SFCINEMATHEQUE

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Thursday, February 20, 1997

B/Side by Abigail Child

Yerba Buena Center for the Arts





New York filmmaker Abigail Child returns to the Cinematheque with her first major work since the completion of her 7-part “Is This What You Were Born For?” in 1989. Applying rhythmic construction, poetic license and a generous eye to bodies in poverty, B/Side (1996, 40 min.) documents poignantly and beautifully a gritty vision of late 20th century urban life. B/Side is an experiment in entering the delirium of the Lower East Side. Framed by footage of a homeless encampment settled after the riots of June 1991, the film is a portrait of economic upheaval and physical displacement, mingling the streets of today with those of memory and the past. B/Side has been selected for the 1997 Whitney Biennial. Also: Mayhem (1987) and Mercy (1989).