A man, a river, and a raccoon face off in this silent film by Parker Davis. Notable for its simplicity and earnestness, “Pity River,” finds a young man on a menial chore to remove a dead raccoon from near a river. The task is complicated when he accidentally drops the animal into the water, and is forced to chase it downstream. By withholding context — who is this man? what is he doing with the raccoon? — it stays open for interpretation. Are we simply witness to a man tracking a raccoon down a river, or could this also be viewed as a symbolic existential pursuit? Either way, it’s refreshingly lacking in cynicism or postmodern “coolness,” and arrives at a satisfying catharsis.
Written and Directed by Parker Davis. Music by Keen Collective. Cinematography by Hailey Schoenfeldt.
An isolated sick girl and a curious boy strike up a hidden relationship at a roadside motel. “Proxy,” directed by Eric Schuman, lands in unique territory — part unsettling mystery, part coming-of-age drama about loneliness and the desire for connection. Russ lives and works at a motel run by his ...
Set in a fictional trailer park community known as Happiness, “Rectangibles” tells the story of two young men who come across a batch of Kodachrome 8mm film and attempt to get it developed before the last lab in America stops developing the format. This offbeat tale directed by Colleen Kwok TungS...
Jean and her band of snobs make an experimental song. Self-described as “Shit Tier,” this lo-fi lampoon by director Nimay Ndolo takes aim at the pretentious and the opaque (read: art protected from criticism because if you don’t understand it, you’re low-brow). Jean registers for a songwriting sh...
