Talena Sanders
Directing
Biography
"I am an artist and filmmaker who creates experimental documentary films that reflect the wild complexity and strange poetry of lived experience. Expanding and challenging mainstream documentary conventions is at the center of my work. I like gaps and mystery and opening up more questions than giving easy answers. Sometimes my work is about my own experiences, sometimes it’s about artists and people I admire—trailblazing women and queer people. My work is collage-like, weaving together materials from many different sources and angles. I record on 16mm most often, in part for the way that material destabilizes a viewer’s sense of time, blurring the line between found footage and what is contemporary. I am proud to be a film educator, serving as Assistant Professor of Communication and Media Studies at Sonoma State University." -T.S.
Known For
Stemming from a found archive of decades of footage documenting the lives of the patients and employees of one of the oldest mental health institutions in the US, Eastern State seeks the moments when the source materials start communicating something outside their intended purpose. *flicker warning
Eastern State
Liahona is an experimental documentary examining the culture, history, and lived experience of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, often referred to as the Mormon faith. The film creates a portrait of Mormonism through documentation of LDS cultural dominance in Utah, the suppressed history of folk magic in the early church, landmark Mormon life experiences, and my personal history and connection to the church. Found media with the voices of outsiders and insiders illuminate a religion that intrigues many, but is seen as mysterious or inaccessible. Liahona shifts through perspectives on the faith – from reverence to questioning, presenting the complexities of the vast institution of Mormonism contrasted with the tenuity of individual faith.
Liahona
A short by Talena Sanders.
Prospector
SD transferred to VHS
REACH
1. If the same dream occurs three times, then count it as a personal revelation, an individual prophecy. 2. Mysteries Of The Temple–Fearful Oaths And Secret Ceremonies–Saintly Privileges–Shocking Doings In Days Gone By–Whisperings Of Terrible Deeds–How The Mormons Mind Their Own Business–A New Name-Terrible And Revengeful Oaths–The Punishment Of The Apostate–Pains And Penalties Of Betrayal–The Mysterious Mark–Secret And Significant Signs–Eight Hours Of "Mystery–I Justify Myself. 3. Besides this, every Mormon’s mouth was closed by the oath of that same temple—the penalty for breaking this oath was worded in the most startling and impressive way, a penalty which no one doubted would be sternly enforced. The throat of the traitor was to be cut from ear to ear; his heart and tongue to be cut out; and his bowels were—while he was yet living—to be torn from him. In the world to come, everlasting damnation would be his portion.
Tokens and Penalties
Short by Talena Sanders from 2021.
The Coronation
Reconstructed through Super 8 as if it was actual found footage, with documents, newspapers and readings superimposed, this is the fascinating story of lesbian poet, film pioneer and provocateur Mary MacLane, who in the early 1900s was dubbed the Wild Woman of Butte, Montana. She resisted the categorisation and prejudice of the day through the creation of multiple versions of herself.
Between My Flesh and the World's Fingers
Preparations for performances.
Rehearsal
A diary film; transitions and longing for other people and places like a fox on the run.