Through May 27, the Bryn Mawr Film Institute will be streaming the Tri-Co Film Festival, which features films created by students at Haverford, Bryn Mawr and Swarthmore Colleges.
“boobs for mom” – 6 min – d. Lexie Iglesia
Filmmaker’s synopsis: “‘boobs for mom’ is an experimental autobiographical documentary short that navigates parental loss during early childhood, the functions of boobs as they relate to flat chests, puberty, and cancer, and envisioning the revival of one lost.”
“Finds You Well” – 9 min – d. Grace Dumdaw
Filmmaker’s synopsis: “Mai is a senior who is a few weeks removed from graduating after a tumultuous college experience. When she has to say goodbye to her therapist who has gotten her through the harder parts of the past four years, she has trouble letting go. After a nice talk with her friend Shaurya, Mai experiences clarity. “
“Moving Freely” – 6 min – d. Abby Harris
Filmmaker’s synopsis: “This is a film that tells the story of how I am becoming okay with my body and how it looks after being a competitive gymnast for thirteen years.”
“HARISNYA, OR THE SUBLIME” – 10 min – d. Chili Shi
Filmmaker’s synopsis: “A film on girlhood, Buddha, and borderline personality disorder.“
“Imaginary” – 4 min – d. Jake Rothman
Filmmaker’s synopsis: “A boy is forced to part ways with his imaginary friend.”
“Windglobe” – 3 min – d. Nadia (Hyo Hyun) Kim
Filmmaker’s synopsis: “A foreign city. A city built from its alleys, buildings, pedestrians, the sky that swims over it. How do I become a part of the motion of the city? The waves of the buildings, the noises that fill the air, the way the people walk? The city that I arrive to is one I’ve known from beyond the glass walls. Then, I realize that the walls have been broken.”
“Muthoni ” – 6 min – d. Shiko Njoroje
Filmmaker’s synopsis: “A time traveling young woman from the 21st century finds herself in the middle of the forest during the Mau Mau guerilla warfare in 1950s Kenya. The Mau Mau or the Kenya Land and Freedom Army are up against the British colonial regime, determined at all cost to gain their independence. Through this fictional reenactment, we learn the hardships and accomplishments of one historical rebel woman who rose to second-in-command in military rank amongst the guerrilla troops and who represents the thousands of women who were the life-line of this liberation movement. Introducing Muthoni wa Kirima.”
“(K)N95” – 7 min – d. Alice Hu
Filmmaker’s synopsis: “A mask. A mother. Sewing and silencing. A film about the harrowing intersection of Asian-ness, American-ness, and whiteness.”
“MALEx” – 8 min – d. Bria Dinkins
Filmmaker’s synopsis: “A group of friends try a newly-released, experimental hallucinogenic drug that allows people to repel the male gaze and experience life on earth as they would have without that gaze for the duration of the drug’s effect.”
“Womanhouse 403: The Table is Turning” – 8 min – d. Sarah Berns-Zieve
Filmmaker’s synopsis: “Inspired by ‘Womanhouse’, this film portrays apartment 403’s unique expression of female sensibility.”
“Slow Boat to China” – 14 min – d. Jixin Jia
Filmmaker’s synopsis: “‘Slow Boat to China’ is a movie that explores the slow and poetic sensibility of Chinese diaspora through four dream sequences.”
“in/appropriate” – 7 min – d. Erica Kaunang and Zarahy Rivas
Filmmaker’s synopsis: “‘in/appropriate’ is a short film where two friends get up close and personal, talking freely about how much their relationships with their bodies have changed. From ranting about the growing pains of middle school to how they present themselves as young women of color, this is an intimate, funny portrait of introspection and connection via bodily experiences.”
“Womanhouse 403: The Table is Turning” – 8 min – d. Sarah Berns-Zieve
Filmmaker’s synopsis: “Inspired by ‘Womanhouse’, this film portrays apartment 403’s unique expression of female sensibility.”
“Slow Boat to China” – 14 min – d. Jixin Jia
Filmmaker’s synopsis: “‘Slow Boat to China’ is a movie that explores the slow and poetic sensibility of Chinese diaspora through four dream sequences.”
“in/appropriate” – 7 min – d. Erica Kaunang and Zarahy Rivas
Filmmaker’s synopsis: “‘in/appropriate’ is a short film where two friends get up close and personal, talking freely about how much their relationships with their bodies have changed. From ranting about the growing pains of middle school to how they present themselves as young women of color, this is an intimate, funny portrait of introspection and connection via bodily experiences.”
Incomplete Cube – A Betrayal – Video Game – Macintyre Sunde
Developer’s synopsis: “Incomplete Cube – A Betrayal is a game which puts the viewer on a completely different scale with Sol Lewitt’s Incomplete Cube.”
“A Poetic Exploration of the Quotidian Moments: The Reconstruction of Perception on the Black Experience in Hale County This Morning, This Evening” – Video Essay – 5 min – d. Rubing Zhang
Filmmaker’s synopsis: This video essay examines the way Hale County This Morning, This Evening (RaMell Ross, 2018, USA) contends the stereotypical portrait of the black community in the mainstream media by poetically exploring the seemingly quotidian moments of residents in Hale County, Alabama.”
“Why is Mickey in Blackface” – Video Essay – 17 min – d. Jude Robinson
Filmmaker’s synopsis: “A video essay covering the importance of representation in new media, specifically animation.”
“Swimmers of the Sapphic Sea” – Video Essay – 7 min – d. Leo Tone Costa
Filmmaker’s synopsis: “My audiovisual essay centers the woodblock print by Hokusai called Tako to Ama (1814), commonly known as The Dream of the Fisherman’s Wife, which depicts a Japanese female shell diver (ama) having a threesome with 2 octopi. I used this piece and Park Chan-wook’s The Handmaiden (Ah-ga-ssi, 2016) to juxtapose sexualized and non-sexualized depictions of the lesbian continuum, the octopus, and the relationship between women and water. In doing so, I hoped to illuminate ways that these themes are intertextual, international, and how they appear as both products of the male gaze and as female empowerment (not that that is a strict binary). Additional imagery I used was other art cinema films with lesbian or homosocial subjects (by both male and female directors), black and white footage of the ama and of octopi, and other works of ukiyo-e Japanese erotic art. “
“Let’s make an anti suicide pact” – Video Essay – 9 min – d. Brooks Richon
Filmmaker’s synopsis: “Messages written by ‘teenagers in love.’ Queerness, joy, death, and suicide. A video essay incorporating footage by the director and moments (in order of appearance) from Totally F***ed Up (1993), Pain and Glory (2019), The Living End (1992), Call Me by Your Name (2017), Looking for Langston (1989), Sea in the Blood (2000), Portrait of a Lady on Fire (2019), A Single Man (2009), and music from “Katy Song” (Red House Painters, 1993), “Good Guy” (Frank Ocean, 2016), “Running Around” (Buddy Ross, 2016), “The Big Ship” (Brian Eno, 1975). This work is the culmination of six years of thinking. It shows one side of a story that I’ve always wanted to tell. I found the means to do so through these films and works of others. The text on screen was sent to me. Each word is intensely personal and has required the distance of time to be able to share. This film does not explicitly note any queer theory, yet its creation was steeped in thoughts of queer temporality, of eroticism and death, of closets and love and memory. I knew going in that nothing I did would ever be comprehensive or would perfectly capture my experience. Yet, I hope it speaks to someone who has shared moments like these, and perhaps others as well. “