Detropia, DIRECTOR Heidi Ewing, Rachel Grady U.S.A., 2011, 90 min, color
From the scores of films shown at this year’s Sundance Film Festival (January 19-29, 2012 in Park City, Utah), only a few end up getting wider distribution; the rest recede into obscurity in Indie film houses. A few of the interesting art films worth looking out for are singled out here:
Directed by New York-based documentary filmmakers Heidi Ewing and Rachel Grady, Detropia – describes Detroit’s boom and bust history; the hemorrhaging decay and eventual collapse of its auto industry. “With its vivid, painterly palette and haunting score, DETROPIA sculpts a dreamlike collage of a grand city teetering on the brink of dissolution.” The film documents buildings being demolished as Detroit’s economic prospects fade, wages plummet and tourists ogle at the “charming decay.”
THE CLOUD OF UNKNOWING, DIRECTOR Ho Tzu Nyen Singapore, 30 min, color
Ho Tzu Nyen’s, The Cloud of Unknowing is an art installation and film, originally shown at the 54th Venice Biennale as part of the Singapore pavillion. The video and sound installation examines clouds as symbolizing transience and emptiness. “On a screen, a narrative unfolds, set in a public housing complex in Singapore, where eight characters in eight apartments individually encounter a cloud, embodied both as a figure and a vaporous mist.”
Excision, DIRECTOR Richard Bates Jr. SCREENWRITER Richard Bates Jr. U.S.A., 2011, 81 min, color
Directed by Richard Bates Jr. Excision blends elements of horror, teen comedy, and cult classics with great performances by Traci Lords and John Waters. Pauline the main character has a penchant for picking scabs, dissecting road kill, and fantasizing about performing surgery on strangers…
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