Photography & Film
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CHRISTINE SLOAN STODDARD
Filmmaker & Interdisciplinary Artist
Filmmaker & Interdisciplinary Artist
Editor's Note: Sanctuary readers first met Christine when we interviewed her about her collaboration on the short film Butterflies as well as other works. Sirena's Gallery is Christine's first feature film.
Sirena's Gallery is an independent feature film about a Salvadoran American woman’s struggle as an art gallery owner after losing her husband to suicide. The film was produced using a space grant from 1708 Gallery in Richmond, Virginia and premiered in an intimate screening at the historic Byrd Theatre, also in Richmond. Sirena's Gallery was awarded a grant from The Puffin Foundation to complete its promotional circuit. Summer Hill Entertainment is representing the film for distribution. The Brooklyn Rail published an extensive Q&A about the film in its September 2021 issue.
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Click Above Video to View the Trailer for Sirena's Gallery
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What was the inspiration behind this feature film?
In graduate school, I occupied a campus art gallery and, while installing my thesis show, began to develop a character who was a young female gallerist. That experience and related musings became the basis for the script that would become Sirena's Gallery.
Around the same time, I reworked the poems in my chapbook, Mi Abuela, Queen of Nightmares, into a play by the same title. (This play was published in the book Two Plays by Table Work Press in 2020.) My poetry-to-stage play experiment inspired themes of loss, mental health, and Latin identity in the screenplay for Sirena's Gallery.
But like many creative projects, I had to put this one to the side for some time – nearly a year. Then, the COVID pandemic hit. During quarantine days, I was invited to my home state of Virginia to do an artist residency in 1708 Gallery. Like many artists, I lost studio space due to the pandemic and needed a place to work. I decided to use the time and space to develop my arthouse film, guerilla-style. I just wanted to tell a story and do something with all of my anxious energy during that strange time. Over the course of two weeks, and through much trial and error, I shot the film.
In graduate school, I occupied a campus art gallery and, while installing my thesis show, began to develop a character who was a young female gallerist. That experience and related musings became the basis for the script that would become Sirena's Gallery.
Around the same time, I reworked the poems in my chapbook, Mi Abuela, Queen of Nightmares, into a play by the same title. (This play was published in the book Two Plays by Table Work Press in 2020.) My poetry-to-stage play experiment inspired themes of loss, mental health, and Latin identity in the screenplay for Sirena's Gallery.
But like many creative projects, I had to put this one to the side for some time – nearly a year. Then, the COVID pandemic hit. During quarantine days, I was invited to my home state of Virginia to do an artist residency in 1708 Gallery. Like many artists, I lost studio space due to the pandemic and needed a place to work. I decided to use the time and space to develop my arthouse film, guerilla-style. I just wanted to tell a story and do something with all of my anxious energy during that strange time. Over the course of two weeks, and through much trial and error, I shot the film.
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Sirena's Gallery Production Photos
Photo Courtesy: Christine Sloan Stoddard |
Photo Credit: Todd Rawiszer
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Christine Sloan Stoddard is a writer, artist, filmmaker, and theater-maker based in Brooklyn, NY. She is also the founder of Quail Bell Press & Productions, including Quail Bell Magazine. A few recent credits include: writer/director of the comedy play Cyber Cinderella at the Broadway Comedy Club in NYC; co-writer of A Chorus Within Her at Theater Alliance in Washington, D.C.; and assistant director of Case Closed: The Dorian Corey Story at the Gene Frankel Theatre in NYC. Her latest book, Heaven is a Photograph, is a collection of narrative poetry and photography about a young woman's journey transitioning from the world of photojournalism to fine art photography. Other books include Belladonna Magic: Spells in the Form of Poetry & Photography, Desert Fox by the Sea, Water for the Cactus Woman, and other titles.
Previously, Christine was the first-ever artist-in-residence at Lenox Hill Neighborhood House in Manhattan and part of the inaugural cohort of resident artists at the Queens Botanical Garden and the Brooklyn Public Library-Eastern Parkway. She has also been the artist-in-residence at 1708 Gallery, Annmarie Sculpture Garden, Woodlawn Plantation, and other organizations. She has shared her work with audiences at the New York Transit Museum, the Queens Museum, the Poe Museum, Old Dominion University, the Howard County Arts Center, VCUarts Anderson Gallery, the Virginia Museum of Culture & History, and other venues. Her work has appeared in Cosmopolitan, The Brooklyn Rail, Ms. Magazine, the Portland Review, The Huffington Post, The Feminist Wire, and many other publications. |
