Artists' Television Access

SPRINKLE/STEPHENS’ PLAYING WITH FIRE

Lightning ignites a devastating firestorm, forcing Bay Area artist/activists Annie Sprinkle & Beth Stephens from their redwood forest home. But the wildfire is just the beginning of their transformative journey, as they craft a cinematic reckoning with the power of fire–with its capacity to destroy and renew. Created through an ecosexual lens (imagining the Earth as a lover), and narrated by a mythic white peacock, their compelling story weaves a tale of resilience, queer love, and environmental awakening. Instead of fighting fire, can we learn to live with fire? This vibrant feature, introduced by Annie and Beth in person, documents the couple’s adventures in the wake of disaster, while also honoring the broader communities impacted by ecological and social fires. Enlisting a collective of artists, witches, Indigenous elders, and formerly incarcerated firefighters, Sprinkle & Stephens examine the ways in which queers–and all humans–can support the health of the Earth. The film sports an electric score by experimental composer Guillermo Galindo, Lady Monster’s tassel-twirling burlesque, a dangerous full-body fire stunt by the artist Cassils, a volcanic fire-play massage with sex educator Barbara Carrellas, and an impassioned ritual by performance-poet Guillermo Gómez-Peña. Shapeshifters suds on tap! $13

https://www.atasite.org/?p=16131

ANGELO MADSEN: A BODY TO LIVE IN

Arguably America’s most prominent trans maker, Angelo (North by Current) Madsen has placed their West Coast theatrical premiere here in thee feisty microcinema that, for almost four decades now, has stood up for queer empowerment, sex-worker rights, and the Modern Primitive movement. In fact, ReSearch‘s V Vale, Paul King, and Cleo Dubois–widow of the subject of tonight’s doc–are all on hand tonight to introduce Madsen‘s masterwork, a feature-length exploration of the huge human community who find erotic, psychic, and spiritual satisfaction in binding, piercing, and tattooing their bodies as they please…a subculture aptly represented by the life and career of recently deceased Fakir Musafar. Dubois gave Madsen free rein to bring to light more than a hundred hours of previously unseen recordings, to be stitched together with Musafar‘s stunning photographs and the voices of performance artists Annie Sprinkle and Ron Athey. While Madsen‘s provocative profile questions assumptions about “masculine/feminine”, and considers issues of BDSM control and consent, it also acknowledges the complexity of other ethical issues surrounding the practices, faces the charges of (Native) cultural appropriation, and forces audiences to think critically about the line(s) between free individual expression and reckless self-harm. $13

https://www.atasite.org/?p=16133

https://cinemas17.eventive.org/schedule/own-hand-68da67dcf73c82176c5b666c

The festival delivers a jolt of pure drama with the feature film “Own Hand” from Bolivia. Based on a terrifying real event from 2013, this tense narrative interweaves three desperate perspectives: a prosecutor racing to prevent the lynching of five unjustly accused young people, the father trying to save his sons from a mob, and one of the victims fighting for his life. It’s a powerful, relentless story about injustice and survival.

https://www.atasite.org/?p=16117