Film for Invisible Ink, Case No. 142: Abbreviation for Dead Winter [Diminished by 1,794]
- David Gatten |
- 2008 |
- 13 minutes |
- B&W |
- SOUND
Rental Format(s): 16mm film
A single piece of paper, a second stab at suture, a story three times over, a frame for every mile. A long-distance dedication for a far-away friend half-way up the mountain, with words by Charles Darwin.
He painted the mountain over and over again
from his place in the cave, agape
at the light, its absence, the mantled
skull with blue-tinted hollows, wren-
like bird plucking berries from the fire
her hair alight and so on
lemon grass in cafe in clear glass.
Dearest reader there were trees
formed of wire, broad entryways
beneath balconies beneath spires
youthful head come to rest in meadow
beside bend in gravel road, still
body of milky liquid
her hair alight and so on
successive halls, flowered carpets and doors
or the photograph of nothing but pigeons
and grackles by the shadow of a fountain.
- "Dearest Reader" by Michael Palmer, from First Figure
"Brooklyn filmmaker David Gatten's FILM FOR INVISIBLE INK, CASE NO. 142: ABBREVIATION FOR DEAD WINTER FROM HIS INVISIBLE INK (DIMINISHED BY 1,794) is a physical abstraction of text from Charles Darwin's On the Origin of Species, a cinematic rumination of the absence of words... It is impossible to know the specific import of this film without context but no background information is necessary, however, to appreciate its glittering, flickering kaleidoscopic aesthetic. It's like seeing tree branches through dying eyes." -Livia Bloom, Filmmaker Magazine