Return to: ATA Film & Video Festival 2008: Program 1

The Quiet Storm

After a communication meltdown, Dynasty Handbag (alter-ego of performance artist and musician Jibz Cameron) decides to take a vow of silence. She soon discovers that silence is golden, but the kind of golden that leads her into a vacuum of isolation and despair.

Shot entirely on green screen using pirated internet photos as backdrops and in place of other actors, The Quiet Storm is both a dream and nightmare of contemporary video production which in turn creates a hilarious and tragic collage of hyper-unreality.

Questions with Jibz Cameron

Elizabeth Wing: Can you tell us a bit about your working process? What gets you started on hammering out a new project -- writing, performing, reading, etc.?

Jibz Cameron: My working process...hmmm. I know! Well I usually start from the place of some kind of emotional suffering. There is a lot of that so I have a really big supply of material. And then of course a deadline. I try and always have some kind of thing lined up so that I can stay motivated to always be thinking of stuff.

EW: Where do you find your outfits? Any good stories about particular items of clothing?

JC: Thrift stores have a lot of finds besides the finds a lot of us seem to consider finds these days. In fact, almost 98% of a women's thrift store selection could easily dazzle on Dynasty Handbag.

EW: The story is absurd and genuine, a motivational film emotionally grounded in the drama of different mental states. Do you have any favorite movies that are inspiring or useful or funny in a way that influences your work?

JC: I love John Waters because he is amazing which we all know but he most certainly is political and a revolutionary and which I wish I could be and is inspiring. Also I love to watch his movies because I know that he did so much of his work with no money and with all his friends. I also like to watch Herzog movies that celebrate weirdos and triumphing over adversity. I also like any movies and books about survival in the wild and savage outdoors.

Dynasty Handbag is the one woman music/comedy/video/performance/meltdown/portable electro-ballad vehicle of Jibz Cameron. Cameron resided in the bay area for many years performing as Dynasty Handbag and with rock bands Dynasty & The Roofies and also acting in various theater productions and independent films. In 2004 she relocated to NYC. Within five months she was crowned Miss Lower East Side, speedily launching her into the glamorous downtown performance scene. In 2006 she released her first solo record entitled, Foo Foo Yik Yik. She has toured extensively in the US and Europe. Her performance and video work has been seen in such institutions as The Kitchen, Dance Theater Workshop, Joe's Pub, C'est Duckie U.K., SCOPE Art Miami, BAM, CAM Houston, Yerba Buena Cernter for the Arts, SXSW Film Festival, and The New Underground Film Festival. She is the recipient of the Fresh Tracks Artist In Residency award at Dance Theater Workshop and a 2008 recipient of The Franklin Furnace Fund grant for the performing arts. On stage Cameron performs with a backing track containing original dialogue, music and video of her deranged yet sensitive exploration of personal psychic waste.

Hedia Maron is a filmmaker who lives and works in Brooklyn, NY.

Last updated 09/09/2008.