Journals from the Chihuahuan Desert are covert vignettes of Manera's eighteen month sojourn documenting a timeless climate and the diverse inhabitants encapsulated by the land and her river. The heartland surrounding the juncture of the Rio Conchos and the Rio Grande is historically known as La Junta de los Rios. La Junta can be defined as the place were two come together. An ancient, cultural crossroads for the indigenous peoples, later to develop a byway of conquest for the Spanish explorers. A last frontier for the true-grit pioneers of the American West and the region sat ringside during the Mexican Revolution. This isn't really Texas, America or Mexico. Its a liminal space, a nearly destitute, isolated island becoming lost in political domination and in fearful neglect.
The video was an element in the installation, Architectural Anthropology, a commissioned solo exhibition by the Cardozier Gallery at the University of Texas of the Permian Basin. The ATA Film + Video Festival based in San Francisco, California, included Journals from the Chihuahuan Desert in a 2011 juried program.
I, A Director 16mm b&w 2005
George Kuchar’s 1977 film classic I, An Actress inspired this adaptation and desire to expand on the aspiring actress turned director theme. http://www.kucharbrothers.org/i-an-actress
In the production of this scene nothing went as planned and the result became a work in itself. George loved the outcome and the work has exhibited as a two channel installation, projecting in tandem along with I, An Actress.
I, A Director as been included in the juried film programs listed below.
Festivals:
The Roxie, Playback 2o1o, San Francisco, CA
UWM, Supernatural Shadows of Hollywood and Here, 2011 Milwaukee, WI
Cine Fantom Club, Selection!, Moscow, Russia
Slaughterhouse-Culture Centre, 700IS 2008, Egilsstadir, Iceland
Echo Park Film Center, Best of ATA Film & Video Festival, Los Angeles, CA
Artist Television Access, ATA Film & Video Festival, San Francisco, CA
The Roxie, The American Heresy Collective, San Francisco, CA
Southwest Film Center, Experiments in Cinema V2.0, Albuquerque, NM
The Four Wishes of Saint Martin
Video, 5:25 rtr, 2004
An animated adaptation of a 14th century French fabliau, Les quatre souhaits de Saint Martin.
F Train Study 69
s16mm, 03:26 trt, 2005
OG - A Trip Down Market Street 1906 San Francisco (before the fires)
Beauty
16mm b&w hand-tinted film, 03:19 trt, 2003