Symphonic Distress (2022)

 

SYNOPSIS

 

The music came first: a mixed contemporary piece by composer Yuliya

Zakharava, in which instrumentalist Pamela Reimer plays a piano score,

while also triggering prerecorded sequences and incorporating vocal

and percussive elements. Asked to provide a visual component for the

work, I was struck and conquered by its intensity and beauty from the

very first listen. Although both the music and the film are in themselves

apolitical and stateless, the wish to collaborate and the urgent impulse

to express ourselves through art have been exacerbated by the outbreak

of the Russo-Ukrainian conflict. The intention, therefore, while avoiding

any direct reference to war, is to tacitly evoke certain universal emotions

born out of its consequences: fear, suffering, outrage, vulnerability,

abnegation, hope.

 

TECHNICAL SUMMARY

 

Experimental short film / Music video • Runtime: 10:04 • 4K Video

Color / Black and white • Aspect ratio: 1,33:1 • Language: Silent film

 

CREDITS

 

Screenwriting, directing, photography, editing, production:

Marco Joubert

Composer: Yuliya Zakharava

Piano, voice, percussions: Pamela Reimer

Interpretation: Marie Tifo

Puppeteer: Alexandra Gorlin-Crenshaw

Extras / Hands: Marco Joubert, Pamela Reimer

Animals: Camouflage, Clara, Cosmos

With support from: