Still from 8902 Empire

48th International Film Festival Rotterdam

23 January - 3 February 2019

Rotterdam, 5 December 2018

From 5 December onwards, streaming platform IFFR Unleashed of International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR) will show the world premiere of 8903 Empire by Kevin Jerome Everson and Kahlil I. Pedizisai. This eight-hour film is available to worldwide audiences for one month only.

8903 Empire runs for 480 minutes and is loosely inspired by the 1964 black-and-white Andy Warhol film Empire, which also runs for eight hours. Warhol’s Empire consists of a single  unchanging shot of the Empire State Building in New York City. Kevin Jerome Everson and his collaborator Kahlil I. Pedizisai (who serves as assistant director on many of Everson’s films) filmed the comings and goings in front of a trap house on Empire Street in Cleveland, Ohio.

IFFR Unleashed recently presented a Filmmaker in Focus programme around the work of Kevin Jerome Everson. Nine of his films are available online.

Left: Portrait Kevin Jerome Everson

Right: Portrait Kahlil. I. Pedizisai

For a viewing link of Empire 8903, please contact us via [email protected].