Foot to Ground
Director: Christopher Thompson
Cast:Leslie Johnson, David Elliot, Emma Ladji
Crew:Writer: Christopher Thompson. Producer: Christopher Thompson.
Email:thompson.christopher7@gmail.com
Synopsis
Minimalist frontiers proliferate from acquisition. Larping utopia, shedding skins, forging new luxury amidst shards of past lives. Embracing shadows, sculpting stagnant futures in the flicker of ancient flames.
About the director
Christopher Thompson (1990) is a contemporary American artist and filmmaker whose work examines desire, capital, and the seemingly supernatural forces that govern its acceleration. His films and video works have been featured in film festivals and exhibitions worldwide, including San Francisco Cinematheque’s CROSSROADS, Athens International Film and Video Festival, London Short Film Festival, San Diego Underground Film Festival, Prismatic Ground, and Mimesis Documentary Film Festival. He holds an MFA from Washington University in St. Louis, where he studied video art and experimental film. Thompson lives and works in Brooklyn, NY.
Filmmaker's note
“Foot to Ground” examines the mythic origins of capital, the rise of Manhattan, and the reanimation of the modernist project within vertical realms of luxury residential space.
The title of the film, “Foot to Ground”, is a play on the literal translation of pied-à-terre, ”foot on the ground”, which within the New York luxury market is a property that the owner uses only a few times a year. The popularity of the pied-à-terre amongst globalized wealth has birthed a new market of post-residential real estate in which empty apartments become luxury without desire –– space for capital by capital.
Utilizing sci-fi motifs, theory-fiction, and post-human perspective the film navigates temporal rifts formed by the colossal weight of capital, exposing visions of future wealth within the caverns of ancient hominins. Their living rooms devour histories. Prophecies of bull and bear markets smudged into stone. Images of gilded mansions and seamless interiors project onto the wall. Smog-resistant glass removes traces of humanity from its facade. Limited Liability Corporations manifest from fertile soil acquiring minimalist frontiers, cleansing transactions, and shedding history.