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HIDE

The Chatawa Monster
BY
Johan Thurfjell

There is a legend about a circus train that long ago crashed in the inaccessible swampland surrounding the small community of Chatawa in southern Mississippi. The train is said to have been heading towards New Orleans to show off its new, amazing find – a living ape-human hybrid.

But after the crash, when people came to rescue the train, the ape-human’s iron cage had been broken up and the monster was gone. A few days later, a nun at the nearby convent of St. Mary of the Pines saw a hairy, human-like figure moving through the undergrowth some distance from the convent. Her testimony mark the start of the legend of the Chatawa Monster.

The film The Chatawa Monster describes Chatawa’s snarky and inhospitable swamp forests in black and white, grainy images. We get to meet two of the community’s current residents and hear their thoughts on the monster, which is said to still reside in the area. The two men have completely different entries to the legend. One a direct witness story he was told during his upbringing in the area, the other a more philosophical reasoning about Chatawa as a paranormal place and our general human need for monsters.

The Chatawa Monster was filmed in Chatawa, Mississippi in February 2024 and is produced with support from the Swedish Arts Council and PSA, Mississippi.

Aspect ratio 1.33:1 (4:3)
Prod. format Generic SD-video
Duration 00:07:10
Language English
Color BW
Sound Stereo
Year 2024
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About the artist

Johan Thurfjell

Lives and works in Stockholm, Sweden. Johan Thurfjell received his MFA at the University College of Art Craft & Design in Stockholm in 2002. Since then he has participated in several group exhibitions both in Sweden and abroad. He has had solo exhibitions at Natalia Goldin gallery in Stockholm, Galerie Nordenhake in Berlin and at 16:1 gallery in Los Angeles. He has received a number of prizes and grants in Sweden.

Johan Thurfjell works in many different medias and materials. His body of work contains everything from drawings and objects to computer generated images, animation and video. One of his most spread work is the animated short film ‘Do you have the Shine?’ from 2002. It has been shown at a number of film festivals throughout the world. It received the Mention Spéciale ~ Prix Court-métrage Kodak at the Luxembourg International Film festival in 2004 and was one of Sweden’s five contributions to the film festival in Cannes 2003.

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