Waking Things

“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

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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

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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