Final Statement, 2015, 20:00 (Vimeo)

On October 26, 1997, Susan Eubanks shot and killed her four boys and shot herself in an act of extended suicide. In a psychotic break she believed that she and her children would be safer to together in death than life. She survived her suicide attempt and was tried for the capital murder. She was found guilty of first-degree murder and the jury sentenced her to death. Before the judge imposed the sentence, Susan was allowed to deliver a final statement. This film, Final Statement, is in her words. Falling somewhere between narrative and re-enactment, Final Statement endeavors to dramatize her tragedy, what lead up to it, and her plea for social responsibility. 

Screenings:
Milwaukee Women's Festival, 2016
Cornell College, McWethy Gallery, Iowa 2015
"Flesh and Blood",Aggregate Space Gallery, San Francisco 2015

Regardless of What the Others Are Doing, 2015, 6:00 (Vimeo)

Based on a found text by Alison Knowles, Regardless Of What The Others Are Doing is a short film that considers decisions for survival in the depleted and harsh world of climate change where there is "no reissue" of anything, including our shoes, when they wear out.
Screening: Water Wheel, 2015

Vamos a Hablar/Let's Talk, 2012, 72:00
Loneliness, 11:40 (Vimeo Excerpt)
Parenting Styles, 14:10 (Vimeo Excerpt)

Vamos a Hablar/Let’s Talk is a bilingual video intended for Latino youth and families to discuss how to prevent unplanned pregnancies and maintain adolescent reproductive health. Director Kristine Diekman foregrounds the voices of Latino teen parents and adults who earnestly believe they could have made wiser choices had there been open communication. In the section titled Loneliness, teen mothers and adult professionals discuss how loneliness and abandonment may contribute to risk factors for teen pregnancy. In the section Parenting Styles, parents and children share personal stories about permissive or strict parenting styles and their consequences.

Produced by Video in the Community and funded by the Leichtag Family Foundation in collaboration with Mano a Mano Foundation, Vista Community Clinic, and the San Diego Office of Education.

This feature film is available in Spanish and English with a free teaching guide. To purchase copies, visit the CSUSM bookstore.

A Way Out, 2010, 37:00 (Vimeo)

A Way Out is a documentary based on the stories of men and women who are in the process of leaving or who have successfully parted from gang life. Constructed from personal stories, the video is a cautionary tale, motivational portrayal of success and informational tool for youth, parents, educators, and the general public. The video is useful for those in the pre-contemplation and contemplation stages of getting out of a gang, as well people who can support this difficult process. It provides hope, steps they may want or need to take, as well as a realistic view of how difficult but worthwhile it can be to start a new life.

M for Mommy, 2009, 9:00 (Vimeo)

M for Mommy is a short, personal memoir that investigates troubled mothering. What are these insurmountable, unquenchable, vast needs we assign to the child, towards which the mother responds with fear, frustration, anxiety and rage? By identifying with child, we sometimes blame the mother. Is it only within the realm of another different fantasy that I can pull my mother out of her maternal agitation and let her rest in my mind and heart?

Screenings:
European Media Arts Festival, Osnabrueck, Germany
Les Inattendus, Lyon, France
Reel Mothers: Film, Video Art and the Maternal, Center for the Arts, USA
Bibliography:
"Memory Work, Trauma and the Maternal; videos by Maya Zack (Israel) and Kristine Diekman" (US). n.paradoxa (Vol 27) Women's Work, January 2011.

Corn, Kitten, Sox and Knot, 1998, 8:45 (Vimeo)

The filmmaker enacts the limitations posed by single-handedly shooting video and recording audio in a storytelling performance about family, the cold war, childhood sex, and friendship.

Screenings:
Artcinema OFF-OFF, Copenhagen, Denmark, 2000Centre d’Art Santa Monica, Barcelona, Spain, 2000
from today: conference on digitally mediated documentary work, Brown University, 2000
Nova Scotia College of Art and Design, 2000
Transat Video, Herouville Saint-Claire, France, 2000
De Geuzen Foundation, Amsterdam, 1999
VIDARTE, Barranca del Muerto, Mexico, 1999
Collections, Long Beach Museum of Art, 1999
Athen’s International Film and Video Festival, 1999
Thundergulch Rochefeller Center Events, 1999
Electromediascope, Nelson Atkins Musuem of Art, Kansas City, 1999

Corpse and MIrror, 25:00, 1996 (Vimeo)

Corpse and Mirror questions the ability of rational language to adequately describe and control extreme mental states. Based on a monologue by Tony Allard, the tape moves non-sequentially through seven memories of Allard's childhood experience with his father's manic/depression and institutionalization in a state hospital. Central to the tape is the use of poetic language--a strategy to convey the shifting unconscious through image, sound, and text--to delightfully unbalance our sense of the real. "In Corpse and Mirror, a grown son recallshis deceased father's bout with madness. His memories are constantly tripped up by the inability of language to express extreme emotional states."- Steve Seid, Pacific Film Archives.

Screenings:
16th International World Wide Video Festival, Netherlands. 1998     Pandemonium Festival of the Moving Image, London, 1998
Muu Media Festival, 1998
California Center for the Arts, Escondido, 1998
Tenants Resource Hackney, London, 1998
Brighton Cinemateque, England, 1998
Free Speech TV, Boulder, 1997
The Images Festival, Toronto, 1997
Third Interntional Manifestation of Video and Electronic Art, Montreal, 1997
Video Tensions, University of Arizona, 1997
SouthwestAlternate Media Project, KEDT-TV broadcast, 1997
London Electronic Arts touring program, "Passion: Possession", 1997
10th Annual Dallas Video Festival, 1997
ZKM, International Video Arts Award, Sudwest 3 Broadcast, 1997
De Appel, Amsterdam, 1997
Institute of Contemporary Art, London, 1997
Av Ark, Finland, 1997
Bahia Festival, Brazil, 1997
New York International Film and Video Festival, Lincoln Center, NYC, 1997
Mill Valley Film and Video Festival, 1996
European Media Arts Festival, Osnabruck, 1996
Viper Video Festival, Luzerne, 1996
Festival de Nouveau Cinema, Montreal, Canada, 1996
Athen's International Film and Video Festival, 2nd Place Experimental Category, 1996
 "Male Madness", Pacific Film Archives, CA, 1996
 "Of Sound Mind", New Langton Arts, CA, 1996
Pandemonium, London Electronic Arts, London, 1996
Women in the Director's Chair Tour, 1996
Washington University, MO, 1996

Drift to Dust, 10:45, 1994, super 8 film (Vimeo)

“Drift to Dust” is inspired by a text by John Berger in which he discusses home as a nomadic concept, a place where the vertical and horizontal meet (the tent pole and the ground plane), central yet constantly shifting. This idea of a shifting center is expressed through language, image, sound and text. This experimental video develops ideas about home, nomadic aesthetics, vernacular language and the Midwest landscape. Chinese characters for interstice, for melancholy, for above and for below are used as a poetic structure to orient a spatial and psychological return to a familiar landscape.

Screenings:

1995        University of Illinois. IL
1995        University of Toledo, OH
1995      "Nuevas Tendencias", Museo Nacional, Centro de Artes, Reina Sofia Museum, Madrid, Spain
1995        2emeManifestation Internationale Video et Art Electronique, Montreal, Audience Award, "Drift to Dust"
1995        22nd Athens International Film and Video Festival, First Prize, "Drift to Dust"
1995        13e World Wide Video Festival, Den Haag, Netherlands
1995        The 14th Women in The Director's Chair, Chicago
1995        Charlotte International Film and Video Festival, Mint Museum of Art
1994        "Electromediascope", Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City
1994        Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art, Kansas City
1994        Video Brazil, (North American Program), Sao Paolo, Brazil
1994        Manhattan Cable Television, The Kitchen Show
1994        "Environments: Two Women, Two Tapes"Threadwaxing Space, NYC
1994        12e World Wide Video Festival, The Hague
1994        Unquote TV, Philadelphia, public TV and cable program
1994        Poets in America, WNYC, prod. by Bob Holman
1994        IMPAKT, Festival for Experimental Art, Utrecht,  The Netherlands

Super Ocho, 8:00, 1990, super 8 film

“Super Ocho” investigates American culture’s insistence on creating hierarchies of excellence or “goodness”, such as the “top ten” or the “big eight” or the “supreme being” or “evil doers”. Working in improvisational settings, non-actors were asked to develop actions and text exploring notions of God, national security, sports, truth-telling and spirituality.
Screenings:

1994        Unquote TV, Philadelphia, public TV and cable program
1994        Poets in America, WNYC, prod. by Bob Holman
1994        IMPAKT, Festival for Experimental Art, Utrecht,  The Netherlands
1993        The Kitchen Annex at The Threadwaxing Space
1993        Le Premier Manfestation de Video et Arte Electronique, Montreal
1993        The London Film and Video Festival, London
1993        Montage 93, Visual Studies Workshop, Rochester
1993        11e World Wide Video Festival, Den Haag, The Netherlands
1993        The Kitchen, NYC
1993        TV Slovenia,  Ljubljana
1993        2eme Festival International du Cinema Super 8 a Tour, France; Special Prestation
1992        Bruxelles 2e Mondial de le Video; USAguest speaker
1992        10e World Wide Video Festival, Den Haag, The Netherlands
1992        Muu Media Festival, Helsinki, Finland
1992        Australian International Video Festival, Sydney
1992        Mill Valley Film and Video Festival, California
1992        Athens International Film and Video Festival
1992        School of the Art Institute of Chicago
1992        Hallwalls, Buffalo NY
1992        Rutgers International 8MM film & Video Festival
1991        TribecaFilm Center, FVA Angel Awards
1991        Donnell Library , FVA Angel Awards
1991        Bruxelles International Film & Video Festival, Belgium
1991        911 Contemporary Arts Center, Seattle
1991        Athen's International Film & Video Festival
1991        The Knitting Factory
1991        San Francisco Golden Gate Awards Film & Video Festival,
Honorable Mention, "Super Ocho"
 l991         Mediamix 8MM Film & Video Festival, 3rd Place Award
 l990         The Brooklyn Museum, screening & lecture
 l990         Listen In, Harvestworks, Studio Pass, screening & lecture
 l990         Athens International Video & film Festival
 l990         11th Annual Third Wave Film & Video Festival, Austin l990         Mediamix 8 MM Film & Video Festival, Rutgers University, 3rd place award