Close Up

25 May 2019: Alt/Kino: Terror Nullius

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ALT/KINO presents the London premiere of Soda_Jerk's sample-based political revenge fable, TERROR NULLIUS, preceded by Lewis Klahr's Pony Glass and Eileen Maxson's Cinderella+++ – short films that explore notions of sampling and re-mixing traditional cultural narratives in different ways. Soda_Jerk will be in attendance for a Q&A following the screening.

TERROR NULLIUS
Soda_Jerk, 2018, 54 min

Part political satire, eco-horror and road movie, TERROR NULLIUS is a political revenge fable which offers an unwriting of Australian national mythologies. Binding together a documentary impulse with the bent plotlines of Australian film texts, Soda_Jerk’s revisionist history opens a wilful narrative space where cinema fictions and historical facts permeate each other in new ways. The apocalyptic desert camps of Mad Max 2 become the site of refugee detention, flesh-eating sheep are recast as anti-colonial insurgents and a feminist motorcycle gang goes vigilante on Mel Gibson.

Pony Glass
Lewis Klahr, 1997, 15 min, 16mm

Pony Glass is the story of comic book character Jimmy Olsen’s secret life. In this 15-minute cutout animation Superman’s pal embarks on his most adult adventure ever as he navigates the treacherous shoals of early ’60s romance trying to resolve a sexual identity crisis of epic proportions. A three-act melodrama – each act has its own song – filmed in the director’s signature collage style, it "unmasks" our collective iconic inheritance while significantly expanding the notion of what a music video can do.

Cinderella+++
Eileen Maxson, 2002, 4 min

Aurora picks more than berries, Lady gets a new reputation, and Cinderella meets 90210. “In this video, a series of famous Disney characters find out that their lovers aren't exactly the perfect idealized visions of deified manhood seen in the original animated features… Audio clips from 90210, Dawson's Creek, and Jack Nicholson in the film Carnal Knowledge [are cut to] video clips of classic scenes from Disney… resulting in eye-opening juxtapositions that de-romanticise the stereotypical gender-based fantasies ever present in Disney fairy tales.” – Jonathan McIntosh