WARD OF THE FERAL HORSES /// excerpt ///

R.'s mind is trapped in a modern-day technological apparatus. He is pressured to come up with original sayings in his mental workshop, named Semiotic Creations. He wants to be liked. He’s afraid to miss out, to do worse than his work-mates, to appear negative, to not achieve enough, to miss a subcontext, to have too few friends, to seem needy for friends, and is terrified that one day he will find out that his computer has been broadcasting all his fears. He gradually grows more and more anxious, and his anxiety manifests itself in his inability to communicate.

The film addresses Cognitive Capitalism—employing semiotics to produce personal social capital for R. As tension rises and pressure increases to come up with intriguing sayings, R.'s internal voice, which might also represent a paternal figure, nixes vowels from his anachronistic metal letterpress and becomes unintelligible. His voice begins to practice THE REGIME OF CONSONANTS—an invented broken speech impediment. The confrontation between them pushes R.'s mind to run astray until it cracks to reveal a schizophrenic carnivalesque dance troupe, an embodiment of his inner psyche, emerging from his room’s furnishings.

Written, directed by Orit Ben-Shitrit. Commissioned by Experimental Media and Performance Arts Center (EMPAC)