Award-winning ‘The Rabbit Hunt’ coming to Rice Media Center Nov. 8

Q&A with filmmakers to follow as part of Houston Cinema Arts Festival

“The Rabbit Hunt,” a multimedia exhibition by Texas-based filmmakers Patrick Bresnan and Ivete Lucas, opens at the Rice Media Center Nov. 8 from 6 to 8 p.m. The exhibition will be followed by the official opening of the Houston Cinema Arts Society’s film festival and a Q&A with the filmmakers.

“The Rabbit Hunt”

Rice Media Center’s gallery will showcase a combination of production stills from the award-winning documentary short “The Rabbit Hunt” in addition to an alternate version of the film, re-edited by Lucas, playing on a continuous loop while the exhibition is on view. A screening of the original film will begin at 6:30 p.m.

“The Rabbit Hunt” exhibition precedes the official opening of the Houston Cinema Arts Festival (HCAF), which begins with the screening of “Skip Day” at 8 p.m. The evening will conclude with a screening of “Citizen Blue” followed by a Q&A session with Bresnan and Lucas.

“The Rabbit Hunt” was filmed in Pahokee, Fla., a predominantly African-American and Hispanic community of about 6,000 residents. The film tells the story of 17-year-old Chris and his family, who hunt rabbits by taking advantage of farmers burning their sugar cane fields in the Everglades; the smoke drives out rabbits by the hundreds.

Shot by Bresnan and edited by Lucas, “The Rabbit Hunt” has received numerous awards. Their latest documentary short, “Skip Day,” won the Illy best short film award at the Quinzaine Des Realisateurs (Directors’ Fortnight) section of the 2018 Cannes Film Festival. Together, the filmmakers comprise their own Austin, Texas-based independent film and video art company, Otis Lucas, in which Lucas serves as writer, editor and co-producer while Bresnan acts as cameraman, cinematographer and co-producer.

“Queerskins”

The HCAF’s events at Rice Media Center also include an interactive virtual reality (VR) experience on the second floor of the center. “Queerskins” tells the story of a young gay physician named Sebastian, long estranged from his Catholic family in rural Missouri, who dies of AIDS in 1990. Visitors are seated in the back seat of a car, behind Sebastian’s mother and father, for a journey to the cemetery where he is buried. Audiences get to know Sebastian through the drama unfolding in the front seat and by interacting with artifacts from his life.

“Queerskins” opens to the public at 6 p.m. Nov. 8 and runs through Nov. 12. Hours for the VR experience are: 9 a.m.­-7:15 p.m. Nov. 9; 11 a.m.-9:15 p.m. Nov. 10; 11 a.m.-7:45 p.m. Nov. 11; and 9 a.m.-7:15 p.m. Nov. 12. A “Queerskins” gallery talk will take place at noon Nov. 9.

For more information on “The Rabbit Hunt” at the Rice Media Center, visit http://vada.rice.edu. For more information on the Houston Cinema Arts Festival or the Houston Cinema Arts Society, visit https://www.cinemahtx.org/hcaf.