Renowned American photographer Nan Goldin will be presenting two films by Argentine director Agustina Comedi: her documentary feature Silence Is a Falling Body (2017), and her new documentary short Playback (2019). Both films, introduced by Goldin and Comedi will premiere on Friday, February 12 at 8pm on the online platform of the New York City independent cinema Metrograph, and the films will be available to stream on demand between February 13 and 19.
In Silence Is a Falling Body, Comedi weaves together a complex and moving portrait of her late father, Jaime, constructed from more than 100 hours of videotape he recorded as a hobby prior to his untimely death. It seemed as though he recorded everything, although he left only small clues as to the man he was before marrying her mother. Interviews with those who knew him reveal fragments of a youth filled with political activism, joyful friendships, and sexuality that never fully bloomed in the repressive social climate of 1980s Argentina (same-sex marriage wasn’t introduced in the country until 2010). Silence Is a Falling Body is at once a love letter to her father, and also profound thank you to those who sacrificed so much for the freedom of the next generation.
Preceding Comedi’s directorial debut is her follow-up film, Playback, a doc short that focuses on the Kalas Group, a collective of drag queens and transgender women who in the late ’80s of the conservative city of Córdoba used the stage as a place of resistance. The award-winning film is narrated by La Delpi, the sole survivor of the group.
For tickets and more information, visit metrograph.com
