RIVER OF FUNDAMENT

Rarely screened and not accessible by other means, River of Fundament is a wildly ambitious 330-minute “operatic film” by contemporary artist Matthew Barney and experimental composer Jonathan Bepler. Released in 2014, the film interprets Norman Mailer’s novel Ancient Evenings, which is set in ancient Egypt and engages states of reincarnation after death. It was assembled in part from footage of large-scale performances captured in a car dealership in Los Angeles, a defunct steel mill in Detroit and the industrial waterways around New York, and unfolds “sculpturally, cinematically and musically,” according to the official synopsis. The film includes actors such as Paul Giamatti, Maggie Gyllenhaal, and Ellen Burstyn, alongside musicians like Debbie Harry, free-jazz legend Milford Graves, vocalist Joan La Barbara, and metal guitarist Mick Barr. At Unsound, the film’s focus on music will be brought to the fore with Bepler performing parts of the score with live elements for the first time, accompanied by Poznań-based improvisor Adam Golebiewski. This unique opening night is a rare opportunity to witness the boundaries between music, film, and performance collapse.