Screening
Admission starts at $5
April 13, 2023, 7pm
Brooklyn, NY 11205
USA
Join us at e-flux Screening Room on Thursday, April 13 at 7pm for a screening of four films by Toronto-based trio Parastoo Anoushahpour, Faraz Anoushahpour, and Ryan Ferko, introduced by the filmmakers via video and followed by an in-person Q&A with Ryan Ferko.
Parastoo Anoushahpour, Faraz Anoushahpour, and Ryan Ferko create documentary and experimental films, installations, and performances exploring themes such as memory, identity, migration, and cultural heritage. With backgrounds in theater, architecture, and history, the trio creates immersive and thought-provoking filmic experiences for their audiences.
Films
Surface Rites (2021, 24 minutes)
A young Slovakian immigrant opens a uranium mine near Elliot Lake in northern Ontario, and later builds a massive replica of the modest church from his childhood village. Stranded amongst suburban streets named after prize-winning Holstein cows, now sits this monumental cathedral, unfinished and private. Teenage zombies emerge from lakes and rivers around Serpent River First Nation, once poisoned with uranium waste. There is talk of eugenics at a Holstein pageant, and a retired dairy farmer and his wife remember a recurring dream where their work is never done.
Pictures of Departure (2018, 12 minutes)
In the winter of 1986, our mother wrote in her diary: “To scratch the surface of a subject does not penetrate deep into the subject.” Almost three decades later, Pictures of Departure takes this entry and sets off to explore the surfaces and the scratches that linger across generations.
Chooka (2018, 20 minutes)
In 1973, the Shah of Iran commissioned the construction of a paper factory in the lush northern province of Gilan. Foreign engineers from Canada and the United States were brought to develop and run the facility, bringing with them their families as well as a species of pine tree previously unknown to the region. Their stay, however, came to a sudden halt in 1979 with the Iranian Revolution forcing them to flee the site overnight. Chooka unfolds between the site of this factory and a rural family house located in a nearby village.
Bite & Hold (2022, 13 minutes)
Canine units and their service dogs are a leading cause of violence and injury in most police jurisdictions across North America. Despite this prevalence, violence related to dogs remains under-reported and under-regulated, largely stemming from their legal classification as “intermediate weapons.” In cases of harm inflicted upon citizens, this classification splits legal responsibility between the handler and the animal, rarely finding officers accountable while promoting the use of dogs over other types of weapons. Simultaneously, through school appearances, holiday calendars, and social media channels, these same dogs are used to neutralize the violent reality of police departments. Bite & Hold contests this manipulated public image, placing an archive of canine-unit Christmas cards in relation to the direct violence officers use their dogs for. Filmed from a distance in various public spaces, the daily life of the city passes in front of and behind these images, either obscuring their surface or momentarily turning them from negative abstractions into moments of clarity. The language of witnessing, testimony, and description add a final, silent layer to these images, returning them to their violent reality.
For more information, contact program@e-flux.com.
Accessibility
–Two flights of stairs lead up to the building’s front entrance at 172 Classon Avenue.
–For elevator access, please RSVP to program@e-flux.com. The building has a freight elevator which leads into the e-flux office space. Entrance to the elevator is nearest to 180 Classon Ave (a garage door). We have a ramp for the steps within the space.
–e-flux has an ADA-compliant bathroom. There are no steps between the Screening Room and this bathroom.