Still from Jonathas de Andrade’s film O Peixe.

Please join us for the second iteration of Ellipsis, a new quarterly moving image series. Ellipsis: Echoes is a double-bill of short films built around the locus of cultural resonance through labor. Curated by Mariana Sanchez Bueno and Ehm West, the series aims to connect moving image works across languages, either aesthetic or literal, and shift conversations of art-house cinema beyond the Western canon.

In the absence of dialogue, both of these films emphasize a choreography around labor and labor histories. As a result, intimacy takes a central role in each film’s world. Kevin Jerome Everson’s Sound That follows employees of the Cleveland Water Department on the hunt for leaks in the infrastructure in Cuyahoga County. Moving through the city, the techniques for sourcing these leaks evolve into a sonic ritual and a form of communication between laborers and the city. O Peixe (The Fish), a short film and installation work by Jonathas de Andrade, focuses on fishermen from a village on the northeast coast of Brazil as they enact a ritual of embracing the fish that they have caught. The affectionate gesture that accompanies the passage of death is a testament to a relationship between species that is imbued with strength, violence and domination. This film was made with a group of fishermen of Piaçabuçu and Coruripe, by the river São Francisco and the sea, Northeast of Brazil.

Ellipsis’ curators would like to thank Center for Performance Research, Trilobite-Arts DAC Picture Palace Pictures, Kevin Jerome Everson, and Jonathas de Andrade for their generosity and contribution to our program. Image credit and by-line courtesy of the artists’ studios.