Masculine Wiles

This is a portrait of the masculine experience told from a feminine perspective. Documentaries by women (PILOTS ARE BADASS, WET DREAMS AND FALSE IMAGES) chronicle ordinary young men as they learn surprising lessons about themselves and the lifestyles they harbor. Narratives (DON’T NOBODY LOVE THE GAME MORE THAN ME, COME NIGHTFALL, and SPIN) highlight the thoughtful and curious sides of the male protagonists. Experimental works cover a remarkably wide range of content and form; animated shorts (THERE THERE SQUARE, INVISIBLE HAND) discuss the ugly truths within American history and economics, visual meditations (LAST DAY OF NOVEMBER, ALLO PERFORMANCE) prove that simple (yet beautiful) sights can have the most profound implications, and one long improvised shot of a woman (BETTY TALKS) recreates a famous scene previously trademarked by a man. This entire program gives an audience a refreshing sensation like seeing the negative print of a well-known photograph.

Pilots Are Badass- Cheryl Park 10'
Eager to be a 'real man', Peter joins the US Air Force. His troubled initiation into military life exposes the limitations of ready-made identities and the frustrating logic of Manhood.

Betty Talks 1- Anita DiBianco 8’
A charged take-off on an infamous American 1970s type, through a series of insistent improvisations based on three basic cinematic ingredients: a woman, a mirror and a gun.

Don’t Nobody Love the Game More Than Me - Martha Pinson 10’
"Yo, Pops, just answer me this. If you had as pitiful a game as Isiah would you be out there all the time? Knowin dudes be dissing you left and right, your own homeboys pretending they don't know you? If you played as bad as Isiah, would you do all that?"

Come Nightfall - Abigail Severance 20’
Deep in rural America, a teenage boy gets tangled up in his own curiosity when he discovers an old cowboy with a reverence for ladies' shoes.

Allo Performance! - Mirha-Soleil Ross 13’
Part of a 9-month long "pregnancy performance project," this installment features Ross splashing in the waves beneath Golden Gate Bridge as a mother's voice remembers a difficult pregnancy and an unusual, charming child. The goal of the project is "to explore some transsexual women's relationship to motherhood and foster community discussion around controversial reproductive technologies."

There There Square - Jacqueline Goss 9’
Who knew that the vast, rich history of the United States could fit into one tiny square?

Invisible Hand - Lori Hiris 12’
Hiris utilizes innovative sound and chalk pictures to relate the outrageous excesses, shifty relationships and sorry excuses abundant in the upper echelons of corporate America.

Wet Dreams and False Images - Jesse Epstein 12’
What happens when a group of Brooklyn barbers realize that their beloved pin-ups aren't real?

The Last Day of November - Bill Basquine 4’
The falling action of a deer hunt complete with a natural soundtrack and beautiful black and white images.

Total Running Time 108’