SCREENINGS:

2020:      

Official Selection, 10th Annual Queens World Film festival, Museum of the Moving Image & Zukor Theater, Kaufman Astoria Studios, Astoria, NEW YORK.  (screened online instead)

2019:              

Official Selection, Bolton Film Festival, Experimental Programme at Neo Art Gallery, Bolton, UK.

7th Indian Cine Film Festival - 19.  Short film program. Mumbai, INDIA. Special Festival Mention. 

Bideodromo, International Experimental Film & Video Festival, Art House Zinema, BilbaoArte, Bilbao, Spain.

Seattle Transmedia & Independent Film Festival (STIFF), The Factory Luxe, Seattle WASHINGTON. 15th Anniversary Festival.

ADF’s Movies by Movers Film Festival, Official Selection, Nasher Museum of Art, Duke University, Durham, NORTH CAROLINA. For the American Dance Festival program at Duke.  (Screened at Appalachian State University, Boone in the fall.)

9th Pune Short Film Festival 2019, Official Selection, National Film Archive of India, Pune, Maharashtra, INDIA.

Vero Beach Wine & Film Festival, Official Selection (Documentary Shorts program) Vero Beach Art Museum, Vero Beach, FLORIDA.

Signes de Nuit International Film Festival, International Short Films Competition, AcudKino, Berlin, GERMANY.

 

ART EXHIBITION Screenings:

32nd September Competition Exhibition (Juried), Alexandria Museum of Art, Alexandria, LOUISIANA.   First Place Award.

2019 Biennial Quad State Exhibition (Juried) Quincy Art Center, Quincy, ILLINOIS.  Merit Award.

Positive/Negative, 34th Annual National Juried Art Exhibition, Slocumb Galleries, ETSU, Johnson City, TENNESSEE.

 

(experimental documentary short)

One of the nine emotions (navarasas) described in the ancient Indian text on drama, the Natyashastra, karuna is the rasa of anguish, but also compassion for the difficulties of life. In this film, extreme close-ups of hand gestures and facial expression comprise the imagery and are juxtaposed with an audio montage documenting the first 72 hours after a diagnosis of hereditary breast cancer. These minimal gestures were informed by the expressive lexicon, abhinaya, that is characteristic of classical Indian dance forms in which the subtlest movement of the eyes or articulation of the hands can lead the audience into experiencing the rasa, or emotion/sentiment of a story. The tense soundscape It is comprised of phone calls and conversations with family, medical practitioners and insurance representatives documented by the filmmaker while navigating the overwhelming information in the days immediately following the life-changing news.  Sound and gesture are contrasted with images of the natural world, alternating between the restless and beatific, the latter offering momentary glimpses of calm (shanta rasa) at the center of chaos.

Director: Cherie Sampson

Camera: Cherie Sampson & Radim Schreiber

Choreography for the camera: Anjali Tata-Hudson & Cherie Sampson

All video and audio post-production: Cherie Sampson

(Sound Montage:  Phone calls and conversations with medical practitioners and family in the first 72 hours after a diagnosis of breast cancer and during treatment)