Home : THE VISION MACHINE
	Film/Video List: WEEK 1 -Another Brother -Wall to Wall (A City Ditty) WEEK 2 -Fly -Around the Time -The Film of Her WEEK 3 -Mama...I Have Something To Tell You -Tomboychik WEEK 4 -Shanghaied Text -Ladies, There'a Space You Can't Go -The Vision Machine -Making Out With Myself -Pause WEEK 5 -Slowly This -Mouse -Sigrid and Rudi Do New York -Number One Local: Harry Nugent WEEK 6 -Feet -Physics of Love WEEK 7 -Dread Night Folk -The Girl's Nervy -Gossamer -Rev WEEK 8 -The Phony Trilogy (Pool Boy, Caddy, The Horror) -Big Time Operator -Superhero

Women tell dirty jokes, dress up, dance wildly, and shatter stereotypical images of the "proper and demure" woman.

Experimental, 1996   Length: 20 minutes   Director: Peggy Ahwesh   Distribution:   New York Filmmakers Co-op   175 Lexington Avenue   New York, NY 10016   212-889-3820 Premiere: Sunday, July 5, 1998 11pm, on Thirteen/WNET. (Repeat: Tuesday night, July 7, 1998 12:30am.)

Combining off-the-cuff joke-telling with home-movie-style shooting of girl parties, this piece puts women and their ownership of the domain of sex at the forefront. Against a backdrop of '50s-60s popular songs spun on 45 LP's, the clich»d tunes warn of tears and unhappiness, serving as a cultural warning that women shouldn't act too outrageous. The filming of these young women telling jokes to amuse the viewer is disarmingly casual and confident. What strikes me is the self-conscious yet completely casual manner in which much of this film is shot. The "characters," who appear to play themselves, seem out-of-hand, exhibitionistic and unruly, even a bit absurd, yet they act like most women I know. Is it the casual picturing of them that makes it seem as though we are seeing something private? Why does it feel as though we are breaking some hidden taboo? Throughout the film, the rotating and flashing intertitles are elegant and act as pointers, road signs along the way. The humor in this piece and the spiraling texts are also an homage to Marcel Duchamp's humor and specifically to his film entitled ANEMIC CINEMA.
Home : THE VISION MACHINE
Festival Calendar | Screening Room | Artists Speak | Curator's Statement | Forum | Resources | Credits Thirteen Online