Self Portrait Post Mortem

An unearthed time capsule consisting of footage of the maker’s youthful self – an “exquisite corpse” with nature as collaborator. Bourque buried random out-takes from her first three films (all staged productions dealing with her family) in the backyard of her ancestral home (adjoining the grounds of a former cemetery) with the ambivalent intentions of both safe-keeping and unloading them (she was relocating). Upon examining the footage five years later she found that the material contained images of herself captured during the making of her first film. That discovery seemed handed over like a gift and prompted the making of this film, a metaphysical pas-de-deux in which decay undermines the image and in the process engenders a transmutation. “Rossetti’s Beatrice uses Stan Brakhage as interior decorator in this through-the-glass-darkly two-way mirror moving picture of death after death.” – Steve Ausbury, Cinematexas Film Festival catalogue, 2002 Selected screenings and awards: Flaherty International Film Seminar, 50th anniversary, “Inspired Filmmaking”, Poughkeepsie, 2004; Director’s Citation, Black Maria Film and Video Festival, Jersey City, NJ, 2003; Jury Award, 36th New York Exposition of Short Film and Video, New York, December 2002; Tour, Antimatter Film Festival Program called “Lightstruck,’ 2004-2006; International Film Festival Rotterdam, The Netherlands, 2002; Toronto International Film Festival, Ontario, 2002; San Francisco International Film Festival, California, 2003; VIPER International Festival for Film Video and New Media, Basel, Switzerland, 2002; Madrid Experimental Cinema Week, Spain, November 2002.