Under the SoCal Sun

Under the SoCal Sun

2 Episodes

The sunbaked desert landscapes and laid-back cool of Southern California permeate a playful avant-garde short and a postpunk road movie, both shot in evocatively lo-fi 16 mm. In her cosmic diary film WORDS, PLANETS, Spanish-born, Los Angeles-based experimentalist Laida Lertxundi riffs on the compositional principles espoused by eighteenth-century Chinese painter Shih-t’ao using lemons, cacti, allusions to Wong Kar Wai, and an abstract interlude set to garage rock. It’s paired with a feature that, in setting and tone, feels very much like a spiritual precursor: Allison Anders’s debut BORDER RADIO, a low-key, semi-improvised memento of the 1980s indie film explosion set in LA’s underground music scene.

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Under the SoCal Sun
  • Words, Planets

    Episode 1

    Directed by Laida Lertxundi • 2018 • Spain, United States

    Laida Lertxundi applies the six compositional principles of eighteenth-century Chinese painter Shih-t’ao (such as “draw attention to a scene emerging from a static background” and “add scattered dynamism to immobility”) to this cosmic dia...

  • Border Radio

    Episode 2

    Directed by Allison Anders, Dean Lent, and Kurt Voss • 1987 • United States
    Starring Chris D., Luanna Anders, John Doe

    Before carving out a niche as one of the most distinct voices in nineties American cinema, Allison Anders made her debut, alongside codirectors and fellow UCLA film school stude...