A filmmaker responds to Lars von Trier’s call for a new muse with a unique application

In this uncommonly inventive short, Theresa Tomi Faison, an artist and filmmaker based in Baltimore, Maryland, puts her own unique spin on the problematic concept of the female muse in art. After stumbling on an Instagram video in which the Danish filmmaker Lars von Trier – controversial for his treatment of female characters and the actresses who portray them – seeks applications for a ‘female girlfriend/muse’, Faison wonders if it might be interesting to put her 72-year-old friend and neighbour Rose forward as a candidate. To prepare for the possibility, Faison introduces chain-smoking, effortlessly funny Rose to von Trier’s films including Dancer in the Dark (2000) and Antichrist (2009). What unfolds is an often entertaining, and ultimately incisive, commentary on gender dynamics and exploitation within art and entertainment.