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The Hess Collective Presents SPOILED: THE FILM PROJECT, CHAPTER TWO
The Film Project created by The Hess Collective, unearths the roots of global gender-based violence from the male point of view but is performed by an ensemble of women.
By: Chloe Rabinowitz Jul. 21, 2021
After a successful screening of SPOILED: The Film Project, Chapter One, The Hess Collective has announced the live stream of SPOILED: The Film Project, Chapter Two. A post-show conversation follows, called Giving Voice to Marginalized Girls, Women and Femmes, moderated by Shonna Trinch, Professor of Gender Studies at J Jay College of Criminal Justice, with panelists Ruchira Gupta, Emmy-award winning journalist and founder of anti-sex trafficking organization Apne Aap and Ochiro Olwoch, Ugandan writer who covers taboos of LGBTQ+ community and African Representative of Women Playwrights International.
SPOILED: The Film Project created by The Hess Collective, unearths the roots of global gender-based violence from the male point of view but is performed by an ensemble of women. In the second chapter of the film, three stories based on real events, probe the underlying trauma or training that lead to transphobic assault, infanticide and pedophilia. Spanning the globe, future chapters will continue to shed light on the role patriarchy plays in perpetuating misogyny around the world. SPOILED has already gained substantial support through grants from The Foundation for Contemporary Arts, The Indie Theater Fund, New York University and The Puffin Foundation.
Originally a stage play set for March 2020, Covid-19 gave Elizabeth Hess (Playwright and Co-Director) and Cherrye J. Davis (Performer and Co-Director) the inspiration to re-imagine these physically based stories through film. We are in the process of submitting Chapter One to film festivals and galleries. Expect more information in the near future.
"SPOILED came into being following my performance of DUST TO DUST, a piece that centered on systematic wartime rape, at a UN Conference on Gender Violence. I was approached by Elizabeth Scott Osborne, a chapter president of UN Women, USA, about creating a play centered on gender-based violence in India and the USA. Since then, the work has gained increasing local and international attention and taken on a life of its own! It has evolved from a solo piece, to an ensemble work, to now a film project, all while accumulating additional stories
from around the globe. SPOILED has never felt more urgent and necessary as the pandemic of gender-based violence continues to escalate and destroy the lives of women and girls around the world. Rather than glamorize the victimization of women and girls, or give way to despair, the piece aims to empower us all by upending toxic narratives."
The Hess Collective, founded by Elizabeth Hess, generates new work based on a hybrid approach to embodied performance. A fusion of physical theater modalities culled from Western and Eastern practices, diverse ensemble members unlock impulses, experience and imagination to generate transformative, empathetic and expansive artistic expression. The work addresses issues of social and global urgency through heightened realism, cross-cultural collaboration and interdisciplinary creation. www.thehesscollective.com
Content warning:
SPOILED, based on real events, contains graphic accounts of sexual assault and violence. Please be advised of disturbing language and content. These stories are shared in awareness of, and protest against, gender-based violence around the world.
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