Saturday, September 05, 2015

Venice Lido: 72nd Film Festival – Anna Rose Holmer – The Fits


  Photograph Tayarisha Poe - courtesy La Biennale di Venezia

Venice Lido: 72nd Film Festival – Anna Rose Holmer – The Fits. Anna Rose Holmer’s The Fits is one of the three films developed and produced in the Biennale College – Cinema, a laboratory for advanced training dedicated to the production of low cost films, opened to young filmmakers from all over the world.
The Fits. Toni, a tomboyish boxer, lands a spot on an after- school drill team in the West End community of Cincinnati. Enamored by the power and confidence of the team, Toni eagerly absorbs routines, masters drills, and even pierces her own ears to fit in. As Toni descends deeper into the girls’ world, the lingering nostalgia for her brother’s guidance fades away. We witness the joy of her first friendships and her discovery of dance. Yet, she grapples with her individual identity amid her newly defined social sphere. Shortly after Toni joins the team, the captain faints during practice. By the end of the week, most of the girls on the team suffer from episodes of fainting, swooning, and shaking in a seemingly uncontrollable catharsis. The adults in their community cannot explain the mysterious outbreak. Tension mounts. Soon, these fits transform into a rite of passage as the trauma draws the other girls closer together. Caught between her need for control and her desire for acceptance, Toni must decide how far she will go to embody her new ideals.
Staring: Royalty Hightower, Alexis Neblett, Makyla Burnam, Inayah Rodgers, Lauren Gibson, Da’Sean Minor.
Above. Royalty Hightower, who plays Toni.




The Fits - Royalty Hightower and director Anne Rose Holmer

Director’s Statement. "At its heart, The Fits is a meditation on movement as seen from the perspective of teenage girls. The film explores the particularly adolescent female phenomenon of mass hysteria, also known as mass psychogenic illness. The rapid spread of symptoms affects members of a cohesive group whereby physical ills have no corresponding organic cause. The Fits juxtaposes the precise, powerful, and intentional movements of drill with subconscious, spontaneous, and uncontrolled movements of collective hysterics."

Photograph Tayarisha Poe - courtesy La Biennale di Venezia

Royalty Hightower and Da Sean Minor

Venezia72

Anna Rose Holmer - The Fits 
Contessanally – good rhythm  - 6/10
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