Guest Curator: Portia Cobb Chosen for this exhibition are five innovative films produced by local filmmakers whose preoccupations (in linear and non-linear form) lie within the context of three thematic elements: memory, myth and reality. The kinship of these principles leads us along paths of empowerment through the recovery of past and present life experience. Daily Rains by Cauleen Smith (1991, 12 mins, B&W): Memory, simple story-telling and private poetry allow for the exploration of the effects of racism on children, and its residual effects on adults. Breaking Ground by Lisa Austin (1990, 10 mins, Color): Powerful and disturbing imagery is interwoven with an intense and mournful soundtrack. The combination connotes a woman's dreamlike, ritualistic struggle for her freedom, and expresses the trauma of breaking away. The Cleansing Machine by Pat Baum (1991, 18 mins, B&W): A narrative film about the lives of two marginalized women and their efforts to survive in a society that has no place for them. It draws upon real experiences of the film's two actors. El Espiritu de la Tierra (The Spirit of the Earth) by Gustavo Vazquez (1990, 13 mins, Color, 16mm transferred to 3/4" video): Interpretive representations of nature, and the co-existence with the earth of the descendants of an ancient Mayan civilization, are shown in this work which was inspired by a symphony by the Mexican composer Alvarez Del Toro. A Trilogy: Ochun/Oricha, El Balance and Guerreros by Dinorah de Jesús Rodríguez (1990, 28 mins, Color, 8mm film transferred to 3/4" video): An homage to ancestral Afro-Cuban deities (orichas) is rendered in this three-part collage. It evokes a universal feeling of the struggle between masculine and feminine forces in nature. Rhythmic and tactile experiences occur with the kinship of spiritual, sensual and fluid elements. --Portia Cobb