Excerpt /// Wrest (Performance) \\\ 5 minutes

/ WREST Performance \

45-min, 3-channel projection color super-8 film and digital video, 2010
45-min, single channel projection color super-8 film and digital video, 2011

Pairing silent film with live music, WREST is a collaborative project between Elliot Montague and composer/performer Jules Gimbrone. Through experimental narrative, WREST explores the story of Joan of Arc as an archetypal representation of transformation. WREST depicts moments of imperative change housed within the queer body. Composer Jules Gimbrone and filmmaker Elliot Montague create a dynamic 45-minute performance joining two artistic mediums — a live 7-piece music ensemble and projected single channel film. Montague’s film draws on saints and mythological figures to bend reality and lead his character through internal and environmental extremities. Gimbrone’s ensemble creates a symphonic landscape through a dramatic mash of polyrhythm, grand melodic gestures, abrasive sound textures, and primordial vocalizations.

Visit wrest.us for more information.

/ History \

WREST began in the fall of 2009 as a collaboration between composer Jules Gimbrone, filmmaker Elliot Montague and choreographer Jules Skloot. After receiving a generous grant from the Princess Grace Foundation and the Brooklyn Arts Council, the three artists performed four sold out shows at The University Settlement’s Performance Project from May 4th-6th, 2010. Joining them on stage were 6 dancers, 7 musicians and 3 large panels of film. In the fall of 2010, Gimbrone and Montague decided to continue the project as a film and music collaboration. WREST, Reprise was performed at the Cameo gallery in Brooklyn and the Bodega gallery in Philadelphia.