EOFF PRESENTS: CASTRATION MOVIE and RAVINE ANGEL – A TWO-NIGHT EVENT!
The 16th Annual Eastern Oregon Film Festival, in collaboration with Eastern Oregon University’s Club Cinema, is kicking off October aka Festival Month with an epic, transgressive weekend of alternative, fully independent music and cinema.
In 2018, AOIFE JOSIE CLEMENTS emerged as the demented karaoke singer RAVINE ANGEL at open mics and noise gigs around Calgary. With 9 albums to her name including “Pink Dionysus” and “Object of Affection,” as well as the film compositions for Castration Movie, Riding Shotgun and Chirophobia, the persona of Ravine Angel has allowed her to explore herself and her identity in increasingly explicit ways over the past decade.
LOUISE WEARD has been making movies for over a decade, working in basically every capacity of the filmmaking process. She directed the cult classic Computer Hearts and has made music videos for Ravine Angel, Lauren Bousfield, and Ada Rook. She has also produced for many filmmakers including Alice Maio Mackay (The Serpent’s Skin) and Dionne Copland (Haxx Deadroom, Riding Shotgun), and has been developing a film adaptation of Casey Plett’s beloved novel “Little Fish.”
CASTRATION MOVIE PART i follows Michaela ‘Traps’ Sinclair, a trans sex worker trying to get by in Vancouver while also mentoring her recently-out friend Adeline and making an attempt at pursuing actual motherhood. Meanwhile, lowly production assistant Turner finds himself dangerously spiraling into inceldom as his current relationship implodes.
Written and Directed by Louise Weard, the film’s cast includes Vera Drew (The People’s Joker), Ada Rook (Black Dresses), Alice Maio Mackay (T Blockers), Avalon Fast (Honeycomb), John Paizs (Crime Wave), and Lea Rose Sebastianis and Nate Wilson (The All Golden) amongst a mix of other emerging talent and weird and wonderful cameos. The original score was composed by Aoife Josie Clements/Ravine Angel, with additional music by Magda Baker, Alex Walton, and E_DEATH.
The film’s first part had a wonderful reception fuelled by word of mouth from many vocal supporters, eventually screening at Glasgow’s Weird Weekend Film Festival and finding a place on many amazing critics Best Films of 2024 lists. Part i is currently touring around the world.
Parts ii., iii., and iv. of Castration Movie will continue to delve into stories of disenfranchised people facing problems at the intersection of politics and gender. Michaela returns as she does her best to be a good person in spite of everyone around her trying to use her to their own ends. The second half of the story shows how Michaela’s journey has her collide with community workers, detransioners, fetish communities, right wing grifters, and anti-trans radicals as the exploration of a cross-section of contemporary life continues.
Praise for CASTRATION MOVIE PART i:
“As daring and revolutionary an indie film as any crafted this decade…You won’t see a more dangerously open performance this year.” – William Bibbiani, TheWrap
“This is what I’ve been craving from queer indie cinema my entire life” – Indiewire
“It’s the great trans American novel but Canadian and a movie” – Rosemary
“I’ll probably never watch anything like it again (until part ii)” – Opheliasucks
“This is 100% a ‘girls’ night’ movie, but absolutely no cis allies” – Aisling Omurchadha
“Kicked the s**t out of me 5/5” – Morgan M
Trailer link: https://youtu.be/j2bvA-UgIFI?feature=shared
Ravine Angel music: https://ravineangel.bandcamp.com/
