Spotlight: Kinotek
USA, 115 minutes
Thu, May 1 / 8:00 / Kanbar / CLOU01J
Cloud Eye Control is a Los Angeles–based multidisciplinary performance collective whose work fuses animation, experimental theater, pop music and puppetry. In other words, they are like nothing you have ever seen. The collective—comprised of Chi-wang Yang, Miwa Matreyek and Anna Oxygen—uses deceptively simple video techniques to produce interactive virtual theater sets, integrated with moving screens and Oxygen’s haunting voice. Their approach highlights the lo-fi, deliciously baring their illusory devices while maintaining a playful sense of wonder and trickery. This is not a bookish meditation on technology. Cloud Eye Control’s performances are smart and fun. The group will perform three live onstage narrative pieces. Final Space explores the impact of a dream-sucking machine gone haywire. Dream of Lucid Living showcases Miwa Matreyek’s work as she steps directly into animations illustrating her daily routine, creativity and relationship to the city of Los Angeles. Subterranean Heart allegorically posits Anna Oxygen’s body as a gem mine, as ingenious animations take us on a “fantastic journey” to her heart. Following the performances, Anna Oxygen, object of a cult following for her live shows, will lead the audience in an interactive aerobics workout.
—Sean Uyehara
Total running time 115 min. Presented in association with ASIFA. Sponsored by Esurance.