SHENECA SHARPE
Special to The Leader
Visiting Artist Program (VAP) hosted a film screening of “Into the Hinterlands” directed by filmmaker and anthropologist, Julia Yezbick.
VAP wanted Yezbick to come to this event because it provides the opportunity for students to see how art can be combined with a multitude of other disciplines as Yezbick has done with film and anthropology.
Barbra Räcker, the director of the Marion Gallery, went into further detail about what she hopes students gained from this film.
“Among the things we hope students gain from Julia Yezbick’s visit, including the screening of ‘Into the Hinterlands,’ are the advantages to working collaboratively and across disciplines,” she said. “Also, students will learn about the field of visual anthropology, which is the anthropology of art or understanding the visual image.”
Yezbick explained that watching “Into the Hinterlands” would be extremely challenging to understand, due to its lack of background information and dialogue.
The film was mostly movement, heavy breathing and out-of-the-ordinary camera angles that made the audience feel confused.
It wasn’t until the film was over that Yezbick explained the purpose of the film and the reason for there being no dialogue.
Yezbick found this contemporary dance group called “Hinterlands” in Detroit.
The way for them to practice their shows is by having three-hour sessions of movement to unleash a deeper part of creativity.
In these sessions, the three members would not have any breaks, food, water or talking because the group believed that’s what helped them be as creative as possible.
Yezbick asked the group if she could film the process, and the group agreed only if Yezbick was actually involved, to which she said, “I would have it no other way.”
Yezbick said “Into the Hinterlands” took a year to film and that she came to their practice sessions once a week.
The reason why the film had many unusual camera angles was because Yezbick was being a part of the group and their dancing, being upside down or lifted into the air.
The reason for this is because Yezbick wanted the audience to see, “how … they feel it” and to give a lesson on visual anthropology.
The core of visual anthropology is essentially “to make the stone feel stony,” said Yezbick.
Moments of shots where there would be a focus of feet on concrete compared to the wood, or the sound of a back on the brick wall versus someone making a noise with their mouth. It’s to create a deeper level of a person’s senses. Essentially feeling the “stoniness of the stone.”
Katy Fermin, a sophomore B.F.A. photography major, explained her feelings on the film.
“While watching, I was a little confused about what was going on, but I did think it was interesting. You could feel that everybody was involved in the creative process,” she said.