Alison Nguyen United States, b. 1986
history as hypnosis -- history as hauntology, 2023
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3-channel HD video, color, stereo sound, 3 screen monitors (60"), metal seating, sound dome
20 minutes
Edition of 3 plus 1 AP
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severed Seville, metal, casters, LED lights, dirt, various electronics
109” x 61” x 65”
Unique work
3-channel HD video, color, stereo sound, 3 screen monitors (60"), metal seating, sound dome
20 minutes
Edition of 3 plus 1 AP
--
severed Seville, metal, casters, LED lights, dirt, various electronics
109” x 61” x 65”
Unique work
Preview: https://vimeo.com/885863557/a4b30e091c -- A speculative road film that unfolds through cultural memory of the US war in Vietnam, history as hypnosis follows three women, recently reprogrammed by an artificial intelligence...
Preview: https://vimeo.com/885863557/a4b30e091c
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A speculative road film that unfolds through cultural memory of the US war in Vietnam, history as hypnosis follows three women, recently reprogrammed by an artificial intelligence that has wiped all traces of their previous lives, as they journey through an uncanny desert landscape to a nearby metropolis. In director Alison Nguyen’s hands, these figures without memory or history become a cinematic use case for themes of alienation, assimilation, and refusal. Freely combining genre, fact, and fiction, the film draws on its Southern California locations’ postmodern glass facades, mimetic architecture, and roadside infrastructure—markers of car culture’s entanglement with American expansionism and cinema history alike—to uncover the more ineffable links between collective consciousness and the Cold War military-industrial complex.
-Sophie Cavuloucos, Assistant Curator of Film at the Museum of Modern Art
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Director & Writer: Alison Nguyen
Executive Producers: Mustafa Rony Zeno & D.S. Chun
Production Company: Rug and Vase
Director of Photography: Sebastian Mylnarski
Additional Photography: Mustafa Rony Zeno
Editor: Alison Nguyen
Production Designer: Heather Yancey
Sound Designer: Jon Flores
Score: Scott Kiernan
Hair and Makeup: Caroline Mills and Jeong-Hwa Fonkalsrud
Wardrobe Designer: Alison Nguyen
Producer: Mustafa Rony Zeno
Co-Producers: D.S. Chun and Zans Brady Krohn
Casting Director: Zans Brady Krohn
Vocal Sound Designer and Recordist: A.M. DeVito
Colorist: Kevin Ratigan
Color services provided by: Nice Shoes
Graphic Artist: Wes Adams
Post-Production Assistant: Luke Grenier
CAST
A: Alison Nguyen
B: Andrea Clinton
C: Moriah Sittner
Programmer: Julian Jackson
SUPPORTING CAST
Hair Dresser: Eliot
Shopkeeper - Electronics Store : Romeo Sanchez
Cashier - Gas Station: Liz Rossi
Actress #1: Anastasiia Bannikova (Stasia)
Actress #2: Lauren J. Bell
Karaoke Singer: Kakra Nunoo-Brown
Story Guy: Jacob Gorchov
Dead Man: Scott Kiernan
X: Conor Dowdle, Adam Milner
ORIGINAL TEXT
"Cu" by Matthew Nguyen (2020)
MADE WITH THE SUPPORT OF
history as hypnosis is made possible, in part, by the New York State Council on the Arts
with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State
Legislature through the Media Arts Assistance Fund a regrant partnership of
NYSCA and Wave Farm."
New York Foundation for the Arts 2021 Artist Fellowship in Film/Video
MIT List Visual Arts Center
--
A speculative road film that unfolds through cultural memory of the US war in Vietnam, history as hypnosis follows three women, recently reprogrammed by an artificial intelligence that has wiped all traces of their previous lives, as they journey through an uncanny desert landscape to a nearby metropolis. In director Alison Nguyen’s hands, these figures without memory or history become a cinematic use case for themes of alienation, assimilation, and refusal. Freely combining genre, fact, and fiction, the film draws on its Southern California locations’ postmodern glass facades, mimetic architecture, and roadside infrastructure—markers of car culture’s entanglement with American expansionism and cinema history alike—to uncover the more ineffable links between collective consciousness and the Cold War military-industrial complex.
-Sophie Cavuloucos, Assistant Curator of Film at the Museum of Modern Art
--
Director & Writer: Alison Nguyen
Executive Producers: Mustafa Rony Zeno & D.S. Chun
Production Company: Rug and Vase
Director of Photography: Sebastian Mylnarski
Additional Photography: Mustafa Rony Zeno
Editor: Alison Nguyen
Production Designer: Heather Yancey
Sound Designer: Jon Flores
Score: Scott Kiernan
Hair and Makeup: Caroline Mills and Jeong-Hwa Fonkalsrud
Wardrobe Designer: Alison Nguyen
Producer: Mustafa Rony Zeno
Co-Producers: D.S. Chun and Zans Brady Krohn
Casting Director: Zans Brady Krohn
Vocal Sound Designer and Recordist: A.M. DeVito
Colorist: Kevin Ratigan
Color services provided by: Nice Shoes
Graphic Artist: Wes Adams
Post-Production Assistant: Luke Grenier
CAST
A: Alison Nguyen
B: Andrea Clinton
C: Moriah Sittner
Programmer: Julian Jackson
SUPPORTING CAST
Hair Dresser: Eliot
Shopkeeper - Electronics Store : Romeo Sanchez
Cashier - Gas Station: Liz Rossi
Actress #1: Anastasiia Bannikova (Stasia)
Actress #2: Lauren J. Bell
Karaoke Singer: Kakra Nunoo-Brown
Story Guy: Jacob Gorchov
Dead Man: Scott Kiernan
X: Conor Dowdle, Adam Milner
ORIGINAL TEXT
"Cu" by Matthew Nguyen (2020)
MADE WITH THE SUPPORT OF
history as hypnosis is made possible, in part, by the New York State Council on the Arts
with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State
Legislature through the Media Arts Assistance Fund a regrant partnership of
NYSCA and Wave Farm."
New York Foundation for the Arts 2021 Artist Fellowship in Film/Video
MIT List Visual Arts Center