Alia Syed’s Eating Grass

I had mentioned this little gem of a film which was going to be on show at the Talwar Gallery in New York, but I had no idea that The New York Times would love it.

bq. Eating Grass, the title of the short film that constitutes Alia Syed’s second New York solo show, carries a specific political reference. It comes from a promise made in 1974 by President Zulfikar Ali Bhutto of Pakistan that his country would have nuclear weapons like those of India, even if Pakistanis had to eat grass to finance it.

bq. The end of the film seems to be set in rainy London at night. Drops of water swell into abstract forms that increase in luminosity, until pure white light floods the screen. It may or may not be the equivalent of a blinding nuclear blast, but it is a logical and striking resolution to a film that filters a richly colored history through a visionary prism