Screening followed by Q&A with the director
(2013) Norway. 54min.
Director: Saeed Taji Farouky
Another inspired entry into the evolving canon of documentary from award-winning Saeed Taji Farouky, '...Even That Void' follows the 2-week sailing voyage of twenty artists around the Arctic Islands. Ecological and artistic questions loom like glaciers over this starkly majestic, surreal production.
'...Even That Void' was shot over a two and a half week sailing voyage on a tall ship carrying twenty artists around Norway's remote Arctic islands. The documentary chronicles the bizarre, surreal and beautiful work of the artists, living aboard the ship, landing daily and making work in response to the extreme environment and innate poetry of the Arctic landscape. The film's narration is composed of audio interviews with the artists and the Director's reading of his lyrical expedition journals.
While the footage is real, the plot - inspired by the other-worldliness of the location and recent events in the director's own life - is fictional. The Director imagines the artists as a team of specialists sent on a mission in the near future to rebuild the Arctic environment after it has been decimated by global warming. With no master plan, maps or blueprints, each artist recreates the Arctic of his or her own memories, fears, desires and (flawed) expectations.
The film also features an experimental soundtrack. Under the musical direction of composer Joe Lewis, each track is written and produced by one of Norway's leading ambient artists, using no sounds other than manipulated and remixed field recordings collected during the expedition by pioneering Australian sound artist Daniel Blinkhorn.
What the Critics Are Saying:
"Highly original...I have high expectations for ...Even That Void."
Mikael Opstrup – Head of Stories, European Documentary Network
"Daring, original and stunning..."
Elizabeth Radshaw - Director, Hot Docs Forum & Market
"A wonderful re-invention of the eco genre...gives audiences a new vision and, just maybe, a new understanding of the Arctic wilderness.”
Simon Marriott, Jerwood Prize-winning artist
"...Even That Void looks gorgeous and will resonate with many at a time when the official notion of "environmentalism" as an "ism" is no longer working...The film's imagined future is dead on and I look forward to seeing what I'm sure will be a brilliant film."
Maude Barlow – Environmentalist, best-selling author and Chair of Council of Canadians
"...beautiful footage"
Michael Marshall Smith (Science Fiction writer, author of Spares)
"The documentary is beautifully shot and ladled with atmospheric images."
Lucy Morris - Dazed Digital