If There Be Thorns
2009 | 00:13:24 | Nicaragua / United States | English | Color | Stereo | 4:3 | 16mm film
Collection: Single Titles
Tags: Family, Literature


A dark wave of incest and magic burns across the tropics, forging a knotted trail into the black hole. Taking its title from the V.C. Andrews novel (a sequel to Flowers In The Attic), and weaving together texts from Shirley Jackson, William S. Burroughs, and Stevie Nicks, the film constructs a collaged narrative of three star-crossed siblings searching for one another across the unstable landscapes of their respective exiles.
— Michael Robinson
“Robinson's work continues to evolve at a rather shocking pace; this isn't a filmmaker content to replicate his considerable successes, nor is he afraid to tread into some convoluted zones of human psychology. In an act of dense, ambiguous symbology akin to Deren's breadknives and Anger's roman candles, Robinson shows us a woman finding a marbled, peach-colored glass ball in the dirt. She shatters it to find it contains a collection of golden nails. As Thorns continues, Robinson's imagery becomes more explicitly tropical: a male figure walking right to left with long fronds for raft-making or building shelter; a pileup of fronds by a tree; and the swaying of seaweed under the waves. Thorns is a film that is bursting with information, some of it specifically character-driven, some of it evocative of an all-pervasive ambiance.”
— Michael Sicinski, academichack.net, Fall 2009
This title is also available on Michael Robinson Videoworks: Volume 1
Premiere
New York Film Festival, Views from the Avant-GardeNew York, NY
2009
Exhibitions + Festivals
OutFest, Los Angeles, CA, 2013
26th MIX New York Experimental Film Festival, NY, 2013
SAW Media Art Center, Under the Rainbow: The Films and Videos of Michael Robinson, July 13 2012
Whitney Biennial 2012
Queer City Cinema, 2012
International Film Festival Rotterdam
Hong Kong International Film Festival
25 FPS, Zagreb
Chicago Underground Film Festival, IL
Onion City, Chicago, IL
Migrating Forms, NY
Singapore International Film Festival
European Media Art Festival
Curta Cinema, Rio de Janeiro
Janela Internacional de Cinema de Recife
Antimatter Festival
Ann Arbor Film Festival
Milwaukee Underground Film Festival, WI
Seattle Lesbian and Gay Film Festival