The Room of Chromatic MysteryThis program of short films by Arthur and Corinne Cantrill draws attention to the 'grain' of voices from many cultures, beginning with Adventure Playground - London in which the cries of children suggest how close humanity remains to the natural world.
Different kinds of indigenous Australian voices accompany Bouddi, shot in the bush near the New South Wales coast, and the slower-paced Two Women, inspired by a Pitjantjatjara song cycle telling of the journey of two ancestral beings along the MacDonnell Ranges. The Pause Between Frames and Ramayana/Legong follow the rhythms of Balinese music and dance.
Filmed a few years before the end of the Cold War, Notes on Berlin: The Divided City is among other things a record of the sound of the German language as spoken by different generations on both sides of the Iron Curtain, intercut with German music from the Baroque period to the twentieth century. Capricornia shows the natural beauty of the North Queensland rainforest overpowered by the gabble of tourism, while The Room of Chromatic Mystery generates a suggestive aural landscape from shortwave radio broadcasts mixed with other sounds including voices from earlier films.
The screening will be followed by a discussion with Dr Mark Nicholls (University of Melbourne), Clinton Green (Shame File Music), Jake Wilson (The Age) and Jim Knox (Outlands Ecoplex).
Screening:
Adventure Playground - London 6 mins, 1966
Bouddi 8 mins, 1970
Two Women 32 mins, 1980
The Pause Between Frames 4 mins, 1993
Ramayana/Legong 5 mins, 1995
Notes on Berlin: The Divided City 25 mins, 1986
Capricornia 20 mins, 2001
The Room of Chromatic Mystery 7 mins, 2006
