Homo Sapiens Project (201) (2002-2021)

Goodbye, Casanova

January 2000 •English

A aspiring novelist operates a tiny neighborhood bookstore. His wife is a talented painter. Their marriage is disintegrating, and they are about to sign their divorce papers. Meanwhile, the legendary Casanova and his lover Lavinia are characters trapped inside of a 17th-century children's book. The tragedy of the impending divorce triggers the release of Casanova and Lavinia from the confines of the children's pop-up book.

At Land

January 1944 •English

A woman washes up on a beach and embarks on a surreal journey, encountering others and fragmented versions of herself in a quest for identity.

FUCK TV

August 2019 •English

After concluding the now-legendary public access TV series, The Pain Factory, Michael Nine embarked on a new and more subversive public access endeavor: a collaboration with Scott Arford called Fuck TV. Whereas The Pain Factory predominantly revolved around experimental music performances, Fuck TV was a comprehensive and experiential audio-visual presentation. Aired to a passive and unsuspecting audience on San Francisco’s public access channel from 1997 to 1998, each episode of Fuck TV was dedicated to a specific topic, combining video collage and cut-up techniques set to a harsh electronic soundtrack. The resultant overload of processed imagery and visceral sound was unlike anything presented on television before or since. EPISODES: Yule Bible, Cults, Riots, Animals, Executions, Static, Media, Haterella (edited version), Self Annihilation Live, Electricity.

Begotten

June 1991 •English

Begotten is the creation myth brought to life, the story of no less than the violent death of God and the (re)birth of nature on a barren earth.

Occurrences of Questionable Significance

April 2020 •German

When forest animals invade our cities, the world is in disarray. Office vixen Fiona struggles with her banana phone addiction. Will she succumb to it? Temperamental bunny Barbara only gives her stag sugar daddy Nestor his special massage, after he dines her and plays the big spender. This obscure short film pinpoints postmodern tropes of consumerism, eroticism, and art with an homage to the theater stage and references to literature. This work uses a fantasy language and needs no subtitles.

Time Piece

May 1965 •English

Dislocation in time, time signatures, time as a philosophical concept, and slavery to time are some of the themes touched upon in this 9-minute experimental film, which was written, directed, and produced by Jim Henson. Screened for the first time at the Museum of Modern Art in May of 1965, "Time Piece" enjoyed an eighteen-month run at one Manhattan movie theater and was nominated for an Academy Award for Outstanding Short Subject.

Rampo Noir

May 2005 •Japanese

An anthology film consisting of four segments based on literary works by Edogawa Ranpo.

Witch's Cradle

January 1944 •English

The surrealist film shows repetitive imagery involving a string fashioned in a bizarre, almost spiderweb-like pattern over the hands of several individuals, most notably an unnamed young woman and an elderly gentleman. The film also shows a shadowy darkness and people filmed at odd angles, an exposed human heart, and other occult symbols and ritualistic imagery which evokes an unsettling and dream-like aura. Considered an unfinished film.

Midríase

March 2023 •Portuguese

Is the eye the window of the soul? - Mydriasis is a movie that reflects about the early discoveries of queerness and its impact on the self perception of a person.

Afloat

November 2017 •English

'Afloat' is an experimental film that paints a portrait of Japanese performance artist: Ayumi Lanoire. The film opens as a telephone call between Ayumi and Person X, which meanders the audience through the various layers that make up her personas leading one to wonder whether she is in fact a myth or reality.

The Invasion of Thunderbolt Pagoda

January 1968 •English

At the court of the Yellow Emperor, the Majoon Traveler & Lady Firefly appear in the Hall of Unconscious Magnetism.

Ballet Mécanique

September 1924 •French

A pulsing, kaleidoscope of images set to an energetic soundtrack. This is a world in motion, dominated by mechanical and repetitive images, with a few moments of solitude in a garden.

Any Virgin Left Alive?

September 2015 •French

According to an English legend, Joan of Arc never died at the stake. Her eyes were seared with hot pokers and she was deflowered by an English stud. She was then sentenced to wander on the battlefields, like a vulture, on the look-out for life and searching for any virgins left alive.

Eden

March 2025 •English

An experimental, mixed-media retelling of the Biblical story of Adam and Eve. Of course, when a story this old is told countless times throughout the centuries, a few important details are bound to get lost in translation...

The Very Eye of Night

May 1958 •English

Dancers, shown in photographic negative, perform a series of ballet moves, solos, pas de deux, larger groupings. The dancers glide and rotate untroubled by gravity against a slowly changing starfield background. Their movements are accompanied by music scored for a small ensemble of woodwind and percussion.

"BUDKA" by George Alshevskij-Jones

May 2025 •English

Shot entirely on a webcam and guided by the Imperfect Cinema philosophy, this film captures the drunken drift of a man reaching for connection in a cold, indifferent city. What unfolds is either a dream, a dying vision, or both. Then — reality returns with a quiet whimper. Life moves on. Raw, lo-fi, and unapologetically rough, this is a meditation on how easily the world forgets. Meaning is left open; interpretation belongs to the viewer.

Flower of Flesh, Celestial Body

June 2023 •Spanish

The Seashell and the Clergyman

October 1928 •French

Obsessed with a general's wife, a clergyman has strange visions of death and lust, struggling against his own eroticism.

La Mirage

May 2025 •English

The routine of a motel housekeeper quickly disintegrates upon losing her cleaning glove. Now trapped in a surreal purgatory, she sets out to vanquish the perilous forces that haunt each room.

moony's WARNING HIGH CUBE

August 2024 •English

moony and Joey Brodnax present WARNING HIGH CUBE - a film accompanying the release of moony’s debut album of the same name. After amassing an impressive collection of genre-spanning EPs scouring depths of emotion, pain, anger, relief, and hope, burgeoning Nashville-based indie alternative rocker Seth Findley (AKA moony) is at full form, ready to deliver his debut LP to the world. WARNING HIGH CUBE is a bold full-throttle whirlwind of a hero’s journey, serving as moony’s definitive allegory of his life so far, exploring swirling ideas of existentialism, nature, animals, spirituality, love, friendship, and the threads that hold humanity together. moony & Joey set out to create a unique audio/visual pairing for the album, unlike anything they’d seen or felt. The result is 50 uncanny, undefinable, and sometimes uncomfortable minutes. A new world ripe for the picking, WARNING HIGH CUBE and its accompanying film are here to save mankind.