Dylan Graves Barbeta-Comstock, WIFV mentorship committee chair in his fifth consecutive year of service on the Board of Directors, was recently appointed as a distinguished fellow at the Richmond International Film Festival Arts Institute. During his fellowship, he will be developing his experimental narrative, The Pressing Bed.
A metaphor for the compression of unchosen identity layers within a crime victim, The Pressing Bed is a reflection of surviving sexual violence. The film is derived from a 26-panel visual art series titled “Disruptive Nocturnal Behaviors,” created by Barbeta-Comstock in the summer 2022. The series combines photography, textual art/poetry, and collage in presentation of PTSD predicates and sequelae. Within the series, the term disruptive nocturnal behaviors is folded in on itself by illustrating how the name of the symptom can also describe the cause of the harm. The art series and film will be used in conjunction with talks, aimed at engendering empathy and generating awareness around male survivors of sexual violence. Learn more about Barbeta-Comstock’s work here.
