T H E  U N S E E N  F E S T I V A L

The Watchmen, by Fern Silva. The panopticon, the all-seeing eye, is a philosophical model of control and discipline often applied in society, from which Fern Silva’s meandering, associative filmmaking style could hardly be more distant. The Watchmen therefore not only reveals the consequences of the concept, but also opens opportunities for escape.

This film will screen as part of The Unseen Festival at Counterpath on Saturday, September 23, 2017.

Fern Silva primarily works in 16mm. His films consider methods of narrative, ethnographic, and documentary filmmaking as the starting point for structural experimentation. He has created a body of film, video, and projection work that has been screened and performed at various festivals, galleries, museums, and cinematheques, including the Toronto, Berlin, Locarno, Rotterdam, New York, London, and Hong Kong International Film Festivals, Anthology Film Archives, Gene Siskel Film Center, Cinemateca Boliviana, Museum of Art Lima, Brooklyn Academy of Music, Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, New Museum, Greater New York at MOMA P.S.1, and Cinema du Reel at the Centre Georges Pompidou. He has organized and curated screenings at venues including the Nightingale Cinema, Gallery 400, and DINCA Vision Quest in Chicago. His work has been featured in publications including Film Comment, Artforum, Cinema Scope, Filmmaker Magazine, Millennium, and Senses of Cinema. He studied art and cinema at the Massachusetts College of Art and the Milton Avery Graduate School of the Arts. He is Visiting Artist in Residence in the Film & Electronic Arts Department at Bard College and is based in New York.