LIGHTBOX FILM CENTER AT INTERNATIONAL HOUSE PHILADELPHIA TO SCREEN LAURA PARNES’ ‘TOUR WITHOUT END.’ Wednesday, September 12 at 7pm Press Contact: [email protected] Philadelphia, PA–Lightbox Film Center at International House Philadelphia is pleased to announce the screening of Laura Parnes’ Tour Without End on Wednesday, September 12 at 7pm. This screening is part of Lightbox Film Center’s monthly Subversive Elements series dedicated to experimental film and moving image art. Parnes, a Philadelphia native and notable Tyler School of Art alumni, will be in attendance. The film features members of Gang Gang Dance, Julie Ruin, MEN, Eartheater, MGMT, Light Asylum and more. An official selection of the 2018 Sarasota Film Festival, Tour Without End is an experimental narrative comedy/documentary hybrid film. Casting real-life musicians, artists, and actors as fictional bands on tour, the film evolves into a cross-generational commentary on contemporary culture and politics in the Trump era. Shot over the course of 4 years between 2014-2018, at over 15 DIY music spaces in and around NYC, Tour Without End functions as a time capsule made more apparent by the shuttering of many of the films’ locations due to NYC’s rapid gentrification. The film’s multitude of characters are legendary performers in the downtown NYC arts scene including Wooster Group founder Kate Valk, Jim Fletcher (The NYC Players), musicians Lizzi Bougatsos, (Gang Gang Dance), Kathleen Hanna (The Julie Ruin), Brontez Purnell (The Younger Lovers), Eileen Myles, Alexandra Drewchin (Eartheater), Nicole Eisenman, K8 Hardy, Johanna Fateman (Le Tigre) Shannon Funchess (Light Asylum), JD Samson (MEN), Gary Indiana, Kembra Pfahler, (Voluptuous Horror of Karen Black), Rachel Mason, Tom McGrath, Matthew Asti (MGMT), Becca Blackwell, Christen Clifford, Alessandra Genovese (Crush), Rogelio Ramos (Love Pig), Kenya Robinson (Cheeky LaShae) and Neon Music (Youth Quake). Shot in real environments and situations, the core group of players improvise based on semi-scripted scenes. Many of these performers are legendary in the downtown NYC arts scene and become archetypes playing archetypes. As the players move in and out of their real-life identities and roles as fictionalized characters, the film moves in and out of non-linear narrative, complicating the work as historical document. The film revels in the sometimes hilarious but always-complex band dynamics that the characters endure while touring, collaborating, and aging in a youth-driven music industry. The sometimes self-indulgent bubble the bands exist within is burst when, while on tour, they attend the protests surrounding the Republican convention. Drawing connections between past and present, the film draws from the current political climate and the rockumentary tradition of ‘This Is Spinal Tap’ and ‘Medium Cool’ to assert that no one exists outside of politics. Laura Parnes’ critically acclaimed films and installations address counter-cultural and youth-culture references where the music is integral to the work. Raised in Philadelphia, Parnes is a notable alumnus of the Tyler School of Art, Temple University, PA. Her work has been screened and exhibited widely in the US and internationally, including at the Whitney Museum of American Art, NY; MoMA PS1, NY; Miami Museum of Contemporary Art, FL; Brooklyn Museum; Deste Foundation for Contemporary Art, Athens; The International Film Festival Rotterdam, Rotterdam, Netherlands; and Museo Nacional Centro De Arte Reina Sofia, Madrid; and NY and on PBS and Spanish Television. Recently she had solo exhibitions at LA><, LA, Participant Inc., Fitzroy Gallery; and solo screenings at the Museum of Modern Art, and The Kitchen, New York City. Parnes is a 2013 John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Fellow, a 2014 NYFA recipient, and a 2016 Creative Capital Awardee. Video Data Bank published a box set of her work, and Participant Press published a book of her scripts titled ‘Blood and Guts in Hollywood: Two Screenplays’ by Laura Parnes with an introduction by Chris Kraus. She has also directed music videos for The Julie Ruin and Le Tigre. Tickets are free for members and IHP residents, $10 for the general public, and $8 for students and seniors. ABOUT LIGHTBOX FILM CENTER Lightbox Film Center is Philadelphia’s premier exhibitor of film and moving image art. As the signature arts program of International House Philadelphia, an independent nonprofit organization, Lightbox presents an unparalleled slate of repertory, nonfiction, experimental and international cinema. Beyond the traditional movie theater experience, Lightbox delivers enriching film programs with artist talks, live music and other multidisciplinary programs year-round in a dedicated venue known as a gathering place for cinephiles. Lightbox Film Center advances underrepresented and unexpected modes and makers of moving image art. Building a community around a shared reverence for cinema, Lightbox celebrates the projected image as a framework for diverse ideas and perspectives. Lightbox programs inspire discourse, invite exploration and challenge the status quo. .