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Calling all teens! Join us, Fast Forward teens, for a free night of food, film, and family stories. We will screen The Seltzer Factory by local director and filmmaker, Paloma Valenzuela, and host a Q&A with her right after. We invite you to bring stories from your own families or communities to share through an interactive activity we will lead. Free food and beverages too!

More about The Seltzer Factory in Paloma’s words:

The film is a short documentary (hybrid in a way with narrative parts as well) that traces back a family story from my mother’s side: a story that set off a series of events that led my great grandmother to Cleveland ultimately saving her life, as just years later the rest of her family were sent off and killed in concentration camps in the Holocaust. I want to tell this story because I think this is a powerful story that many families can relate with — in terms of looking back, tracing back and finding those moments that led us to even still being here today. There is no doubt in my mind that if my Great Grandmother, Jewish-Hungarian woman from the town of Marghita wasn’t thrust into a move to the United States before the war took millions of lives – we would not be here today.

As a Jewish woman of color, and one of only 2 in my family on my mother’s side, I
also want to tell the story from my perspective- giving myself permission to
tell this story, even if I can feel sometimes “othered” as a Jewish
woman, I am a proud Jewish-American who is also part
Afro-Caribbean/Dominican/Latina and this is my story too.

Drop in for a looping screening of two short films presented in conjunction with Believers: Artists and the Shakers. The Quiet in the Land, produced by the ICA in 1998, shares artists’ insights into their experiences at an artist residency in the Sabbathday Lake Shaker community. Alison Halter and Maria Molteni’s Sacred Sheets (2023) was created in a transplanted Shaker house on the grounds of the Fruitlands Museum in Harvard, Massachusetts, and documents the artists’ reimaginings of certain 19th-century Shaker drawings.

Runtime: 48 minutes

The Quiet in the Land

1998, 29:33 min, color, sound

Created in conjunction with a 1998 exhibition at the ICA, The Quiet in the Land documents an unorthodox artist residency while also painting a picture of the Christian sect the Shakers, known for practices of celibacy, communal living, pacifism, shared property, and gender and racial equality, along with simple living, architecture, music, and furniture design.

In 1996, curator France Morin invited ten artists to live, work, and worship in the only remaining active Shaker community, located in Sabbathday Lake, Maine. In agreeing to host the artists, the Shakers insisted that the artists participate in the village’s daily activities.

The residency yielded a dynamic body of works featured in the exhibition The Quiet in the Land: Everyday Life, Contemporary Art, and the Shakers, curated by Morin and presented at the ICA in 1998. According to Morin, the works gathered in The Quiet in the Land aimed “to explore the complex relationship between artistic practice and everyday life, as well as to define the spiritual impetus of the creative act.”

The ICA’s current exhibition, Believers: Artists and the Shakers, reunites a core group of artworks from that exhibition alongside more recent works to consider how contemporary artists derive inspiration from the utopian community’s vital experience as “ordinary people attempting to live an extraordinary life.”

Sacred Sheets

Directed by Allison Halter and Maria Molteni

Cinematography by Gabe Elder

2023, 17:42 min, color, sound

Sacred Sheets, titled after Gift Drawings made by Shaker sisters during their 19th century “Era of Manifestations” (aka “Mother’s Work”), translates the imagery and calligraphic spirit writing of these inspired works into a colorful cut-paper floor drawing. Shifting light marks a day’s passage and frames a ritualized space clearing, evoking and reawakening the spirit of women’s creative labor. Performances by the artists revisit a fruitful historic period for femme inspiration and agency through intimate observations of Shaker ephemera and the natural world.

Allison Halter is a conceptual artist and witch. Using performance, video, sound, and photography, Halter explores themes of physical and psychic accumulation and calls into question audience expectations. Repetitive actions hint at mysterious prior events. The viewer must extrapolate the significance of these proliferating gestures, which take on a deeper emotional charge as they slowly and inexorably pile up.

Maria Molteni is a Massachusetts-based interdisciplinary artist, educator, mystic, and independent Shaker researcher since their first visit to the living Shakers in 2007. They descend from competitive square dancers, quilters and beekeepers who farmed Tennessee land near South Union Shaker Village. With formal backgrounds in painting, publication, dance, and athletics, their practice blooms to incorporate research, embodied spirituality and collaboration with the living and the dead.  

Molteni has worked closely with the archives of most existing historic Shaker villages- particularly Canterbury (NH), Hancock (MA), Harvard and Shirley Shaker Villages, and South Union (KY), including experiential research on the grounds of Sabbathday Lake (Maine), Mount Lebanon (NY), and Watervliet (NY). In addition to short essays, Molteni has offered Shaker-related lectures and programs through the American Folk Art Museum (NY), Viktor Wynd Museum/Last Tuesday Society (London), Shannon Taggart’s Lily Dale Symposium (NY), Fruitlands Museum (MA), Nashville Film Festival (TN) to name a few. Until its recent sunset, Molteni served on the board of the Golden Dome School for mystic artists. 

For more info related to the film and Molteni’s Shaker research: Unseen Hours: Space Clearing for Spirit Work, the Sacred Sheets film’s accompanying publication, is sold in the ICA Store, as are copies of Boston Art Review’s Fall issue Make Believe which includes an essay co-written by Molteni and Laura Campagna. Read about Shaker and Spiritualist influence found in “Believers” and other recent area exhibitions in Holding a Mirror to Heaven. This June Molteni’s installation, “All Around the Room” will open at Hancock Shaker Village.

Accessibility

  • Accessible seating is available first-come first-served and may be selected upon theater entry. Please contact our Visitor Services team at visitorservices@icaboston.org or 617-478-3100 for more information.
  • Assistive listening devices are available for all theater programs at the theater entrance.
  • A link to live captioning will be shared by the day of the event and will be available in the theater.
  • ASL interpretation is available by advance request; please contact our Visitors Services team at 617-478-3100 or visitorservices@icaboston.org to make a request.

Are there other access accommodations that would be useful to help you fully participate in this program? Let us know at accessibility@icaboston.org or learn more about Accessibility at the ICA at icaboston.org/accessibility.

Assembly follows visionary artist Rashaad Newsome as he transforms a historic military facility into a Black queer utopia, blending art, AI, and performance. Through stunning visuals and deeply personal performances, Assembly captures the transformative power of creativity as a fractured community comes together to find strength, solidarity, and liberation. 

Runtime: 99 minutes 

Accessibility

  • Accessible seating is available first-come first-served and may be selected upon theater entry. Please contact our Visitor Services team at visitorservices@icaboston.org or 617-478-3100 for more information.
  • Assistive listening devices are available for all theater programs at the theater entrance.
  • A link to live captioning will be shared by the day of the event and will be available in the theater.
  • ASL interpretation is available by advance request; please contact our Visitors Services team at 617-478-3100 or visitorservices@icaboston.org to make a request.

Are there other access accommodations that would be useful to help you fully participate in this program? Let us know at accessibility@icaboston.org or learn more about Accessibility at the ICA at icaboston.org/accessibility.

Following two sold-out screenings, Eno returns to the ICA with three unique presentations of Gary Hustwit’s groundbreaking, Oscar-shortlisted documentary. Working with generative software, Hustwit created a documentary process that produces infinite variations—each with its own archival material, interviews, backstage footage, oblique strategies, and musical numbers—befitting its always experimental subject, Brian Eno. The visionary musician and artist is known for producing music for David Bowie, U2, and Talking Heads, among many others; playing with the glam-rock band Roxy Music; pioneering the genre of ambient music; and releasing more than 40 solo and collaboration albums. The New York Times describes Eno as both “unlike any other portrait of a musician” and “marvelously watchable.”

Accessibility

  • Accessible seating is available first-come first-served and may be selected upon theater entry. Please contact our Visitor Services team at visitorservices@icaboston.org or 617-478-3100 for more information.
  • Assistive listening devices are available for all theater programs at the theater entrance.
  • A link to live captioning will be shared by the day of the event and will be available in the theater.
  • ASL interpretation is available by advance request; please contact our Visitors Services team at 617-478-3100 or visitorservices@icaboston.org to make a request.

Are there other access accommodations that would be useful to help you fully participate in this program? Let us know at accessibility@icaboston.org or learn more about Accessibility at the ICA at icaboston.org/accessibility.

“You do not go where your mother is not.”

Taking its title from the Saidiya Hartman text Lose your mother: A journey along the Atlantic Slave Route and inspired by a print by the graphic designer Nontsikelelo Mutiti entitled Kusina Mai/ Kusina Mai Futi, a Chivanhu saying warning against being in a foreign land without the necessary support of people that would protect and encourage you, BlackStar Projects presents an evening of short films exploring ancestral connections through time and space. These dynamic filmmakers ask, who are we if not amalgams of the people and the experiences that built us? Food, music, technology, and more work to define our culture, and our culture is what we leave behind. Featuring experimental films by Charlotte Brathwaite, Curtis Essel, Jenn Nkiru, Joseph Douglas Elmhirst, and Luis Arnías.

Post-screening discussion with filmmaker Luis Arnías and Maori Karmael Holmes, Chief Executive and Artistic Officer of BlackStar.

Accessibility

  • Accessible seating is available first-come first-served and may be selected upon theater entry. Please contact our Visitor Services team at visitorservices@icaboston.org or 617-478-3100 for more information.
  • Assistive listening devices are available for all theater programs at the theater entrance.
  • A link to live captioning will be shared by the day of the event and will be available in the theater.
  • ASL interpretation is available by advance request; please contact our Visitors Services team at 617-478-3100 or visitorservices@icaboston.org to make a request.

Are there other access accommodations that would be useful to help you fully participate in this program? Let us know at accessibility@icaboston.org or learn more about Accessibility at the ICA at icaboston.org/accessibility.


Sponsored by Wagner Foundation

Wagner Foundation logo
Text reading BLACKSTAR in bold, black capital letters on a transparent background, reminiscent of the powerful themes found in "Lose Your Mother," recently featured at ICA Boston.

Pioneering electronic musician/avant garde artist/spiritual explorer/gender revolutionary/cult leader(?) Genesis P-Orridge has been featured in numerous films and videos, but never the full story…until now. In this “authorized” but extremely raw and personal documentary, award-winning director David Charles Rodrigues (Gay Chorus Deep South) documents the final year of P-Orridge’s existence as they grapple with mortality in the final years of their life. Featuring William Burroughs, Brion Gysin, Timothy Leary, Alice Genesse (PTV), David J (Bauhaus/Love and Rockets), Nepalese monks, African Witch doctors and a special cameo by her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth, plus never before seen archival treasures, performances from COUM Transmissions, Throbbing Gristle, and Psychic TV. Very few artists lived their art, but Genesis died three times for it.

Presented in partnership with Wicked Queer, Boston’s LGBTQ+ Film Festival.

Please note: gallery admission is not included with ticket.

Accessibility

  • Accessible seating is available first-come first-served and may be selected upon theater entry. Please contact our Visitor Services team at visitorservices@icaboston.org or 617-478-3100 for more information.
  • Assistive listening devices are available for all theater programs at the theater entrance.
  • A link to live captioning will be shared by the day of the event and will be available in the theater.
  • ASL interpretation is available by advance request; please contact our Visitors Services team at 617-478-3100 or visitorservices@icaboston.org to make a request.

Are there other access accommodations that would be useful to help you fully participate in this program? Let us know at accessibility@icaboston.org or learn more about Accessibility at the ICA at icaboston.org/accessibility.

Relax during the holiday weekend, and stream family-friendly short films created by kids, for kids, curated by the Boston International Kids Film Festival! The films will be available through the ICA website from Wednesday, November 27 through Sunday, December 1.

Please note there is no on-site Play Date this month. If you are in Seaport, please join us in our Art Lab installation and activity, Courage to Care!

Featured Films

The Scramble (3:03)
Angelina Retodo, United States 

A ninja chef goes on a journey to find a rare dragon egg and cook the ultimate omelet. Along the way, she encounters a mysterious stranger who stands in the way of her culinary dream. 

Drawing Land (7:40)
Tony Collingwood, United Kingdom  

We join an artist as he draws a little character called a Splot. The Splot begins to talk back to the artist as he draws. Soon we are on a journey through the sketchbook searching for the Splot’s special colour, meeting lots of fun characters along the way. 

Shepherd Shippington and the Missing Mutts (3:52)
Erim Xolo Cetinel, United States 

Upon discovering the dogs of a seaside town mysteriously disappear, it is up to a group of children to rescue their beloved hounds. 

Two One Two (4:10)
Shira Avni, Canada 

Two One Two, by award-winning filmmaker Shira Avni, combines shimmering clay on glass animation with personal archives in this deeply intimate, experimental animated documentary love letter to motherhood, parenting on the spectrum, and two headed monsters everywhere. 

The Queen’s Flowers (11:32)
Ciara Leinaala Lacy, United States 

A magical take on a true story, The Queen’s Flowers is an animated short adventure for kids that follows Emma, a native Hawaiian girl in 1915 Honolulu, as she makes a special gift for the last monarch of Hawai`i, Queen Lili`uokalani.  

Sprout (9:28)
Carolina Bermúdez, United States 

Sprout is a light-hearted 3D animated short created for children. The story follows Sprout, a tiny robot, who quickly becomes overwhelmed by his list of garden tasks that he’s unable to complete. After chaos ensues, misfit animals turned friends offer support, and Sprout learns that it’s ok to accept help from others. Together, Sprout and his new friends accomplish all of their tasks in the garden through teamwork.  

Bridge: My Little Friends (9:30)
Kazuyuki Ishihara, Japan 

‘I’ll take you to see Shiro. That’s a promise!” Jin, a cat, promised Mugi, who was saddened by the loss of his beloved dog Shiro. Jin, who loves Mugi, heard an anecdote about the “Rainbow Bridge” from his owner, Kageyama, and decided to take Mugi to see Shiro at the foot of the rainbow! Will Jin be able to save Mugi from his grief? Jin invites the pigeons and squirrels in the neighborhood to join him on his grand mission!

About the Artists

Filmmakers Collaborative:

Founded in 1987, Filmmakers Collaborative is a tax-exempt organization that provides low-cost fiscal sponsorship to independent media makers. It is now the grantee of record for thousands of media projects across the country. Our mission is to sponsor and support the independent media community through fiscal sponsorship as well as offering programming opportunities that bring people together for learning and networking. Filmmakers Collaborative not only offers fiscal sponsorship but also actively engages with youth through our dynamic programs, including the Boston International Kids Film Festival and FC Academy, our year-round student filmmaking program. We believe every child has a unique story to share and provide them with a supportive platform to explore their creativity and find their voice through the art of filmmaking.

The Boston International Kids Film Festival (BIKFF):

The Boston International Kids Film Festival highlights the talent of independent filmmakers everywhere while inspiring young people to share their own stories with the world. Filmmakers Collaborative created the BIKFF in 2013 with a goal of showing kids that making a film can be a powerful way to tell a story, express your emotions, state a point of view and (more importantly) to have fun! By screening amazing student-made films from around the world while at the same time offering these young filmmakers a look at professionally-made films created just for them, we are enabling the next generation of filmmakers to realize the power and potential of media. Join us on November 22—24, 2024 to celebrate the 12th annual Boston International Kids Film Festival!

Boston International Kids Film Festival logo

Questions? Reach us at familyprograms@icaboston.org.


Your support helps keeps programs like this – both virtual and in-person – free and accessible. If you are able, please consider becoming a member or making a one-time gift to support the ICA. 

The ICA, in partnership with Wicked Queer Film Festival, presents the world premiere of Throuple (2024).  

Michael, terrified of pursuing his musical dreams and exploring romantic intimacy, relies on his best friend and her girlfriend for support and affection. However, when he meets a newly open married couple seeking a casual encounter, the three men enter into a relationship that is more vulnerable than any of them ever expected. 

This screening will be followed by an onstage Q+A with the filmmakers. 

Runtime: 1h 30m 
Recommended for mature audiences.

For more than three decades, Wicked Queer has celebrated the latest in queer cinema, bringing to Boston the best contemporary films, by, for, and about the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender communities. 

Accessibility

  • Accessible and companion seating can be selected when purchasing tickets online, or at the Box Office at 617-478-3100 or visitorservices@icaboston.org.
  • Assistive listening devices are available for all theater programs at the theater entrance.
  • A link to live captioning will be shared by the day of the event and will be available in the theater.
  • ASL interpretation is available by advance request; please contact the Box Office at 617-478-3100 or visitorservices@icaboston.org to make a request.

Are there other access accommodations that would be useful to help you fully participate in this program? Let us know at accessibility@icaboston.org or learn more about Accessibility at the ICA at icaboston.org/accessibility.

Take in the audience favorite and award-winning films from the latest edition of New York International Children’s Film Festival! These amazing short films from around the world are sure to inspire curiosity and conversation for viewers big and small.

With animation, live action, and documentary shorts from 11 countries, Kid Flicks programs offer a chance to explore new frontiers from around the world, across the street, and the ever-expanding boundaries of our own perspectives.

Little Kid Flicks, Dec 21 + 28, 11 AM (Runtime: 67 min.)

Inventive first films for ages 5+
In English or with English subtitles

Let your little ones discover the magic of the big screen with Little Kid Flicks. Whether diving down into the ocean for a pufferfish standoff or skating to victory across the ice, these shorts are sure to enchant and delight all audiences (but especially our youngest!)

Pufferfish
Germany, Animation, Julia Ocker; 2022, 4 min
No dialogue

In an ocean full of big, bad fish, the pufferfish must act as tough as possible, but looks can be deceiving…
Directed by Fest alum Julia Ocker!

Forever Seven
Germany, Antje Heyn & Alexander Isert, 2024, 9 min
In English

The greatest treasure of the wooden crate Mouse finds may just be the possibilities it holds. Co-directed by four-time NYICFF alum Antje Heyn!

Coquille
France, Multiple directors, 2023, 6 min
No dialogue

After losing his shell, hermit crab Bernard must face the dangers of the beach to find a new home. Directed by Justine Aubert, Cassandra Bouton, Grégoire Callies, Maud Chesnea, Anna Danton, Loic Girault, Gatien Peyrude, & Justine Raux.

My Name Is Edgar and I Have a Cow
Czech Republic, Slovakia, Filip Diviak, 2023, 8 min
In Czech, Slovak, with English subtitles

When Edgar rescues a newborn calf from a food factory, he learns that raising a cow isn’t as easy as it seems.

Hoofs on Skates
Lithuania, Ignas Meilūnas, 2024, 12 min
No dialogue

Two friends discover the joys of the ice—both above and below. From NYICFF Award-winning filmmaker and two-time Fest alum Ignas Meilūnas!

Tabby McTat
United Kingdom, Jac Hamman & Sarah Scrimgeour, 2022, 25 min
In English

The Oscar®-nominated (and NYICFF Award-winning) Magic Light Pictures returns to share the adventure of a tabby street cat and his busking friend.

Big Kid Flicks, Dec 22 + 29, 11 AM (Runtime: 62 min.) 

Deep and daring films for ages 8+
In English or with English subtitles

Big Kid Flicks is full of challenges big and small. With obstacles like learning how to ride a bike and convincing your family you want to be a vampire queen, this program is full of vibrancy and adventure.

Head in the Clouds
Belgium, France, Rémi Durin, 2023, 11 min
In French, with English subtitles

Alfonso, a young squirrel, loves taking pictures of clouds, sometimes taking extreme measures to capture them.

Goodbye Mamajee
France, Multiple directors, 2023, 7 min
In Tamil, with English subtitles

Pondicherry, India. On the eve of his departure to France, Noor is devastated at the thought of leaving his uncle Mamajee. Directed by Taslyne Oumarkatar, Marie Susanyan, Jin-Hyung Park, Antoine Furic, Emma Daillie, & Léonardo Girardi

Lotus
United Kingdom, Ollie Wolf, 2023, 9 min
In English 

A hot summer’s day in London. Frankie watches a local bike crew from her balcony and suddenly longs to experience the freedom of riding. If only she knew how to ride.

The Queen’s Flowers
United States, Animation, Ciara Leinaala Lacy, 2024, 11 min
In English 

Honolulu, 1915. Emma makes a special gift for Queen Lili`uokalani, the last monarch of Hawai`i.

Karol, the Vampire Queen
Colombia, Live Action, Alfonso Acosta, 2023, 12 min
In Spanish with English subtitles

On the day of her eighth birthday party, Karol just wants to be a vampire queen. Her family isn’t so supportive of her unique aspiration.

Mum’s Spaghetti
United Kingdom, Animation, Lisa Kenney, 2023, 11 min
In English

MC Poppy and her beatboxing border terrier, Snoop, are the new kids in town—and they’re ready to make their reputation known.

Free Admission for Youth

Youth 18 and under always receive FREE museum admission. The ICA is committed to providing access to the art and artists of our time—and we do this with the incredible support of our community. Explore the +1 Membership: a free ICA membership program for youth 0-18.

Watch a selection of phantasmagorical visions from the Boston Underground Film Festival

For over twenty-three years, the Boston Underground Film Festival (BUFF) has been bringing the finest in vanguard filmmaking from all over the world to New England cinephiles. 

BUFF celebrates unconventional stories, idiosyncratic voices, fever dreams, nightmarish visions, and all manner of cinematic forms.

Not recommended for younger audiences.

Program

The Flypaper Spectacular
Luke Liberty, USA, 2023, 8 min.

A free spirit, with time to burn. 

Sogno Blu
Coco Roy, USA, 2022, 2 min.
Three witches appear in a dream to bring a message with no answers. 

Skjemt Blod
Gwenmarie White, USA, 2019, 6 min.

“Girl kvlture” as a vehicle for meditation on American brutality. 

Pool Party
Ellie Stewart, Canada, 2023, 8 min.

Outcast Freya attempts to make it through the night at her childhood best friend’s seventeenth birthday party without revealing her most dangerous secret. 

Diddie Wa Diddie
Joshua Erkman, USA, 2019, 8 min.

A French speaking otherworldly creature shows a recently separated couple what their true emotional needs and desires are.

Viola vs. The Vampire King
Kevin Fermini, USA, 2018, 9 min.

Everyone’s favorite Super 8 vampire kung-fu revenge film. 

Ultra Witchy
Mariah Klapatch, USA, 2019, 15 min.

In a town inhabited by witches, dogs, weirdos, and creeps Ultra Witchy spies an outsider amongst the outsiders. In a beguiling family home, three women share space and volatile dynamics.   

Bride of Frankie
Devi Snively, USA, 2018, 19 min.
In this darkly comedic feminist nod to Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, a not-so-mad scientist builds a mate for her mentor’s lonely creation with electrifying, and deadly, results.