Bette Gordon directs the screen version of Scott Bradfield's poetic genre-bending 1989 novel, "The History of Luminous Motion", in a production as dreamlike as its title.

Deborah Unger in Bette Gordon's The History of Luminous Motion Photo: Nan Goldin

Luminous Motion's an Oedipal fantasia about Phillip, a ten-year-old accustomed to an itinerant life on the road with his adored Mom. But when Mom opts for stability, settling down with a new boyfriend, Pedro, Phillip cracks. He does what he has to to dispose of Mom's new lover, but Mom's next move brings Dad back onto the scene. Phillip responds by looting houses with his punk friend Rodney to provide Mom with a wealth of gifts rivaling what Dad's credit card can buy.

"Phillip's a kid stuck in a critical moment of development, and we see the world as he does, distorted by his need to hold on," says Gordon. "We added elements that respect the soul of the novel but make it more visual." At times, maps, planets and hubcaps spin across the screen.

Eric Lloyd (Woody Allen's son in Deconstructing Harry) plays Phillip, Debra Kara Unger (Crash) is Mom, Terry Kinney (The Firm) plays Pedro and Jamey Sheridan (The Ice Storm) plays Dad.

A directing professor at Columbia University's graduate film program, Gordon's best known for her first feature, Variety, a 1984 selection for the Directors' Fortnight at Cannes. She raised the cash to option Motion on her own in '93 and then got Good Machine's Anthony Bregman and Ted Hope involved while working with them on an unrealized cable project. Screenwriter Robert Roth, then interning at Good Machine, took it on himself to write a spec draft while Hope and Gordon were considering possible writers; they ended up hiring him retroactively. Financing to the tune of seven figures ultimately came from private equity investors, says Bregman.

Luminous shot on Staten Island and in Jersey City between September 15 and October 24; the book's suburban California setting was transposed to its New York equivalent. International territories are being handled by Good Machine International; domestic rights are available.

Cast: Deborah Kara Unger, Eric Lloyd, Jamey Sheridan, Terry Kinney, James Berland, Paz de la Huerte. Crew: Producers, Anthony Bregman, Ted Hope; Co-Producer, Elyse Goldberg; Executive Producer, Eric Rudin; Screenwriter, Robert Roth; Director, Bette Gordon; Director of Photography, Teodoro Maniaci; Production Designer, Lisa Albin; Casting Director, Ellen Parks; Editor, Keiko Deguchi. Contact: David Linde, Good Machine International, 417 Canal Street, New York, NY 10013. Tel: (212) 343-9230, Fax: (212) 343-9645.

Afraid of Everything - David Barker
Chutney Popcorn - Nisha Ganatra
Dark Harbor - Adam Coleman Howard
Fear of Fiction - Charlie Ahearn
The History of Luminous Motion - Bette Gordon
Judy Berlin - Eric Mendelsohn
The Last Big Attraction - T. Hopwood DePree
Me and Will - Sherrie Rose and Melissa Behr
Mute Love - Patrice Mallard
Origin of the Species - Andres Heinz
The Two Ninas - Neil Turitz