“Emotional Realism”

Nick Keppler February 21, 2008 4:00AM

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“Emotional Realism,” today’s program at the Aurora Picture Show, has the kind of artsy-fartsy title that usually just sounds smart without actually telling you anything. In this case, though, the show, curated by Canadian multimedia artists Emily Vey Duke and Cooper Battersby, could not have been better named. “Emotional Realism” includes four shorts from the world of experimental filmmaking that are bare-boned emotionally raw.

A Mother to Hold is African-American filmmaker LaToya Ruby Frazier’s intense portrait of her drug-addicted mother. Rebecka is documentary-maker Miriam Bäckström’s profile of famed Swedish actress Rebecka Hemse, which politely but steadily tries to go beyond Hemse’s rehearsed public persona. 5 More Minutes is performance artists Dena DeCola and Karin Wandner’s playacting, in which one attempts to spend an afternoon with her deceased mother, an experiment that spirals into a dizzying display of love and despair. And In My Language, by an autistic young woman named Amanda Baggs, tries to display the perspective of an autistic person using a voice synthesizer and on-screen text. 8 p.m. 800 Aurora Street. For tickets and information, call 713–868–2101 or visit www.aurorapictureshow.org. $6.
Sat., Feb. 23, 8 p.m., 2008