Directed by
Thomas Pickarski
Country of Origin
United States
Runtime
12:58
Category
An essay narration paired with old B&W found film footage, the story is set in an imagined future when the Gulf Stream having reversed directions fuels an atmospheric phenomenon known as Spider Rain.
Director Biography – Thomas Pickarski
I am a multi-media visual and performance artist. The themes I work with include minor obsessions, the bizarre landscape, self-realization, and social justice. I often integrate storytelling into my work through text and spoken word. I hold a BFA in Painting and an MFA in Performance Art, both from Arizona State University.
I have had solo exhibitions throughout the U.S. including at The Cultural Center of Cape Cod in Massachusetts, St. Joseph’s University in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and the Glazer Children’s Museum in Tampa, Florida. My first solo exhibition, “The Middle of Nowhere”, which consists of 32 B&W photographic prints depicting primarily arctic landscapes, toured 7 U.S. exhibition venues and was then acquired in its entirety by the permanent collection of the Berkeley Art Museum, Berkeley, California. My follow-up exhibition “Floating Blue”, which features arctic icebergs photographed during the late evening light sometimes called “The Blue Hour”, debuted at the 10th Annual Songzhuang Art Festival at the Czech China Contemporary Museum in Beijing, China, in the fall of 2017, and is currently touring 13 U.S. cities through 2023.
In 2020 I wrote a monologue titled, “Under a Pandemic Sky”. I performed a live reading of the monologue in an event presented by TMI Project (Kingston, New York). I then created a short film based on the monologue. The film premiered at the Oakland International Film Festival, Oakland, CA, in the fall of 2020, and then screened in New York at the Ocktober Film Festival, Brooklyn, and later at Monologues and Poetry International Film Festival, Vallejo, CA.
In 2021, in conjunction with the 20 year anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, The Cultural Center of Cape Cod invited me to create and exhibit a short film that reflects on that day from my street-level vantage point beneath the Twin Towers, and the unusual and beautiful ramifications that ensued through recurring and evolving dreams over the months that followed. I will promote this film for further exhibition beginning in 2022.
In the fall of 2021, the Oakland International Film Festival invited me back to premiere my short film, “Out My Window”, which explores in a unique and beautiful way some of the ramifications that ensued as a result of the protests and uprising following the murder of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police officers. The film was also included in the North Dakota Human Rights Film Festival where it screened at the historic Fargo Theatre, Fargo, North Dakota, and then later won Best Monologue Film in the Monologues & Poetry International Film Festival, Vallejo, CA.
I am currently promoting my new photographic solo exhibition, “Snow, Sand, Ice”.
I live in New York City.