Directed by Jaimz Asmundson

Logline: A process-based, experimental film about loss, and the parallel between memory and the physical self: how it evolves, degrades and disintegrates.

Synopsis: Structured around the recollection of a premonitory dream, fragmented memories from the period leading up to the death of the filmmaker's mother were projected on to natural textures and surfaces, re-photographed, composited and processed until the memories became abstracted representations of the evolution, degradation and disintegration of memory and the physical self.

Distribution Contact: WFG

More Details

RUNTIME: 6 Minutes
GENRE: Experimental
PRODUCTION FORMAT: 16mm, HD
LANGUAGE: English
LOCATION: Manitoba
TECHNIQUES: Hand Process (col), Optically Printed
KEYWORDS: Portrait, Spirituality, Death, Dream, Hand Processed, Mother, Fragment, Texture, Composite, Surface, Memory, Decay

Director's Statement: For this project, fragmented memories from the period of my life leading up to my mother's death were projected on to various textures and surfaces found in nature in exotic locations in both Iceland and Canada. Much like what will happen with my own memories of my mother, the projected images become more fragmented and decayed over time, as the surfaces and textures obstruct the images and add new details.
With this process, ""I attempted to capture the internal struggle we all experience with loss, while also attempting to give a beautiful tribute to someone who was very dear to me. I am sharing these moments of my life with nature as a way of giving my mother new life: as a part of the earth and part of my film, by capturing these ghostly images to a new physical record, which will not be forgotten, but will degrade in its own way over time: becoming more fragile and beautiful.

Once these moments had been projected over new surfaces and reshot, I once again projected the digital footage on 16mm film which was first edited, composited and layered. I then worked with the 16mm footage using a variety of darkroom processes such as contact printing, solarization and hand-processing. This footage was then transferred to 2K digital video, edited and finally blown up to 35mm with surround sound. This final process took these fragmented memories and transformed them into a poetic record of this difficult time in my life. In the final film, the footage/memories became integrated with the earth and organic elements as it became a new living document of memory and my attempt to understand my mother who suffered from mental illness.