The Experimental Image World of Shuji Terayama

Purgatorium

November 2023 •English

After his death, a young man stuck in purgatory attempts to cope with the afterlife.

AA-PROXIMA-SUN

July 2022 •Portuguese

A girl approaches a divine entity that comes to the world in the form of a yellow umbrella, and ends up discovering her true self.

Carabosse

January 1980 •English

Animation, also of a new order in the recent series of short works. Mostly on black space, the figures in blue perform a very compact and jewel-like opera in surreal form, again to Satie’s piano music. Ideally, the film should be projected on a 30" wide white card sitting on a music stand, center stage of a large auditorium or music hall, with sound from the projector piped into the big speaker system. The film is most effective this way, but can be shown normal-size also

Nostalgia for the Lake

April 2023 •Spanish

A vision from Limbo, where the canoeist of the eternal lake floats in his boat, between sleep and wakefulness. When he sleeps, he dreams of the everyday of a parallel time. when he wakes up, the same song haunts him again and again. his boat, “ara” (time, in guarani) travels through time like a shooting star.

l'A.M.—a misheard love story

May 2022 •English

L'amour (love). La mort (death). Two French words that could confuse a foreigner, but never a native. Messenger V writes for a company that sends out both love letters and death sentences. After going into work one day, she finds out her assigned recipient is her lover.

Xiuhtecuhtli

June 2023 •Spanish

This is a rhythmic invocation of the ancestral fire, in which dazzling flames reanimate bones and natural elements. This is the shining of colour.

Dada

May 2019 •English

The Dadaist, an eccentric creature who embodies the concept of the 20th century European avant-garde art movement Dadaism, destroys and mocks art pieces such as Leonardo Da Vinci’s Mona Lisa, whilst expressing his impulsive fury at logic and reason.

Tyngsboro

April 2024 •English

During his visit to a graveyard, a young man is suddenly projected into a dream-like realm. Empty and removed from time, the familiar landscape forces him to confront certain pains when blood suddenly effuses from his hands.

Woman Is My Last Name

May 2022 •English

This visual poetry is a celebration of the full spectrum of womanhood, from the complex vulnerability to the hidden power.

Big Bang Love, Juvenile A

February 2006 •Japanese

An unknown future. A boy confesses to the murder of another in an all-boy juvenile detention facility. More an exercise in style than storytelling, the story follows two detectives trying to uncover the case. Homosexual tension and explosive violence drives the story which delivers some weird and fascinating visuals.

Caterpillar

January 1988 •Japanese

A half-hour experimental film that shows Fukui moving towards cyberpunk imagery in a manner similar to Tsukamoto, featuring industrial locations, a malfunctioning cyborg/android and a hulking metallic ‘caterpillar’ that stalks characters.

A Certain Dream

April 2023 •Korean

A female hotel employee wanders around different guestrooms and searches for an unreachable dream. Wandering in other people’s dreams, she encounters a mysterious guest and hears a story about a woman who dances deep inside her dream and a dancing procession...

River of Fundament

February 2014 •English

Visionary artist Matthew Barney returns to cinema with this 3-part epic, a radical reinvention of Norman Mailer’s novel Ancient Evenings. In collaboration with composer Jonathan Bepler, Barney combines traditional modes of narrative cinema with filmed elements of performance, sculpture, and opera, reconstructing Mailer’s hypersexual story of Egyptian gods and the seven stages of reincarnation, alongside the rise and fall of the American car industry.

Matouqin Nocturne

July 2007 •Japanese

A baby, John, who was abandoned in the church with a horse-headed koto on his side. His grandfather was once a Morin Khuur player and died in the atomic bombing of Nagasaki. The brilliantly colored images have an avant-garde charm while hiding the sadness of the war, and will grab the viewer's heart.

Social Butterfly

April 2023 •English

A socially awkward, neurodivergent youth struggles to adapt at a social gathering that quickly takes a turn into the uncanny and surreal.

The Waltz of a Lonesome Pigeon

May 2023 •English

An experimental fairy tale about life, death, and spreading your wings. After Cecilia witnesses a bird smashing into her window, she begins to notice her body transforming. Her skin starts to peel and little feathers start to grow out of her back. Will she fly away or end up like that poor little bird?

Flux

December 2022 •English

Samantha is an 18-year-old girl who, in the middle of a move, experiences a flashback of memories and is reunited with her imaginary childhood friend, Flux. Between waves and cardboard boxes, she passes the farewell with herself, with what surrounds her and with the tide.

PROLIX

February 2024 •English

A young woman watches TV with her cat in the room. A dying man explores what's left of his psyche.

House

August 1977 •Japanese

Hoping to find a sense of connection to her late mother, Gorgeous takes a trip to the countryside to visit her aunt at their ancestral house. She invites her six friends, Prof, Melody, Mac, Fantasy, Kung Fu, and Sweet, to join her. The girls soon discover that there is more to the old house than meets the eye.

A Draughtsman Illusion

April 2024 •