Abigail Austin - May 2019 Resident
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Abigail Austin is a production designer, fabricator and animator from Cambridge, Massachusetts. She graduated with a BFA in Film & TV from New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts and now lives in Brooklyn, New York. When she isn’t working, Abby can be found playing bass with her band Human People or re-watching Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Her interests include puzzles, the ocean, and peanut butter. https://abigailaustinart.com Instagram: @abigailbaustin I am also a co-founder of Big Snail Studio, a stop motion and 2D animation studio in New York https://www.bigsnailstudio.com Instagram: @bigsnailstudio |
Artist Statement:
I’ve always been inspired by the ways you can push things visually in animation, messing with scale, space and reality. “New Inside” was my first attempt at developing a unique world with a unique set of laws, functions and characters. I’d like the audience to feel the same struggles as my character, as they navigate a desert world in order to survive. I was inspired by my time in Sedona, Arizona- the colors and rocky landscape inspired my set design and I even brought back some of the red rocks and sand to use for fabrication.
Completing “New Inside” was one of the biggest artistic challenges I’ve faced in my life. I was working with many new methods and materials that I had absolutely no experience with. I was motivated and supported by the people around me and thank all of them for helping me bring this film to life.
I’ve always been inspired by the ways you can push things visually in animation, messing with scale, space and reality. “New Inside” was my first attempt at developing a unique world with a unique set of laws, functions and characters. I’d like the audience to feel the same struggles as my character, as they navigate a desert world in order to survive. I was inspired by my time in Sedona, Arizona- the colors and rocky landscape inspired my set design and I even brought back some of the red rocks and sand to use for fabrication.
Completing “New Inside” was one of the biggest artistic challenges I’ve faced in my life. I was working with many new methods and materials that I had absolutely no experience with. I was motivated and supported by the people around me and thank all of them for helping me bring this film to life.
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Adina Glickstein - May 2019 Resident
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Adina is a multidisciplinary artist and writer based in New York and London. Recently, she has focused on analog moving-image media, informed by her academic work in film studies and anthropology. She is particularly interested in alternative processing for analog film, and in fusing the analog with the digital. Her writing and art criticism have been featured in outlets including Hyperallergic and Artforum.
cargocollective.com/adinaglickstein Instagram - @preciouschildprodigy |
Artist Statement:
Moving image work is central to my creative practice: I like works that unfold in both time and space, fostering a unique and unrepeatable viewing experience each time they’re exhibited. My work with analog media seeks to challenge disciplinary boundaries, considering film as a durational and multi-sensory extension of painting or abstract photography. After the writings of Laura Marks and Trinh T. Minh-ha, I explore multi-sensory cinema as a potential corrective to the patriarchal film language of classical cinema, which posits the viewer’s vision as a means of domination. Through my work, I hope to playfully open new modes of spectatorship and exhibition that question received knowledge about technological advancement and the boundaries of the film medium.
Moving image work is central to my creative practice: I like works that unfold in both time and space, fostering a unique and unrepeatable viewing experience each time they’re exhibited. My work with analog media seeks to challenge disciplinary boundaries, considering film as a durational and multi-sensory extension of painting or abstract photography. After the writings of Laura Marks and Trinh T. Minh-ha, I explore multi-sensory cinema as a potential corrective to the patriarchal film language of classical cinema, which posits the viewer’s vision as a means of domination. Through my work, I hope to playfully open new modes of spectatorship and exhibition that question received knowledge about technological advancement and the boundaries of the film medium.
Sarah Jayne Portelli - May 2019 Resident
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Melbourne born and raised creative Sarah Jayne begin her career in 2006, when she undertook a substantial amount of work for local TV programs, feature films and indie films as an Art Department
allrounder. Sarah Jayne expanded her skill set in 2013 when she moved away from Art Department, tuning to writing and directing short films for indie filmmaking outfit Nexus Production Group. Since joining NPG Sarah Jayne has predominately worked as a writer, director and producer on her individual short films Dusk, Anniversary and Daughter produced by the company. The latter, a short film and awareness project addressing victim blaming and gendered violence, stars Katherine Langford (13 Reasons Why, Love Simon) and is currently utilised in education worldwide through various platforms. |
NPG's interests recently eveloved into producing improvised filmmaking allowing Sarah Jayne to co-direct, co-write and co-produce NPG's first fully improvised feature film Friends, Foes & Fireworks with partner Ivan Malekin, which was shot in one night on New Years Eve. What followed was their second improvised feature film In Corpore, which was shot in four countries, including Berlin.The pair also, write, produce and direct improvised micro short films under the title Life Improvised, most of which are shot in Malta and later placed on the NPG Vimeo account and together they teach improvised filmmaking online though Udemy.
For now Sarah Jayne is settled in Malta, and she continues to work with NPG as a writer, director and producer , while also focussing her energy and passion on growing the production company for success in the near future.
For now Sarah Jayne is settled in Malta, and she continues to work with NPG as a writer, director and producer , while also focussing her energy and passion on growing the production company for success in the near future.
Artist Statement
Taking on the role of writer/director of my first short film Dusk in 2013 allowed me to not only to have my say on certain topics, but also push myself personally and as an artist. You could say Dusk became the first step in my creative rebirth as a film director. Dusk is a story of a woman's loneliness as she attempts to fit society's mould. However, I am best known for my 2016 educational short film Daughter, which I wrote, co-produced and directed. The film stars Katherine Langford in the lead role of Scarlett – a young woman navigating her way through a society that is struggling to provide an equal and just place for her to exist as herself.
Daughter explores violence against women and victim blaming, shown through the perspectives of three women. I wrote the twenty-eight page script while driven by frustration felt due to the juxtaposition shown in the media reports of two highly publicised Melbourne murder cases involving female victims. I was disappointed, and I wanted to talk about why women are judged for their occupations and why women are treated as objects, not just in the media but in society. Unlike Dusk, Daughter challenges the way society looks at women on a huge global scale and delves deeper into important and relatable social issues
Just before relocating to Malta in 2017, my production company Nexus Production Groups's work shifted from writing and producing scripted work to focusing on creating relatable relationship drama stories which utilise our own improvised acting method, in turn allowing us as the creators to work more closely with actors.
This shift in perspective for the independent company suited my desire of writing and directing relatable, honest stories and it fed my interest of exploring complex human behaviour with actors for on screen performance.
Sarah Jayne's first visit to Berlin was in late 2017, when her production company, NPG produced and shot part of their improvised feature film In Corpore in various parts of the city with a local crew. She is excited to return to Berlin, where she met and worked with so many talented creatives, and hopes to shoot a micro short on this trip.
www.nexusproductiongroup.com
www.daughterstkilda.com
https://vimeo.com/nexusproductiongroup
Instagram @nexus_production_group, @the.sarah.jayne
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/nexusproductiongroup/
Taking on the role of writer/director of my first short film Dusk in 2013 allowed me to not only to have my say on certain topics, but also push myself personally and as an artist. You could say Dusk became the first step in my creative rebirth as a film director. Dusk is a story of a woman's loneliness as she attempts to fit society's mould. However, I am best known for my 2016 educational short film Daughter, which I wrote, co-produced and directed. The film stars Katherine Langford in the lead role of Scarlett – a young woman navigating her way through a society that is struggling to provide an equal and just place for her to exist as herself.
Daughter explores violence against women and victim blaming, shown through the perspectives of three women. I wrote the twenty-eight page script while driven by frustration felt due to the juxtaposition shown in the media reports of two highly publicised Melbourne murder cases involving female victims. I was disappointed, and I wanted to talk about why women are judged for their occupations and why women are treated as objects, not just in the media but in society. Unlike Dusk, Daughter challenges the way society looks at women on a huge global scale and delves deeper into important and relatable social issues
Just before relocating to Malta in 2017, my production company Nexus Production Groups's work shifted from writing and producing scripted work to focusing on creating relatable relationship drama stories which utilise our own improvised acting method, in turn allowing us as the creators to work more closely with actors.
This shift in perspective for the independent company suited my desire of writing and directing relatable, honest stories and it fed my interest of exploring complex human behaviour with actors for on screen performance.
Sarah Jayne's first visit to Berlin was in late 2017, when her production company, NPG produced and shot part of their improvised feature film In Corpore in various parts of the city with a local crew. She is excited to return to Berlin, where she met and worked with so many talented creatives, and hopes to shoot a micro short on this trip.
www.nexusproductiongroup.com
www.daughterstkilda.com
https://vimeo.com/nexusproductiongroup
Instagram @nexus_production_group, @the.sarah.jayne
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/nexusproductiongroup/
Dina Fiasconaro - July 2019 Resident
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Dina Fiasconaro is a screenwriter and film director, recently named a finalist for the 2018 Baker Artist Award. Her feature documentary, Moms and Meds: Navigating Pregnancy and Psychiatric Medication, was released in 2016, and her short film, Commercial for the Queen of Meatloaf, has screened at over 20 film festivals. Dina recently completed a feature adaptation of the novella Beneath the Remains, and an original feature narrative script, Days in the Wake, as a resident at Dorland Mountain Arts Colony in California, Stowe Story Labs fellow in Vermont and Saul Zaentz Innovation Lab screenplay fellow. Her short films have screened at a variety of venues and film festivals, including the Baltimore Museum of Art. Dina has an MFA in directing
from Columbia University, and a BS in TV, Radio and Film from Syracuse University. She is an Associate Professor of Film and Moving Image at Stevenson University, and is a member of Film Fatales and the Baltimore Women’s Media Alliance, working towards gender parity in the film industry. |
Artist Statement:
I have always considered myself a keen observer of conversation, character, the absurd, the bizarre, the interesting. I find myself inadvertently honing in on people’s conversations, the way they dress and act, the way a certain environment looks or feels, and these moments and observations
inevitably make their way into my screenplays and films.
Much of my early work has been informed by family stories and family members; a skeleton in my cousin’s closet, my grandmother’s immigrant experience, or her finding love again at ninety. My recent work, both documentary and narrative, focuses on stories of women, such as mothers struggling with mental illness, or unusual twin sisters, or a bored housewife and her meatloaf come to life, or my grandmother’s hair and its
relationship to her identity and our family. I am currently transitioning into feature film directing with two projects. Days in the Wake is based on the true story of a man who, using a loophole in the Safe Haven law, abandons his nine children at a hospital after his wife dies in childbirth. In his wake, his oldest daughter embarks on a quest to find her siblings, and get answers to his seemingly unconscionable actions. Beneath the Remains is a coming-of-age mystery about teenage metalhead Gabby and the search for her older sister Steph, who has disappeared in the humid summer of their marshland home. Both of these films continue to explore common themes of my work related to girl and womanhood, marginalization and familial relationships.
www.dinafiasconaro.com
instagram @dfiasco, @beneaththeremainsmovie
https://www.facebook.com/beneaththeremainsmovie
I have always considered myself a keen observer of conversation, character, the absurd, the bizarre, the interesting. I find myself inadvertently honing in on people’s conversations, the way they dress and act, the way a certain environment looks or feels, and these moments and observations
inevitably make their way into my screenplays and films.
Much of my early work has been informed by family stories and family members; a skeleton in my cousin’s closet, my grandmother’s immigrant experience, or her finding love again at ninety. My recent work, both documentary and narrative, focuses on stories of women, such as mothers struggling with mental illness, or unusual twin sisters, or a bored housewife and her meatloaf come to life, or my grandmother’s hair and its
relationship to her identity and our family. I am currently transitioning into feature film directing with two projects. Days in the Wake is based on the true story of a man who, using a loophole in the Safe Haven law, abandons his nine children at a hospital after his wife dies in childbirth. In his wake, his oldest daughter embarks on a quest to find her siblings, and get answers to his seemingly unconscionable actions. Beneath the Remains is a coming-of-age mystery about teenage metalhead Gabby and the search for her older sister Steph, who has disappeared in the humid summer of their marshland home. Both of these films continue to explore common themes of my work related to girl and womanhood, marginalization and familial relationships.
www.dinafiasconaro.com
instagram @dfiasco, @beneaththeremainsmovie
https://www.facebook.com/beneaththeremainsmovie
Malado Francine Baldwin - July 2019 Resident
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Malado Francine Baldwin is an American multi-media artist based in Los Angeles, known for her work in text and image. As a former riot grrrl and a feminist, her interest in film lies in reversing the gaze and ownership of the object of beauty.
Film screenings include the Femmes Video Festival @Fair Play Miami FL, Video Konstfestival @Magasinet Falun, Sweden, Brooklyn Fireproof, Codex Dynamic Brooklyn, The Situation Room LA, and Virginia Commonwealth University. Her early film work was acquired as a part of Miranda July's feminist film archive Joanie4Jackie at the J. Paul Getty Research Institute and Bard College. She is the recipient of the Buckingham Prize for music in art and the LCU Foundation grant for women. She is a founder of the Association of Hysteric Curators and member of the former Berlin Collective. Recently events include happenings for the Maiden LA Biennale and the Women’s Center for Creative Work. |
Artist Statement:
As an artist, my goal is to weave new narratives of cultural inheritance. As a former riot grrrl and always a feminist, my interest in film lies in reversing the gaze and ownership of the object of beauty. Film lies at the intersection of life: what we observe, who we love and what we privilege in filming it. In my films, I work to create an alternative world in which you enter and want to linger. Everything is accounted for: the camera angles, the environment around the actors; the mood and lighting... each shot is planned and felt- in order to create this unique and immersive experience.
(about) voyage LA (Voyage LA interview)
(site) all art (my website)
(*) books (Artslant site)
(**) Hyperallergic.com (article)
FB: Malado Francine / and / Malado (page)
Instagram: malado_francine
Twitter: @MaladoFrancine
Vimeo: Malado Baldwin
Malado worked as a freelance set designer in New York city for over ten years. During her time in the industry, she also worked in camera, lighting, sound, production, wardrobe, and, as an actress.
She is currently writing a screenplay with her collaborative film partner, and editing the series “Lost Tapes” of her footage from the 1990s that she is turning in to new projects.
As an artist, my goal is to weave new narratives of cultural inheritance. As a former riot grrrl and always a feminist, my interest in film lies in reversing the gaze and ownership of the object of beauty. Film lies at the intersection of life: what we observe, who we love and what we privilege in filming it. In my films, I work to create an alternative world in which you enter and want to linger. Everything is accounted for: the camera angles, the environment around the actors; the mood and lighting... each shot is planned and felt- in order to create this unique and immersive experience.
(about) voyage LA (Voyage LA interview)
(site) all art (my website)
(*) books (Artslant site)
(**) Hyperallergic.com (article)
FB: Malado Francine / and / Malado (page)
Instagram: malado_francine
Twitter: @MaladoFrancine
Vimeo: Malado Baldwin
Malado worked as a freelance set designer in New York city for over ten years. During her time in the industry, she also worked in camera, lighting, sound, production, wardrobe, and, as an actress.
She is currently writing a screenplay with her collaborative film partner, and editing the series “Lost Tapes” of her footage from the 1990s that she is turning in to new projects.
Monika Estrella Negra - july 2019 resident
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Monika Estrella Negra is a queer, Black punk/goth hybrid of mystery. Her first short titled "Flesh" is about a Black femme serial killer navigating the Chicago DIY punk scene (of which was included in the ‘Horror Noire’ syllabus). She has directed three additional shorts, ‘They Will Know You By Your Fruit’, ‘Succubus’, and the in production ‘Bitten, A Tragedy’. A writer, a nomadic priestess, spiritual gangster and all around rabblerouser - Monika has written essays for Black Girl Nerds, is the author of a zine series (Tales From My Crypt), the creator of Audre's Revenge Film and Black and Brown Punk Show Chicago, a 2018 Leeway Foundation Art and Change Grantee, and is aspiring to become a Meme Lord. Hailing from the Midwest, she now resides in Philadelphia, focusing on completing her Vengeance Anthology and works closely with Audre's Revenge Film's co-founder Mariam Bastani in order to create narratives rarely seen in the film world.
http://www.audresrevenge.com IG: audres.revenge.film Twitter: @audrerevenge Facebook: Audre’s Revenge Film Production |
Artist Statement
‘When we talk about our truths and our lived experiences, we are either shot down or tokenized for someone else’s benefit. Utilizing horror as a medium opens up the possibility of talking about these things, while using fantasy to vindicate the characters present. Hollywood definitely has taken a turn towards opening the field for more subversive voices, but there is still an element of fantasy and horror that doesn’t exist for BIPOC/QTIPOC. A lot of horror that plays on irrational fears can easily reinforce that the ‘threat’ is definitely unrealistic (and maybe it is for those who do not experience state terror, systemic institutions, etc). However there is a fine line for those who do experience this terror, and have never had the novelty of envisioning their fears as mere entertainment. This is where I find my inspiration to create (and destroy) worlds where *we* are the victors.
https://www.rue-morgue.com/women-in-short-horror-month-sinister-seven-day-8-monika-estrella-negra/
‘When we talk about our truths and our lived experiences, we are either shot down or tokenized for someone else’s benefit. Utilizing horror as a medium opens up the possibility of talking about these things, while using fantasy to vindicate the characters present. Hollywood definitely has taken a turn towards opening the field for more subversive voices, but there is still an element of fantasy and horror that doesn’t exist for BIPOC/QTIPOC. A lot of horror that plays on irrational fears can easily reinforce that the ‘threat’ is definitely unrealistic (and maybe it is for those who do not experience state terror, systemic institutions, etc). However there is a fine line for those who do experience this terror, and have never had the novelty of envisioning their fears as mere entertainment. This is where I find my inspiration to create (and destroy) worlds where *we* are the victors.
https://www.rue-morgue.com/women-in-short-horror-month-sinister-seven-day-8-monika-estrella-negra/
Dakota Gearhart - July 2019 Resident
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Dakota Gearhart is a multidisciplinary artist based in Brooklyn who examines the built environment and how it is perceived through technology and mythology. Her work has been exhibited at The Bronx Museum of Art (NY), Tacoma Art Museum (WA), Henry Art Gallery (WA), Equity Gallery (NY), Westbeth Gallery (NY), Taiyuan Normal University (CH), and Vulpes Vulpes (UK). Gearhart has received grants from the Puffin Foundation, Artist Trust, NEA Foundation, and Seattle’s 4Culture Program. Gearhart has attended artist residencies at The Queens Museum Studio Program (NY), NARS Foundation (NY), Wassaic Project (NY), Recology (WA), and Residency Unlimited (NY). She is a graduate of Florida State University and received her MFA in 2013 from
the University of Washington. Currently, she is a Digital Media Fellow with BRIC, the leading presenter of free cultural programming in Brooklyn, NY. |
Artist Statement
My work spans performance, video, sound, text, sculpture, collage, and room-sized multimedia installations. I use found materials I collect at places like microbiology labs, spam folders, and industrial dumps. Reorganized according to science-fiction and anti-commercial aesthetics, these materials function to depict what a multi-species and non-binary world view might look like. With this intention, I bundle together my interests in perception, biology, queerness, the role of technology and intimacy, humor, and the importance of world-building to articulate more creative
and less oppressive futures.
www.dakotagearhart.com
IG: @tiffkota
https://www.seattleweekly.com/arts/dakota-gearhart-dips-into-the-love-and-fear-of-aquascapes/
www.cityartsmagazine.com/art-darkness/
https://www.seattlemag.com/dakota-gearhart
My work spans performance, video, sound, text, sculpture, collage, and room-sized multimedia installations. I use found materials I collect at places like microbiology labs, spam folders, and industrial dumps. Reorganized according to science-fiction and anti-commercial aesthetics, these materials function to depict what a multi-species and non-binary world view might look like. With this intention, I bundle together my interests in perception, biology, queerness, the role of technology and intimacy, humor, and the importance of world-building to articulate more creative
and less oppressive futures.
www.dakotagearhart.com
IG: @tiffkota
https://www.seattleweekly.com/arts/dakota-gearhart-dips-into-the-love-and-fear-of-aquascapes/
www.cityartsmagazine.com/art-darkness/
https://www.seattlemag.com/dakota-gearhart
