The Cinematheque

“I could say that 88:88 is a masterpiece but masterpieces are a term of the past; Medina has taken his first step into the future.”

Phil Coldiron, Cinema Scope

When one is unable to pay the bills, the electricity is cut. Once one can pay again, the digital appliances flash 88:88. While philosophical systems begin with the concept of nothing as a starting point for thinking, Isiah Medina’s feature debut uses ​“88:88” as a marker of the nothing (no thing) of poverty and the possibility of counting life anew. Medina’s film cuts together instances in the lives of friends and their experiences in love, science, art, and politics in order to see those lives outside of narrative, and to show that thinking is always both possible and necessary. Praised by philosophers, filmmakers, artists, mathematicians, and audiences around the world, 88:88 celebrates its 10th anniversary this year.

Programmed by Steff Huì Cí Ling. Post-screening discussion between the filmmaker and philosopher Alberto Toscano.