Castration Movie Chapter iii.ii at New/Next Festival on Oct. 3
“Who’s ready to have a bad time?” asked director Louise Weard to a full audience before the theater lights went down, an apt introduction to the chaos of New/Next Festival’s screening of Castration Movie Chapter iii.ii Junior Ghosts–Premorphic Drift; a fragmentary passage. Despite its mouthful of a name, this film is by far the shortest of the Castration Movie series, presented as an abridged version of the anthology format of its predecessors. Even for a series of films so clearly defined by their 480p quality and guerilla style (with Weard even stating that their aspect ratios are made to fill an iPhone screen), watching in a packed theater provided the definitive viewing experience.
Each entry into Castration Movie’s sprawling mythos feels like watching a car crash you can’t quite look away from. Seeing each character make the worst possible choices is grueling when watching alone, but the confines of a theater make it all the more nauseating. As Weard said in her introduction, the fun for her comes from seeing the audience squirm. I felt not a moment of peace while being in a theater full of trans women watching a brutally-accurate portrayal of coming-out to a TERF (trans-exclusionary radical feminist). Despite this, laughing with an audience at jokes that only the most internet-addicted tgirls would understand (“Have you ever heard of autogynephelia?”) brought a sense of community to even the average moviegoer with no clue what they had gotten themselves into.
Additionally, the screening was bookended by an introduction and post-show Q&A offering a look into the method behind Weard’s madness. It was inspiring to delve into Weard’s unorthodox filmmaking techniques as she impressed the audience by revealing that each of the film’s extended, single-shot sequences were done in a single take. Getting to speak briefly with Weard after the screening was the type of experience that only indie festivals like New/Next could provide.
Watching each chapter of Castration Movie is an arduous process that I can’t seem to get enough of, and Junior Ghosts–Premorphic Drift is no less difficult nor rewarding. Weard’s filmmaking is confrontational and unwavering in its vision, presenting viewers with a deep honesty unmatched by any other voice in cinema. New/Next Festival’s screening not only provided a rare opportunity to witness her work on the big screen, but to connect personally with the artist behind it.
Maxine Messina is a Sophomore studying Psychology and Music. Do you think she looks like a boy or a girl?
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