Retrospective of Iconic Director Larry Fessenden and Glass Eye Pix Coming to The MoMA
Art-horror director Larry Fessenden has been a fixture in the genre since the 90s, creating low-budget films that cut to the core of what it means to be alive. He is the king of mumblegore, a person who knows what truly scares us beyond monsters and the paranormal. With his production company Glass Eye Pix, Fessenden has not only championed his work, but the work of some of horror’s biggest names.
Now, to honor the career and films of both Fessenden and Glass Eye Pix, The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is presenting a retrospective of 26 feature films along with numerous shorts, animations, and early works created during the production company’s 37 years of operation. The program is set to run from March 30 through April 19. The run of films will be hosted by Fessenden and many of the directors who have participated in the Glass Eye Pix mission to support “individual voices in the arts.”
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The program will feature all of Fessden’s feature films: No Telling, Habit, Wendigo, The Last Winter, Beneath, and Depraved. Each film grapples with the intersection between horror, societal collapse, and self-betrayal. Fessenden’s movies from the 90s pioneered the idea of “personal” horror that is now a staple of the genre.
Along with Fessenden’s work, the retrospective features works by celebrated directors Kelly Reichardt (River of Grass, Wendy and Lucy), Ti West (The Roost, The House of the Devil, The Innkeepers), Rick Alverson (The Comedy), and Jim Mickle (Stake Land). These directors all made first or second movies at the production company with Fessenden producing.
Films by up-and-coming auteurs will also be featured. This includes Ana Asensio’s award-winning Most Beautiful Island, Jenn Wexler’s The Ranger, Rob Mockler’s Like Me, Mickey Keating’s Darling, Ilya Chaiken’s Liberty Kid, Joe Maggio’s Bitter Feast, Glenn McQuaid’s I Sell The Dead, the hallucinatory I Can See You by Graham Reznick and the wildly experimental B&W-8mm-Sci-Fi-futuristic-Robot-movie Automatons by James Felix McKenney.
A highlight of the series is the New York premiere on April 2 of the latest film from Glass Eye Pix by Fessenden’s son: Foxhole by Jack Fessenden. Unfolding over the span of 36 hours in three separate wars – The American Civil War, World War I, and Iraq – Foxhole follows a small group of soldiers. Trapped in a confined space, they grapple with morality, futility, and an increasingly volatile combat situation. The film is remarkable for its structure, but also for its concern with classic themes of honor, sacrifice, camaraderie and cowardice. Foxhole is the follow-up feature after Stray Bullets (2016, also playing at MoMA) from the younger Fessenden, who was 19 years old during the shoot in August of 2019.
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Along with the in-theater fare, the retrospective will also present an online program. It features the works of long-time Glass Eye Pix collaborator Beck Underwood, whose animated shorts will delight connoisseurs of the gently macabre Brothers Quay and Jan Švankmajer. Underwood will be presenting various films, including There In Spirit, An Exquisite Task, and Perfectly Perfect. He’ll also present Uncle Ben, which was made in collaboration with the artist Melissa Stern.
The online program also presents two behind-the-scenes documentaries about the making of the Glass Eye films No Telling and Stray Bullets. It also includes two feature-length docs produced through the company. The first is by Matt Kliegman entitled Markie in Milwaukee, a deeply affecting portrait of a Midwestern evangelical preacher contemplating a transition from Mark to Markie. The second is Birth of the Living Dead by Rob Kuhns about the making of George Romero’s seminal zombie picture Night of the Living Dead.
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Also available online is the ambitious hand-drawn animated short by James Siewert entitled The Past Inside The Present. And there are other unexpected shorts and oddities from the archives: 8mm movies from the ’70s by Fessenden, collaborations with performance artists David “The Impact Addict” Leslie, and a featurette from the 80s made with performer Heather Woodbury called Hollow Venus: Diary of a Go-Go Dancer.
Says Fessenden of the program:
“I am honored to have our collection of films recognized by such a venerable institution as MoMA. While I get to have my name in the title of this retrospective, it is in fact a celebration of all the artisans who have worked under the Glass Eye banner over the years: the fellow producers, crew members, actors, sound designers, graphic artists and of course the directors and writers, many of whom collaborated on more than one project and in different capacities, in different roles, telling original stories that are personal and vital in many disparate genres and mediums, created under one production shingle with the philosophy that art matters. It means a lot to have our small corner of show biz enjoy a brief moment in the spotlight.”
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