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Prismatic Ground Reveals 2023 Lineup, Featuring Films From Tsai Ming-Liang, Kimi Takesue and More
A still from Where do you stand, Tsai Ming-Liang? Prismatic Ground, the annual New York-based film festival for experimental and avant-garde works, has unveiled the lineup for its 2023 edition, which will take place from May 3-7. Co-presented by Screen Slate, the festival will be hosted across several NYC theaters: Museum of the Moving Image, Maysles Documentary Center, BAM Cinematheque, DCTV’s Firehouse Cinema, Light Industry, and Anthology Film Archives.
Featuring approximately 60 films, Prismatic Ground will showcase recent works from renowned artists, such as Tsai Ming-Liang and Kimi Takesue, alongside new restorations of essential filmmakers like Raphael Montañez Ortiz and Bill Brand. Retrospective screenings will also honor late filmmakers Michael Snow, Takahiko Iimura, and Emma Wolukau-Wanambwa.
Sibling duo Soda Jerk will open the fest with their supercut film Hello Dankness, which mines hundreds of film clips to portray a distinctly American political spectacle as it unfolded between 2016 and 2021. Crucially, one out of every six films will be projected on 16mm or 35mm film. This will include a live performance of Gaëlle Rouard’s Darkness, Darkness, Burning Bright and Alexandre Larose’s scènes de ménage, which will serve as the closing night film.
A few films from this year’s slate will be available to stream remotely, as will the title that receives this year’s Ground Glass Award. For now, the Criterion Channel is highlighting select films from the first two editions of Prismatic Ground, currently available for US subscribers to stream.
Find the full lineup below, and visit the Prismatic Ground official website for ticketing information and more.
Opening Night Presentation: Museum of the Moving Image on Wednesday, May 3
Hello Dankness (Soda Jerk, 70 min)Followed by a Q&A.
Followed by an Opening Night party at Se(c)ret Lo(c)ation featuring DJs and performances by Lawrence Lek and Gaëlle Rouard. Entry is free with purchase of an Opening Night ticket or festival wristband, or by donation at door. DM Screen Slate or Prismatic Ground for address.
wave 1: Maysles Documentary Center on Thursday, May 4
12PM: A to Z (Michael Snow, 16mm, 5 min) + A Chair (Takahiko Iimura, 8 min) + Where do you stand, Tsai Ming-Liang? (Tsai Ming-Liang, 23 min)
1PM: Henny Penny the Sky is Falling (Raphael Montañez Ortiz, 10 min) + Tierra de Leche (Milton Guillen, Fiona Hall, 12 min) + The Raw & the Cooked (Lisa Marie Malloy, Dennis Zhou, 26 min) + Next Her Heart (Anna Kipervaser, 16mm, 12 min) Followed by a Q&A.
2:30PM: Currency (Crystal Z Campbell, 3 min) + 默/ To Write From Memory? (Emory Chao Johnson, 18 min) + Remembering Wei Yi-fang, Remembering Myself (Yvonne Welbon, 30 min) Followed by a Q&A.
wave 2: BAM Cinematheque on Thursday, May 4
5PM: Where is this street? or With No Before and After (João Pedro Rodrigues, João Rui Guerra da Mata, 88 min)
7PM: Onlookers (Kimi Takesue, 72 min) Followed by a Q&A.
9PM: Keeping Time (Darol Olu Kae, 32 min) Followed by a Q&A + Sol in the Dark (Mawena Yehouessi, 51 min)
wave 3: DCTV Firehouse Cinema on Friday, May 5
1PM: Anti-Cosmos (Takashi Makino, 16 min) + Night Walk (Sohn Koo-yong, 65 min)
3PM: Speech for a Melting Statue (Collectif Faire-Part, 10 min) + Private Footage (Janaína Nagata, 91 min)
5PM: Lotus-Eyed Girl (Rajee Samarasinghe, 6 min) + Fugue (John Gianvito, 15 min) + L’escale (Collectif Faire-Part, 14 min) + A Movement Against the Transparency of the Stars of the Seas (Esy Casey, 30 min) + Promised Lands (Emma Wolukau-Wanambwa, 20 min) Followed by a Q&A.
7PM: three sparks (Naomi Uman, 95 min) Followed by a Q&A.
9:15PM: Life on the CAPS (Meriem Bennani, 75 min) Followed by a Q&A.
wave 4: Light Industry on Saturday, May 6
11AM: black strangers (Dan Guthrie, 8 min) + rupture (Zkonqu, 18 min) + Melodie De Brume A Paris (Julius-Amédée Laou, 23 min) + Coaley Peak (A Fragment) (Dan Guthrie, 6 min) Followed by a Q&A.
1PM: Exterior Turbulence (Sofia Theodore-Pierce, 11 min) + No Tomorrow (Ryan Clancy, 12 min) + Fin de siglo (Maike Hohne, 15 min) + I Cannot Now Recall (Kersti Jan Werdal 15 min) Followed by a Q&A.
2:30PM Close, but no Cigar (trilogy): lovertits (Ayanna Dozier, 16mm, 4 min), A Picture for Parco (Ayanna Dozier, 16mm, 3 min), an exercise in parting (Ayanna Dozier, 16mm, 3 min) Followed by a Q&A.
3:30PM: Aidol (Lawrence Lek, 83 min) Followed by a Q&A.
5:45PM: Bibi Seshanbe (Saodat Ismailova, 50 min)
7PM: The Apocalyptic is the Mother of All Christian Theology (Jim Finn, 64 min) Followed by a Q&A.
9PM: Darkness, Darkness Burning Bright (Gaëlle Rouard,16mm live performance, 70 min) Followed by a Q&A.
12AM Midnight Screening: Where (Tsai Ming-Liang, 90 min)
wave 5: Anthology Film Archives on Sunday, May 7
10AM: LANA (Susan Youssef, 4 min) + As if No Misfortune Had Occurred in the Night (Søren Lind & Larissa Sansour, 21 min) + one emerging from a point of view (Wu Tsang, 43 min)
11:30AM: Tous les jours de mai (Miryam Charles, 7 min) + A Woman Escapes (Sofia Bohdanowicz, Burak Çevik, Blake Williams, Real3D, 81min)
1:20PM: NYC RGB (Viktoria Schmid, 5 min) + Only If You Could See a View Above the Clouds (Zhuoyun Chen, 16mm, 4 min) + M*U*S*H (Jodie Mack, 16mm, 8 min) + Crashing Waves (Lucy Kerr, 19 min) + Site of Passage (Lucy Kerr, 7 min) Followed by a Q&A.
2:45PM: Theta (Lawrence Lek, 12 min) + Glossary of Non-Human Love (Ashish Avikunthak, 96 min) Followed by a Q&A.
3PM: The Miracle on George Green (Onyeka Igwe, 12 min) + No Stranger At All (Priya Sen, 40 min)
4:30PM: Yaangna Plays Itself (Adam Piron, 8 min) + Waterfall (Arthur & Corinne Cantrill, 16mm, 17 min) + Dans les cieux et sur la terre (Erin Weisgerber, 35mm, 12 min) + Daron, Daron Colbert (Kevin Steen, 35mm, 14 min) + Coalfields (Bill Brand, 16mm, 38 min) Followed by a Q&A.
6:45PM: What Are the Wild Waves Saying? (Declan Clarke, 72 min)
Closing Night Presentation: Anthology Film Archives on Sunday, May 7
8:45PM: scènes de ménage (trilogy): I (Alexandre Larose, 35mm, 13 min), II (Alexandre Larose, 35mm, 15 min), III (Alexandre Larose, 35mm, 12 min) Followed by a Q&A.
