Facing West Shadows (principal members: Lydia Greer (artistic director) and Caryl Kientz (theatrical director) is a collective of artists, puppeteers, filmmakers and musicians hybridizing art forms to create magical acts of rebellion as experimental art that is sustainable in the current gold rush climate of the Bay Area. FWS combines analog shadow theatre with original animation, video projection of found footage and sometimes Opera performed live. Expanding into film, theatre and installation, Facing West Shadows depicts stories re-imagined with unique visual storytelling to create surprising experiences for the audience by seamlessly combining old and new technologies and art forms.

Facing West Shadows Artistic Director and Interdisciplinary artist Lydia Greer will present short films exploring shadows in theatre, cinematic installation, sculpture, film/video, expanded cinema performance and animation, and her work with her collective, Facing West Shadows.

Facing West Shadows has been commissioned by The Exploratorium, The Institute for Advanced Uncertainty, Shapeshifter’s Cinema, Berkeley Public Library, Radar Productions, Other Cinema, Kala Art Institute and The San Jose Institute of Contemporary Art among others.

Collection of short films includes: 

Hallucinations (10:00)  

Hallucinations is an experimental animated film featuring puppets, performing objects, and cut paper by artist Lydia Greer. 

Hallucinations is inspired by the life of Mirabai, a legendary 16th-century poet and street performer in Rajasthan, India. Hallucinations tells Mirabai’s story of escaping gender-based violence against her, survival, freedom, joy, and ultimate transformation.  

Unproud Warrior  (6:33)    

Unproud Warrior, by Cass McCombs  (ANTI- Records),  6:33  Music/Lyric Video by Facing West Shadows. Shadow puppets, cast shadow, and animation combine to illustrate Cass McComb’s song about the ethical complexities of American military service (Lydia Greer, artistic director/editor, Caryl Kientz Theatrical Director) commissioned by Anti Records, Los Angeles, CA.   

Absentee  (3:35)   

Absentee by Cass McCombs  (ANTI- Records) is a music video directed by Facing West Shadows, The video features shadow puppets and other special effects designed by Lydia Greer and Caryl Kientz of Facing West Shadow Theatre. A press release describes the song as such: “In ‘Absentee,’ McCombs ruminates on ancestral memories of British, colonialist absentee landlords during the Irish Potato Famine, on longing, hunger, and untended places in the heart.    

And others: 

The Endless End documentation, FacingWestShadowsExcerpt, You are Sitting Here with Us but you are also out Walking in a Field at Dawn and a making of video on facing west shadows process.

https://www.facingwestshadows.com/about

https://www.lydiagreer.com/

Participants of:

Cosmic Rays film festival (2024), 

Strangloscope International Experimental Film Festival, Brazil (2023)