PIT OF DOOM

PIT OF DOOM: ADDRESSING SOCIAL INEQUALITY + STRUCTURAL INJUSTICE

“Pit of doom” is what I’ve decided to call this masterclass for these filmmaker wolves majestically create a disturbing immersive spectorial experience out of mundane settings—a real sense of discomfort and claustrophobia as we delve into the lives of these oppressed protagonists; oppressed in different ways for their gender, race, status, sexuality and disability by their closest “loved” ones, by society or the system. These skilled filmmakers ambitiously create pits of doom in their very own right, insufferable mundane hellscapes. This curated collection is broad for we’re dealing with various social issues and types of prejudice and oppressions—some more deeply-rooted and invisible, others more overt. What all these protagonists have in common is that they’re stuck in a pit of doom and can’t escape this cyclical living nightmare… or can they?
   Independent cinema proves yet again in this curated collection that it dares to go where mainstream cinema won't. Phoebe Ammon's Deutschland in Winter "Germany in Winter", Kiana Woodson's Stop Killing Us and Kevin Wellbeck's Viral depict the most brutalist form of racial discrimination and light a torch for the Black Lives Matter movement. Woodson’s Stop Killing Us is the more effective of the three in its harsh turning point; Woodson creates a perfectly happy and intimate love nest between a young black couple, that soon find their world comes crushing down and in disequilibrium. Be sure not to miss it.
   The following four films depict gender inequality against women, in its most brutalist form through The Most Beautiful., our grand Winter 2020 winner. Rachel Irene Wilke orchestrates picture and sound to arresting effects and creates the most harrowing of these “pits of doom”. Pierfrancesco Artini’s G A B R I E L grants a fresh unique angle at prejudice against widowed women of a certain age, and the taboo they can’t be sexually active at an older age like men can. I praise Charley Stadler’s Versus and Laurence Patrick’s Switch for how they manage to position us in the woman’s seat and look at the world through their lens in fresh and unique ways; both experimental canvases in their own right and spectacular for how they visually portray a deeply-rooted socio-historical issue.
   Sergio Fernández Muñoz’s Pisahueco “Holestepper” explores abandoned terrain and gives a voice to disabled members of our society.
   Irina Storozhenko’s Juliet, Lovell Holder and Daniel Talbott’s You Say Hello and Henrique Sauer’s Looking For A New Place To Begin are the best of queer cinema and explore a different type of pit of doom, one of loneliness and inner demons; as our lead protagonists have to face a different type of enemy, a life-long internal battlefield arena to conquer self-confidence and self-acceptance. For many of our LGBTQIA+ members of society they still suffer homophobic transgressions of every kind, and beyond any overt/visible physical or verbal attack, the mental reverberations these protagonists have to endure are unimaginable. Juliet is one of our first two films we’ve ever received at Lonely Wolf to depict a transgender teenager protagonist and we couldn’t be more thrilled to virtually screen it to you.
   Then the following films get even broader and explore oppression at the hands of the system (elitism, dictatorship, communism). Hafid Abdelmoula’s Broken Gaiete and Sooin Cho’s Density of Air provide more experimental canvases; Toma Enache’s Intre Chin Is Amin “Between Pain And Amen” provides a historically accurate big-scale feature film; and Federico Fasulo’s Dorsia, Martin Ristvedt’s Reflection and William Aguilar’s Deste Latino América Con Amor “From Latin America With Love” provide immersive spectorial experiences that will subvert and test your own deeply-rooted sociological ideals and expectations.
   Join me as we venture into these mundane hellscapes and marvel at the level of maturity and social consciousness these filmmaker wolves demonstrate in these gritty dramas, experimental canvases and cautionary tales.
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Adrian Perez @adrianperezceo
CEO, Film Festival Director, Chief Film Critic @lonelywolffest
Lonely Wolf: London International Film Festival
adrian@lonelywolffilmfest.com