Honor and Dissonance
February 12 – May 2, 2020
Reception
Friday, February 28, 2020 / 6-8 pm
Jan Andrews has been making films for 37 years and her work is deeply informed by her research and training as an anthropologist, and her travels abroad. On exhibition are two films created 14 years apart, both exploring the delicate landscape of mental states. In Suspect Terrain is an experimental meditation on amnesia and schizophrenia, examining the injured brain and how it reacts to shattered memory, and complete loss of memory. The film is based on two friends of the filmmaker who suffered from these conditions, and involves the collaboration of dancers (Gary Vlasic and Linda Smith) to interpret the dissonance in their lives. Kamikazi (Divine Wind) is an experimental video based on a booklet the Japanese Government gave to young men selected to fly planes into enemy ships during World War II. The booklet instructed them how to die with honor for the empire.
About the Artist
Jan Andrews is an award-winning independent filmmaker and has been working in experimental and documentary genres since 1983. She was born in California and spent her later childhood in Utah. After completing a BA, MA, and PhD studies in Anthropology at the University of Utah, Andrews began making films while researching her PhD thesis in Egypt. She joined the University of Utah film program after returning from her time abroad, and earned an MFA in Production and Film Theory in 1996.
Andrews’ films have screened at festivals and art venues around the world, and have been televised throughout America and Europe. Her screenings include: Sundance Film Festival; Women Make Movies; Artist in Residence Gallery, NYC; IDFA Documentary Forum, Amsterdam; Venice Film Festival, Italy; St. Petersburg Documentary Studio, Russia; Margaret Mead Film Festival; Ann Arbor Film Festival; Sundance Screenwriter's Lab; San Francisco International Film Festival; Black Maria Film and Video Festival; The Learning Channel; Oberhausen Film Festival, Germany; Sydney Film Festival, Australia; The Science Network; and many others.
Her films have received numerous awards including Best of Show, Directors Choice, and are in the collection of Anthology Film Archives in NYC. In 2011 she was awarded the Utah Visual Arts Fellowship for her film and video work. A dedicated and engaged member of the arts and film community, Andrews served as a panelist for the National Foundation for the Advancement of the Arts and Presidential Scholars Commission; a member of the Board of Trustees at Salt Lake Art Center (presently Utah Museum of Contemporary Art); a member of the Board of Directors for Utah Film Center; and collaborated on creative projects with the Utah Symphony.
Follow her on Instagram @andrews159
Event is free and open to the public.