BIGHT OF THE TWIN (2016) feat. Genesis P-Orridge + VIA CRUXIS (2024)

7th House is very proud to present an evening with filmmaker Hazel Hill McCarthy III and artist Alejandro García Contreras, as we present two mesmerizing and captivating ethnographic documentaries – BIGHT OF THE TWIN (2016), chronicling Genesis P-Orridge’s exploration of Voodoo in West Africa, and VIA CRUXIS (2024), a vibrant portrait of the fascinating, ritualistic Good Friday pageantry of a remote Southern Mexican village. Following the screening, Hill McCarthy III and García Contreras will join us for a discussion and Q&A!

BIGHT OF THE TWIN follows Genesis Breyer P-Orridge and filmmaker Hazel Hill McCarthy III to Ouidah, Benin, West Africa, birthplace of Vodoun (Voodoo), where the sacred veneration of twins becomes an initiatory search for spiritual reunion with Gen’s beloved partner, the late Lady Jaye—transforming Pandrogyny from radical performance into a living ritual that dissolves gender, singular identity, and the boundary between love, death, and the afterlife.

Following Lady Jaye’s death from cancer in 2007, Genesis continues to live as a plural being, understanding Pandrogyny not as a physical project left unfinished but as a trans-material union—Lady Jaye existing in the immaterial realm and Genesis in the material, together forming a complete whole. What begins as an inquiry into Vodoun’s relationship to Western performance art deepens into an intimate spiritual odyssey upon the discovery of the “Twin Fetish” ritual, an initiation designed to reconnect the living twin with the spirit of the deceased. As Genesis undergoes this rite, the film draws striking parallels between Pandrogyny and Vodoun twin veneration, revealing a shared cosmology of devotion, continuity, and sacred interdependence. In doing so, Bight of the Twin becomes not merely a document of Vodoun practice, but a vessel activated by it—inviting viewers to reconsider fixed notions of gender, identity, and mortality through a vision of love that endures beyond the limits of the body.

Made in collaboration with acclaimed artist Alejandro García Contreras, VIA CRUXIS enters a remote village in Chiapas, Southern Mexico, where Good Friday is transformed into a ritual of sacred inversion: a living myth in which villagers embody saints, kings, and demons to dismantle orthodox faith and resurrect an ancient dialogue between rebellion, belief, and the human longing for transcendence. Nestled within the rugged terrains of Chiapas’s mountains, lies Carrillo Puerto—a village where time seems to hold a different meaning. Each year, the Via Crucis (Stations of the Cross) festival unfolds through the eyes and voices of its very architects—the villagers themselves—who don a pantheon of costumes that defy the ordinary, crafting personas like Jesus, “the King”, “the Bishop", “the Centurions”, and “the Judios”. These are not mere roles but reincarnations; each costume a vibrant tapestry of rebellion, woven from the threads of religious iconography, local myths, and a kaleidoscope of cultural influences that range from the deeply spiritual to the unabashedly profane.

Shot against the stunning vistas of Chiapas, the film captures the raw, kinetic energy of the festival, revealing a world where the sacred and the blasphemous collide, the absurd is revered, and the conventional narratives of Catholicism are challenged by a carnival of the grotesque. "Via Cruxis" is more than a documentary; it is an exploration of how traditions evolve, how they reflect the communities that uphold them, and how, in the remote village of Carrillo Puerto, a day of mourning transforms into an anarchic celebration of the human spirit in all its contradictory glory. Through this vivid mosaic of stories, the film invites viewers to ponder the infinite ways in which humanity seeks to understand, challenge, and ultimately transcend the divine.

BIGHT OF THE TWIN

Dir. Hazel Hill McCarthy III, 2016, 55 mins, West Africa, English, Unrated, Digital.

VIA CRUXIS

Dir. Hazel Hill McCarthy III, 2024, 40 mins, Mexico, Spanish w/ English subtitles, Unrated, Digital.

Please email [email protected] or phone 323-663-2167 with any questions.

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With some exception, The Philosophical Research Society’s 7th House Screenings does not typically provide advisory warnings about potentially upsetting content or subject matter, as sensitivities are particular to each viewer. Please be sure to read event listings, research on the web, or visit Common Sense Media, IMDb, and DoesTheDogDie.com for thorough info on content and age-appropriateness. If you have any specific content advisory questions, please email [email protected].

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