”We have survived by running from them, by hiding from them. I’m not going to lie to you, Neo. Every single man or woman who has stood their ground — everyone who has fought an Agent –has died.”  – Morpheus

Adam Shingwak Khalil and Bayley James Sweitzer would like to welcome you to the world of EMPTY METAL. The project investigates the necessity and the fallacy of reactionary political insurrection in a culture that is permanently under surveillance and control. EMPTY METAL is a war movie without a war, a nightmare you are ashamed to admit was actually a dream.

I am living out my greatest fear.

I used to look forward to a complete societal collapse. I felt ready for it. Or rather, I felt confident that, when we would start to see the first signs, I could abandon everything and quickly become ready for it.

Now, I have come to realize that the inevitable destruction of the status quo will be more of a confused, anticlimactic rot… and will take place ten to fifteen years after my death.

I have come to realize that I am living out my greatest fear: That I will die before the end of the world.

Corn soup will be available.

Adam Shingwak Khalil is a filmmaker and artist. His practice attempts to subvert traditional forms of ethnography through humor, relation, and transgression. Adam’s work has been exhibited at UnionDocs, e-flux, Maysles Cinema, Microscope Gallery (New York), Museo ExTeresa Arte Actual (Mexico City), Carnival of eCreativity (Bombay), and Fine Art Film Festival Szolnok (Hungary). Khalil is a UnionDocs Collaborative Fellow and Gates Millennium Scholar. In 2011 he graduated from the Film and Electronic Arts program at Bard College.

Bayley James Sweitzer is a filmmaker and photographer from Southern Vermont, currently based in Brooklyn. His practice revolves around a dynamic, high-mobility engagement with the margins. A practice in which which techno-formal precision is ALWAYS secondary to heartfelt vigor. None of his films or photographs have ever been exhibited publicly.