Look Hear Studios

Look Hear Studio and Gallery is supported in part by a grant from the mediaThe Foundation. Click on the images to see a short video installation of the short film “Pathetique”.

Michigan City Moves, a new performance collective dedicated to promoting and sharing experimental music, dance and film in the NW Indiana region, is presenting SAND, a series of performances, highlighting nature and architecture from the Indiana Dunes, to the Lubeznik Center for the Arts and a historic barn at Tryon Farm. The performances will feature the work of choreographers Kristina Isabelle and Melli Hoppe, sound media artist Elise Kermani, and costumes by Pilgrim Heidi Kambitsch. For more details see our events calendar or read the press release on our blog.

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MiShinnah Productions is proud to have presented JUSTICE, a site specific performance in Riverside Park during the Make Music New York festival and part of the Summer on the Hudson festival during sunset (7:30-9:00 pm) on June 21, 2017.

JUSTICE addressed themes of equality in nature, sun/moon, day/night, balancing the earth's needs with human technological existence. In this site specific performance, we were interested in exploring sound and movement in various light, volume, space, and perspective. Since this performance happened at sunset, the natural occurrence of the sun setting enclosed JUSTICE within a multitude of color and lighting variation as available in the sky at that time of day.

Our goal was to be inspired by the elegance and beauty of the park in hopes to spark dialogue about the relationship between environment, art, the philosophy of beauty, and social justice. The ultimate goal of JUSTICE was our humble aspiration to help us, as human beings, find a balance between living with nature, and to find an equality between the earth and human technological advancement.

The performance concluded with a community vocal piece underneath the tunnel at 84th/Riverside at the actual time of the sun setting on the Hudson River.

If you couldn't be there to experience JUSTICE in person, fear not! The performance was recorded, and you can watch the film soon in a festival near you.

Collaborators included:

Elise Kermani, Director/Composer/Performer (Swinging Speaker)

Melli Hoppe, Co-Director/Dramaturgy/Movement

Todd Lent, Composer/co-producer

Christine Elmo, Choreographer/Dancer, co-Producer

Leanna Grennan and Miriam Gabriel, Dancers

Marco Cappelli, Performer (Guitar/Swinging speaker)

Shoko Nagai, Performer (Accordion)

Kaliya Warren, Cinematography

Kevin James, Sound consultant/audio recorder

Natasha Kermani, co-producer, Film

Vicky Shick, choreography consultant

Timothy Hartel, Intern and Assistant Production Manager

Amelia Saul, Video editor

Gisburg Smialek, Sound editor

Zhen Heinemann - Director of Public Programming, Summer on the Hudson

James Burke - Executive Director at Make Music New York Festival

Thank you to mediaThe for their sponsorship

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Laurel Tentindo in a work in progress performance at the Electric Lodge, February, 2014.

Laurel Tentindo in a work in progress performance at the Electric Lodge, February, 2014.

Iphigenia: Book of Change

The film of a live performance is inspired by Euripides’ plays of Iphigenia as well as stories of contemporary women who have endured, survived, and escaped captivity. A common thread throughout the sources of inspiration is the concept of a prison in one’s mind versus a physical place of imprisonment or incarceration. Written and directed by Elise Kermani with music by Kermani and Todd Lent, the performance and filming was produced by MiShinnah Productions in 2006. Artists in New York City and Los Angeles form the collaboration, along with the incorporation of puppetry, dance, video design and music.

This performance piece found its origins in the experience and survival by a relative of Kermani at Tehran’s Evin Prison when she was 16 years old. How does one survive this experience of solitary confinement, physical, psychological, and emotional torture? As an “archeologist of Greek myth” Kermani found a vehicle for her production through the ancient Greek plays about Iphigenia. It is an intense journey through a series of seemingly unrelated events united by situations of confinement, censorship, fear and death. Throughout all this, however, there is a sense of hope of a better future if the characters involved continue to persevere, seek knowledge and listen to their muses. The film concludes with an excerpt of Ellen McLaughlin’s interpretation of Iphigenia in Tauris.

                                                            -Dr. Katherine Schwab, Fairfield University

 

NEW ALERT: Iphigenia: Book of Change will be screening at the AGON International Festival of Archeological Film in ATHENS, GREECE on May 14.

About the project: The multi-media theater piece "Book of Change" was performed February 12-14, 2016 at the Electric Lodge in Venice, California. It has been released on blu-Ray exclusively for college and gallery screenings. Watch for updates here and on our Facebook page and read about our collaborators here.

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The Iphigenia Project is an ongoing hybrid performance project directed by Elise Kermani that includes the collaboration of artists from many genres including literature, puppetry, theater, dance, visual art/video design and music. It is inspired by the 1977 film Iphigenia by Michael Cacoyannis (who died in 2011), by the 400 BCE play Iphigenia among the Taurians by Euripides, and by the stories and memoirs of contemporary women who have survived captivity.

The Iphigenia Project probes questions of imperial authority over individual self-determination. The project is currently in four parts: I. Iphigenia in Tehran, II. Other Sisters,  III. In Exile, and IV. A Book of Change. 

For more information about The Iphigenia Project contact MiShinnah Productions at: info-at-mishinnah-dot-org.

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Imitation Girl is a science-fiction film by Brooklyn-based Illium Pictures’ co-founder Natasha Kermani. As a dreamlike exploration of the female experience, from sensuality to love to heartbreak, Imitation Girl is the story of an alien, IMITATION, who falls to Earth and takes human shape in a woman’s body, JULIANA FOX, an adult film star living in New York City. Only when she meets her twin, a world-weary New Yorker, does either become a complete person – for truly you must find yourself to be complete. The film offers a unique take on the science-fiction genre, pushing against stereotypes, and not relying on heavy special effects or distant worlds, but instead focusing on characters and relationships. We are currently in Post-Production.

Set against starkly contrasted backdrops (New York City and New Mexico), the film draws deeply on cinema verité techniques to integrate the atmosphere and spirit of each character’s environment. 

Our core team is comprised of some of NYC’s most promising talent: Director Natasha Kermani, Cinematographer Travis Tips, Production Designer David Bell, Producer Forrest McClain, and a wonderful cast including Lauren Ashley Carter (The Woman, Jug Face) and Lewis Black (Comedy Central, Inside Out).  

For more information, please visit: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt5612564/

Imitation Girl was a fiscally sponsored project of MiShinnah Productions for the pre-production stage of the film.   

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A performance project created by Look Hear Dance (choreographer Vicky Shick, visual artist Barbara Kilpatrick and sound artist Elise Kermani) Premiered in April, 2014 at the West End Theater, NYC, and was presented at the 92nd Street Y, March 6-8, 2015. View the film version on vimeo.

NEWS FLASH: the Pathetique film of the performance by Peter Azen will screen at LookHear Studios and Gallery, 617 Franklin Street, Michigan City, Indiana in November, 2019. Contact MiShinnah @ info-at-mishinnah-dot-org for more information.

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The New York Actor Director Workshop

The Wkshp is a bi-monthly forum in which NYC-based actors and directors can practice their craft through scene work and group discussions with a focus on film performances.

"The environment they create at The WKSHP is warm, welcoming and insightful. I can't imagine writing a screenplay without first having it read and critiqued by the group."  -- Arthur Shapiro, Writer/Producer for Warwick Street Productions

More info here

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Written and Directed by Elise Kermani

A fictional time-traveling Charles Baudelaire arrives in New York to give a lecture on Edgar Allan Poe, and uses technology to bring Poe back to life. Performance film for theatrical screenings and gallery installations.

View the complete film on vimeo.

Go to the Project Website for detailed info, or visit our Facebook page for current news.

QUOTES from the performers:

"Elise Kermani's excellent casting choices and engaging directing style made the project a joy to be a part of."  - Pamela Z (Techne)

"POE [...and the museum of lost arts] was a wonderful, transformative experience." - Theo Bleckmann (Edgar Poe)

"This kind of film is very rare and requires courageous direction." -  Laurel Jenkins Tentindo (Virginia Poe)

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