aemi Experimental Shorts 2: Figure Ground Perception

‘Figure Ground Perception’ is a new programme curated by aemi of recent films by artist filmmakers. The programme includes two works by Portuguese-American filmmaker Fern Silva, aemi’s Artist-in-Focus at CIFF, and the premiere of a newly commissioned film by Irish artist Frank Sweeney (aemi/ Sirius Film Commission 2022). In addition, the programme features recent works by international filmmakers Sky Hopinka, Morgan Quaintance, and Christiana Perschon. Collectively these films consider the role of the artist in relation to communities of place.  

SEKUNDENARBEITEN Christiana Perschon, Austria, 2021, 14 mins

Christiana Perschon presents an extraordinary portrait of a reclusive female artist, Lieselott Beschorner, but also a consideration of the fundamental properties of film. 

SCALES IN THE SPECTRUM OF SPACE Fern Silva, USA, 2015, 7 mins

A glimpse into the collective memory of the city of Chicago at the invitation of the Chicago Film Archive with music by Phil Cohran. 

MISSING TIME Morgan Quaintance, United Kingdom, 2019, 15 mins

Missing Time is a film that considers the relation between amnesia, concealed histories, state secrecy and the constitution of the self. 

KICKING THE CLOUDS Sky Hopinka, USA, 2021, 16 mins

A reflection on descendants and ancestors, guided by a 50-year-old audio recording of Hopinka’s grandmother learning the Pechanga language from her mother. 

RIDE LIKE LIGHTNING, CRASH LIKE THUNDER Fern Silva, USA, 2017, 9 mins

A 16mm portrait of a multi-generational artist community, a meditation on landscape, and a swan song for the idyll of rural America. 

2 CHANNEL LAND Frank Sweeney, Ireland, 2022, 15 mins aemi/Sirus Film Commission 2022

Frank Sweeney’s hybrid docu-fiction explores the history of analogue radio and television signals spilling across the borders of these islands. 

Followed by a post-screening Q&A with filmmakers Fern Silva and Frank Sweeney

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