PARABLES OF NOW: New and Classic Works by CECELIA CONDIT

Co-Presented by Los Angeles Filmforum and co-hosted by Jennifer Juniper Stratford!

7th House, in collaboration with Los Angeles Filmforum, is very proud to present the first Los Angeles showcase of recent and classic works by one of the most distinctive American video artists of the past four decades – the inimitable Cecelia Condit, including the world premiere of two new films!

This very special program features six of Condit’s singular short films, four recent works — including the world theatrical premieres of her new films A PARABLE OF NOW and MONSTER IN ME — bookended by her first two films, BENEATH THE SKIN (1981) and POSSIBLY IN MICHIGAN (1983)! This evening will be co-hosted by LA based video artist Jennifer Juniper (JJ) Stratford – a huge fan of Condit's who will join the filmmaker (beaming in via Zoom) in conversation for a post-screening Q&A!

Perhaps best known for her delectably dark and askew 1983 horror musical Possibly in Michigan (which has had a pleasantly surprising viral moment recently), Condit’s films have – since 1981 – "created heroines whose lives swing between beauty and the grotesque, innocence and cruelty, youth and fragility. Her work puts a subversive spin on the traditional mythology of women in film and the psychology of sexuality and violence. Exploring the dark side of female subjectivity, her “feminist fairy tales” focus on friendships, age, and the natural world."

Artist Statement:

“I consider myself a storyteller working within the psychological landscape of contemporary fairy tales, dreams and poetry. I explore archetypal themes where my characters are often shaped by violence, basic cold-heartedness and trauma. The last few years, I find myself leaning towards creating works that consider the frailty of an environmentally vulnerable world and our place in it. This world might be located in a small county park, a home, a rock or deserted housing project.”

JJ Stratford on Cecelia Condit:

“Cecelia Condit is a truly unique and incredible video artist. She builds worlds that vacillate between themes of aging and fragility, beauty and the grotesque, innocence and cruelty while keeping the viewer both amused and deeply understood. Her techniques follow a slightly slanted version of shot-on-tape movie-making traditions and are mixed with soundtracks and inner dialogues that completely immerse us in Cecelia’s world. She’s been making work since 1981...yet her work seems more relevant than ever. An event not to be missed!”

PROGRAM:

Beneath the Skin (1981) — `12 mins

Beneath the Skin is a true story about a woman's unknowing involvement in the M**der of her boyfriend’s other girlfriend

I've Been Afraid (2020) — 7 mins

I’ve Been Afraid blends stories of women who have been threatened.

Annie Lloyd (2008) — 17 mins

Annie Lloyd is a daughter’s complex and poetic documentation of the last four years of her mother’s life and a portrayal of the creativity and wisdom of old age.

A Parable of Now (2025) — 11 mins

Monster in Me (2025) —8 mins

Possibly in Michigan (1983) — 12 mins

Possibly in Michigan is a musical about two women who are stalked by a masked man named Arthur, who follows them home. There the victims become the aggressors.

Music performed by Karen Skladany. The song Animal/Cannibal was written, and performed by Karen Skladany for PiM.

Dir. Cecelia Condit, 1981-2025, program runtime 67 mins, Unrated, U.S.A., English, Color, Digital.

Special thanks to the filmmaker, Adam Hyman of Los Angeles Filmforum, Astral Eyez, and Jennifer Juniper Stratford.

ABOUT CECELIA CONDIT

Since 1981, Condit’s videos have created heroines whose lives swing between beauty and the grotesque, innocence and cruelty, youth and fragility. Her work puts a subversive spin on the traditional mythology of women in film and the psychology of sexuality and violence. Exploring the dark side of female subjectivity, her “feminist fairy tales” focus on friendships, age, and the natural world. She has shown internationally in festivals, museums and alternative spaces, and is represented in collections including the Museum of Modern Art in NYC, the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis, Minnesota and Centre Georges Pompidou Musee National d'Art Moderne, Paris, France. She has received numerous film festival awards, and grants from the Guggenheim Foundation, American Film Institute, National Endowment for the Arts, and the Mary L. Nohl Foundation. She’s a professor emerita in the Department of Film, Video, Animation & New Genres at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, where she was the director of the graduate program in film for 30-years.

ABOUT JENNIFER JUNIPER STRATFORD

Jennifer Juniper Stratford is a director and video artist from Hollywood, California. Inspired by a love of video art, outsider cinema, and experimental animation, her work feels like something you might catch on late night cable or on an obscure video cassette.

Her work has been exhibited, broadcast, and screened internationally and includes MoCA, Palais De Tokyo Paris, Whitney Museum, The Hammer Museum, LACMA, The Getty, Cinemarfa, CPH:DOX, Museum of the Moving Image New York, New Beverly Cinema, BAM Cinématek and is a Mike Kelley Foundation for the Arts awardee.

ABOUT LOS ANGELES FILMFORUM

Los Angeles Filmforum is the city’s longest-running organization dedicated to weekly screenings of experimental film, documentaries, video art, and experimental animation. 2024 is our 49th year. www.lafilmforum.org

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