James Fotopoulos

Chicago urban legend James Fotopoulos writes and directs a harrowing and daringly experimental three-part feature. The narrative, such as it is, pivots on women in the midwestern lingerie underground hooking up with hard-edged middle-aged men. (Anthology Film Archives)

Clearly inspired by the work of David Lynch, this mega-experimental black and white film alternates between reality and fantasy. In reality, the single character appearing in the film spends time largely in his house and talking to no one but himself, cutting himself, dissecting goat heads, picking at his sores, humping a mannequin, and masturbating. Inside his head, we see what he's dreaming about: Dead animals, lactating large-breasted women, and general psychosis.

A man and woman embark on a sexual journey to detach mind from body. The relationship slowly grows into one of emotional domination, physical disease, abandonment and the creation of personal pornography.

Christabel is an abstract interpretation of Samuel Taylor Coleridge's unfinished Gothic poem about female possession. Adhering to the poem's structure the film is presented in four parts – Two digital video half hour segments and then two short 16mm conclusions. The contemporary relevance of the poem's symbols and themes is underlined using performance combined with heavy image and sound layering. (jamesfotopoulos.com)