Vito A. Rowlands

A slow iris pull on a reflected interior bulb at twilight triggers mydriasis and miosis. As the interior moon waxes, pupils will wane. Your eyes will move diametrically against the slow increase of circular light in the frame and the film will control your body momentarily.

Three interior perspectives on magic hour in isolation that emerge like muted post horns, pieces of dusk that radiate both glorious impermanence and chaotic entropy.

Autumn adventurers unite! "Leaf Peeper" takes you on a frantic frolic of Fall foliage until your eyes pop out. Shot on Super 8 in single frames with pixilation, puppet stop motion, frenetic pans, and plenty of plaid, this very short short film packs every second with as many picturesque and picaresque frames as possible, turning leaf peeping into equal parts immersion therapy and extreme sport to capture the sublime bliss of a lovely day out and about.

Clouds migrate dramatically across the cornered façade of an office building as the sun goes down. Dispersed light imbues each of the 137 visible windows with new life between each frame and paints golden streaks that unfold like a symphony against the space's flickering fluorescent lights.

A hipster vampire in Brooklyn uses a meditation app to keep from biting people.

New York, 1927. An aspiring model goes to have her picture taken, but a camera can have a mind of its own.

"Flames that Drift" (Laai ende Drift) is an experimental poetry film on super 8mm film that enters into direct intertextual dialogue with Antwerp poet Paul van Ostaijen's 1921 collection "Occupied City," and more specifically his "Music Hall" poems, and set during the 2020 Black Lives Matter protests in New York. Like van Ostaijen, looking at Antwerp from his voluntary exile in Berlin, Antwerp writer-director Vito A. Rowlands turns the camera on the city that is home to his own voluntary exile, New York City. The film ascertains how his new city, much like his own, has been occupied, if not infected, with viruses that have debilitated Western society for centuries; viruses that we propagate ourselves; that we use to enslave others, in the name of progress; by authorities as much as by aesthetics; by art that towers above us on a daily basis, looking down at us.

Seven tales of transformation poetically reimagine Ovid's "Metamorphoses" and paint a picture of violence and catharsis, anchored in mythical landscapes.