2 FILMS by GABRIEL RODRIGUEZ-FULLER

Millennium Film Workshop presents:

2 Films by Gabriel Rodriguez-Fuller

“The films presented here both represent attempts to work within the syntax of narrative fiction filmmaking without the financial or logistical trappings of traditional film production. They ask: what can the grammar of narrative film do when decisions which must typically be discussed amongst a team are instead worked-out without conversation, in the private mental space of the individual practitioner? I’m no longer sure how useful this inquiry is, but I feel it was worth asking given the changing nature of the film medium. We all wield film like handwriting now. We watch it anywhere, and can pause anywhere, like a book. Does this not shift the problem of pacing from that of absolute pace, i.e. dramatic expectations before a theatrical audience, to one of relative pace, between a film and itself? This is a theatrical screening, hopefully without pauses, but the films nevertheless exist autonomously as digital/mental objects that can in theory be accessed or recalled at will. Likewise, when watching a film a viewer can feels its edges approaching or receding, especially if they know the run-time beforehand, as with YouTube or streaming. Both of these films begin with their own timecode on screen as a nod to this condition. The contemporary viewer’s self-awareness opens up a world of narrative gestures for the filmmaker. A film can not only be watched like a play, but also inhabited, traversed, peered-through, walked-on, straddled, caressed, held, passed around, or apprehended from a distance.

Despite the difference in run-time both films are relatively equivalent in scope. With Rill I wanted to make a short with the heft and density of a feature, and with Gene Pool I wanted to make a feature that’s loose and breezy. Rill could be watched during a lunch break or commute. Gene Pool could be watched in the evening without taking up the evening. Their methods are different, as are their respective approaches to ‘production value’. Rill was shot in Spring 2021 with a small crew of close friends, and Gene Pool was made in Summer 2022 on my phone with no crew at all. Rill was conceived as a sound-driven film, and its sound design tries to imbue mundane spaces and conversations with ulterior meanings. Gene Pool relies primarily on production sound from lav mics, treating dialogue at face value and embracing technical faux pas. Rill’s more about eye contact and screens and Gene Pool’s more about body language and posture. Rill’s about selling your time and Gene Pool’s about selling your love.” - Gabe

“This is the Rill Speaking” (2022 / 23 Min) A lonely warehouse worker is besieged by visions.

“The Gene Pool” (2022 / 65 Min) A young woman seriously injures a kid she’s nannying and, to convince herself she'd be a good mother, attempts to conceive a child as soon as humanly possible via her friends’ unwitting boyfriends.

TRT: 88 Min