Thursday, October 10, 6:00 p.m. | More Anxious Bodies explores intimacy, power, grief, and the body through the works of eight contemporary women animators: Terril Calder, Carla Melo Gampert, Laura Harrison, Jenny Jokela, Sawako Kabuki, Marie Larrivé, Yoriko Mizushiri, and Cassie Shao. Using watercolors, stop-motion puppetry, and multidimensional collage, these artists craft tales of body-snatching colonizers, ecstatic bird-women, shape-shifting daughters, and missing persons.
Program
The Lingerie Show
Laura Harrison, 2015, USA, 9 minutes
Somewhere in Florida, Lorraine puts on a lingerie show for her boyfriend Caesar. What unfolds is a parable of characters falling off the edge of society. Laura Harrison based the film on a short story by Beth Raymer.
A Bear Named Jesus
Terril Calder, 2023, Canada, 6 minutes
In this surreal and inventive stop-motion animated story, a bear named Jesus abducts the narrator’s mother from their reservation. (Anita Raswant)
La Perra
Carla Melo Gampert, 2023, Colombia/France, 14 minutes
In Bogota, a bird-girl leaves behind the family home, her domineering mother, and faithful dog to go and explore her sexuality.
Snow Hut
Yoriko Mizushiri, 2014, Japan, 6 minutes
A small figure sits in a snow-covered house in a large rice field. The snow melts and the borders between field, house, and figure dissolve.
Noir-Soleil
Marie Larrivé, 2021, France, 20 minutes
A man discovers that the father he had long believed abandoned his family for America has actually been dead for years, his remains recently discovered in Naples Bay. He journeys to Naples with his daughter, where they delve into the mysteries of their past and their distance from each other.
There were four of us
Cassie Shao, 2019, USA, 7 minutes
A dreamlike exploration of illness and death, filtered through a family’s fragmented memories.
Barbeque
Jenny Jokela, 2017, Finland, 6 minutes
A visceral journey into the land of trauma, exploring and visualizing feelings of disembodiment and bodily shame.
WAAAH
Sawako Kabuki, 2018, Japan, 1 minute
Sawako Kabuki synchronizes morphing figures to a baby's cries. She notes, “everyone was born crying and grew crying.”
About the Artists
Laura Harrison (MFA 2016) makes experimental narrative animations about people living on the fringes of mainstream culture. Her films have screened internationally and she has garnered numerous awards, including, most recently, a fellowship from the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation.
Terril Calder is a Métis artist, born in Fort Frances and currently based in Toronto. Her work, which has screened globally, has been the subject of numerous exhibitions and retrospectives. She is the recipient of numerous awards, including the Ontario Arts Council's K.M Hunter award for her work in Media Arts.
Carla Melo Gampert is a visual artist and animator based in Bogotá. Her work has screened at the Cannes Film Festival, the Annecy International Animation Film Festival, and Dok Leipzig, among others. In addition to her filmmaking, she also works as a curator and film programmer.
Yoriko Mizushiri is a freelance film director based in Japan. Her films offer new perspectives on the body through movement, colors, and a focus on tiny gestures. She has received global acclaim for her approach, screening at the most important festivals for animation, including the Annecy International Animation Film Festival and Animafest Zagreb, among others.
Marie Larrivé is a painter and animator based in Paris. Her work has been exhibited at the Palais de Tokyo, Miyu Gallery, and the Bastille Design Center in Paris as well as film festivals around the world. She is the recipient of the 2019 Pierre-Gautier Delaye Prize.
Cassie Shao (BFA 2015) is an artist and animator based in Los Angeles. She works across the fields of independent films, television, music video, advertising, and special effects. Her films have been exhibited in museums, galleries, and international festivals.
Jenny Jokela is a Finnish animation director and illustrator based in London. She often explores themes of the body, sexuality, and trauma in her practice. Her work has screened internationally and she is the recipient of numerous awards including the 2018 Cristal Grand Prize from the Annecy International Animation Film Festival.
Sawako Kabuki is a Japanese illustrator and animator currently based in New York. She’s known for her distinctive hand-drawn graphic style and irreverent point of view. Her films have screened in festivals internationally and in campaigns for clients such as Google, Adult Swim, FX Network, MTV, Miyu Productions, GIF MAGAZINE, Quartz Japan, and Numéro TOKYO, among others.
Accessibility
The Film Center is ADA accessible. Theaters are equipped with hearing-loops. CATE events are presented with real-time captions (CART). For other accessibility requests, please visit saic.edu/access or email cate@saic.edu.
SAIC Student Tickets
All CATE programs are free for SAIC students. Unless otherwise noted, SAIC student tickets are released five days prior to showtime. Tickets must be picked up in person from the Gene Siskel Film Center box office. A student ID is required.
Conversations at the Edge: Screenings, performances, and talks by groundbreaking media artists. Conversations at the Edge is a collaboration between the Film Center, Video Data Bank, and SAIC’s Department of Film, Video, New Media and Animation, organized by Amy Beste, Director of Public Programs, SAIC. View full program.