Unearth Me and See Me Wildly Dance, 2021 is a collaborative film project by Brody Mace-Hopkins and Rae Teitelbaum. This film acts as a contemporary queer mythology, representing the dichotomies and conflicts between the natural world and the human world and delves into the complexities surrounding societal constructs and their relationship to the process of Climate Change.
The hour long film acts as a queer reclamation of LGBTQ+ and other marginalised bodies and experiences and their relationship to the beauty and diversity of the natural world. The film is made up of a series of performances, woven together by a poem and a narrative, about monsters, humans, and spirits, whose complex entanglements reflect on the social, spiritual, and ecological interplay between these creatures and their environment.
The narrative explores the formation of this fantasy world comprised primarily of anthropocentric, humanoid creatures, the ‘humans’, the wondrous beasts living symbiotically with the earth, the ‘monsters’, and the ‘spirits’, guardians of all realms, earthly and celestial.
This tale is told primarily from the perspective of the jubilant and resilient monsters who were imagined to be symbolically connected to queer, trans, and marginalized people who are often seen as “Other” and experience violence and oppression, which is generated by the humans in the film, who are out of touch with nature and the spiritual realm. Amidst a sacrifice and loss, the monsters work to overcome major challenges and lead the way towards a more harmonious future. This film acts as a cathartic expression of chaos, ekstasis, trauma, healing, and rejoicing.
Stills from Unearth Me and See me Wildly Dancing, 2021
[ID: A photo of two white people wearing masks. One in sitting on a moss-covered log with a pink, orange and yellow mask. The other person is reclining below, resting their head on the log. They are wearing a headdress with orange horns and long white hair.
[ID: A photo of a group of four people wearing masks and headdresses sitting on a rock. The background shows a mountain and blue sky. One person is sitting high on the rock, wearing a headdress with orange horns and long white hair with their arms reached out. A person behind them is wearing a blue and orange mask of a face. To their side is a person with a green headdress. Perched at the base of the rock is a person wearing a pink, orange and yellow mask.
More of their work can be found on Instagram: @raechelsmedia & Instagram:@broddess_makes_stuff