FLEEGIX is a science-fiction film set on Earth,  although some of the population have become convinced that they are in fact living on the planet Mars.
The film investigates the nature of belief systems which overlap, co-exist, and create conflict in any human society.

FLEEGIX is a feature length color silent film, presented on 16mm film with live narration, foley and score, in the Japanese tradition of Benshi "film explainers". FLEEGIX is so far only viewable in a live context. Its life as a film is in resistance to the ubiquity of digitization and seeks to reconnect with the origins of film as a live performance.

The film is inspired by and loosely adapted from on a Young Adult novel by Daniel Pinkwater, Alan Mendolsohn, the Boy From Mars, in which alienated high school students Leonard and Alan escape boredom through developing telepathic powers and learn to travel to other dimensions overlapping their own. I have received permission from the author to make a film that is a creative interpretation of his book.

Its subject is the nature of reality. It takes place in a recognizable world of parks, parking lots, gas stations and video stores, which makes the episodes stranger and more tangible. It does not create a fantasy world: the extraordinary is mapped onto a recognizable landscape.

"Animation is always Propaganda"- Eileen Myles

FLEEGIX and includes both live action, stop motion and hand drawn animated segments. The animation in the narrative illustrates Martian propaganda, such as the inflation of a dirigible from a soap bubble, or the sinking of the Martian submarine fleet.

FLEEGIX is constructed through the accumulation of short scenes that echo and lead into each other, making connections across time and space. It is a a “Fairy story” as described by CS Lewis in his introduction to George MacDonald’s Phantastes. That is, a non-linear narrative that is based around a series of surprising images, that nonetheless describes an entire world. This film is an organism that grows and continues to develop a web of connected motifs and ideas.

At the heart of the film is the question as to how Fleegix (a beverage enjoyed by Martians) is manufactured. New York Martians believe Fleegix is made from berries, and the Hand Shadow Punks of Baltimore, who represent a pre-cinematic faction, believe the beverage is made from light converted through automobiles. The dispute takes on symbolic and mythological proportions.

SCREENINGS
July 23, 2021- Alternative Library, Bellingham WA
July 18, 2021- Clinton Street Theater, Portland OR
June 18, 2021- 74 Freeman Street backyard, Brooklyn NY
February 6, 2020- Rhizome, Washington D.C.
October 22, 2019- Parsons School of Design, New York City
September 22, 2019- Honey's, Brooklyn
September 7, 2019- Jocelyn's apartment, New York City
August 5, 2019- The Beguiling, Toronto ON
August 4, 2019 Dave's House, Hamtramck, Detroit, MI
August 2, 2019- The Nightingale, Chicago IL
August 1, 2019-  Hive Mind Space, Akron, OH
July 31, 2019- The Glitterbox, Pittsburgh PA
July 30, 2019- Red Room , Baltimore MD
July 29, 2019- Space 1026, Philadelphia PA
July 28, 2019-  Film Noir, Brooklyn NY
July 27, 2019 -Spectacle Theater, Brooklyn NY
July 14, 2019- South Slope Parking Solutions, Brooklyn NY
January 17, 2019- Hilo, Catskill NY
December 21, 2018- Tomato Mouse, Brooklyn NY

Live performance of FLEEGIX in Toronto, photo by Kim Jooha

Stills from FLEEGIX

FLEEGIX "visual score"

Production photos