BFE USA, by the Albis: In the midwest and other parts of the US, BFE is a slang term used to describe a location that is in the middle of nowhere, far from the familiar, a place with no relevant social assets - Butt Fuck, Egypt. This 'backwards' pairing not only implicitly degrades sexuality, but also the Middle East by proxy of Egypt. Ironically, to many, Ohio would fit this definition - where life is archetypified by tv, beer, and cars. At the same time, in the 2000 election Ohio played a big role in defining the nation's politics and agenda, largely based in voters' perception of terrorism and translations of 9/11. Columbus' Budweiser factory by I-270 is a powerful, ongoing symbol of these elements. Here, it is 'reframed' by the window installment and by text from Bin Laden's politically lucid election-time speech, which received little substantive media.

Below, I have posted a trailer of sorts for a film I have been working on since 2004 (on and off). Info on the film is below...

Dionysus, Help Me is a feature length documentary currently in postproduction and is looking for funding through completion and distribution. Co-creators Amira Soliman and Derek Lindes have been working together with LESS Productions on this project and others for the past 15 months. We are looking forward to future projects that will similiarly touch on environmental, social, cultural, and personal issues.

Our hero, Dave Williams, is an Assistant Professor of Theatre at a branch campus in Newark, Ohio. This child of Ithaca, NY undergoes a constant struggle against self and circumstance in an Ohio small town. Our eccentric, yet familiar protagonist takes us on a wild and uncertain ride as he attempts one of his longtime dreams of producing three entirely student written radio plays. The stark environment and cast of characters bring together everything from Nascar to nailpolish and make for a sometimes volitile and often comedic story that will leave us with a sharp reflection of the motivations in our own lives.

My artist statement... a task for class, what I thought to be a waste of time actually helped me remember why I prefer video, and why I try to make art.

As a relatively young and new artist, my art foci and motivations are still developing. As of now, my art tends to focus on the mundane and ordinary aspects and people of life that would not otherwise be acknowledged. I am someone who is interested in other people’s passions and joys, simply because there is excitement present, even though it might not be recognizable to just anybody. I prefer to use video to document things that I see in my life, my city, and my space. More specifically, I often prefer to document people and events in my family and personal life. My life has an interesting combination of the old and the new emerging into a new culture. My family immigrated to the US from Egypt in 1986 and so I am interested in the dynamics of immigrant life, immersion, and assimilation.
As an emerging artist and growing videographer, I would like my work to grow alongside my other interests of political and humanitarian issues, and be able to document and represent those ideas into an expressive, visual art form. These issues are definitely less mundane and ordinary, but fulfill my personal need to be a proactive member of society, as opposed to just a viewer. I would like to use documentary video as an art form to show people how others live and encounter problems. This could go for international issues, as well as very local issues.
My main interest lies in documentary video and I think that documentary art is a very accessible form of art. A goal of mine is to help people think, develop thoughts about other people and places, and I think documentary film is a good place to start because it is so approachable.

Dionysus, Help Me

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