The Task

In artist provocateur Leigh Ledare's latest project, strangers gather together to decode their own group dynamics in the "here and now." These participants question one another's prejudices, stereotypes and backstories, feeding a purgatorial atmosphere in a search for greater understanding. Not all is as it seems: Some members of the group turn out to be more like managers, and others recalcitrantly find themselves in the roles of workers. Less this all sound suspiciously like work, this superlatively suspenseful edit is devilishly fun. Even the most minute gestures - a tilt of the head, the act of leaving the room to go to the restroom, where one chooses to sit - become the focus of attention, including Ledare's own culpability as the instigator of this project. We may never look at documentary subjects and directors in the same way again. And don't worry, the walkouts are part of the performance. (True/False Film Festival)