Mining queer erotic media images with an anthropologic approach, William E. Jones focuses on the richness and absurdity of noncoital footage, those written out of traditional history, and ways to use this archival footage to reclaim gay culture.
v.o.
This video excised the nonsexual images from 1970s and early ’80s-era gay skin flicks with a disassociated new audio track featuring sound pulled from classic European art films. The title refers to version originale, a French term used to denote films exhibited in their original languages. Named one of the Best Undistributed Films of the Year in 2006 by IndieWIRE.com. 2006, U.S., color, video, in English/Finnish/French/German/Portuguese/Spanish with English subtitles, 59 minutes.
Film Montages (For Peter Roehr)
In homage to the work of 1960s German conceptual artist Peter Roehr, known for his fascination with repetition, Jones assembles shots appropriated from pre–AIDS vintage gay sex films played four times each. 2006, U.S., color, video, 11 minutes.
More British Sounds
Rejecting Jean-Luc Godard’s statement that all one needs to make a movie are “a girl and a gun,” Jones appropriates images from the gay film The British Are Coming and pairs them to dialogue from See You at Mao—also known as British Sounds—produced by the Dziga Vertov Group under the direction of Godard. 2006, U.S., color, video, 8 minutes.
