UNMUTE
MEDEA
2013
35mm
colour
sound
13.20
min

Medea, with her blend of both traditionally masculine and feminine attributes, is an iconic figure of proto gender fluidity from antiquity. With a script by philosopher Patricia MacCormack, Mayer starting point on Pasolini’s version of ‘Medea’ (1969), a version that enacts the collision between ancient ritual and modern rationality. Mayer’s rendition of Medea moves the narrative still further, to meditate upon the possible emancipatory potentials of renegotiated gender formations and posthuman ontology. Postgender Riot Grrrl JD Samson plays both the characters of Medea and Jason, with the distinction between these individuals becoming increasingly fluid and interchangeable. This ever-diminishing dance between the archetypal exemplars of the male/female binary distinction, finally implodes. The film pivots around this collapse of binaries and the resulting threshold-inhabiting figure, where ambiguous bodies become the nexus of myth and gender. By visualising alternative modalities of being in the world, ‘Medea’ provides escape routes from hegemonic structures which manipulate gender binaries in order to police subject formation.

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Director
Ursula Mayer
Cast
JD Samson
Director of Photography
Margaret Salmon
1st Assistant Camera
Warren Markert
2nd Assistant Camera
Jon Ratigan
Sound Recordist
Ian Abraham
Script
Patricia MacCormack
Edit
Ursula Mayer, Konrad Welz, Sue Giovanni
Music
JD Samson
Sound Design
Konrad Welz
Props
Silke Heuer, Martin Fletcher
Costume Stylist
Meg Andrew
Hair & Make-Up
Justina Sullivan
Runner
Sean Reynard
Supported by
Arts Council, England, Filmfund, OÖ, Belvedere 21, Vienna