The Secret Story

The Secret Story

16mm, color, sound, 8.5 min
THE SECRET STORY arose as a response to several beautifully decayed toy figures from the 1930s that were given to me as a gift. These figures, and other toys, objects and illustrations that I found from ...
Rental format: 16mm

Stills

About

THE SECRET STORY arose as a response to several beautifully decayed toy figures from the 1930s that were given to me as a gift. These figures, and other toys, objects and illustrations that I found from the period between the world wars, suggested a kind of unearthed hidden narrative which I have attempted to re-piece together, as if these figures were the hieroglyphics of a just-forgotten tongue. THE SECRET STORY revolves around the central figure of the woman, and her girl-double, who look somewhat like versions of Snow White. She wanders through landscapes of rivers and floods, home and war, and memory and illness, culminating in an ecstatic walk in the forest, suggesting both the dark and cathartic trajectories of the richest fairy tales. In his review of the 1996 New York Film Festival in Film Comment, Paul Arthur writes: "Geiser's film ... creates a child's vision of domestic immersion and foreboding out of crudely articulated antique dolls, toy blocks, and paper cutouts. Against a photographic background of a floodbound house, figures of mother and daughter exchange symbiotic knowledge of household routines, tasks, or games .... Recurrent images of a doctor and a nun, along with shifting veils of color, evoke a condition merging physical illness with spiritual floating. Although the 'secret' is never spelled out, the degree of emotional affect generated by or around Geiser's expressionless objects is compelling." THE SECRET STORY was chosen by Film Comment's Gavin Smith as one of the Best Short Films of 1996.

Programs

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    Collage Animations

    A program of films featuring collage animation

    On Saturday, April 8th, 2023, at 2pm, join us at the FMC Screening Room (475 Park Ave. South, 6th Floor) for a dazzling program of collage animation films curated by Fox Ivo Yarden!

Films

  • Other films by this artist in our catalogue

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    Babel Town
    Animation
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    Babel Town
    Janie Geiser

    16mm, color, sound, 8 min
    Rental format: 16mm
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    The Red Book
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    The Red Book
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    16mm, color, sound, 11 min
    Rental formats: 16mm, Digital file
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    Immer Zu
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    Immer Zu
    Janie Geiser

    16mm, black and white, sound, 8 min
    Rental formats: 16mm, Digital file
    • Psychology / Mental Health
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    The Fourth Watch
    Experimental

    The Fourth Watch
    Janie Geiser

    16mm, color, sound, 9 min
    Rental formats: 16mm, Digital file
    • Psychology / Mental Health
    • Films About Film
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    Lost Motion
    Experimental

    Lost Motion
    Janie Geiser

    16mm, color, sound, 11 min
    Rental format: 16mm
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    Spiral Vessel
    Experimental

    Spiral Vessel
    Janie Geiser

    16mm, color, sound, 7 min
    Rental format: 16mm
    • Psychology / Mental Health
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    Terrace 49
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    Terrace 49
    Janie Geiser

    16mm, color, sound, 5.5 min
    Rental formats: 16mm, Digital file
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    Ghost Algebra
    Animation
    Experimental

    Ghost Algebra
    Janie Geiser

    16mm, color, sound, 7 min
    Rental format: Digital file
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    Kindless Villain
    Animation
    Experimental

    Kindless Villain
    Janie Geiser

    16mm, black and white, sound, 5 min
    Rental format: Digital file
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    The Floor of the World
    Animation
    Experimental

    The Floor of the World
    Janie Geiser

    16mm, color, sound, 9 min
    Rental format: Digital file
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    Arbor
    Animation
    Experimental

    Arbor
    Janie Geiser

    16mm, black and white, sound, 7 min
    Rental format: Digital file
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    The Hummingbird Wars
    Animation
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    The Hummingbird Wars
    Janie Geiser

    16mm, color, sound, 10 min
    Rental format: Digital file
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    Look and Learn
    Animation
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    Look and Learn
    Janie Geiser

    16mm, color, sound, 11 min
    Rental format: Digital file
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    Valeria Street
    Animation
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    Valeria Street
    Janie Geiser

    color, sound, 11 min
    Rental format: Digital file