In Fulll Firearms, Wardill builds a melodramatic narrative that breaks up, shifts and ultimately confounds a linear reading. The film revolves around the relationships between the protagonists and their behavior in times of conflict. Wardill creates a tension between characters that exist at the borders of their physical and mental capacity and demonstrates that instability, paranoia and a loss of reality are not found on the edges of modern society, but at its center. They represent the drivers of a plot that questions the normalization and control of social behavior. It is the delusions of the protagonist, Imelda, which draws the story along and undermines the distinction between imagination and reality.

Loosely based on the legend of Sarah Winchester, Imelda is the daughter of an arms manufacturer and is possessed by the idea that she will be haunted by the ghosts of those killed by her father's weapons. She uses her inheritance to pay for a large house intended to accommodate the ghosts and lessen her guilt. Her fantasies are contrasted with the targeted approach of the architect who tries to implement her wishes architecturally, but whose grasp of reality becomes increasingly unsettled as the building is occupied by squatters who Imelda believes to be the ghosts she has been expecting and who take up a permanent place in her life.

Emily Wardill (b. 1977) lives in London. Her films have been screened at Witte de With, Rotterdam; London Film Festival; New York Film Festival; Whitechapel Gallery and Tate Britain, London; among others. Solo shows (selection): Badischer Kunstverien, Karlsruhe; De Appel, Amsterdam; MCA, St. Louis; List Visual Art Center, MIT, Cambridge; Standard, Oslo; Fortescue Avenue, Jonathan Viner, London; Institute of Contemporary Arts (ICA), London. Group shows (selection): MuHKA, Antwerp; 54th Venice Biennale; Collective Gallery, Edinburgh; Hayward Gallery, London and MOCA, Miami.

The film Fulll Firearms was commissioned by If I Can't Dance, I Don't Want To Be Part Of Your Revolution (Amsterdam), Serpentine Gallery (London), Film London's FLAMIN Productions. Co-produced by FLAMIN, City Projects (London) with support of M HKA (Antwerp), Badischer Kunstverein (Karlsruhe), FRAC Champagne-Ardenne (Reims). Additional support by the European Commission (Brussels) and Mondriaan Foundation (Amsterdam). Kindly supported by the British Council.

The film will be screened in its entirety (80 min.) several times a day during gallery hours. Please contact the gallery for start times or look for the schedule on altmansiegel.com. For more information please contact the gallery at (415) 576-9300 or mailto:info@altmansiegel.com.