SECOND LOOK
-a-
HYPERREAL FILM CLUB series
-at-
the MUSEUM OF HUMAN ACHIEVEMENT
-presents-

THE FITS
Directed by Anna Rose Holmer
2015

7pm – doors // live DJ set – Chief and The Doomsday Device
8pm – "No Sleep No Breaks" with Fum Fum Ko - Director/Producer
815pm – THE FITS

Suggested $5 donation at the door
Screenings every other Thursday (mostly) all winter long
PART ~FOUR~ of ~SEVEN~

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The pure products of the US go briefly, unnervingly crazy in The Fits, a terrific rites-of-passage drama that charts an outbreak of mass hysteria inside a Cincinnati sports centre. Full credit to debut director Anna Rose Holmer for wringing the maximum mileage from a paltry $170,000 (£13,600) budget. Restricting herself to a single location and its immediate surrounds, she whips up a quiet storm of everyday horror; an allegory of adolescence, crawling with existential dread. 

Despite its short running time, The Fits refuses to be rushed. It strolls at length through the Lincoln’s echoing interiors, immersing us in a tightly ordered hierarchy where the princesses hold court beside the bathroom sinks and the boys scrap over pizza slices in the carton on the floor. But the tension builds and it finally breaks cover. Legs (Makyla Burnam), one of the older dancers, suffers a violent convulsion and is hospitalised overnight. When the glamorous Karisma (Inayah Rodgers) follows suit, her fellow dancers scurry to film the incident on their phones. And then, in the midst of a rehearsal, Maia (Lauren Gibson) suddenly arches her back and stares blindly at the ceiling. An outsider might conceivably mistake Maia’s agonised posture for some complex bit of choreography, but the Lionesses know better. Perhaps they know more than they can quite put into words.

Like Alfred Hitchcock before her, Holmer realises that a threat is most frightening when it wafts in at random, when it can’t be explained. 

-The Guardian

take a look: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jfHnykLOjH4

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About the short:

“No Sleep No Breaks,” shot mainly throughout East Austin, is about two best friends headed to record their first studio session. This moment has been long overdue. Will their dreams be realized?

From the director: “I'm a native Austinite and have seen the many changes in East Austin. I along with my producers of the film are paying homage to East Austin with our film. I grew up in East Austin and our short film depicts the East Austin that we know. We feel that it is important for people to see the other side of East Austin, such as Givens Park, Mr. Catfish, Booker T Apartments. Our film is an attempt to share our experiences with the old and newcomers of Austin, TX.”

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hyperreal film club is a time and a place for new friends, old friends, freaks, geeks, enemies, lovers, and ghosts to come watch some neat flicks.

SECOND LOOK, a bi-weekly series running from December – March, brings back to the big screen seven films by women, all released in the past five years, all featuring diverse perspectives on both sides of the camera. With this series, we want to progress as an advocate for the current work of adventurous, diverse filmmakers and as a community film hub for Austin.