Growing Up Absurd (single channel version)
2023, 15 minutes, 16mm>digital
A provisional portrait of Tolstoy College, an anarchist educational community which operated within the University at Buffalo between 1969 and 1985. Made in collaboration with Julie Niemi
Preview link available upon request.
Growing Up Absurd is assembled from interviews conducted remotely with key members of the Tolstoy College community – Alex Van Oss, Peter Murphy, Chip Planck, and Paul Richmond – that speak to the ethos and history of the college, from its founding in 1969 to its dissolution in 1985. At once a sweeping portrayal of the college’s meeting places and the state of the campus today, Growing Up Absurd layers memories and traces of history to convey the lived experiences of its participants.
College F, known colloquially as Tolstoy College, was an anarchist educational community which operated within the University at Buffalo between 1969 and 1985.
Screenings:
Moviate Underground Film Festival, Harrisburg, PA - 2024
Athens International Film + Video Festival, Athens, Ohio - 2024
Kassel Documentary Film and Video Festival, Kassel, Germany - 2023
Duluth Superior Film Festival, Duluth, MN - 2023
Arctic Moving Image & Film Festival, Harstad, Norway - 2023 (program curated by HÆRK Collective)
Chicago Underground Film Festival, Chicago, IL - 2023
Mimesis Documentary Festival, Boulder, CO - 2023
7° Festival ECRÃ, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil - 2023
The Social Life of Film, Copenhagen, Denmark - 2023 (program curated by HÆRK Collective)
IndieLisboa, Lisbon, Portugal - 2023
First Look 2023, Museum of the Moving Image, Queens, NY - 2023
International Film Festival Rotterdam, Rotterdam, Netherlands - 2023