Black Ixchell Candle Ixchell

A haunting Santerían morsel of mysticism, ritual, and artist-as-subject from the towering Cuban-American. From a back catalogue of over 100 little-seen film works about life, power, and energy. From the more abstracted end of the range of her Land Art-y earth-body “Siluetas.” A figure bound and bagged. An outline alluding to death. But then the suspense of flame and breath. And one of the best hairs in the gate in cinema history. Made the same year as Amor de Perdição and somehow unwittingly resonant. (C.W. Winter)