The Bang Straws

Director: Michelle Williams Gamaker

Year: 2017

Revisiting the audition process for the character of Kanchi in Powell and Pressburger’s 1947 'Black Narcissus'. The coveted role went to actor Jean Simmons. By auditioning only Indian ex-pat or first-generation British Asian women and non-binary individuals, filmmaker Michelle Williams Gamaker re-casts a Kanchi for the 21st Century, who crucially speaks.

Director: Matthew Berka

Year: 2027

A SEASON IN SECRET brings together material both close at hand and far away. It is a meditation on things glimpsed at a distance and the limits of perception. What lies behind the screen is hidden and may only be hinted at through the language of visible images and sounds. The film takes some of its cues from the Japanese aesthetic concept of Yūgen, described in part by the 15th-century aesthetician Zeami Motokiyo: “...to stand upon the shore and gaze after a boat that disappears behind distant islands.”

Director: James Richards

Year: 2026

Taking as his starting point - less by way of invocation than summoning - the text from Marguerite Duras’ 'Les Mains négatives' and Tony Conrad’s 'The Flicker', James Richards weaves together stirring fragments composed from 2022-2026, including repurposed material from friends and collaborators including Steve Reinke. The screen is filled with images and impressions, depicting a frantic yet melancholic quest for meaning between language, gesture, and sensation. Official Selection Toronto International Film Festival 2026 - World premiere