Where a black hole is characterised by a region of space in which objects become trapped and prevented from escaping, a white hole is a hypothetical region of spacetime which cannot be entered from the outside, but from within which things can emerge and be released. Such is the setting for this visually rich, hypnotically abstract journey into the universe's expansive voids. “White hole” was released towards the end of a period of exceptional creative experimentation for director Toshio Matsumoto, one of Japan’s most highly acclaimed and masterful experimental film and video makers. In contrast to his earlier celluloid work, “White hole” uses video synthesizers and heavy image processing to achieve a salient cinematic experience, reminiscent of Stanley Kubrick’s 'Stargate’ sequence from “2001: A Space Odyssey”, with similar overtones of psychedelic, and perhaps consciousness expanding cosmological exploration.

Ben Sassen

Alba Zari was born in Bangkok inside what was said to be “a hippie community” that her grandmother, Rosa, and her mother, Ivana, had joined. But she doesn’t recall much of her childhood. Longing for answers, Alba delves into the painful work of remembering: trying to understand her grandmother’s decision to join the Children of God sect, the far‑reaching consequences of her mother’s indoctrination, and her father’s identity. In conversations and everyday moments with her grandmother and mother, Alba learns more about the cult, the ‘Flirty Fishing’ practice, and widespread sexual and psychological abuse of its members, including children. The traces of pain are still tangible years later, showing in Alba’s tears rushing out before words, in the trembling of hands, and in her mother’s constant over-apologising. Alba “lives the questions”, hoping to find answers; however, as the journey unfurls, she realises it may not be about answers but about accepting absence as a constant presence, and not being defined by it. A film about family wounds, memory, and the resilience of ties that bind us.

Sevara Pan

In fluid sequence, the birth of a world is depicted as a bioastronomical event. Nebulous, whirling gaseous spheres condense, becoming molten membranes, then a flashing planet. Descent into its erupting electronic forces, to the nucleus, finds the life-spark doubling and multiplying, ascending toward consciousness, into crystal symmetries. An awareness of the whole is focused into the beginning of superconsciousness. This film was preserved with the support of the National Film Preservation Foundation.

Pyramid Films