House Rules

Grizzly Country After serving in the Vietnam War, author and naturalist Doug Peacock spent years alone in the Wyoming and Montana wilderness observing grizzly bears. His time in the wild changed the course of his life. With the protection of Yellowstone grizzlies now under threat, Peacock reflects on the importance of habitat and why he continues to fight for wild causes.

The Labyrinth 1.0 The Labyrinth 1.0 is a poetic film essay that cites writer and poet Brad Johnson’s poem “The Labyrinth,” published in the anthology Milking Black Bull (1995). Sourcing 16-mm surveillance footage, 16-mm 1970s tearoom porn, and structuralist film footage shot in North Philadelphia, the work visually explores the concept of the labyrinth space as a site for cruising and gesture-based desire. Commissioned by Visual AIDS in 2017 as part of ALTERNATE ENDINGS, RADICAL BEGINNINGS, a program of seven videos prioritizing Black narratives within the ongoing AIDS epidemic curated by Erin Christovale and Vivian Crockett.

STONES & WATER WEIGHT STONES & WATER WEIGHT responds to the need for new interpretations of HIV+ people. Mykki Blanco is portrayed in tasks that test the limits of the body, physical stress, and the boundaries of normative health. STONES & WATER WEIGHT is an exercise in how societies perceive the fragilities of those who survive with the virus. In this era of globalized fitness culture through the use of social media, “looking healthy” matters much more than actually being healthy. Using endurance as the motivation for the performance, the video creates a new perception of HIV+ people as strong and resilient. Research references include the Atlas myth, the god of endurance who holds the earth and the skies over his shoulders, and the neverending climb of Sisyphus. Commissioned by Visual AIDS in 2017 as part of ALTERNATE ENDINGS, RADICAL BEGINNINGS, a program of seven videos prioritizing Black narratives within the ongoing AIDS epidemic curated by Erin Christovale and Vivian Crockett.

The Accidental Environme... The second in the Southern Exposure series, this captivating film brings viewers into the world of Catherine Coleman Flowers, a Lowndes County, Alabama activist who became passionate about the environment when she found out that tropical diseases, like hookworm, were showing up in her community because of sewage treatment problems. Her journey to solve problems at the intersection of poverty, climate change, and politics has taken her from the Alabama Black Belt to Washington, D.C. to Switzerland and back. She shares her special connection to place and invites you in to a day in her life.

100 Boyfriends Mixtape (... Set in an urban fairytale, DeShawn (an unlikely anti-hero) is smack-dabbing in the middle of a peculiar crossroads. He is haunted by the ghosts of one hundred men: ex-“boyfriends,” in addition to the ghosts of everyone they dated. His days are filled with spiraling epiphanies and lucid, reckless bohemianism fueled by systemic poverty and HIV ennui. In this particular sketch he is relating his philosophy of the world to an unknown caller on his landline telephone while magically shrink-fitting a new pair of jeans that he recently shoplifted from Levi’s. Commissioned by Visual AIDS in 2017 as part of ALTERNATE ENDINGS, RADICAL BEGINNINGS, a program of seven videos prioritizing Black narratives within the ongoing AIDS epidemic curated by Erin Christovale and Vivian Crockett.

Of Mushrooms And Madmen:... Documentary that takes a look at the making of Universal's The Mole People

The Future of Mud: A Ta... Through the story of a mason in Djenne, Komusa Tenapo, and his family, this documentary examines an African tradition of mud architecture in Mali. The environmental genius of these ancient construction techniques—thick walls with tiny windows that keep the interiors cool despite the stifling heat—is expressed in strikingly beautiful designs that have won the town of Djenne designation as a World Heritage site.

Daumier's Law Paul McCartney's sketched short based on the works of artist Honoré Daumier. A man in a bookstore reads an allegorical story about a wrongfully convicted man, who must feed a giant called Gargantua until salvation comes.

The Triggerman Hitman falls in love with his intended target. He must save her from the very man that hired him to kill her.

Red Cherry 5 Hansu Ra is adopted to an American family when her mom dies. She can't forget how her mother died and one day returns to Korea. She begins working under a pseudonym for an electronics company her mom used to manage. Hansu knows Choi Dal-geun, former vice president of the company, is guilty. She seduces Choi and gets him into a debt that pushes him to the brink. Then she seduces the manager and the director into fighting over her. What will the tragic but brave resolution be for these men and Hansu?