Fever Dreams and Heavenly Nightmares

The works of independent filmmaker Chel White are neither easy to classify nor describe, but would generally be considered avant-garde in nature and definitely not for all tastes. The nine dreamlike, expressionistic, and intricate shorts collected here combine animation, stock footage, and live-action to tell haunting and occasionally humorous tales about the writing process, photocopied bodies, and life's stages. White isn't afraid to explore the dark side of the human psyche, with the theme of obsessive desire cropping up more than once in such pieces as “Soulmate,” “Passage,” and “Magda,” and his restless, experimental nature reveals itself in the wide variety of narrative techniques employed in these bizarre little films (in “Magda,” for instance, the story of a young man falling in love with a circus contortionist, the “actors” are played by mannequins). DVD extras include behind-the-scenes footage, early animations, and more. Recommended for larger cinema collections. Aud: C, P. (E. Hulse)