Nothing like Ivanhoe is a short experimental film that describes mechanics of
filmmaking technique. Investigating sound, music and visual collaboration in what we imagine as a talking picture. Scoring live from within the frame two composers affect the action onscreen. A cause-effect reversal of recognition evolves from music driving the action at the point of audition. This can imply a new reality or perverted relationship between sound and picture. A historical question of classification regarding melodies and motifs from within the cinema is asked of the audience, all while following queer individuals in their habitat on Austin's east side.

 The cast and crew of Nothing like Ivanhoe is from the Austin Community. The cast, a
group of people I have been working with creatively for eight years, is a reflection of the
working class queer community I have come of age with. Our homes, our day-to-day
existence, and our reflection of ourselves are documented here. I feel I have grown as a
director with this community, as their talents for acting, music and visual arts have also
flourished. This is the last in a succession of films where I attempt to interpret both our
unique identities as well as similarities to those in our neighborhoods and communities.
All while communicating a humor & style that defines us outside of
mainstream culture. The redundancy of story in our collective
cinematic past has surfaced to emphasize what many in the contemporary audience see as
an exhausted narrative. A coming out story, a love story, a hero story; perhaps these
things are Ivanhoe.

By leaving narrative behind, this short film employs a layering of dislocated audio visual
clues to the viewer; clues that may lead to the solution that experimental film and queer
existence have much in common.
Music by Amber Rademacher and Stephanie Bailey
Caitlin Lowell and Jake Byrd. Photograph by Liz Pearlman
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