Film
The Pain of Others + Watching The Pain of Others
- 9:15PM
Dir. Penny Lane, 71min
It begins with crawling sensations beneath the skin. Sores erupt. Then wiry, multicolored fibers sprout forth from the lesions—seemingly the outgrowths of an alien parasite. It’s called Morgellons disease, and thousands around the world purport to suffer from it. The problem: The medical community at large says it isn’t real, attributing the epidemic to psychosomatic delusion spread by internet-fueled paranoia. In this provocative found-footage work, a hit at BAMcinemaFest 2018, director Penny Lane assembles clips from YouTube videos uploaded by people who believe they are afflicted: wrenching face-to-face encounters with anguish both physical and mental. The result is a chilling deep dive into mass hysteria in the Internet age.
Dir. Chloé Galibert-Laîné, 31min
In this deeply personal video diary, a young researcher tries to make sense of her fascination with Penny Lane’s The Pain of Others. A deep dive into the discomforting world of YouTube and online conspiracies, it challenges traditional notions of what documentary cinema is, or should be.
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