaper for Zoe, a two-year-old. The order was put in her name and she subsequently received not only the animals but an endless supply of junk mail with fantastic offers and potential winnings of cars, cash, and jewels. She received notification that she had won a car which she is still waiting for. The tape is about the American dream–getting something for nothing.
Fossil Light (Tony Gault, 11min)
Convoys of tundra buggies leave Churchill, Canada each morning, giving thousands of tourists every year the chance to see and photograph polar bears up close and personal and capture “the perfect shot.” The effects of climate change are felt more intimately each year. Hudson Bay takes longer to freeze over. More bears starve every year as a result. And yet, there is a reluctance in Churchill to see the smoke belching tundra buggies as a problem.
Highway Home (Esther Johnson, 3 min)
Highway Home is a contemplative, static study of an unlikely landmark in an unlikely place. Normally only glimpsed in passing, Stott Hall Farm, a cottage built in 1737, floats islandlike in the middle of the M62 in West Yorkshire, whilst cars and lorries thunder past on both sides. Despite the farm seemingly being a monument to stubbornness, the urban myth being that the farmer refused to leave when the motorway was built in the 1970s, the truth of the story is that the east- and westbound carriageways could not meet due to the lie of the land, and the motorway had to be parted around the cottage to avoid landslips.
Blessed Are the Dreams of Men (Jem Cohen, 9min 30sec)
Moving towards an unknown destination, a group of anonymous passengers float through an unidentified landscape. Built from Cohen’s archive documenting his travels, the film can be seen as a curious parable.
Late (Diane Cheklich, 7min 30sec)
Diane Cheklich’s film sets found audio of an evangelical radio call-in show against lonely neon “vacancy” and lotto signs in dark, late-night, inner-city America. The female minister speaks in tongues and dispenses both spiritual and personal advice as the camera lingers on signs such as “If you’re in pain, come right in.”
Farewell (Irena Skoric, 12min) A father and son go on a trip in their old ex-Yugoslav car: Zastava 101. Sometimes it’s hard to say goodbye–goodbye to people and things you loved, including a former country.
Manatees [work in progress] (Minka Farthing-Kohl, 18min) Where else better to escape to than Florida? The story of two young people trying escape their lives in a complicated trip south.
Cochran (James P. Gannon, 8 min)
Jim Cochran floats through his days dreaming about being somewhere else and reflecting on his past. He works a job delivering packages to customers that seem to never be home. He hates his job more than anything and despises the delivery truck he must drive. Jim’s life is stagnant; he makes no attempt to change and instead accepts his fate, living inside of his head with his memories of the past. One fateful day while walking alone in the woods he finds something on the ground, his decision to pick it up will change his life forever.
Adam and Evan (Marc D’Agistino, 24 min)
Adam reluctantly returns home to attend the funeral of his childhood friend Evan, a soldier killed overseas. His journey through the night is filled with their shared past, and forces Adam to confront his uncertain future.
Three Cars (Stashu Kybartas, 11min)
Shot in video-8 at the 1988 Chicago Auto Show, this work examines the artist’s personal history with automobiles against the back-drop of an auto plant closing in Kenosha, Wisconsin. The personal stories of real life relationships between people and their cars is dramatically counterposed to the glaring commercialism of the automobile industry and the economic crisis that industry has imposed on the American union workers.
