Our Psychedelic Nature: Short Films by Emily Pelstring
Advertisement
Mills Folly Microcinema welcomes filmmaker Emily Pelstring for an in-person presentation of Our Psychedelic Nature, a program of her short films, on Wednesday, June 10, 2026 at 7:00pm. Suggested donation: $5.00. Doors open at 6:30pm.
Emily Pelstring is a Canadian artist and tenured professor in the Department of Film and Media at Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario. Her animated short films have screened widely at film festivals, including Slamdance, the Ann Arbor Film Festival, Transmediale Berlin, Images, and Internationale Short Film Festival Oberhausen. The Ottawa International Animation Festival (OIAF) presented a 13-film retrospective of her work in 2020. In 2023, the GIRAF Festival presented a second retrospective of her work.
Parallel to, and often in connection with her work in film and animation, Pelstring creates sculptural installations that expand cinema into material space. She is also a founding member of the underground experimental music group, The Powers (Katherine Kline, Jessica Mensch, and Pelstring), who create theatrical installations and performances that use speculative play, camp, and visual spectacle as tools for transformation.
"Pelstring, as much a sound artist and performer as a visual artist and filmmaker, uses her super powers for good; critiquing the world in which she lives indirectly by way of celebrating what makes it strong rather than by explicitly exposing what makes it weak. Her interests and creative output make her as true a multi-disciplinary artist as ever I've seen...
Pelstring's visual language has one foot in the realm of the familiar and one foot gleefully in a world of levitation, alternate histories and spells, which gives Pelstring's cinematic space an almost infinite and inexplicable depth." —Keltie Duncan, Association Internationale du Film d'Animation (ASIFA)
Total program running time: approx. 56 minutes, with a talkback portion to follow.
ABOUT MILLS FOLLY MICROCINEMA
Mills Folly Microcinema showcases nationally recognized experimental film and video art from the festival and microcinema circuit. We network with regional filmmakers and organizations to bring filmmakers and guest programmers to Madison for screenings. And we incubate local experimental filmmaking by providing screen time at Project Projection events.
This event is made possible by support from Dane Arts; Madison Arts Commission with additional funds from Wisconsin Arts Board. Additional funds also provided by Endres Manufacturing Company Foundation, the Evjue Foundation, Inc., charitable arm of The Capital Times, the W. Jerome Frautschi Foundation, and the Pleasant T. Rowland Foundation. Support also provided by a generous anonymous donor.
Emily Pelstring is a Canadian artist and tenured professor in the Department of Film and Media at Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario. Her animated short films have screened widely at film festivals, including Slamdance, the Ann Arbor Film Festival, Transmediale Berlin, Images, and Internationale Short Film Festival Oberhausen. The Ottawa International Animation Festival (OIAF) presented a 13-film retrospective of her work in 2020. In 2023, the GIRAF Festival presented a second retrospective of her work.
Parallel to, and often in connection with her work in film and animation, Pelstring creates sculptural installations that expand cinema into material space. She is also a founding member of the underground experimental music group, The Powers (Katherine Kline, Jessica Mensch, and Pelstring), who create theatrical installations and performances that use speculative play, camp, and visual spectacle as tools for transformation.
"Pelstring, as much a sound artist and performer as a visual artist and filmmaker, uses her super powers for good; critiquing the world in which she lives indirectly by way of celebrating what makes it strong rather than by explicitly exposing what makes it weak. Her interests and creative output make her as true a multi-disciplinary artist as ever I've seen...
Pelstring's visual language has one foot in the realm of the familiar and one foot gleefully in a world of levitation, alternate histories and spells, which gives Pelstring's cinematic space an almost infinite and inexplicable depth." —Keltie Duncan, Association Internationale du Film d'Animation (ASIFA)
Total program running time: approx. 56 minutes, with a talkback portion to follow.
ABOUT MILLS FOLLY MICROCINEMA
Mills Folly Microcinema showcases nationally recognized experimental film and video art from the festival and microcinema circuit. We network with regional filmmakers and organizations to bring filmmakers and guest programmers to Madison for screenings. And we incubate local experimental filmmaking by providing screen time at Project Projection events.
This event is made possible by support from Dane Arts; Madison Arts Commission with additional funds from Wisconsin Arts Board. Additional funds also provided by Endres Manufacturing Company Foundation, the Evjue Foundation, Inc., charitable arm of The Capital Times, the W. Jerome Frautschi Foundation, and the Pleasant T. Rowland Foundation. Support also provided by a generous anonymous donor.
Advertisement
Where is it happening?
Arts + Literature Laboratory, 111 S. Livingston St. #100,Madison, Wisconsin, United States
Event Location & Nearby Stays:
Know what’s Happening Next — before everyone else does.
Host or PublisherArts + Literature Laboratory
![Lakeside Cinema: Challengers (2024) [R]](https://cdn-ip.allevents.in/s/rs:fill:500:250/g:sm/sh:100/aHR0cHM6Ly9jZG4tYXouYWxsZXZlbnRzLmluL2V2ZW50czcvYmFubmVycy9lZDlkNzEyZTg0OTk0ZThiMTFjYzg3MGM3MzE5NjkwZDcwZjZjZWE1ZjE2OTIxZTgwMDQ5MWIzNDAwYWVjYzc4LXJpbWctdzEyMDAtaDY3NS1kYzQ4MzAxOS1nbWlyP3Y9MTc4MDMwNDgwNA.avif)
