Short film, 2021. 17 mins.
"Do Not Circulate" (2021), an experimental short film directed by Tiffany Sia, attempts a structuralist and materialist approach to unraveling the entrails of a collective media memory. Paced by an essay as a relentless voiceover, the film rips footage that challenges the materiality, ownership and legal boundaries of documentation. This film contains footage, descriptions and acts that may constitute criminal offenses under prevailing laws. The following offense-related material is meant for documentary purposes only. All rights reserved to respective copyright owners. The archival footage spans a single news event in Hong Kong, weaving a violent timeline in roughly the order that the materials were published online, including anonymously uploaded videos from Twitter and internet forums, allegedly leaked audio and news reportage––much of which has since been erased, disavowed or forgotten. A digital media trail teeters between the seeable and unseeable, deception and truth, conjuring ghosts and occult forces on the timeline.
World premiere at New York Film Festival. Screenings at Modern Monday at Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), e-flux, Video and more in 2023; School of the Art Institute of Chicago and Flaherty Film Seminar in 2022; 99CANAL in 2025.
“Social Studies: Tony Pipolo on ‘Currents’ at the 59th New York Film Festival” by Tony Pipolo. Artforum, September 24, 2021.
“59th New York Film Festival, ‘Currents’” by Herb Shellenberger. Art-agenda, November 12, 2021.
“Notes from the Field: Tiffany Sia.” Sentient. Art. Film., October 1, 2021.
New York Film Festival – New York, NY
Double Exposure Film Festival – online
Linea d’Ombra Festival – Salerno, Italy
Marsèll – Milan, Italy
Hordaland Kunstsenter – Bergen, Norway
e-flux (upcoming) – online
School of the Art Institute of Chicago (upcoming) – Chicago, IL