Sifted Evidence

A woman is telling the story of how she went to Mexico looking for an obscure archaeological site; how she met a man who promised to take her there; how they stayed together locked in cross-purposes and misunderstandings – how, but never why. The central event has been reconstructed through stills, narration, and enactment by two performers in a tableau limited by the boundaries of a front projection screen. “Patricia Gruben’s striking featurette starts like a parody of anthropological film and turns into an hallucinatory subjective account of one woman’s Mexican misadventure. Among the most assured experimental narratives of the early 80s, ‘Sifted Evidence’ makes particularly brilliant use of Syberberg-like front-screen.” – J. Hoberman, Village Voice Awards: Golden Athena for Best Experimental Narrative, Ohio Film Festival, 1983; voted one of top twenty films in world by Village Voice critic Jim Hoberman