Artists in Person

The short films in this evening's program range from experimental works that defamiliarize the everyday to emotionally evocative narratives. They examine the theme of memory and its decay, drawing on reminiscences as well as recountings of loss and redemption. you are i hate you, an ethnographic video that discusses restroom graffiti, delves into the nature of the father/son relationship in its self-proclaimed quest to “find the American male.” In several experimental works, filmmakers take pains to paint strikingly different views of the mundane-Blips and Beeps approaches video gaming abstractly, both Multiple Hugs & Kisses and Hard Knock Life deal with sexuality, and Urban Jungle juxtaposes two local landscapes. Home Movies, a visually haunting piece composed of Super 8mm home movies, deals with the ephemeral and intangible nature of family ties, as does the more traditional A Sikh in America. Whatever the subject matter, each film reminds viewers of the dual nature of the human capacity for recollection-its ability to either conserve or extinguish emotional and physical occurrences alike.