DECONSTRUCTION
June 24, 2021
HUMAN LIGHTS FESTIVAL: A CURIOUS ENCOUNTER
TIT
The Visual Album was created by Elizabeth Dinkova and Barrett Doyle
On Demand beginning June 24th throughout the festival.
Clinging to life in the aftermath of a brutal attack, Lavinia journeys through the wasteland of her mind to confront the ill-fated choices and missed connections that led to her awakening. Set in an apocalyptic future, this kaleidoscopic visual album is the primal scream of those who seek to tear down the status quo and build a new world. TIT, was originally created for our Home Brew @ Home Series and was later a special selection for the NYC Indie Theatre Film Festival of 2021. The full project is being co-created with Jesse Rasmussen, Nicolette Emanuelle, Eugene H. Russell IV, Ellen Warkentine & company.
Elizabeth Dinkova is an itinerant director, adaptor, and collaborative creator who explores alternative realities at the intersection of theater, film, and music in pursuit of social justice. She was born in Bulgaria and recently graduated from the MFA Directing program at the Yale School of Drama. She was the 2017-18 Artistic Leadership fellow at the Alliance Theatre and is currently an Associate Artistic Director at 7 Stages.
Short Film Block (8 Virtual Screenings)
7:00 – 8:15 PM ET
Virtual Film Screenings – Available afterward on demand
Diamonds
by Diego Serna – Short Film
“Diamonds” is a short film about adversity and persevering through it all. It acknowledges the struggle as well as celebrates the resilience and tenacity it takes to find your light out of the darkest of times.
Diego Serna is an Atlanta-based performer from Guadalajara, Mexico. He specializes in aerial dance in trapeze and aerial sling, as well as stilt walking and palm torch dance. Throughout his career, he hopes to always give back to his community and inspire future artists to pursue their dream path and support one another.
I WAS
by Nina Marinov – Experimental Short Film
Originally from Russia, Nina Marinov is a filmmaker located in Atlanta, GA. She experiments with crossover of poetry, music, and movement. I WAS is a self-reflection and attempt to take a snapshot of the filmmaker’s stream of consciousness.
Sweep Softly
by Leila Ghasempor – Virtual Premiere & Live Installation
“Art should be a tool to create hopeful and positive changes in society, even if that tool can be an egg from daily life that embodies a hopeful, awakening, and caring message.”
Sweep Softly is a performance piece created and performed by Leila Ghasempor. In it, she explores the distinction between self and other. Utilizing dozens of eggs she poses the question: how do I hold space for myself while caring for those around me? Leila Ghasempor is a Kurdish-Iranian performance artist whose work draws from her experiences growing up in the midst of the Iran-Iraq War (1980-1988), during which time her family was displaced. Her expressive and emotional works reference both universal and culturally specific symbols of human pain, displacement, trauma, loss, and the conflicts of ethics vs. politics. Currently, she is an MFA candidate in Performance at SAIC.
SOLO
by Ben Yoganathan – Experimental Short film
“Sometimes I draw myself a bath and sit inside of it and dream of being a Spanish folk singer from the mid 60’s with all the beautiful melodrama that kind of life affords. Is there anything sadder than a performer with no audience?”
Ben Yoganathan is an artist born in Sri Lanka who now lives in Toronto. He is among other things an actor, writer, singer/songwriter (so far). He hopes, along with his comrades, to play a part in revitalizing theatre and live performance culture wherever he is. Especially in our mediated age. He believes in: art, young people, and beauty. He is an Artistic Director of Precipice Productions.
Black is the Body: A Color Guide to Coping
by Anicka Austin – Short Film & Live Installation
Black is the Body: A Color Guide to Coping depicts a solitary woman performing somatic movements and resting in color-saturated landscapes. For the woman, Green is a forest ritual based on years of witnessing communion in the Primitive Baptist church. Narration guides viewers in practicing meditation and resting in stillness.
All the Advice in the World
by Autumn Davis – Short Film
Growing up left her with some trauma, as it does most people to varying degrees. The lead character in this untitled short film is a victim to her broken thoughts, self destructive behaviors and shaky foundation. In this short arthouse film, set mainly in a single bathroom, we witness a young woman’s journey to confront the mental and physical demons that haunt her and hold onto the sole connection that will give her strength and a glimpse of hope.
Autumn Davis is a curiously voracious young artist. She is captivated by the distorting permeability of reality and explores the human condition with vulnerability and an earnest yearning for answers. Most often finding more questions and deliciously infuriating confusion.
سٮ۪ٹھاہ یژھ کائل (AFTER A LONG WHILE)
by Arfat Ah Sheikh – Experimental Documentary Film
“After a long while” is an 15-minute experimental documentary that explores the life of Ghulam Nabi Sheikh (1954- 2003) — a Kashmiri musician and the events that led to his mysterious death through the eyes of his son. At the backdrop is the conflict in Kashmir.
The film opens in America where the narrator lives and flashbacks to end of second world war in 1945 to the bifurcation of South Asia after the British left India in 1947, the Kashmir conflict, redrawing of Line of Control (LOC), IndoPak Wars, the armed struggle in Kashmir during 1990’s to the present-day India told through a montage of archival and personal footage and sound.
Arfat Sheikh is a filmmaker, born and raised in Kashmir. He draws inspiration for his work as a filmmaker from his experiences of survival amid bombings, shootings, curfews, and strikes. His current short films are deeply influenced by the art, culture and music of Kashmir. He has a master’s in public relations from Leeds Beckett University. He is currently completing his master’s in film at Georgia State University, where he has made Kashmir centric films highlighting Indian oppression. He has also recently co-directed a documentary film on Syrian refugees’ title “Zikryet”. Through his work for the development and media sector in India for Mercy Corps, Islamic Relief, Asian Heritage Centre, he has been able to tell compelling stories and highlight pressing issues facing marginalized and underrepresented communities in India.
色，静 (Color, Quiet)
by Steven Hao – Short Film
色, 静 is a black and white mostly silent film that follows four young Asian-Canadians’ separate journeys amidst Anti-Asian violence happening worldwide while reconstructing the dialogue shared with the generation prior.
Steven (郝邦宇) Hao, born and raised in China, is a Toronto-based actor, singer/songwriter and writer currently enrolled in Ryerson’s Performance Acting program. Steven believes in the power imagery and he aims to create visually stimulating work that leaves ever-lasting imprints inside the minds of his audience. He’s an Artistic Director of Precipice Productions.
The Echo in Labyrinth
8:30 PM ET
by Banana Effect – Virtual Experience
Enter the labyrinth at your own risk: here, you’ll witness the ugliest and most beautiful faces of human nature. Within the labyrinth’s twists and turns, you’ll encounter citizens from 5 different cities who each experience the world through the lens of their mental illness. There is only one entrance, which is also the one and only exit. Follow the camera if you dare.
Banana Effect is an immersive game theater company based in Hong Kong with Artistic Director Onnie Chan and Production Director King Wong. They are a team of energetic young artists, most of whom studied abroad and experienced different cultures. They create adventurous and innovative games, through which strangers can meet.
