Disfigured Flames is an experimental 16mm short film. If you’d like to see this film, it is currently not publicly available. Don't hesitate to get in touch with me, and I’d be happy to share it with you.
Runtime: 5 minutes.
2023
Screened at Trans|ations: Seattle Trans Film Festival in 2024, Northwest Film Forum in South Sound Experimental Film Festival, and Enby Party: Lifecycles in 2023.

In Disfigured Flames, a white pigeon is sacrificed. Vein-like white patterns animated in the film represent the entirety of salacious headlines from PNW area 1920s newspapers about a transgender man named Robert Gaffney living in Seattle, who was forced to come out to authorities and return to dressing in women’s clothes after living as a man for 20 years. He went into hiding. While still young, Gaffney suffered a tragic death in a fire with his wife, who rushed into the building to try to save him. The clippings are screen printed directly on clear 16mm film leader.



Using direct filmmaking, I scratch weaving rows of lines and shapes into the film's emulsion using a drypoint needle, drawing and painting directly on the film with India Ink.


I shot the film in 16mm black & white on a Bolex movie camera. I eco-processed the 16mm film in soy milk, resulting in a milky, cloudy, and bubbly texture on the film itself.