Revolver

REVOLVER is an archive of pareidolia (a situation in which someone sees a pattern or an image of something that does not exist) narrated by a descendant of Exodusters (Black people from the southern United States who fled violence and inequities following the American Civil War, 1861–65). The city Nicodemus in Kansas was deemed a refuge for Exodusters. Two contradicting narratives about this city are difficult to hold at once: the lure of a potential utopia while also being exiled in one’s own land. Guided by memory, history, and rumor of a fabled Black utopia, REVOLVER pairs abstraction and perceptual inquiry with psychic conjuring. Sonic transitions forge this experimental documentary, a perpetual chronicle of witnessing and wayfinding.

Production Crystal Z Campbell. Production company Crystal Z Campbell (Buffalo, New York, USA). Director Crystal Z Campbell. Editing Crystal Z Campbell. Sound design Crystal Z Campbell. With Angela Bates.

Crystal Z Campbell is a multidisciplinary artist, experimental filmmaker, and writer of Black, Filipinx, and Chinese descent whose works center underloved archival material and public secrets—fragments of information known by many but undertold or unspoken. Screenings and exhibitions include: SFMOMA, San Francisco; Drawing Center, New York; ICA Philadelphia; REDCAT, Los Angeles; and DocLisboa. Campbell was a featured filmmaker at the 67th Flaherty Film Seminar. Campbell is a Visiting Associate Professor in Art & Media Study at University at Buffalo.

Films: 2009: A DARK LOVE STORY FOR CLOWNS (5 min.). 2010: WITNESS (5 min.). 2011: Futures for Failures (1 min.). 2017: Go-Rilla Means War (19 min.). 2018: On The Way To The Moon, We Discovered The Earth (10 min.). 2019: CURRENCY (3 min.). 2020: A Meditation on Nature in the Abscence of an Eclipse (8 min.), Viewfinder (video installation, 20 min.). 2021: Flight (video installation, 24 min.). 2022: Revolver.