lessons on flight, 4:27 mins, 16 mm/DCP – 2024
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Shot on B&W 16 mm film, eco-processed with olives and hand coloured on site in rural Chile, lessons on flight examines the flight patterns of the green-backed firecrown hummingbird.
lessons on flight is an exercise in site-based eco processing, where the film’s shooting site also provided the materials for processing. The film was shot in rural Chile, at the site of the filmmaker’s father’s childhood home, and was developed with olives freshly picked in the yard. The oil from the olives left a cast on the film that interacted with food colouring placed on the film following fixing, leaving unique reticulations and other markings. The sound was recorded with contact mics attached to leaves on site and processed with a sound app; the sound is used as output, without change.
FESTIVAL SCREENINGS
• International Film Festival Rotterdam (Rotterdam, Netherlands) – 2024
• Ann Arbor Film Festival (Ann Arbor, USA) – 2024
• Festival des Cinémas Différents et Expérimentaux de Paris (Paris, France) – 2024
• RIDM: Montreal International Documentary Festival (Montreal, Canada) – 2024
Special thanks to Franci Duran, Elian Mikkola, Chad Tremblay, the Araneda Espinoza family and the Canada Council for the Arts for making this film possible.
In memory of María Laurina Espinoza Hernández, who planted the gardens the hummingbirds feed on, and who wished for this place to never be forgotten.
