The Art World Loves to Talk Shit

"The biting chill of the art world's toxic sociality has a certain way of getting underneath the skin. The short film " It's Just a Fucking Opening" (2025)goes there and lingers, shivering. The protagonist of the film - which was produced by Jupiter Magazine and debuted at the Chicago International Film Festival last month - is a young, emerging artist named Anisa (played by Ireon Roach). The crucible of her big opening night throws her relationship to those around her - and to her own art - into a crisis of faith."

"The film begins in the midst of Anisa's opening, just after she has given a performance which we never see on screen. We only hear it recounted by a group huddled together in the gallery, where they level critique after vicious critique upon the artist's work behind her back. (Later in the film, we realize that she overhears the entire thing.)"

"Meanwhile, Ines (played by Camille Bacon), Anisa's best friend who also curated the show, spends the evening chasing after powerful stakeholders in the art world while ignoring Anisa's visible sense of anxiety and alienation. And the artist's partner Yasmine (played by Richele Brainin), who is herself a rising star in the field, misses the opening, leaving a disappointed Anisa skeptical of her relationship and wary of the various pressures that the art world brings to bear on it. All of this pushes Anisa to the edge of a breakdown, and by the end of the film, it is clear that her opening night was never really hers."

The short film "It's Just a Fucking Opening" (2025) centers on Anisa, a young emerging artist whose opening night becomes a crucible that reveals betrayal, alienation, and the pressures of the art world. A group in the gallery viciously critiques her unseen performance behind her back while she overhears. Her curator-best friend Ines pursues influential figures and neglects Anisa's anxiety. Her partner Yasmine, a rising star, misses the opening and deepens Anisa's doubts about their relationship. The film frames relationships, ambition, and public and private criticism as forces that destabilize an artist's sense of ownership and faith in their work.

Read at Hyperallergic