OTHER CINEMA: "The Poetic Horror of Ben Rivers"

In his first-ever visit, this Brighton, UK maker unleashes a creepy lot of sublimely suspenseful, genre-inflected cine-poems. Winner of last year’s Rotterdam Tiger Award, this prolific Brit fashions minimal, moody riffs on horror film tropes. Rivers' work profits from the sheer physical pleasure of the hazy chiaroscuro of desolate and crumbling places. Included on this program of poignant cinema are Old Dark House, a hand-processed tour-by-flashlight of an abandoned, burnt-out building; The Hyrcynium Wood, a B/W “mystery” film shot in 16mm; and The Coming Race, wherein thousands of people climb a rocky mountain terrain—a vague, mysterious and unsettling pilgrimage fraught with unknown intentions. DJ Onanist conjures up a haunted-house FX mix for our artist’s reception.