ABOUT
18.07.25
FormaHQ
13:00 - 20:00
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Working directly on the film strip (scratching, painting, piercing and otherwise physically intervening), these filmmakers bypass the camera, a technology historically designed, built and controlled by men, and used overwhelmingly to produce and circulate images for the male gaze. The resulting works can therefore be read as a rejection of a technology that is inseparable from the male gaze it has so often served.
Within the images of these films a broader constellation of feminist concerns also emerges: women's hidden histories are recovered, the objectification of women is critiqued and gender power dynamics are laid bare.
Programme:
Her Silent Seaming
Nazlı Dinçel, 2014, USA, 10’30
Her Silent Seaming unfolds in three parts, each centred on a different man whose words to the filmmaker, spoken during intimate experiences, are scratched into the film's emulsion. Each section pairs this text with images that allude to the erotic: nude imagery obscured by scratches to the film's emulsion; a woman in a pink wig applying lipstick; and close-up footage of hands reconstructing a pomegranate. Throughout the film, the images grow clearer as the scratched text becomes harder to read, all of which is underscored by an abrasive soundtrack that echoes the confronting nature of the material. Together, these elements raise questions around desire, agency and control.
Altitude Zero
Lauren Cook, 2004, USA, 5’03
Altitude Zero interweaves archival footage of Amelia Earhart with vintage clips of women conforming to conventionally feminine ideals: beauty pageant contestants lined up to be assessed and handled like property, alongside other images of women being demure and dutifully on display. Cook intervenes wherever the footage casts women into these stereotypes, often staining the images with red ink to block the viewer's access to the same objectifying gaze the men on screen so visibly enjoy. The result reads as an act of frustration and anger as much as a formal technique. Layered against the footage of Earhart, a woman known for what she did rather than how she looked, the film becomes a furious rebuke of a culture that reduces women to their appearance.
Athyrium Filix-Femina
Kelly Egan, 2016, Canada, 4’19
Rather than shooting through a camera, Egan produced this film's images using the original cyanotype recipe of photography pioneer Anna Atkins, coating strips of 35mm film in a solution of iron salts and exposing them directly to sunlight. Two distinct threads of imagery run through the resulting film: botanical photograms in the style of Atkins' own scientific studies and found footage following a young girl targeted by a group of bullies. Brought together, these strands build a narrative that interrogates the dominance of men within the histories of both photography and science.
This programme is hosted by Forma and Montez Press as part of their Summer Party event, featuring a line-up of performances, readings and installations at FormaHQ. Films will screen on loop throughout the day.