Experiencing Interruptions?

demand me for the reckoning

A woman channels her lover's rage from a cocoon of sensual bliss, in "demand me for the reckoning". Angry questioning translated with the emotional distance of Japanese, this short experimental work juxtaposes fleshy intimacy with fragments of monster movies and molecular imaging to excavate layers of internalized oppression.

"demand me for the reckoning" was conceived, written and directed by black choreographer and video artist Dean Moss. It was edited with Japanese performance artist Sawami Fukuoka, who translated and voices the narrative. The work was produced in 2021 by Gametophyte Inc., and is dedicated to Loving Day.

single channel; 16:9, 14 min.; color; sound; language: japanese with english subtitles

  • Dean Moss
    Director
  • Dean Moss
    Writer
  • Dean Moss
    Producer
  • Project Type:
    Experimental
  • Completion Date:
    August 5, 2021
  • Country of Origin:
    United States
  • Language:
    Japanese
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    No
  • Student Project:
    No
  • Destiny City Film Festival
    Tacoma, Washington
    United States
    February 24, 2022
    World Premiere
    Official Selection
Director Biography - Dean Moss

Originally form Tacoma Washington, Dean Moss is an interdisciplinary choreographer and video artist who makes work investigating perception and the fluidity of self. He directs a Brooklyn based production company called Gametophyte Inc. Its work has been commissioned and presented internationally, including: The New York Museum of Modern Art, The Whitney Museum of American Art, The Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art, The Seoul International Dance Festival, and The Kitchen among others. Moss is the recipient of a John Simon Guggenheim Fellowship in Choreography; the Doris Duke Impact Award in Theatre; a Foundation for Contemporary Arts, Artists Grant; plus fellowships in both Choreography and Multidisciplinary Works from the New York Foundation for the Arts. He currently lectures in Video and Multimedia Performance Composition at Virginia Commonwealth University, and Choreography at Sarah Lawrence College.

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Director Statement

In 2021 Gametophyte Inc. completed a new film work titled "demand me for the reckoning": in it a woman contemplates cross-racial rage, from the cocoon of sexual bliss. Featuring an angry text written in 2015 commenting on an invitation to an artist’s gathering where I was being asked to share the experience of racial oppression with a group focused on protecting white innocence. In making this new work Japanese performance artist Sawami Fukuoka beautifully translated and voiced an edited version of that text. The translation re-positions the anger of the experience so the work can reflect not only on a shared BIPOC experience, but also initiate an intimate reckoning with how those elements of oppression are being internalized and exploited within the relationship of this couple.

The movement imagery acts as counterpoint to the text, juxtaposing a surface of fleshy intimacy, with fragments of monster movies and molecular imaging, together which excavate damaged unconscious constructions of self. I conceived, wrote, and directed "demand me for the reckoning" which was edited in collaboration with Japanese performance artist Sawami Fukuoka, who also translated the narrative. The work is dedicated to Loving Day.