Single channel video. 13 mins. 2023.
“So Many Things Are Not So” is a film reckoning with where we are in this polarized media landscape. Using the belief in life on Mars as a case study to explore how conspiracy culture has infiltrated all aspects of our lives, I hope to show how emergent forms of media have been weaponized for the purpose of misinformation and disinformation.
Shot entirely on a 1990’s era Gameboy Camera modified for video capture, the pixelated aesthetic of this dated technology distorts archival footage and suggests the same fallible NASA technology which produced the 1976 “Face on Mars” image. In this case, the absence of information provides room for disparate interests to twist narratives and create mythologies which have lasting and real world impacts.
Screenings:
Official Selection – Hot August Nights: Memory and Material – Grizzly Grizzly – Philadelphia, PA – Juried Exhibition – August 1st, 2025
Official Selection – A Night of Moving Images: Short Films by Local Filmmakers – Rhizome DC – Juried Exhibition – September 27th, 2024
Official Selection – 25th Annual Moviate Underground Film Festival – Harrisburg, PA – May 18th, 2024
Official Selection – New Works Baltimore – Baltimore, MD – April 14th, 2023 – Curated by Jimmy Joe Roche and Matthew Sullivan
Mark J. Burchick 