Directed by Jon Moritsugu
60 minutes
In English with English subtitles

Director Jon Moritsugu (Mod Fuck Explosion) is known for making zero-budget lo-fi films that are trashy as hell. Having said that, in this project he had the biggest budget he would ever get. He kept the sleazy aesthetics and the neon-punky vibe, but was able to reach a slightly bigger audience than previously because of the extra funding. 

In Moritsugu's movies you shouldn't expect deep philosophical conversations or Tarkovsky-like poetry. Instead you get a mirror reflection of the state of our modern world—all the insanity and madness without any filters, especially depicting the so-called 'American dream' machine and its dumbed-down culture. This flick zooms in on a dysfunctional family unit, with each member on their own track...  delusional parents and kids that are drug addicts, closet queers and sex maniacs. The soundtrack includes tunes from music from the times, like Nick Cave.

Director Moritsugu is Asian-American, and his films therefore are coming from a minority perspective and are hypercritical of the commercial world around them. The film has a strong anarchic underground apocalyptic vibrancy, with a quivering queer edge.

+ 2 RICHARD KERN SHORTS

Richard Kern was perhaps the most underground, subversive and transgressive of all the filmmakers making movies back in the late 80s. His films had this very strong New York edge to them, that gritty reality and explosive imagination that was typical for that time and place. When his films were shown in Amsterdam back in the 1980s, their explicit sex confrontations blew people away and caused lots of controversy and a huge fan base. Together with collaborator Nick Zedd he helped create the Cinema of Transgression movement in New York.

Many of his films feature performance artists and musicians from the underground scene at the time. For example—Lydia Lunch, Sonic Youth, David Wojnarowicz, Karen Finley and Henry Rollins. For this evening I have selected two of his shorts. 

You killed me First  (11 minutes) - starring Lung Leg, David Wojnarowicz, Karen Finley
Fingered  (25 minutes) with Lydia Lunch

Trigger warnings should be applied to both these short films in every way, ticking every possible box.

I will also have the last copies of my booklet "You Killed me First" for free at this screening.

CINEMANITA @ De Nieuwe Anita