A Short Tale of Xuan, March 8

Artists in Person

In this visually mesmerizing collection of shorts, artists experiment with storytelling techniques, drawing from their individual experiences and expressive cultural vocabularies. Kim Trang-Tran's Epilogue: The Palpable Invisibility of Life is a cerebral yet touching examination of a mother-daughter relationship by way of Derrida and medical images; Tamales in January shows a mother's influence on her son through visceral spoken word. N. Sikand must come to terms with appropriation and contamination of her cultural icons in In Whose Name; Sarah del Seronde's personal documentary Sa'ah attempts to discover and preserve the true way of beauty of her tribe. Syrian director Diana el-Jeiroudi provides an intimate and candid look at pregnancy and motherhood in The Pot. In A Short Tale of Xuan, an introspective young girl finds wonder in collecting little stories; Elizabeth Farfán's La Catrina boldly creates her own narrative and leaves a lasting impression in Vida Pública.

—Aileen Cruz, Jooyeon Nam

• The Glass Kimono (Reiko Fujii, U.S./Japan, 2006, 4 mins). Epilogue: The Palpable Invisibility of Life (T. Kim-Trang Tran, 2006, 14 mins). The Pot (al-Qarura, Diana el-Jeiroudi, Syria, 2004, 20 mins, In Arabic with English subtitles). Tamales in January (Renata Gangemi, Ruben Gonzalez, Carlo Baldi, 2005, 3 mins, From Third World Newsreel). In Whose Name (Nandini Sikand, U.S./India, 2004, 11 mins). Sa'ah (Sarah Del Seronde, 2005, 20 mins, In English and Navajo with English subtitles). A Short Tale of Xuan (Terrie Samundra, 2006, 12 mins, 16mm). Color Conscious (Cheraine Stanford, 2005, 3 mins). Vida Pública (Elizabeth Farfán, 2006, 11 mins, In Spanish with English subtitles, B&W)

• (Total running time: 98 mins, U.S., Color, Video, From the artists, unless indicated otherwise)