2/19/14 Abigail Child

Experiments in Narrativity: DARK DARK (2001) and UNBOUND: Scenes from the Life of Mary Shelley (2013)

  “I created imaginary home movies of scenes from the life of Mary and Percy Shelley. I was attracted to these authors—their life of poetry, politics and sexual invention—and inspired by my previous fictionalizing of home movies in Covert Action and The Future is Behind You. I worked with non-actors, the seasons and the extraordinary architecture and landscapes of Italy where the Shelleys were in exile for six of their eight years together. The result was a feature film A Shape of Error, gorgeous, emotional and harnessed to the narrative. I wanted to go further and, abetted by digital technology, I have ‘exploded’ this feature film. The result is UNBOUND, digressive, looped, unpredictable, symphonic, spontaneous, messy—much like life and memory.” Also screening: Dark Dark (2001, 15 min.): “a ghost dance of narrative gesture melding four found story fragments: Noir, Western, Romance and Chase. The music of Ennio Morricone provocatively interacts with the images, tantalizing the audience with webs of memory, meaning and elusive folly.” AC  [Child’s]…editing slays the syntax bound progression that makes narrative film so dull… The edit is a creative act that makes revisiting the work ever appealing and distinct from meal based media. Bravo! Willie Le Maitre, Montreal

http://www.abigailchild.com/