The Night Garden is an experimental, movement-based short film, shot entirely on smart phones.
Through a cartography of associations, imagery, and poetry, its surrealist episodes offer a harvest of ideas, images, and meditations for the dream feast.
The series of seven vignettes rendered from dreams and the unconscious conjures an array of characters and scenarios including: Chekhov in an existential crisis with Picasso’s Lover of Absinthe; a film noir that follows the dreams and waking trances of a man, a woman, and a herd of tiny cattle; a kaleidoscopic vision of a woman’s interactions with an imaginary friend and a ghost; a caterpillar woman’s transformation and foray into a garden of fountains and marble statues; three mythological creatures who unleash the contents of a jewel box; and a family confronting their heritage and communing with each other throughout the city and forest.
Co-created by Daria Karpova, Anastasia Nesterova, Marissa Nielsen-Pincus, Tom Pearson, and Renata Zhigulina, the episodes interweave characters, objects, and imagery that thread together a short film which follows a nightly dream sequence.
The work is built through a practice of dream-sharing and associations. Filmed on location in St. Petersburg, Russia, The Night Garden is shot exclusively on smart phones (primarily iPhone 6).
Awards : Best Experimental Short Film – Roma Short Film Festival, Tokyo International Short Film Festival, Crown Wood International Film Festival; Best Mobile Film Short – Toronto Independent Film Festival; Best Experimental Short – London Indie Short Festival; Best Mobile Film – Moscow International Film Festival
Official Selection : London Movie Awards, Chicago Indie Film Awards, LA Sun Film Festival, Vegas Shorts, Berlin International Art Film Festival, Films on Phone, Moscow Shorts, Venice Shorts of California, Golden Bridge Istanbul Short Film Festival, The Moody Crab Film Festival, New York Lift-Off Film Festival 2022, All That Moves International Film Festival, Anatolia International Film Festival
BETWEEN YOURSELF AND ME looks at the phenomenon of immersive theater by zooming in on one of the form’s top innovators. The film explores the world of Third Rail Projects, the critically-acclaimed company behind the long-running immersive theater hit Then She Fell, and the creative process of its artistic directors Zach Morris, Tom Pearson, and Jennine Willett. Including never-before seen material from their award-winning performances, screen adaptations of Then She Fell and Roadside Attraction, and interviews with experts in the field, BETWEEN YOURSELF AND ME situates Third Rail Projects within this unique cultural moment and offers audiences a glimpse into the flourishing, intimate world of experiential performance.
New York City, 1979. The Zanctuary is a decadent bar in Lower Manhattan owned by a former prostitute, Dora Ramona del Pilar. An undercover police detective follows an investigation on human trafficking discovering what’s hidden under the bar: rooms filled with Dora’s terrible sins and her attempts at redemption.
Starring Joey Arias, Sophia Lamar, Amanda Lepore, Wanda Colon, Juan Pablo Sosa, Ammo, Cherie Danielle & Justin Fosque.
Official Selection: 25th Mix Brasil Film Festival (2017, SAO PAOLO, BRASIL); 68th Montecatini International Short Film Festival (October 2017, ITALY); New Filmmakers New York (September 2017, New York); XIV Outfest Peru (June 2017, Peru); XXI Mix Mexico (May 2017, Mexico); Goa Shots International Short Film Festival (November 2016, Goa, India); 50th Blow-Up Chicago International Arthouse Film Festival (November 2016, Chicago, USA); XXI LesGaiCinemad, Madrid International LGTB Film Festival (October – November 2016, Spain); XIV Shnit International Short Film Festival. (October 2016, Switzerland, Egypt, South Africa, Russia, Thailand, China and Costa Rica)
