October 12 – Jim Trainor: The Pink Egg
Posted by | Paris Jomadiao | Posted on | October 6, 2017
Jim Trainor, still from The Pink Egg (2017). Courtesy of the artist.
Featuring his trademark dark comedy and fascination with the natural world, Chicago-based animator Jim Trainor explores the complex and curious lives of insects in his first live-action feature. Casting humans in the starring roles, The Pink Egg follows life-cycles of “The Seven Sisters,” a group of evolutionarily related wasps and bees. Unitard costumes and candy-colored props set the stage for the feeding, mating, and hunting rituals of a civilization as successful as our own, yet founded on utterly alien principles. The narrative advances without dialogue or narration, leaving the audience to puzzle out its mysterious goings-on, evoking a Mother Nature who keeps her cards close to her chest.
2016, USA, digital file, 71 min + discussion
Jim Trainor in person
Jim Trainor (b. New York) is a filmmaker and animator based in Chicago. His films explore the grim and realistic habits of animals in their natural habitats, illustrating the divide between bestial instinct and human emotion and logic. His films have screened at the Whitney Biennial, New York; Anthology Film Archives, New York; Museum of Modern Art, New York; Chicago Filmmakers; Sundance Film Festival, Park City, Utah; New York Animation Festival; Pacific Film Archive, Berkeley, California; Nashville Film Festival; International Film Festival Rotterdam, Netherlands; Thessaloniki Film Festival, Greece; Golden Horse Festival, Taiwan; and La Xina A.R.T., Barcelona. He has received awards from numerous film festivals, including San Francisco International; Black Marial; New York Underground; Cinematexas; Big Muddy; and the Ann Arbor. Trainor is also an Associate Professor in the Department of Film, Video, New Media, and Animation at SAIC.
About
Conversations at the Edge is a weekly series of screenings, performances, and talks by groundbreaking media artists.
CATE is organized by SAIC's Department of Film, Video, New Media, and Animation in collaboration with the Gene Siskel Film Center and SAIC's Video Data Bank.
Programs take place at the Gene Siskel Film Center (164 N. State / Chicago, IL / 312.846.2600), unless otherwise noted.
