Event Report #1

Collective Misnomer – Film Screening
“the way things are. the way they are going to be. part three.”
January 25, 2019

This screening featured 7 films/video-art with visual and auditory examples of the bleak, dystopic realities of our present situation and impending future on this planet. While trying to concentrate on the projector screen tucked into the small, book-lined space of the Dikeou Pop-Up space at East Colfax and Grant, I, my teenage daughter and her friend, sat awestruck. I was warned ahead of time at how this was not going to be a cheery, Disney sing-along type of screening; however, I was not prepared for just how disturbing yet enlightening the films would be.  Using film theory and contemporary editing techniques, film artists critique human existence and relationships with each other and the planet.

Loud, dissonant sounds pealed from the speakers as flashing words assaulted my vision with harsh truths. The persistent din so overwhelming that one viewer covered her ears in attempt to stifle the pandemonium. Parallel scenes of Mars’ desolate landscapes collaged together with sights of continued destruction of Earth’s surface; a warning of an imminent future if humans continue to alter the delicate synergy of nature. Society, a fascist president, a lack empathy, politics, and the environment are just a few of the overarching topics canvassed. It’s a shame that these pertinent and necessary discourses have not been seen by larger audiences.

Films and artists featured:

1. Danielle Davis & Ryan Maxey, Chocolate Mountain Metal, 2016.
2. John Wilson, The Road to Magnasanti, 2017.
3. Emily Vey Duke & Cooper Battersby, Bad Ideas for Paradise, 2001.
4. Kelly Sears, After Fall, 2018.
5. Christina Battle, Water Once Ruled, 2018.
6. James Connolly, Aesthetic Catharsis in the Era of American Fascists, 2017.
7. Michael Mitro, The Undiscovered Self, 2015.