Alterations

2017

• Short

• 19 min

Comedy, LGBTQ, Family

Directed by Juan Carlos Zaldivar

J’s manic depressive mother, Mary Jane, had a heart attack when J told her that she was transgender. She developed amnesia as a result. The two reunite on a weekend adventure to face their fears and manage to keep their monsters at bay.

Director's statement

My film and visual art projects explore the transformation of physical form --and our perceptions of it. I am interested in the relationship between nature and artificiality because it often triggers larger questions about our humanity. I do experiments with moving image on this theme because film and video are optical illusions, yet they are widely accepted as veridic or truthful in our culture and have become an integral to how we understand and create our reality. My work explores the tension between reality (which may be subjective and often relates to perception) and actuality (which often relates to the effect of actions of a body in existence). I find that a dialogue between these two elements often spins other dialogues regarding identity, history, transculturalism and acceptance at large. I apply these notions to places and bodies as well. I believe that humor is often the best tool to communicate complex ideas and concepts.