The MisALT screening series is excited to present Conversations With The Mirror: Contemporary Autonarrative and Reflections of the Self, an evening of experimental memoirs, autobiographies and auto-fictions. The program consists of work by 8 dynamic film and video-makers ranging from sci-fi memoirs, revisionist diaries, semi-fictional documentary, dubious life-stories and brutally honest self-portraits. Featuring work by Bryan Konefsky, Fiona Trigg, Ron Toole, Julie Perini, Carl Elsaesser, Nadia Jassim, Marissa Perel, and Yasi Ghanbari. Curated by Tessa Siddle. 8:00PM Friday April 20th, 2012. at Artist Television Access 992 Valencia St San Francisco, CA $6.00 Featuring: “There is a Wind That Blew” (Carl Elsaesser, USA, 2011) Two parents insert themselves into their son's diary and assume several roles until the diary realizes their presence. As the passages fall apart and the son violently tries to get rid of his parents, a film crew appears-framing specifics-searching for concrete answers to an echoing repression. There is Wind That Blew explores the fluid relationship between repression, documentary film making, narrative representation, family history and agency. “Black Swans at Night” (Fiona Trigg, Australia, 2011) A reflection on employment anxieties, love, sex, guilt, and the films of Paul Schrader. “Vancouver” (Bryan Konefsky, USA, 2008) A five part diary inspired by a recent trip to Vancouver, British Columbia where, at the border a Canadian Customs Officer accuses the filmmaker of smuggling pornography into their country.  Ultimately this work is a meditation on paranoia, false perceptions, misguided judgments and a particular brand of “profiling.” “Girl Next Door” (Julie Perini, USA, 2010) An experimental documentary about a cluster of apartment dwellers in Perini’s North Portland neighborhood that combines factual and fictional information to create a portrait of a micro-community. “Where Once Was When” (Ron Toole, USA, 2011) A man travels to a distant planet where his memory is used to populate the new land with soul. A voiced narrative counters a textual one; each presents a unique point of view. As his memory drains he wrestles with these points of view. He feels responsible of the other people in his memory who have no say in their captured role, but also excited by the prospect of seeding a new planet. Incorporating optical print techniques to visually relate memory, and using the last few rolls of kodachrome to shoot the distant planet, Toole’s film displays a strong subtext about the creation of avant garde film and its continuation.   “Bee Test” (Nadia Jassim, USA, 2009) “Andi” (Nadia Jassim, USA, 2010) Bee Test and Andi explore the malleability of memory reconstruction through prophecy, insect life and aviation. Jassim's hallucinatory and visceral video diptych reflects on the fluid states of dream, fabrication, gender and authorship in order to create a conceptual landscape for these elements to coexist. “Father Figure” (Yasi Ghanbari & Marissa Perel, USA, 2010) Dentistry, aerobics, and George Michael form the backdrop for a meditation on tensions in the father-daughter relationship.