My work spans documentary, narrative, and experimental filmmaking, and I primarily produce short films. Though my general practice is to create films about whatever calls to my interest, themes I return to repeatedly in my work include identity, queerness, mental health, loss, and grief. I intend my works to be experiential, and to capture both the factual and felt nature of the experiences they center around.
filmmaking
Fugue
This film explores the relationship between memory and depression, specifically intending to highlight the symptom of memory loss that often accompanies depressive episodes. This core concept opens up to further contemplations on memory generally and self-destruction, turning the film into an experimental meditation on the interior experience of mental illness.
Created and Produced by Ecem Aktas and Eli Johns-Krull.
Completed April 2023.
Queen of the Bayou
A portrait film of Bryce C / Vitamin B, a Houston drag performer and educator. With this film, we intended to explore the relationship between Vitamin B and drag - why and how they started performing, how they conceptualize of their drag persona, and the role that drag plays in their life. Using these core concepts, we crafted a film that offers not just a look at the interior life of our central figure, but also an exploration of drag itself and the connections between drag and identity.
Created and Produced by Ariana Zhu and Eli Johns-Krull.
Completed December 2022.
echo
What words come after you have nothing left to say? What do you tell someone after everything between you is over? How do you deal with absolute finality? This film explores these questions, offering an experimental look at what it means to grieve a relationship months or years after it has ended, and how it feels to navigate the terrain of mourning.
Created and Produced by Ecem Aktas and Eli Johns-Krull.
Completed February 2023.