Vera, 2003
Jason Simon, 25min

In Parts, 2012
Sadie Benning, 28min

The protagonist of Jason Simon's documentary Vera is an attractive and vibrant young woman grappling with the transition between a history of daunting debt – due to her habit of pathologically collecting high-end clothes and accessories – and her new, restrained behavior that reflects her desire to control spending and get control of her life. In Simon's treatment, Vera's obsessive-compulsive excess takes verbal form, essentially allowing her to speak for herself; Simon simply facilitates her self-portraiture. Vera is paired with Sadie Benning's In Parts, which explores American landscapes through the recent acquisition of a vintage black and white tube-video camera, dating to the earliest days of portable video equipment. It begins with a single-shot study of a leopard pacing in its cage: an extended take on the need to move. What follows is a journey through the Joshua Tree environs of Julie Ault and Martin Beck, where some of the collection in Macho Man, Tell It To My Heart resides, before a return East. 

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