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Cinema Elvire Popesco -
Sunday, December 14, 2014 - 16:30
Written by:
Jennifer Reeder
Cast:
Jennifer Estlin, Amaya Lorick, Crystal Staley, Grace Davies
Cinematography:
Chris Rejano
Editing:
Mike Olenick
Sound:
Paul Dickinson
Music:
Sunn O))), Ulrich Schauss, Brian McBride, Arms and Sleepers, Haki
Producer:
Steven Hudosh
Romanian premiere
Winner of the ZONTA Award at Oberhausen, A MILLION MILES AWAY tackles the subject of repressed anxiety and teenage angst. This emotionally rich portrayal of feminine empowerment sees a substitute music-class teacher incapable of quelling her nervousness in front of the class. That is, until her class’ soothing vocal harmonies grant her a mature sense of self-esteem. Creating an impressive visual universe, flights of magical-realism turn the narrative into a wholly therapeutic experience. A matryoshka doll of layered insecurities and anxieties, Jennifer Reeder’s film reveals and revers the inner child, to the rhythm of heavy metal harmonies. (Andrei Tănăsescu, BIEFF)
Director:
JENNIFER REEDER is a filmmaker and visual artist from Ohio. She constructs personal stories about relationships, trauma and coping. Her award-winning narratives are unconventional and borrow from a range of forms including after school specials, amateur music videos and magical realism. She has 44 film/video projects and has written 12 scripts. Her work is shown consistently around the world and includes the films GIRLS LOVE HORSES (2012), AND I WILL RISE ONLY TO HOLD YOU DOWN (2011), TEARS CANNOT RESTORE HER: THEREFORE I WEEP (2011), TEN SONGS ABOUT THUNDER (2010) and ACCIDENTS AT HOME AND HOW THEY HAPPEN (2008).
Website:
Contact:
thejenniferreeder[at]gmail[dot]com
Festivals, awards:
- ZONTA Prize - Oberhausen International Short Film Festival 2014
- Audience Award Best Female Director - Vienna Independent Shorts 2014
- The Eileen Maitland Award - Ann Arbor Flim Festival 2014
- Best Short - Chicago Underground Film Festival 2014
- International Film Festival Rotterdam 2014
- IndieLisboa 2014
- BAFICI 2014
- Festival Du Nouveau Cinema, Montreal 2014
- London Film Festival 2014
- Torino Film Festival 2014
- New Filmmakers NY, Anthology Film Archive 2014
Director's statement:
If I think of my films as having a sort of a feminist agenda, it could be only in a way of presenting a female experience or a female perspective that has some level of empowerment. (…) People are very complicated creatures; what I wanted to disrupt with my films is more or less this conventional portrayal of girls and women: if we think about mainstream cinema, American cinema in particular, I think that they kind of get it wrong. (…) And, even if I’m making short films and more experimental narratives, part of my feminism offers a kind of alternative to this kind of more conventional cinematic portrayal of girls and women. (Jennifer Reeder, Desistfilm interview)
Curator's comment:
More than anything these confident teenagers seem to be aware of their own worth – an awareness adults loose in the course of a woman’s life. This sharply delineated confrontation of young, undisputed strength and the cracks and fractures caused by society ultimately dissolves in mutual recognition and solidarity. In a compact sketch consisting of a few, condensed scenes rooted in pop culture, with strong actors and precise dialogue, Jennifer Reeder opens up a wide space, narrating two opposite biographical stages of female self-assurance with equal measures of sarcasm and tenderness. (Oberhausen Jury Statement)
If I think of my films as having a sort of a feminist agenda, it could be only in a way of presenting a female experience or a female perspective that has some level of empowerment. (…) People are very complicated creatures; what I wanted to disrupt with my films is more or less this conventional portrayal of girls and women: if we think about mainstream cinema, American cinema in particular, I think that they kind of get it wrong. (…) And, even if I’m making short films and more experimental narratives, part of my feminism offers a kind of alternative to this kind of more conventional cinematic portrayal of girls and women. (Jennifer Reeder, Desistfilm interview)
Curator's comment:
More than anything these confident teenagers seem to be aware of their own worth – an awareness adults loose in the course of a woman’s life. This sharply delineated confrontation of young, undisputed strength and the cracks and fractures caused by society ultimately dissolves in mutual recognition and solidarity. In a compact sketch consisting of a few, condensed scenes rooted in pop culture, with strong actors and precise dialogue, Jennifer Reeder opens up a wide space, narrating two opposite biographical stages of female self-assurance with equal measures of sarcasm and tenderness. (Oberhausen Jury Statement)