Curators statement: The Eyeslicer Presents

The program “Marlon said to me: ‘Maria, don’t worry, it’s just a movie,’” investigates the female body through tropes and traps of cinematic production, growing out of historical and recent conversations about assault in the filmmaking industry. The flow of these films slowly shifts between examinations of dominance and violence, instigated and replicated by industrial film production culture, and reframes the gaze, the framing of the body, and representations of desire through resistance and the reclamation of film language.

Six months ago, this program premiered at MoMA; since then we’ve witnessed continued abuses of power in cinema systems and beyond, involving (among others) politicians, musicians, educators, financiers, judges, coaches, and athletes. Experiences of harassment and abuse that occur in these environments are often unreported, dismissed, or silenced. This program turns attention to moving image works that create spaces for these narratives while imagining inclusive and collaborative production modes and power structures.