Ali’s varied series of works represent strategies of examining perception and observation of the things she sees. Using different materials, sizes, and mediums, she is always urging the work to push the boundaries of language – that is, what is recognizable and therefore can be named. [1]
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[1] Edges: The boundary is the active space (collide, merge, permeate, etc.) and the erotic space (Roland Barthes: the erotic is neither this nor that; it is the seam between the two).
Afterglow
Afterglow is the feature-length non-fiction film debut of director Ali Silverstein. A non-traditional documentary, the project began in 2008 in response to a life-altering event. Over the next year and a half, Silverstein recorded over 60 hours of material culminating in the film, Afterglow.
Give Up
Reykjavík-based indie rock musician Low Roar presents “Give Up,” a three-minute movie – not a mere music video. The song’s dulcet vocals and softly strummed backing is already cinematic, but the Ali Silverstein-directed story of a lonely, aging man creates a blockbuster.
10/11
On September 11, 2001, Anthony stops at his lover’s apartment on the way to his World Trade Center office.
While the world is stunned by national tragedy, Anthony and Sophie are entrenched in their own, intimate conversation – will he or won’t he leave his wife to be with her? Their discussion is halted when they finally catch sight of the television and realize that, amid the chaos and confusion of 9/11, an extraordinary opportunity presents itself. With everyone, including his wife, assuming he’s dead, Anthony and Sophie can slip away and ride off into the sunset… A decision, it seems, has been made for him.
One month later, on 10/11, poised to leave town with Sophie, Anthony checks into a motel overlooking a park where he watches his family and friends conducting his memorial service. He has come to say his last goodbyes …
