Lacrima Christi, Teo Hernández, 1978-1979, 127 min. 16mm screening.
This program is in conjunction with Resuming Round 51 | Junior Fernandez: God made everything out of nothing and without architecture, there would be no Stonewall; without architecture, there would be no “brick”
Lacrima Christi is the longest of the over 150 films made by the Mexican filmmaker resident in Paris, Teo Hernández. Part three of a tetralogy devoted to Christ’s Passion, Lacrima Christi is an exploration of the transfer between desire and myth that takes as its starting point a series of objects found in the flea market of Belleville.
Instead of characters, in Lacrima Christi we recognize the forms of action, the fixation, the dissolution, the multiplication, and the projection of alchemy; instead of the Holy Grail, Teo Hernández evokes the cosmos using pearls, wine glasses, flowers, candles, magnifying glasses or a crystal ball. Here, all movement is the result of intoxication. When the film is revealed as a membrane between body and dreams, cinema becomes a translucent screen. The editing process caresses or devours. The image has crossed through the looking glass.
Teo Hernández held that Christ was the last divinity of the ancient and the first of the modern worlds. Taking the camera as his second eye, he filmed with teeth clenched and muscles contracted, standing on one foot. This state of tension resembles nerve impulses. The rhythm of his solar cinema is that of the blood coursing round his body. If each cut is a mirror, if the screen is the place on which gestures are recorded, then, from anamorphosis to amamnesis, why should this last redoubt of a story be anything more than a tiny molecule of dust?
This screening will be scored live by Nudo with Desvelada.
Nudo is a psychic handshake/brain trust between Joaquin Tenorio and Eric Hernandez. Hailing from Ciudad Juárez, Chihuaha Mexico and Eagle Pass, Texas USA, respectively. Their music was initially birthed from daisy-chained 4 tracks, countless youtube pages being run through MaxMSP, hours of talking about border slang, cholo memes, niche Norteño also-rans, industrial and state mass manipulation, and the bittersweet reality of growing up on either side of the notorious TexMex border.
Desvelada is a DJ, visual artist, and occasional producer with a background in choir originally from Mexico City. She has recently relocated to NYC after growing up in Texas and finishing a degree in film. The focus of her music is to invoke nostalgic ideations, and her sets reflect her attitude of intentional disorder and are genre blenders. Collaborating with Paris-based producer
Sprælle with the track “Quieto” where she recalls a memory of an incident where a man punched a window and bled throughout her house. Desvelada has exhibited her visual work and guest mixes with the Montréal based radio station N10.as.
