Congratulations to Mel Potter, Assistant Professor of Interdisciplinary Arts! Mel’s recently completed film: Boy Brides & Bachelors was selected for inclusion in the 2010 Video Dumbo Festival, curated by Caspar Stracke and Gabriela Monroy!

Boy Brides & Bachelors is an animated video shot on a cold January night in Southeastern Serbia during a ritual called Surovari in which men dress as women (large breasted peasants, grandmothers, and brides), and engage in pretend sexual acts with village bachelors. Little is known about the meaning of this pagan ritual, but its contemporary gender role-play implications are profound. InBoy Brides & Bachelors, Potter uses stop motion animations to engage her questions about the underlying meanings of the ritual, and make a connection between her inability to translate much of what was going on with the strange language of gender itself.

For more information, visit the 2010 Video Dumbo Festival Website.