Neutron & the Black Demon

Directed by: Robert Waldeck

Experimental

RT: 4 mins

A Mexican wrestler calling himself The Black Demon stared as a superhero, Neutron, in a series of lucha libre films in the 1960s. Neutron and the Black Demon is a psychological montage experiment that combines film stills, stop motion animation, and vintage illustrations with video footage. The result resembles something between a subconscious journey and a hallucinogenic trip.

Images emerge as symbolic metaphors of power, nature, and technology. A luna moth is contrasted with an animated drawing of a nuclear bomb illustrating the environmental impact of modern technology. Video footage of a film projector acts as a reminder of how the images, themselves, have been constructed. In the end, the video becomes a fractured parable that begs the question can Neutron save us from ourselves.

2009 Film Selections