Orfeo Nel Canale Alimentare (Orpheus in the Alimentary Canal) is an animated opera about the digestive tract. It was commissioned by Imagine Science Films and it is part of a compilation of ten films on the theme of chimeras. In the film, Orpheus attempts to rescue Eurydice from a bout of indigestion by crossing the river of her inner-under world. But in the alimentary canal there are no heroes, only the multitudes.
The river which runs through us, the alimentary canal, is suggestive as a boundary object between the self and other, the internal and the external, the human and the nonhuman environment. The film explores the dissolution of individuality through the realization that our bodies are teeming with nonhuman life. Musically and narratively, in this ecological opera, individual heroes are superseded by the chorus, who represent a symbiotic view of life.
In Italian with English subtitles. Here is a two minute excerpt. The full length film will show at The Tissue Culture and Art exhibition Biomess and online at Labocine in September, 2018.
Written, Directed, and Animated by Rachel Mayeri
Music by Bill Alves
Musicians: Bill Alves, Lynn Burrows, Anne Harley, David Wilson
David Wilson as Orfeo
Anne Harley as Eurydice
Sound Design by Walter Ledesma
Costumes: Sherry Linnell, Pomona College Theater Department
Thanks Erika Dyson, Brian Shuve, Stephen Pallrand, Ignazio and Heather Moresco, Harvey Mudd College, Alexis Gambis and Imagine Science Films
