Speaking in Bootongue

"SPEAKING IN BOOTONGUE" is the visual and aural language transmitted as communications in the netherworld, between the cities of the living and the cities of the dead.

Traditionally, the image of an empty boot denotes the loss of an esteemed leader. In "Bootongue," the empty boot is a metaphor for traveling between these worlds of reality and extinction where individual sovereignty often surrenders to a metaphysical sphere of fantasy. This journey can lead to a hyperactive life of pure thought invisible to all but the participant. We consider it a gift that arrives towards the end of one’s life that grants an individual the time---free of corporeal distraction---to jettison the physical world in favor of a distinctive world built entirely upon imagination and memory; a terrible beauty rooted in fear, humor, play, and wonderment.

  • Amy Bassin and Mark Blickley
    Director
  • Project Type:
    Experimental, Short
  • Genres:
    Fine Art Video, Experimental, surreal
  • Runtime:
    3 minutes 18 seconds
  • Completion Date:
    December 1, 2015
  • Country of Origin:
    United States
  • Country of Filming:
    United States
  • Shooting Format:
    Digital
  • Aspect Ratio:
    16:9
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    No
  • Student Project:
    No
  • Finalist Experimental Film CUNY Film Festival 2018
    New York
    United States
    April 22, 2018
  • The Director's Lounge, Berlin
  • Delete TV

    Australia
    May 30, 2016
  • London Experimental Film Festival
    London
    United Kingdom
Director Biography - Amy Bassin and Mark Blickley

Amy Bassin and Mark Blickley’s video collaboration, "Speaking In Bootongue," was included in the full-length exquisite corpse surrealist film, "The Spaces Between Cities," screened at The Grand Illusion Cinema, Seattle WA, The Director's Lounge, Berlin, Germany, Aichi Triennial, Japan, Other Cinema, San Francisco, CA, and Northwest Film Center, Portland and independently on Delete TV, London. "Widow's Peek: The Kiss of Death," an under one minute short premiered at the Miniature Film Festival, Vancouver, Canada.

Their text-based art collaboration "Dream Streams," was published in "Columbia University Journal of Literature & Art," Three Rooms Press annual Dada anthologies, "Maintenant 9 & 10," "Gravel," "Boog City" and others. This series was featured as an art installation at the 5th Annual NYC Poetry Festival on Governors Island and in DUMBO at the Ray Gallery, Brooklyn, NY.

Add Director Biography
Director Statement

Our collaborations began after we read Man Ray’s memoir, "Self-Portrait," and were enthralled by the Dadaist’s avant-garde film experiments and art that combined photography with poetic texts. All our collaborations have a dada and surrealist edginess.