Inspired by the writings and philosophy of U.G. Krishnamurti, The Natural State is a visual essay on why we have only the present and our bodies. Spirituality, fear and consciousness are constructed by the continuity of thought.
Filter Films
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During a bizarre series of events, a vampire discovers that harmless humans, forest creatures and even his own body have turned against him.
The Urge 2: It Lies Within
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DELILAH JUKEBOX (aka DJ) toys with the notion of loops, repetition, and dichotomy like the A-B sides of a vinyl record. Delilah is not just a woman, she is the embodiment and projection of fear and fantasy; her name conjures diverse images and prejudices of the lover, the traitor, the fallen woman, the temptress, the patriot, and the vengeful, etc. Through a series of repetitions of Delilah’s aria “Printemps qui commence” (from the opera Samson et Delilah by Camille Saint-Saëns) in a series of domestic spaces, male mezzo Stephen Chen explores the representation of the feminine by deconstructing and re-imagining Delilah. Dichotomies are heightened in the splitting of the female voice and the female body. Each iteration of Delilah’s aria situates itself in a different scenario and problematic. These scenarios span from degradation to empowerment and construct new narratives that disrupt those prior as well as expectations of desire and phobia on the strength and weakness of the feminine in its potential emasculation of power and authority. DELILAH JUKEBOX is bookended by ANCESTRIES.
DELILAH JUKEBOX
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An anagram of “resistance,” ANCESTRIES is a layered piece that encodes the dialectics of colonialism, de-sexualization, desire and resistance. An Asian is seduced by, and in turn, seduces a Caucasian whilst simultaneously reframing and performing two arias from Samson et Delilah by Camille Saint-Saëns. ANCESTRIES suggests possibilities for resistance vs. outright rejection by having the Asian turn the colonized culture against itself. At the same time, it brackets the Western de-sexualization and feminization of Asian males (and high voices), while simultaneously exemplifying and subverting the stereotypes of submission. The use of male bodies also calls out the worship of hard, Caucasian bodies and the dominantly White canon of LGBT history. ANCESTRIES is bookended by DELILAH JUKEBOX.
ANCESTRIES
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An anagram of “napkins,” SPANKIN transposes the gay hanky code of the 70s onto contemporary coffee culture. Although humorous in content, SPANKIN is an allegory for hierarchical relations within minority groups, consumerist co-optation of identity, and the collective historical forgetting of repression and resistance. The older man has lived through it, the middle-aged man has heard about it and needs to look it up, while the young man is oblivious. Inspired by the criminalization of homosexual behaviour in Russia, India, Nigeria, and Uganda in 2013, SPANKIN revives the handkerchief code formulated during a similar period of suppression in North America to remind audiences of the never-ending struggle, the poignancy of connection and secrecy amidst repression, and the semiotic slide of symbols.
SPANKIN
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A transwoman puts on makeup. The makeup and her movements are a metaphor for her transformation, as well as the dialectical revealing and concealment of herself from the scrutiny of the outside world. Taking its title from Marc Chan’s composition, MY WOUNDED HEAD is an experimental short film that investigates issues of representation, preconceived notions and reflexivity. Marc’s music, featured in the soundtrack, is itself a reflexive reinterpretation of a set of chorales from Bach’s St. Matthew’s Passion, “O Haupt voll Blut und Wunden” (“O Sacred Head Now Wounded”).
MY WOUNDED HEAD
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A comedy of obsession and assimilation that charts the true account of a first generation Chinese-Canadian’s attempt to fit into a white middle-class suburb. After an alienated childhood, she eventually lands a job at an unpopular pasta bar, walking the streets as a 10-foot egg noodle. A transformation occurs when her new persona, Mr. Noodle, supersedes her own identity – only to confront a similar alienation as a noodle human.
Escapades of the One Particular Mr. Noodle
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“The director’s feelings of envy and resentment of a roommate’s pronoun-of-choice eventually evolve into delight in one simple word. This freedom allows for new embodiments of gender—as beautiful and strange as a unicorn, a pair of wings or a bouquet of roses.” — Inside Out 2014 Toronto LGBT Film Festival
100 Crushes Chapter 6: They
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Michael runs a diner frequented by people looking for casual sex. Loveless, he swoons over the most recent visitor, Brandt. When Brandt reveals that he’s not interested in love, Michael does not take well to being rejected.
I REALLY LIKE YOU
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“Through a succession of subtly constructed tableaus, this powerful film is a profound critique of systematic oppression. Instigated by a massacre amidst a land-rights conflict in Paraguay, this haunting work transcends the local context to voice the struggle for essential freedoms.” — 60th International Short Film Festival Oberhausen (Germany, 2014)
La Estancia
