Jennifer Todd Reeves (born 1971) is a New York-based independent
filmmaker. She has also taught as a part time professor of film at
Bard College, The Cooper Union, Millennium Film Workshop and the
School of Visual Arts.Reeves's 16mm films are often experimental and
deal with a range of issues, including mental health, politics,
sexuality, feminism and the environment. Reeves began making her own
films in 1990 and is known to provide her own writing, cinematography,
editing and sound design in her works. Her films also feature
collaborations with composers such as Marc Ribot, Skúli Sverrisson,
Elliott Sharp, Zeena Parkins, Anthony Burr and Eyvind Kang. Reeves has
produced many films over the years, the most noteworthy being The Time
We Killed (2004) and When It Was Blue (2008).Reeves began to take an
interest in film during her upbringing in Akron, Ohio where she became
passionate about analog media and foreign films. Her time at Bard
College exposed her to avant-garde films and the works of Carolee
Schneemann, from which Reeves’s own works draw inspiration. Reeves
has also identified filmmakers Stan Brakhage and Annabel Nicolson as
major influences. Consequently, many of Reeves’s films employ
elements of abstraction, nostalgia, and projection. Thematically, her
films tend to deal with a wide variety of issues, from sexuality and
feminism to the environment and politics.The award-winning The Time We
Killed is a narrative-driven film that deals with the life of a New
York writer during the aftermath of the September 11 Attacks. Reeves's
2008 multiple-projection film When It Was Blue is a non-narrative
piece which deals with a number of concurrent issues. The film makes
use of a number of techniques to visually disorient the viewer,
including hand-painted frames, a staple of Reeves's work. By
juxtaposing nature and industry in an aesthetically chaotic manner,
the film denies access to the planet and its resources as commodities
to be objectified. Conversely, the film features footage of Reeves
herself cut alongside shots of men looking from a distance, followed
by a series of distressing images. This sequence symbolizes the
objectification of the female body as something to be gazed upon, and
also addresses the issue of othering. In the aftermath of making When
It Was Blue, Reeves found herself in possession of a large amount of
16mm film containing outtakes from the project. Concerned with her
work's impact on the environment, she temporarily let the footage
decompose in a landfill, then salvaged and hand-painted the resulting
film. The project was titled Landfill 16, and through its repurposing
of the film, the work draws connections to nature's losing battle to
decompose the waste we produce. In 2007, Reeves produced another 16mm
double-projection film titled Light Work Mood Disorder, a work which
pairs found footage of educational films with X-rays of the body. She
degraded the film with a solution made from dissolved pills which were
intended to treat a number of physical and mental conditions. The
resulting damage to the film is akin to the adverse effects of
overmedication.
filmmaker. She has also taught as a part time professor of film at
Bard College, The Cooper Union, Millennium Film Workshop and the
School of Visual Arts.Reeves's 16mm films are often experimental and
deal with a range of issues, including mental health, politics,
sexuality, feminism and the environment. Reeves began making her own
films in 1990 and is known to provide her own writing, cinematography,
editing and sound design in her works. Her films also feature
collaborations with composers such as Marc Ribot, Skúli Sverrisson,
Elliott Sharp, Zeena Parkins, Anthony Burr and Eyvind Kang. Reeves has
produced many films over the years, the most noteworthy being The Time
We Killed (2004) and When It Was Blue (2008).Reeves began to take an
interest in film during her upbringing in Akron, Ohio where she became
passionate about analog media and foreign films. Her time at Bard
College exposed her to avant-garde films and the works of Carolee
Schneemann, from which Reeves’s own works draw inspiration. Reeves
has also identified filmmakers Stan Brakhage and Annabel Nicolson as
major influences. Consequently, many of Reeves’s films employ
elements of abstraction, nostalgia, and projection. Thematically, her
films tend to deal with a wide variety of issues, from sexuality and
feminism to the environment and politics.The award-winning The Time We
Killed is a narrative-driven film that deals with the life of a New
York writer during the aftermath of the September 11 Attacks. Reeves's
2008 multiple-projection film When It Was Blue is a non-narrative
piece which deals with a number of concurrent issues. The film makes
use of a number of techniques to visually disorient the viewer,
including hand-painted frames, a staple of Reeves's work. By
juxtaposing nature and industry in an aesthetically chaotic manner,
the film denies access to the planet and its resources as commodities
to be objectified. Conversely, the film features footage of Reeves
herself cut alongside shots of men looking from a distance, followed
by a series of distressing images. This sequence symbolizes the
objectification of the female body as something to be gazed upon, and
also addresses the issue of othering. In the aftermath of making When
It Was Blue, Reeves found herself in possession of a large amount of
16mm film containing outtakes from the project. Concerned with her
work's impact on the environment, she temporarily let the footage
decompose in a landfill, then salvaged and hand-painted the resulting
film. The project was titled Landfill 16, and through its repurposing
of the film, the work draws connections to nature's losing battle to
decompose the waste we produce. In 2007, Reeves produced another 16mm
double-projection film titled Light Work Mood Disorder, a work which
pairs found footage of educational films with X-rays of the body. She
degraded the film with a solution made from dissolved pills which were
intended to treat a number of physical and mental conditions. The
resulting damage to the film is akin to the adverse effects of
overmedication.
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