“Bass mystifies the work of these plain folk with her own filmic magic.” –Chicago Sun-Times
A house in a primeval wood. A misfit family prepares a seasonal feast for visiting outlanders. They shuffle through ritual preparations, and shadows reveal each creature — one menacing, one wounded, one worn — stewards of old tradition, blood for blood.
Directed by Melika Bass. Co-produced by Every house has a door performance group.
Starring ensemble members Selma Banich, Mislav Čavajda, Stephen Fiehn, and Matthew Goulish.
Theatrical Film
16mm to video, color, sound, 2012, 34 mins.
European Premiere, Torino Film Festival, Italy
A United States Artists Project Site supported project.
“Cyclical time dilated to the maximum. . . loaded with details of Nature as memento mori, reminding us of the transience of this and of life itself.” –Sentieri Selvaggi
Video Installation
Requiem for Waking Things, 2012 MDW Art Fair
A dual installation. Artist Homa Shojaie constructs a painted, architectural structure made of canvas, frayed warps and wefts, paint, and other materials, each side a portrait of one of the characters in Bass’s film Waking Things. The film plays inside on a loop.
Structure materials: Steel pipe, frayed, knotted, and painted canvas
Installation photos by Joseph Carr