Fucked Like a Star
All Films
•
Short Films, 26-Aug-2020
A poetic meditation on women's work and the dream life of ants, set to the words of Toni Morrison. Directed by Stefani Saintonge, “Fucked Like a Star” is a lovely translation and a profound rumination on the natural world. Told in four parts, the film is rendered with all the complexity of the source material, visualized in the micro and macro (ants in extreme close-ups underneath vast foggy hills). The ant world, mostly female, with its “organization so tight and sacrifice so complete,” is no place for dreams or memories, but rather an ancient sense of work and procreation. Saintonge introduces a human element with visuals of women braiding hair as effortlessly and efficiently as ants marching in formation, and with a young couple riding a motorcycle over picturesque vistas. For a moment, Morrison considers an ant having a human-like response to a sexual experience — remembered as a lucid, striking encounter as a Summer storm rolls in — moving the collective into the personal, a vivid pivot which the film represents beautifully. -KA. Director, Cinematographer, Editor: Stefani Saintonge. Executive Producer: Zuri Obi. Voiceover text excerpted from “Tar Baby,” by Toni Morrison. Producers: Stefani Saintonge, Zuri Obi, Chanelle Aponte Pearson. Voiceover: Christine Smith.
Up Next in All Films
-
Blackheads
A young woman copes with heartbreak, blackheads, and bad therapy. Emily Ann Hoffman directs “Blackheads,” a study on relationships and gender roles, melding stop motion and 2D animation with a nuanced sense of realism. Sofia has just broken up with her boyfriend and she’s struggling with anxiety ...
-
Sophie & Stephen
Two AI assistants conspire to get their human counterparts to meet. In “Sophie & Stephen,” directed by Rob Perri, a love story between two people who have yet to meet, there are plenty of questions beyond the central connection: is this where we’re headed as a society? Is that a good thing? I...
-
Dirty
Marco cuts class to spend the afternoon with his boyfriend, Graham, in this tender portrait of young love and intimacy. Matthew Puccini’s “Dirty” is minimal but lush, a coming-of-age snapshot that tackles an uncomfortable first-time sexual experience with sensitivity and warmth. After ditching sc...
