fellow human animals of occupied Turtle Island , 2020
Selected as a contributing artist to Artists In Presidents, lex created a 12-minute video address denouncing "president" as a role to be had in an imperialist terrorist state built on land theft, genocide and slavery, forwarding suggestions of land reparations as outlined by the #LandBack movement, as an Asian settler of Turtle Island
Spider Moth Butterfly (2016-2020)
This scene is from Lex's debut feature, “Spider Moth Butterfly.” The film explores the hierarchy/relationship dynamics within a traveling circus, whose collective dedication has created a snow-globe reality of art above all. This is the only scene where the characters are relaxing, not rehearsing. Lex made this movie for those of us who have had to push our limits to survive the demands of unforgiving external pressures, sometimes for generations.
The sequence centers the pain of the caterpillar child’s anxiety: her great ambitions and sense of duty (caring for the Moon) grating against her cluelessness about her future, juxtaposed against the circus leader, who commands the room with giddy certainty but speaks in half-riddles. It is one of the more composed and scripted scenes in the film.
Shot at a Mexico City circus school with a cast and crew of local artists, all costumes are hand sewn, masks were papier-mâché. The set was made exclusively of found objects: a place’s artifacts reveals a truth, and buying new kills our Earth. “We are the ones who make the filth beautiful:” what Lex calls collaging, Lex practices by collecting hidden or discarded stories to transform hurt, prejudices, and dark powers structures into narrative quilts that invite personal reflections on universal aches.
Recursion 1 & 2
This piece was presented as a video installation at the Fukushima memorial event at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in NYC, organized by Eiko Otake. Part 1 incorporates footage from lex’s time at Oceti Ŝakowiŋ on Standing Rock Sioux territory in the movement against the Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL), with found footage of past water contamination disasters. Part 2 consists of some of the many Facebook livestreams from February 22-23, 2017, which were uploaded by water protectors while massive police forces raided the camps.
Hasta La Victoria Siempre (2016, post-production)
An experimental documentary on making art in the figurative island of the director's home state, Indiana, and the literal island of Cuba in all their figurative and literal parallels. Cuba footage collected over the course of four weeks in Dec 2015 - Jan 2016 in and around Havana. Special thanks to producer, translator, and sound technician and co-editor Marjorie Hunt.
Music: Olu Odubrio, "throw_6" (Soundcloud @GUMMO.)
Wald (2015)
Producer, Actor, Gaffer, Assistant Director, Art Department, Costumes, Make up
The story of a girl who, upon encountering a cunning snake, is gifted with powers of material excess and natural beauty, which eventually prove to be a terrible curse. Dir. Raphael Linden, 2015
Wesleyan University, Senior Film Thesis
Botanická zahrada (2014)
Co-director, Co-writer, Co-producer
A woman trying to excite herself by pleasing her husband, ends up connecting more warmly and intimately with the young man they'd meant to toy with.
Film and TV School of the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague (FAMU)