Material #44 - Through film
Strengthening the bonds between interior and exterior worlds
At a recent showing of short documentaries by young filmmakers, one advised the (also mostly young) audience to trust in bringing their own unique perspective. “Even if you think you have nothing interesting to contribute, you do,” she said. “Try walking outside, and notice how you respond to something, and there will be a story there”.
The documentaries conveyed perspectives and experiences from multiple unique viewpoints. The loss of a father, who was represented throughout by his empty pair of sneakers. Sight-impaired teenagers experiencing a fairground in Bhopal, India. An animation about postpartum depression, a window into the world of teen punk bands.
Of course each short film is “about” much more than those subjects, described here in bite-sized phrases. They are experience refracted through film (and through hours of planning, and recording, and drawing - in the case of the animations - and reflecting, and editing, and editing again!).
One of the takes on “material” that grounds my work is that “everyone has unique material that they bring to the table.” Stories, whether shared orally, in writing, through photography or through film, distill that material and make it shareable with others. As more and more of the content we consume is repeated, copied, amplified, over and over, the art of taking time to generate utterly new material, to bring interior understandings of the world out into the open, as the young filmmaker recommended, gains in importance.
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Through 2024, It’s Material is sharing one use of the word “material” each week, on Tuesdays (sometimes Wednesdays!)