THIS IS A FILM ABOUT ANTS

An ongoing collaboration with Sarah Keeling

It makes me think of the phrase,

“Those who do not learn history are doomed to repeat it.”

BLACK SCREEN

A slideshow of images. Scientific illustrations, Stieglitz photographs, a slideshow of small images on a field of darkness, suspended in the void.

GEORGIA O'KEEFFE (O.S.)

When I crawled out of my shell here and took the first step toward doing things - they kept coming and I kept doing them so that I have hardly had time to think - You will probably laugh when I tell you that I like your photographs of my drawings much better than I do the drawings - I have been very much amused at the way I enjoy looking at them - really enjoy it -

GEORGIA O'KEEFFE (O.S.)

There is much life in me — when it was always checked in moving toward you — I realized it would die if it could not move toward something ... I chose coming away because here at least I feel good — and it makes me feel I am growing very tall and straight inside — and very still — Maybe you will not love me for it — but for me it seems to be the best thing I can do for you — I hope this letter carries no hurt to you — It is the last thing I want to do in the world.

Taos, NM. July 9th, 1929

INT. VOID

A backlit sack of hazy golden fluid. Hands reach onto it, pulling, clawing, tearing until it bursts.

BLACK SCREEN

ELDERLY GEORGIA O'KEEFFE (O.S.)

When you buy a pair of shoes, or place a window in the front of a house, or address a letter or comb your hair, consider it carefully so that it looks well.

INT. Ant colony

GIANT FACE (O.S)

Workers bring the larva into the nest where it proceeds to devour the eggs that the ants were tasked to protect.The cuckoo larva spends the majority of its life in the ant colony. This larva, brought directly to its food source, will eventually turn into a chrysalis and emerge from the colony as a butterfly.

The grub coos and munches contentedly on a pupae as ants tend to their babes. The chittering of the ants rises. The cooing grows louder, coalescing into a single note. The ants rise in a chitinous harmony of humming wings and clicking mandibles. The light in the tunnel intensifies, vibrating with the power of the grub's song. The ants raise their antennae. The light flickers.

There are many recipes involving ants and they can generally be placed into two categories-- those intended as poison and those that are based in culinary traditions.

Top 50 ways to kill ants:

  1. Diatomaceous earth
  2. Baking soda
  3. Glass cleaner and liquid detergent
  4. Hand soap
  5. Pepper
  6. Cayenne pepper
  7. Kerosene
  8. Peppermint
  9. Tea tree oil
  10. Lemon eucalyptus oil
  11. Just lemon juice
  12. White vinegar
  13. Boiling water
  14. Cornstarch
  15. Cinnamon oil
  16. Neem oil
  17. Coffee grounds
  18. Boric acid
  19. Borax
  20. Cut off their food source
  21. Garlic powder
  22. Shmaltz
  23. Metal music
  24. Strobe lights
  25. Sulfur
  26. Too much of a good thing
  27. Fire
  28. Sleep deprivation
  29. Squish them
  30. Known carcinogens in the State of California
  31. A flood
  32. Magnifying glass on a hot day
  33. Small child in control of an ant farm
  34. Global warming
  35. Burn the whole house down and start again
  36. Worldwide ban on picnics
  37. Terro T300 Liquid Ant Bait
  38. RAID
  39. Flour
  40. Anteater
  41. Cedarwood oil
  42. Clove oil
  43. Wishful thinking
  44. Prayer
  45. Double sided tape
  46. Glue
  47. Gasoline
  48. Arsenate of soda
  49. Call a professional
  50. Call your mother

EXT. Suburban grass

The camera looks up through blades of grass. Looming over us is MOTHER

MOTHER

You never call.