Sightlines V - Friday, 4/11/25
Screening run time - 55 min
A Party Packed With Sex and Sadness - Bobby Abate, 2011, 10:44 min
A video collage about obsession, insecurity, and identity stitched together from old journals, drawings, footage, and other fragments of my life — spanning junior high through college. There are my obsessive drawings of Cobra Commander, the big bad, from G.I. Joe—who was always hooded, always faceless. As a closeted Queer teen who hated his own reflection, I felt kinship with arch-villains, and the idea of covering my face felt like Heaven on Earth. There are sci-fi characters, vehicles, and star maps from Trinity 3000, an alternate universe I created—my refuge in early high school. There are journal entries—love-hungry, horny, desperate—written in the late 1980s Connecticut suburbs, where no one wanted to come out. VHS recordings of my teenage friends acting out Sharon Olds' poetry. Hi-8 footage of my childhood home, filmed the last time I saw it, each room emptied of life. A 16mm film I shot of a straight boy I was in love with in college. A stack of Montgomery Ward catalogs, filled with nostalgia. To bring it full circle, I filmed myself naked against a greenscreen—trying to reenter this chaotic world and make sense of where I came from.
Bio: BOBBY ABATE (Brooklyn, NY) is a Queer artist, filmmaker, and editor whose work has appeared at the Museum of Modern Art, the New York Film Festival, the Guggenheim Bilbao, and the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago. Their Queer Objects series won third place at the 2024 Annual Works on Paper show, with Whitney Museum Chief Curator Kim Conaty lauding its playful, meaningful approach. Bobby’s residencies include the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council’s Art Space (2023), the Constance Saltonstall Foundation (2024), the VCCA (2024) and Zaratan Arte Contemporanea in Lisbon (2025). In 2024, they received the Princess Grace Special Projects Grant and Leighton International Artist Exchange Program grant for a residency at Zaratan Art Center in Lisbon (2025). As an editor, Bobby contributed to HBO’s Peabody- and Emmy-winning We’re Here (Seasons 3–4) and creates animations for Sasha Velour. Their 2021 self-published The Outsider Tarot, featuring 80 original artworks, is now part of Harvard University’s Fine Arts Library and the Peabody Essex Museum collections. Bobby recently directed The Ghost at Skeleton Rock, a short film inspired by their 1992 coming-out story during the AIDS crisis, produced by Todd Stephens and cast by Eve Battaglia.
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Solemates - James Rathbone & Mike Feswick, 2024,
12 min
An old-school shoe store becomes an irresistibly potent zone of erotic possibilities in this sly and subversive comedy.
Directed and written by James Rathbone & Mike Feswick
Produced by Torrin Blades & James Rathbone
Starring Richard Jutras & Garrett Hnatiuk
Bio: Mike and James are best friends and collaborators. Solemates is the first of many films they will make together.
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Spooky T4T - Frances Arpaia, 2021, 3:30 min
A BodyHack Halloween
Bio: Frances Arpaia is a queer trans woman who lives in Brooklyn and makes weird films.
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The Device That Turned Me Into A Cyborg Was Born The Same Year I Was - Chella Man, 2023, 3:27 min
It was extremely important to center this film to be received by my own community. Often disabled, queer people of colour have to twist themselves into a narrative the mainstream world would understand, and this is something I was not willing to give into. That could result in some confusion, but that’s exactly the point. The people who really understand will relate on a very deep level, but there are messages of humanity anyone can understand. I want to convey how I experience the world as my deaf identity. The mainstream world has a lot of stereotypes around deaf identity: someone who is non-verbal, who predominantly uses sign language. I’ve always been in between the hearing world and the deaf world, but at this point I’m discarding that – I’m not between anything, I’m in my own world, and I wanted to share the story of that. Navigating getting a cochlear implant and how jarring it was to watch surgical videos when I was twelve years old, and make these life-changing decisions; how I perceived the rest of my life if I consent to this surgery. I just wanted to tell this piece of me that has never been told in mainstream media, and share with people how deaf individuals live on this ginormous continuum. All our experiences are very different.
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This Unremarkable Life - Jake Brush, 2025, 18:04 min
Bio: Jake Brush (b.1994) is an artist who lives in New York. He is interested in reality television, gossip, and interpersonal conflicts. He works in video, performance, sculpture and installation. Recent work has shown at Wave Hill, Duplex, The Shed, International Objects, and Electronic Arts Intermix. He has participated in residency programs Shandaken: Storm King, Singal Culture, and the Institute for Electronic Arts at Alfred State. His work has been featured in BOMB and Cultured Magazine. His first European solo exhibition “Mall, Interrupted” opens with Kunstplaats Vonk (Hasselt, Belgium) in May 2025.
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Inner Wang - Wang Newton, 2007, 7:25 min
This film began as a final project for a Self-Development and Leadership course in Philly, but Wang saw it as an opportunity to create something bigger—even with zero budget. Every element came from those embracing their “Inner Wang”—from fight choreography by Wang’s kung fu teacher to vintage cars donated by classic car enthusiasts.
Special thanks to director and writer Michelle Pollino, the first professional collaborator who truly understood Wang’s humor and the nuances of ‘Wang’s World’ when it was just ideas in their head—and helped bring it to life. She pulled countless favors and, most surprisingly, used some of her own funds without Wang knowing. Though filmed in 2006, this simple short proves what’s possible when everyone taps into their Inner Wang. P.S. – Though many have asked, a Part 2 never came to be… anyone down to film a legendary 2026 comeback?
Bio: “Dr. Wang” Newton has spent two decades as a dynamic drag king, actor, and producer, captivating audiences with their bold performances and sharp wit. Wang has been featured in The New York Times, NPR, and Verizon’s In the Know. Wang has delivered compelling talks at Harvard, UPenn, and the National Association of Asian American Professionals, while also starring in Amazon Prime Pride, a Bubly commercial, and the books DRAGS and Glitter and Concrete. Beyond the stage, Wang brings their expertise to breathwork meditation and executive leadership in prestigious multinational firms. This holistic approach to creativity and impact is reflected in their acclaimed digital show, Sacred Wounds, which explores themes of wellness, healing, and social justice—core elements that shape all their work.