Kikiriki

1983, 11:57 min, color, sound

In a fragmented, staccato composition, Kikiriki explores cultural dislocation, alienation, and media representation of the immigrant as Other. Structured as a journey in which Labat leaves the lush, romanticized beauty of home and stumbles onto land after a long sea voyage, this work confronts the bewildering process of adaptation and displacement. Vibrant, hand-held Super-8 film footage of the streets of Havana and Miami is contrasted with negative mass media stereotypes — from headlines of a hijacking to Havana by a Cuban, to television images of the Marielitos (exiled Cuban boat people) as bloodthirsty ex-convicts. Using split screens, quick cutting and pastiche, Labat juxtaposes mass media images, "real" narratives of culturally marginalized men and women, and ironic visual metaphors.

Sound: Dan Nissen, Tony Labat. With: Anastasia Hagerstrom, Debora Iyall, Bruce Pollack, Ivan Beikoff, Miguel Estrada, Tony Labat.