A film by Nik Sheehan
Reprinted from: http://www.spotlighttoronto.com/musings/?p=2443
The “light fantastic” takes on a whole new meaning in director Nik Sheehan’s phantasmagoric FLicKeR – the story of an artist who invented a drug-free way to achieve altered states of mind – through dancing pulses of light. The feature was produced by Maureen Judge of indie production company Makin’ Movies Inc.
FLicKeR, which was awarded a Special Jury Prize for a Canadian Documentary at the 2008 Hot Docs Festival and has wowed audiences at festivals in Canada
Featuring greats like William S. Burroughs and Brion Gysin (in archival footage), singer Marianne Faithfull, rocker Iggy Pop, Sonic Youth guitarist Lee Ranaldo, singer/artist Genesis P-Orridge of Psychic TV, poet John Giorno, filmmaker Kenneth Anger, and artist/turntablist DJ Spooky, FLicKeR is a hypnotic documentary that asks fundamental questions about an individual’s freedom to dream and create.
The concept is simple – a bright light is placed inside a rotating cylinder with patterned holes until a pulse of between 8-13 Hz is achieved. This is the exact frequency of alpha waves in the brain – the brain waves associated with creativity and dreaming. Subjects report seeing shapes and images, sometimes full-blown hallucinations.
Gysin saw his machine as a replacement for the television and the cinema, where everyone could make “their own spiritual movies.” It was to be “the drugless high.” He and his friends tried to market the machine, attempting to place it in every suburban living room. The forces of control soon put a stop to their plans, but the dream machine continues to intrigue everyone who encounters it.
Gysin was involved with the Paris surrealist artists of the 30s, worked in counter-espionage in WWII, and saw himself as a reincarnation of a 10th Century King of the Assassins. His friendship with Brian Jones of the Rolling Stones led to the wide influence of Moroccan Jajouka music, a major influence on rock musicians.
FLicKeR has played to wide critical acclaim at the following festivals: Hot Docs, Atlantic International Film Festival, Vancouver International Film Festival, Corona Cork Festival, Leipzig International Documentary Festival, Sheffield Documentary Festival, and Copenhagen International Festival. San Francisco Weekly critic Michael Fox called it a “rare documentary that jumps beyond informative and entertaining into the realm of mind-expanding, FLicKeR blends revelatory biography, energizing philosophy, and seductive trances.”
KINOSMITH is an independent Canadian film distribution & marketing company founded in February 2007 by distribution veteran Robin Smith. With a mandate to bring critically-acclaimed Canadian and international films to audiences across the country, the company also provides marketing advice to productions in development and in the can. Its current roster of theatrical releases includes: Up The Yangtze; Tuya’s Marriage; Alice’s House; All Together Now; and The Tiger’s Tail. Upcoming releases include Triage: Dr. James Orbinski’s Humanitarian Dilemma; Ballast; FLicKeR; Confessions Of A Porn Addict; and The Art Star And The Sudanese Twins. http://www.kinosmith.com/
Opens in Toronto
The Bloor Cinema
506 Bloor Street West
The Bloor Cinema
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment