Alee Peoples

This film is an homage to the Gaza Strip and to the possibility of hope beyond hopelessness. Ouroboros, the symbol of the snake eating its tail, is both end and beginning: death as regeneration. A 74-minute experimental narrative film that turns the destruction of Gaza into a story of heartbreak, Ouroboros asks what it means to be human when humanity has failed. Taking the form of a love story, the film's central character is Diego Marcon, a man who embarks on a circular journey to shed his pain only to experience it, again and again. In the course of a single day, his travel fuses together Native American territories, the ancient Italian city of Matera, a castle in Brittany, and the ruins of the Gaza Strip into a single landscape.

The three films you will see are shot-for-shot reproductions of the compilation film Instant Life (1981). Each film in Instant Life (1981) was a remake of an earlier film also called Instant Life (1941). The earlier Instant Life (1941) was a single film, not a compilation. In 2017, we decided to recreate Instant Life (1981). We did not attempt to recreate Instant Life (1941) because that Instant Life is lost. Instant Life (1941) was a silent film presented with live musical accompaniment. After the show, audience members received a printed riddle. Instant Life (1981) is a sound film. The riddle is part of the film. No answer to the riddle exists.

"...flattened images are dictated by actions happening outside of the frame. Choreography of bouncy balls and water fountains are involved." (Rick Bahto)

A documentary of what happened to the remains of Providence, Rhode Island’s champion of free religion and a club based on the actual folklore of the root.

An abstracted nightclub performance, its constituent parts—stand-up comedy, a capella, a laconic bass-and-drum rock duo, a slapstick mime—wrenched apart and recombined.

A pop music essay that is both sweet and serious about stereotypical male and juvenile fun. Tongue-in-cheek objectifying is mixed with cryptic symbols of longing and desire along with a brief history of a fraternal order.

Parallel feelings of pride and rebellion. Attempting to resuscitate political icons by remaking themwith my own psychic-punk aesthetic to regain personal ownership.

short doc on the International Order of Odd Fellows and their iconography that they use to teach and enforce the values essential to their credo.

“I use Super 8 and 16mm film as a vehicle for loose storytelling with history and humor. Simple props and gestures are part of a playful aesthetic. Glimpses into the culture of a place are given while playing with truth and representation. Non-Stop Beautiful Ladies is a Los Angeles street film starring empty signs, radio from passing cars, and human sign spinners, some with a pulse and some without.”—Alee Peoples

Half-essay, half-stand-up routine on the questions we ask, the answers we seek, and the oracles throughout history who've either affirmed (or exploited) our insecure wonders or merely lent us an ear.

🐝 + my + 🐝 + my + 👶 (Silent rebus puzzle musical — 16mm)

"A helter skelter is an attraction that consists of a spiral slide built around a tower. Like this movie, an attempt to exorcise an unrequited desire, which advances too quickly or stops completely. Disorienting but exciting." –Alee Peoples

DECOY sees bridges and walls as binary opposites and relates them to impostors in this world. Humans strive for accuracy. You don’t always get what you wish for. 16mm black & white w/ sound, 10 min 37 sec, 2018.

Parental ageing and an existential wave collide in fun and surprising ways in the suburbs of LA. Dislocated B-roll, meandering voicemails, and readings from the 1984 children’s sci-fi movie The Neverending Story combine to situate our collective grief in the hazy mundanities of everyday life.

A companion piece to Boys of Summer (also super 8, 2009)