Performed by Val Cole

POEM:

In the far and remote village of the west of Canton Province,
When my mother conceived me,
I curled up inside her tummy,
My mother bulged outside.

After I was born, crying,
I often slept in a cradle bearing a mosquito net.
My mother sang baby songs ceaselessly, squ...

Performed by Val Cole

POEM:

We’ve broken things and smashed them,
torn them to pieces,
burned them and buried them.
Words left unspoken,
Love left unmade.
You took everything that I had,
and then you left me where I laid.

You soaked me with your love,
but then you hung me out to dry,
leaving m...

Narrated by Val Cole

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Two weeks before you died-
You were joking, laughing, and seemed alright.
I thought you would be fine.

We talked and joked and watched the skyline-
From your hospital bed at half-light
Two weeks before you died.

As the day wound down, I saw no sign-
And when w...

Voice over by Val Cole

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I arrived at a destination that was far away from home.
It was more like isolation. I felt alone!
Drowning, watching water surround me on every side,
called my parents every day and often cried.
I searched for ways to escape this place,
because with each passi...

Voice over by Val cole

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My mom likes to say she gave me her tongue—
not the muscle
but the ability to move worlds with it.
She anointed me with her fury,
her impatience,
the power to gaze within your opponent
and pluck their greatest insecurity
from their chest.
She birthed me in her...

Voice over by Val Cole

Narrated by Val Cole

Vivian Maier is unattractive, too tall, has big feet and a strange accent. She is often unable to read social situations. She struggles to keep a job as a nanny, but finally she has some success working for a family on Riverside Drive in Manhattan, taking care of a little gi...

Narrated by Val Cole

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We drove for two hours
to the badlands of Cleveland
searching the streets and the alleys
just to find our way
to find a safe way
into The House of Wills.

We were met with armed guards
all meant to protect us
milling the grounds and
defending the building and
th...

Voice over by Val Cole

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After much deliberation, Radu concluded his name was Merlin.
Merlin was the greatest wizard of all.
Radu had first been Houdini, the Master of Illusions,
But all that magicians worked with was perception after all.
Reality remained unchanged.
A wizard, on the ...

Voice over by Val Cole

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He wasn’t adopted but made,
Not in a womb but psyche.
My son was a misborn,
I never met his father.

I was still married to my past,
Yet I nurtured my son.
Who feeds on my thoughts,
Sparing nothing at all.

While I drained every day.
He bloomed to a manchineel...

Voice over by Val Cole

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The most passionate kiss
that I ever saw
–and the longest!–
happened at the wedding
when Leonard O’Neal took a wife.
The bride’s Swedish father,
stern and adamantly opposed
to the whole affair,
though provoked,
was restrained by awe
at what he saw.

The lady w...

Voice over by Val Cole

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The morbid star
That rises high above
Awakens me from internal slumber

I am a night serpent
Becoming one with the shadows
Who lurk on lonely windowpanes

My mind is an asylum
It was cursed the day
The dead walked among the fire

Ashes to ashes
Ashes to ashes
...

Voice over by Val Cole

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Out of its cooler,
a bottle sweats embarrassed
before the hot sun.

Voice over by Val Cole

TWISTED GAZE, 19min,. Mexico
Directed by David Sanchez V
Diego travels to Turkey, makes a layover in Dubai. There he suffers a series of abuses by authority, sexual and homophobic by the police and military. This leads to a ceaseless search of identity and an obscure social questioning — psycholo...

BRINGING DOWN A MOUNTAIN, 14min,. India
Directed by Subhashish Panigrahi
A rural village never wanted to be a city’s landfill or a distant blur in Reels but instead home to new imaginations.

This 2023 docu-fiction dissects the intersecting themes of access, abolition and caste through the experi...

L'amour est temps de reflets, 5min., France
Directed by Yann Richebourg
Suggesting an impossible relationship between a young girl and a young man, this short film exploits the reflexive capacity of the mirror to translate specularly, explicitly as well as implicitly, what is repeated in a love d...

in your head., 11min., USA
Directed by Sokhna Samb
The morning after a breakup, Asa, a twenty-something year-old Black man, is confronted by his negative and intrusive thoughts personified in the form of his ex.

THE PREDESTINED OAF, 1min., USA
Directed by Jimmy Francis
A woman struggles while making her breakfast

https://twitter.com/hyperpiperjlf
https://instagram.com/hyperpiperjlf

Director Biography - Jimmy Francis

Jimmy Francis is an actor, comedian, musician, writer, songwriter and filmmaker from ...

SOMETIMES, 3min,. Canada
Directed by Jeromy Desjarlais
Music video about addiction

https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100079765563265&mibextid=ZbWKwL

Director Statement
"I am doing this because I love the process. I love the journey its very rewarding to watch people watch my videos and s...

POSI-TRACTION, 5min,. USA
Directed by Caleb Johnson, Clint Calvert
An intense emotional conflict scene between a mysterious older man and a younger man in a scene floating between reality and imagination, fear and despair. A man searches for something to justify his wrongs, but what awaits him wi...

AMAR, 10min,. France
Directed by Justine Méry
Self-employed to be in charge of her hours, her services and her prices, Amar has been an Escort (sex worker) since she was 18. She always felt a strong will for freedom and independence, but recent laws have been preventing her from doing her job in ...

BEHIND CLOSED DOORS, 4min., South Africa
Directed by Lenore Banton
Amelia learns that her sister, Cassandra, is being abused by her husband. In that moment, Amelia recollects from her memories where things started to go wrong and how she failed to notice the signs. Amelia returns to the present a...

HOW TO CATCH AN ANGEL, 5min., USA
Directed by Stephen Olson
A spoken word work in three parts about addiction and recovery.

http://www.stephenjosepholson.com/