(2008; 111 min.) A PSYCHOLOGICAL DRAMA.

PREVIEW CLIP

A theatre troupe camps out in a forest to perform their director's vision of French Surrealist Antonin Artaud's magic theatre of ghosts, gods and spirits. During their forest experiment Alex, the director, is haunted by disturbing dreams where Artaud appears and mocks his theatrical ambitions. When these strange nightmares persist, Alex stops sleeping in an attempt to regain control over his mind. Sleep-deprived and with his sanity pushed to its limits, he seeks help from a Psychotherapist who suggests hypnosis as a means to discover the source of his problems. What follows is a hypnagogic journey through the internal landscape of Alex's subconscious memories and dreams to a place beyond belief, beyond words, and beyond the mind itself.

PIX, SYNOPSIS AND CREDITS

(2007; 92 min) A DARK COMEDY.

PREVIEW CLIP

Four roommates, a live-in boyfriend and their visiting landlord are forced to remain indoors during an unexpected citywide lockdown initiated by the federal government. Ona, a webcast diva with her own show, thinks the feds are shifting gears into a fullblown police state. Her roomies think she's paranoid. Havoc and hilarity unravel as they all race to their own conclusions about what they think is happening during their current state of escalating uncertainty.

PRODUCTION CREDITS, PIX AND CLIPS

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(2005; 93 min.) A LITERARY DOCUFICTION.

PREVIEW CLIP

In 1908, Czech poet Rainer Maria Rilke wrote his "Requiem For a Friend" over two fevered nights at the Hotel Biron in Paris. One hundred years later, a paratheatre group in California prepares to stage his “Requiem” as a performance ritual. Impressions of the contemporary era begin haunting Rilke's night dreams, inspiring the creative process of writing his tribute to artist and friend Paula Modersohn-Becker. “The Greater Circulation” is a cinematic treatment of Rilke’s powerful prose addressing the central drama of women torn between sacrificing their lives to their Art or to Motherhood.

"...a deep, provocative and often disturbing drama which poses
questions of love, art, mortality and grief with the grace and
majesty of Rilke’s work as a vehicle for expressing the mix of
emotions in losing a loved one...astonishing"-- filmthreat.com

PIX, SYNOPSIS AND CREDITS

PRODUCTION AND RESEARCH NOTES

SCREENING HISTORY

(2004; 84 min.) A PARATHEATRE DOCUMENT.

PREVIEW CLIP

In 1977, Antero Alli initiated the development of a paratheatre medium inspired by Polish theatre director, Jerzy Grotowski, combining techniques of physical theatre, abstract dance and Zazen meditation to access the internal landscape. Twenty-seven years later, Alli documents a group of eleven performers using his methods in a series of convulsive initiatic rituals before a live audience. Intercut throughout the video are candid discussions between the director and two of the ritualists who share their experiences. The ritual technology featured gere is drawn from Antero's book, Towards an Archeology of the Soul (Vertical Pool Publishing; 2003)

"In this lively treatise, eleven participants writhe, grunt, and spasmodically twitch live onstage in San Francisco in order -- or, more appropriately, in disorder -- to achieve spiritual intoxication. Despite the way-outness of the material, Alli's style is fluid, thoughtful and elegant... an intriguing challenge." East Bay Express

PRODUCTION NOTES

 

(2003; 96:00) A MYSTICAL FAMILY DRAMA.

PREVIEW CLIP

The power of a long-buried family secret is unleashed when the extreme rituals of a self-made shamanic punk rocker catapult him into the spirit realm in search of his father, a ship captain who drowned at sea.This ship captain's mother was a Finnish sorceress whose powers were passed onto the punk rocker grandson, powers that are tested when the grandfather unexpectedly appears after a long absence and then, collapses into a coma. The grandfather's consciousness drifts though a series of dreams, memories and visions of his lover, the sorceress, who beckons him to join her in the great beyond in this surreal fable of true love, giant hedgehogs and the mystical depths of family bonds.

"Under a Shipwrecked Moon" takes the imagination into new and daring realms
that few artists could ever aspire to conceive ....the film's landscape of mists,
monsters and mysteries is so artistically overwhelming that it makes
"The Cremaster Cycle" look like "The Lizzie McGuire Movie."
PHIL HALL -- FILMTHEAT.COM (5/30/03)

MEDIA PRESS KIT

SCREENING HISTORY

PRODUCTION NOTES

 

(2002; 83:00) A SUSPENSE THRILLER.

PREVIEW CLIP

The Serb-Croatian war; 1991. A young Catholic soldier unwittingly drinks tea made from the hallucinagenic datura flower and experiences what he believes is a religious vision of the Virgin Mary. Ten years later he migrates to post-9/11 Oakland California on a mission to destroy what this vision tells him is the "den of iniquity".

"HYSTERIA is a profound and frequently disturbing work of intelligence... the level of artistry and honesty achieved is so rare to find that this film can easily be classified as an instant classic." (five out of five stars) Phil Hall at filmthreat.com

PRODUCTION NOTES

SCREENING HISTORY

MORE PRESS & REVIEWS

(2000; 105:00) A CYBER-NOIR DRAMA.

PREVIEW CLIP

Underground San Francisco, 2012. An urban tribe of technopagans practice their ecstatic rites inside a virtual reality realm when one of them uses the device as a suicide machine. This sparks the obsessions of a fundamentalist Christian prosecutor who recruits a mole, an unemployed actor, to bring their demise. A cyber-witch hunt reveals a deeper story of love and redemption.

"The parallels between Alli's futuristic tale and the assault on many basic
contemporary liberties seems too close for comfort; an audacious and chilling
parable that questions misdirected over-reliance on gadgets and God.
TRAGOS is a film which demands your brainpower and full attention.
It is a complex and towering work that aims to the highest
denominator and pays off in a triumph of spirit."
(four out of five stars) filmthreat.com

PRODUCTION NOTES AND SCREENING HISTORY

ADDITIONAL PRESS

 

"THE DRIVETIME"
(1995; 86:00) A CYBER-FI EXPERIMENTAL NARRATIVE.

PREVIEW CLIP

"THE DRIVETIME follows a bemused time-traveling librarian named Flux from
the serenity of 2023 to the chaos of Seattle in 1999, where he uncovers video
footage from a riot that triggered the city's collapse. Society's obsession with
communications technology has created the near-extinction of conversation.
People communicate via e-mail and videofax; the film's few face-to-face
encounters have a sourish, sitcom-type sting. On top of this jolting social
examination, THE DRIVETIME presents police procedure as entertainment
(a la programs like COPS) and disturbing abuses of police. THE DRIVETIME
forces viewers to think about where our world is heading. This work should
be seen by anyone who mistakenly believes that all's calm and well
in our little digital sphere." WIRED Magazine

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"LOADED VISIONS" is comprised of ten short "videopoems" utilizing poetic text from some of my favorite poets -- Rimbaud, Plath, Neruda, H.D., -- as oblique narratives (never as recitals or "poetry readings") to summon the spirits embedded in the text itself. Poetry as incantation." - Antero Alli

LILY IN LIMBO (27:00; 1996) text by H.D. and Antero Alli
MOUVEMENT (4:00; 2001) text by Arthur Rimbaud
FAIRY (4:00; 2000) text by Arthur Rimbaud
D.U.I. (8:30; 1994); text by Antero Alli
ANTI-PHILOSOPHER (4:00; 1999) text by Tristan Tzara;
WITCH BURNING (4:00; 1998) text by Sylvia Plath
SOME PASS THIS WAY (8:00; 1994) text by Sean Blosl
COLD FORCE (4:00; 1994); text by Antero Alli
THE WORD, WEIRD (6:00; 1994); text by Antero Alli
BOOK OF QUESTIONS (6:00; 1993) text by Pablo Neruda

 

"LILY IN LIMBO is a one-woman tour-de-force by Sylvi Alli as an artist whose self-imposed isolation corrupts her senses into a state of bitterness and delusion. In her solitude, she loses herself in a series of bizarre dreams thick with haunting images and disturbing sounds; a fascinating essay of a lost soul uncertain whether rescue is something she really wants." filmthreat.com

 

"...blazingly personal...the organically seething images of Alli's videopoems..."
Kelly Vance, EAST BAY EXPRESS

 

"LOADED VISIONS" total running time: approx. 77 minutes
Click either image above for more pix & details

Rate #1) MOVIE ONLY RENTAL
$150. per night (includes shipping costs to you).
Available VIDEO formats: DVD, DVCAM, mini-DV, SVHS.
For BetaSP video, add $50. All payment in advance.
(also includes website promotion)

Rate #2) MOVIE PLUS FILMMAKER
The filmmaker does not fly in jets but travels by car and/or train.
$400. per night for Pacific Coast regions (CA, OR, WA); other regions
to be negotiated. Non-profit educational organizations
can qualify for reduced rates; please inquire.
(includes website promotion)

EVENT PRODUCER RETAINS 100% of PROFITS FROM ADMISSIONS.

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CONTACT INFO

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ANTERO ALLI
(click image for BIO)

filmography
list of completed works, clips, vision statement

please addresss all inquiries to: ANTERO ALLI
e-mail: noform (at) paratheatrical (dot) com
postal: P.O. Box 7518, Berkeley CA 94707 USA
voicemail: (510) 464-4640

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