Sundance Film Festival

Often times, even when dealing with short films, it is sometimes difficult to remember that storytelling is not always the first priority. After all, film is like any other form of art and should not be held to any hard and fast rules—like plot, character development, and all the other things we associate with narrative filmmaking. Rather than being relegated to the art museum, experimental films get their day in the sun at Sundance (no pun intended) right alongside the more traditional modes of filmmaking.

Shawn Bannon’s Ignite is a three-minute film that surveys the raging intensity with which the fires in Griffith Park, Calif. burned last year by using stark, color time-lapse cinematography sped up to an alarming degree. Helicopters streak through the night sky, but are mere flashes. They look more like comets with blinding tails. Later, the ashes of the landscape are contrasted with cigarette ashes and only a brief flash, burning photo, of the people who were affected by it. Seven time-lapse cameras were used to capture the event, which is melded together with a soundtrack of crackling fire that’s all wind and clipped microphones.

“You cut my tongue, now only my heart speaks.”
- Tania Willard

Nikamowin is a fascinating 12-minute short from Director/Editor Kevin Lee Burton that asks the musical question, “What happens when you start speaking Cree?” D’arcy O’Connor is responsible for the intricate score/sound design, which is made up entirely of spoken words in the Cree language. While O’Connor’s linguistic soundscape unfolds with rhythmic cadence, Burton channels a little bit of Koyaanisqatsi, using both city and natural landscapes to illustrate the impressive sound collage. He also employs quite a bit of split screen, only he visually highlights the layers of Nikamowin’s complicated music by going horizontal—and using up to five images consecutively. The short was produced with cooperation from the Canada Council for the Arts. Read On at Scene-Stealers.com