Screen Test: Isabel
Nightly in November, artist and filmmaker Andrew Ondrejcak remixes cinematic history on a monumental scale. FIlipina Trans actress and director Isabel Sandoval plays the starring role in Screen Test: Isabel, shape-shifting through some of the most iconic film scenes of the past century, including Barbarella and Marlena Dietrich’s 1930 film Morocco. In this surreal journey through time and collective memory, Ondrejcak and Sandoval use film and fantasy to reclaim popular cultural narratives, subvert conventional constructs, and explore the limitless possibility of identity and gender.
“We are curious about the process of discovering our authentic identity through the theatrical facade. Self-discovery is often influenced by society's customs and pressures, which prescribe gender norms. We prefer a kaleidoscopic vision of identity, one in which the theatrical elements of hair, make-up and fashion are used as a form of self-discovery and, ultimately, liberation.” — Andrew Ondrejcak
"I started out making Screen Test as an exercise in dress-up and performance only to emerge with something more profound: a journey about self-discovery and metamorphosis. Shape-shifting into these characters, guided by the iconic performers that first inhabited them, I uncovered a specific truth about myself, a certain feeling, that I magnified and brought to cinematic life. It’s a grand, transportive odyssey–from homage to reimagining, pretense to candor, fiction to truth. The tension between these polarities is where art happens, and I'm ecstatic to have played a part in Andrew's vision." — Isabel Sandoval
Screen Test: Isabel is a special edit of The Actress (2021), commissioned by the Savannah College of Art and Design.
ABOUT ANDREW ONDREJCAK
Andrew Ondrejcak writes, directs and designs works for theater, opera and film. His works link art history with contemporary iconography, often putting a queer perspective on a classical form. Born and raised in Mississippi, Ondrejcak studied architecture and painting at Savannah College of Art and Design and, later, playwriting at Brooklyn College under Mac Wellman and Vito Acconci. His work with experimental theater led him to a career in art direction and production design in the fashion industry where he became known for bold, large-scale environmental installations. Andrew’s theatrical works have been presented at REDCAT, Los Angeles; Palais des Beaux-Arts, Brussels; Contemporary Art Center, New Orleans; deSingel International Arts Campus, Antwerp; Holland Festival, Amsterdam; The Kampnagel, Hamburg; and in New York at The Kitchen, BAM Harvey Theater, The Public Theater in Under the Radar Festival and the Guggenheim Museum’s Works in Process as curated by Robert Wilson. He has been the creative director of special projects for Hermes, Vivienne Westwood, 3.1 Phillip Lim, New York and Shanghai Fashion Weeks, Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM), Vogue Italia, among others. For a decade, he was a lecturer at the Museum of Modern Art.
ABOUT ISABEL SANDOVAL
Isabel Sandoval is an actress and filmmaker who wrote, directed, edited and starred in the films Señorita, Aparisyon, Lingua Franca. She skillfully weaves together Catholic mysticism and Filipino history with transgender and immigrant experiences. With the film Lingua Franca, Sandoval became the first out trans woman of color to compete at the Venice Film Festival.
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Major support of Times Square Arts is provided by Morgan Stanley. Additional program support is provided by the National Endowment for the Arts; the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Kathy Hochul and the New York State Legislature; and public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council. Additional support for Midnight Moment is provided by Meta Open Arts and the Times Square Advertising Coalition.
