Travis Preston (Co-Creator/Director)
Tom Gunning (Co-Creator)
Mira Kingsley (Choreographer)
Chris Barecca (Scenic Designer)
Drew Foster (Scenic Designer)
Keith Skretch (Video Designer)
Trey Gilmore (Associate Video Designer)
Ray Sun (Associate Video Designer, Video Supervisor)
EB Brooks (Costume Designer)
Jesse Fryery (Lighting Designer)
Alexander Le Valliant Freer (Lighting Designer)
Ellen Reid (Composer)
Harlow Price (Sound Designer)
Amanda Shank (Dramaturg)
Yao Zhang (Assistant Director)
Chinese Translation (Yang Ho-chin)
The CalArts Center for New Performance production of Fantômas: Revenge of the Image is a groundbreaking exploration of performance space, spectatorship and the intersection of film, theater, and physical sensation. Based on Fantômas, the fictional phantom bandit and figure of unbounded criminality from French serial literature and film, Fantômas explores urban violence as a facet of the contemporary landscape.
The world premiere of Fantômas: Revenge of the Image took place October 19-28 at the Wuzhen Theatre Festival in China. This marked the first production to have its international world premiere at the festival and was met with sold out houses.
Through the creation of an innovative mobile, enclosed audience unit, the production investigates the close relationship between sensation, violence and entertainment in contemporary visual culture. Throughout the production, the audience unit moves through space like a rolling camera dolly and the audience views the performance through an aperture of changing dimensions, not unlike the lens of a camera. The framing of the aperture and movement of the audience unit creates intense sensory effects for the audience.
This project continues the work between film theorist Tom Gunning and director Travis Preston, who have collaborated on several projects together, including An Unseen Energy Swallows Space – their first stage exploration of the landscape of early cinema. Added to this collaborative team are celebrated actress Mirjana Jokovic, known most prominently for her work in the films of Emir Kusturica (Underground, Palme d’Or, 1995), and the choreographer Mira Kingsley.
Fantômas: Revenge of the Image is an innovative and powerful performance experience that will incite broad interest, engagement, and conversation among audiences worldwide. The world premiere performance is soon to be announced.
Fantômas: Revenge of the Image is made possible by generous support from Wanxin Media.
Executive Producer: Ye Ling
