This November, Spectacle is proud to present the first-ever U.S. survey of Danish-born experimental filmmaker and artist Jytte Rex.

While she is rightly regarded as a major living artist in Europe with a CV of important feminist artworks dating back to the 1970s and longstanding gallery representation, Rex’s films have never been available to see in the United States. In hopes of remedying this blind spot, Spectacle offers New Yorkers a first-ever chance to see her noted features ISOLDE (1989) and MIRRORS OF THE PLANET (1992, which played as a one-off at Spectacle in 2013) plus more recent works like THE RIVER (2003), SILK ROAD (2004), and the newly subtitled THE GIRL WITH THE PLAIT (2005), alongside her most recent video SEARCH – LIMBO (2022). Many of these have been scanned and/or subtitled under Rex’s supervision for the purposes of this series.

From her freewheeling dual adaptation of Borges in THE MEMORIOUS, the cosmically focused ghost-story MIRRORS OF THE PLANET to her updated retelling of classic tragedy in ISOLDE, Rex’s is a cinema that flirts with death. At once baroque and gothic while also clinical and exacting, her films invite audiences into the headspaces of characters who are near death, perhaps already taking their first steps into the afterlife or, likelier still, somewhere in between. Embracing mystery and eschewing narrative conventions, Rex’s work is imbued with a Tarkovskian sensibility, featuring quotidian video-diaries, unsettling found-footage, and private fears drawn from a lifetime of looking. Rex’s keen musical palette profoundly attunes the viewer’s attention in montages and tableaux equal parts impossible to describe and to forget.

​​The essence of the film (MIRRORS OF THE PLANET) can be expressed with Dante’s words:

In the middle of the path through life
I found myself in the pitch-darkness halls in a forest
Lost from the way that was given to me.
– Jytte Rex

Special thanks to Jytte Rex, the Danish Film Institute, Kong Gulerod Film and Wilson Saplana Gallery.

MIRRORS OF THE PLANET + THE MEMORIOUS

SUNDAY NOVEMBER 2 – 7:30PM
TUESDAY NOVEMBER 18 – 7:30PM
FRIDAY NOVEMBER 28 – 7:30PM

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MIRRORS OF THE PLANET
(PLANETENS SPELJE)
dir. Jytte Rex, 1992
75 min. Denmark.
In Danish with English subtitles.

Described by the filmmaker as “an endless phantasy about birth, time, language, love, nature, death”, MIRRORS OF THE PLANET is a probing battery of philosophical inquiries, with black holes and rock formations re-etched in the idiom of a dissolving (or not?) relationship between astronomer Adam Morgenstern (Ole Lemmeke) and his unnamed colleague (Cher Guetze). There is no scientific certainty to Morgenstern’s work; the infinite cosmos become mere projections of his individual fears and refracted half-memories. Aside from a bone-deep romantic earnestness, what makes MIRRORS OF THE PLANET one of a kind is Rex’s collaboration with cinematographer Manuel Sellner, writing a slow-morphing spectrum of spectacular locations and Borgesian fata morganas in long, mesmerizing Steadicam takes. Words don’t just fail MIRRORS OF THE PLANET; the movie renders them useless.

screening with

THE MEMORIOUS
(DEN ERINDRENDE)
dir. Jytte Rex, 1985
39 min. Denmark.
In Danish with English subtitles.

A Mayan sorcerer, imprisoned and tortured, seeks to harness the power of a jaguar to escape his fate, while a recently paralyzed boy discovers he possesses the uncanny ability to remember everything and anything. Drawing from two stories by Argentine writer Jorge Luis Borges (1942’s Funes the Memorious and 1949’s The Writing of the God), Rex entwines both narratives into a poetic meditation on memory and the human longing to transcend suffering.

ISOLDE
dir. Jytte Rex, 1989
92 min. Denmark.
In Danish with English subtitles.

SATURDAY NOVEMBER 8 – 5:00PM
WEDNESDAY NOVEMBER 26 – 7:30PM
SUNDAY NOVEMBER 30 – 7:30PM

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Riffing on the classic tragedy of Tristan and Isolde, Rex takes what interests her and leaves what doesn’t, resituating the character of Isolde as a dissatisfied middle-aged spouse rediscovering her sexuality in 1980s Copenhagen. Rex’s omnivorous interest in literature, sculpture and dance means she takes what might have been a conventional “woman begins to mentally unravel” plotline and transforms it into a profoundly lyrical meditation on femininity, guilt and responsibility, as it’s revealed Isolde’s spurned husband has hired a young man to murder her. Rex’s use of achingly beautiful symmetry and ominously scored long camera takes anticipates the even more formally finessed MIRROR OF THE PLANETS that would come a few years later.

SILK ROAD
(SILKEVEJEN)
dir. Jytte Rex, 2004
75 min. Denmark.
In Danish with English subtitles.

FRIDAY NOVEMBER 14 – 5:00PM
MONDAY NOVEMBER 24 – 7:30PM
SATURDAY NOVEMBER 29 – 5:00PM

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One of Rex’s most celebrated and enigmatic 21st century films, SILK ROAD is preoccupied with the threshold between life and death. Christine, a renaissance-era painting restorer with a deep connection to the work of Sofonisba Anguissola, is seriously ill. Lying in a sterile hospital bed, drifting in and out of consciousness, a lifetime of memories jolts Christine through afterlife-adjacent visions, and confronts her with spectres of her past. In dialogue with her dead husband, and under the watchful eye of her father, Rex’s heroine flows through the in-between, and among images of biblical proportions.

screening with

SEARCH-LIMBO
dir. Jytte Rex, 2022
8 min. Denmark.
No dialogue.

THE RIVER + THE GIRL WITH THE PLAIT

SUNDAY NOVEMBER 9 – 5:00PM
TUESDAY NOVEMBER 25 – 7:30PM
FRIDAY NOVEMBER 28 – 5:00PM

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THE RIVER
(FLODEN)
dir. Jytte Rex, 2003
23 min. Denmark.
In Danish with English subtitles.

Making free use of voiceover narration and overlaid images, Rex turns the travelogue format inside out in THE RIVER, which teases out and taxonomizes various potential meanings of the titular “river image” (as described by Rex.) There are cracks to blind areas of loss and oblivion, world fires and floods – and to an oasis of dreams, fantasies and myths. As in all of Rex’s work (whether moving-image based or otherwise), images materialize in the borderlands between mind and world.

screening with

THE GIRL WITH THE PLAIT
(PIGEN NED FLETNINGEN)
dir. Jytte Rex, 2005
40 min. Denmark.
In Danish with English subtitles.

THE GIRL WITH THE PLAIT is a memory film about Copenhagen, in which a six-year-old girl — the director’s alter ego — revisits some of the magical places of her childhood and speaks with the people she meets along the way.

JYTTE REX is an accomplished Danish artist, writer and film director. Rex studied at the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts in the early 70ties and was at the forefront of the Scandinavian feminist arts movement. Throughout her extensive career she has worked with various media, performances, videowork, sculptures and photography. Often her images appear in multiple collages and settings, changing their narrative and agency. Jytte Rex has a unique position in Danish film, literature, and art history. Her works are avant-garde and poetic with stories often carried by a feminist commitment. For decades she focused on her international career as a film director, receiving both the Eckersbergs Medal and the same year the Danish Arts Foundation’s lifetime honor. She received the Skovgaard Medal in 2004 and the Thorvaldsen Medal in 2005. In recent decades museums around the world have rediscovered her great feminist artistic practice and her works are represented in the collections of The National Gallery of Denmark, Aros – Museum of Contemporary Art, KUNSTEN – Museum of Modern Art Aalborg, Ny Carlsbergfondet, Vejle Art Museum, Art Museum Brandts, the National Photography Museum.

1-800-HOT-DUCK VIDEO PARTY
90 min.

SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 1 – 10 PM (This event is $10) [TICKETS]

Here at Spectacle, Halloween is a state of mind, and that is especially true this weekend. In order to help us maintain the mischief, Philadelphia’s own Chrissy Marie Jones is rolling through town to bless us with the finest selection of offbeat psychosexual video eye-surgery that candy can buy. Join us on SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 1 at 10 PM for a super spooky Spectacle presentation of the 1-800-HOT-DUCK VIDEO PARTY! 

Before the show, don’t miss a super rare presentation of a 90’s UNDERGROUND MYSTERY FEATURE at 8 PM handpicked by Chrissy and Spectacle, just for you. Around here, the party doesn’t stop just because the calendar says so.

THE “MYSTERY UNDERGROUND FEATURE” IN QUESTION:

XXXXXXXXXX
Dir. XXXXX XXXXXX, 1995.
United States. 50 min.
In English.

SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 1 – 8 PM [TICKETS]

A BATTLE OF THE BANDS CONTEST TURNS DEADLY FOR THESE MAJOR METROPOLITAN MIDWEST PUNKS AND FREAKS!

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 4TH – 10PM W/ INTRO
TUESDAY, OCTOBER 21ST – 10PM

10/4 TICKETS

10/21 TICKETS

LE MAUVAIS OEIL
Dir. Pakito Bolino, Stéphane Collin, Bernard Roelandt, 1997.
France, 20 min.
In French

HOPITAL BRUT
Dir. Le Dernier Cri, 1999.
France, 45 min.
In French

This October, we at Spectacle have teamed up with Desert Island Comics to serve up two of Le Dernier Cri’s mind-melting manic animations. First, we take you into the art studio for LE MAUVAIS OEIL! Originally released as part of the art television program L’oeil du Cyclone, this 20 minute visual assault will set your brain ablaze, slap you across the face, and send you home crying.

If that wasn’t enough, we’re following it up with a field trip to the HOPITAL BRUT where you’ll watch one of the most GUNKED UP, electrifying animation jams in recorded human history. During this 45 minute visit you’ll stop by each ward, spend some time with the patients, and try your best to not PUKE! Making use of nearly every animation technique known to man, HOPITAL BRUT is an unforgettable experience not for the queasy-stomached or faint of heart.

Founded by Pakito Bolino and Caroline Sury in 1992, Le Derner Cri has published countless books, zines, and prints by outsider artists like Mike Diana, Matthias Lehmann, Charles Burnes, Fredox, Henriette Valium, Stéphane Blanquet, and many more.

We’re thrilled to showcase 2 of their rarely screened animation compilations for the first time ever in New York! October 4th screening will feature an intro from Desert Island Comic’s Gabe Fowler who will also be bringing a collection of Le Dernier Cri books to browse or buy.

THE WORLD IS FULL OF SECRETS
Dir. Graham Swon, 2018
USA. 98 min.

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 3RD – 10PM
MONDAY, OCTOBER 13 TH – 10PM
SATURDAY, OCTOBER 18TH – 7:30PM Q&A WITH DIR. GRAHAM SWON
TUESDAY, OCTOBER 28TH – 7:30PM

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Q&A TICKETS

Almost a zelig-like figure of the New York film scene, Graham Swon is best known as a producer on some of the best and most truly independent American films of the past decade. As if helping create the films of Ted Fendt, Ricky D’Amrbose, Matías Piñeiro, and Dan Sallitt weren’t enough, Swon is also a startlingly innovative filmmaker in his own right whose first two films, THE WORLD IS FULL OF SECRETS (2018) and AN EVENING SONG (for three voices) (2024), display an impressive penchant for visual experimentation, narrative game-playing, and a transcendental attention to the passage of time and memory. In honor of the release of AN EVENING SONG in New York and Los Angeles, we’ll be hosting Swon to present a special screening of his first film THE WORLD IS FULL OF SECRETS.

Set over one night at a girls’ high school slumber party where five friends hold a scary story contest, SECRETS is an heir to storytelling anthologies like Boccaccio’s Decameron, Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales, or EC Comics’ Tales from the Crypt. Filled with sumptuous dissolves, a mysterious narrator, and durationally long shots that stretch beyond 20 minutes, it’s also a rich aesthetic experience aided by cinematographer Barton Cortright. Both nostalgic of teenage innocence and filled with the macabre, SECRETS is a unique and unsettling evocation of the precariousness of suburban childhood explored through American oral traditions.

“This non-gory horrific tale without monsters or bloodshed is probably the most poisonous and scary US film produced in recent years. Inspired by Southern Gothic’s dark romanticism, shot with acute minimalism, this film conjures up the best contemporary horror writers (such as Brian Evanson, Thomas Ligotti or Lisa Tuttle) with its hypnotic narration, its stylised grammar, both elegant and brutal, and its existential and metaphysical terror. In a gesture that reminds one of Warhol, Graham Swon prints on the young girls’ faces an ancestral violence inherent to the American culture, and puts the spectators in a torpor from which they will unheartedly depart.”

– Victor Bournérias

What if your afterlife took place in a PS2 cutscene? What if your house turned into a portal to a trans-dimensional realm run on Windows 11? Welcome to the world of Philip J. Cook, where big ideas meet barely-contained digital chaos—and it rips.

For over three decades, Philip J. Cook has been quietly building a parallel cinematic universe from his basement—one where cosmic battles, haunted landscapes, and low-poly monsters live side by side, held together by sheer imagination and a lot of green screen. Working far outside the studio system, Cook’s films embrace the uncanny charm of digital DIY, blending sci-fi, horror, and fantasy into a homespun genre stew that’s as earnest as it is otherworldly. Whether he’s conjuring purgatories or witches, his work pulses with the energy of someone who just really wants to show you something cool—even if he has to render it himself, one frame at a time. Shot on shoestrings and pure conviction, Cook’s films are scrappy, overambitious, and totally unhinged in the best way—proof that you don’t need a Hollywood budget to break reality wide open.

DESPISER
Dir. Philip J. Cook, 2001
United States. 104 minutes
In English

THURSDAY OCTOBER 2ND – 7:30PM
TUESDAY OCTOBER 7TH – 10PM
WEDNESDAY OCTOBER 15TH -7:30PM W/Q+A
FRIDAY OCTOBER 24TH – 10PM

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Q+A TICKETS

In purgatory, there is no salvation. But there are a lot of flipped CG cars. The king of home-spun CGI, Philip J. Cook blessed the world with DESPISER in 2003 , a feature film filled with earnestness, polygons and gunslinging chase scenes. A political advertisement maker by day, Philip Cook found a creative outlet in the world of SFX, bringing to life the big budget sci-fi scripts he had written in the 80s. Phil worked on Don Dohler’s NIGHTBEAST in the 80s, making miniatures and filming SFX shots in his living room. Inspired by Dohler as well as Gerry Anderson (SPACE:1999), Phil set to work making his own films.

Described by Cook as “the story of an artist who travels to purgatory to rescue his wife from despotic forces,” DESPISER is a time capsule of the creativity in an age where at-home access to digital graphics programs was still new. Filmed in 1998 but released in 2003, DESPISER surfed the early wave of capturing performances on blue and green screen to be inserted in totally digital worlds before films like SPY KIDS of SIN CITY popularized the look. This indie gem of pure creativity stands as a testament to what one man can do with a computer and a lot of time.

PUNGO: A WITCH’S TALE
Dir. Philip J. Cook, 2020
United States. 102 minutes
In English

SATURDAY OCTOBER 4TH – 7:30PM
WEDNESDAY OCTOBER 15TH – 10PM

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When Dr. Grace Sherwood moves into an old house in Pungo, Virginia, the claws of the witch Grace Sherwood come alive to seek revenge for her drowning. Dr. Grace and the two contractors she hired to remodel the old house are thrust into the world of dark rituals, masked hunters and ghost tornados. Created 20 years after DESPISER, this film retains Philip J. Cook’s signature CGI immersion style, blending hand-crafted green screen worlds with on-location footage.

The real life “Witch of Pungo”, Grace Sherwood, was a local midwife and healer in the tidewater area of Virginia in the late 17th century. For years neighbors had blamed her for bad weather or crop yields, resulting in her trial as a witch. She was ordered to be bound by the hands and “ducked” in water to test her innocence (if she floated, witch) and was thus drowned in the Lynnhaven river in 1706. This imaginative retelling of injustice and revenge retains the unique creative style and B-movie charm of Phil’s earlier work and continues themes of religion, astrophysics and the nature of reality.