Wednesday, July 8th, 2009
We are doing an amazing piece of music for the Queensland Music Festival in Pomona (1 August ) at the fabulous Majestic Theatre; and in Brisbane on Sunday 2 August in the Powerhouse Theatre. The composition will be freshly composed to film footage that has been specially edited for this project. The film is from old home movies showing amazing images from our past.. more info on our ’shows’ page.
Tags: QMF, Queensland at home, shows
July 8th, 2009 at 2:36 pm
Rob’s comments on this project:
Film capsules of families and street scenes breathe life into long forgotten places and moments. Looking at the pieces of film that Sally has put together, one is transported in time and to very familial and familiar situations. I find it quite magical to look into the faces of people living long ago, projecting oneself into their scene and imagining it taking place in the present. The things we all have in common include a sense of family history, through looking at old photos or home movies and that feeling of curiosity about how places we know looked in the past, and about how much both unites and divides our experience. I find it riveting to experience these slices of memory, reminding myself of life’s fragility and brevity, and calling me back to live in the present, savouring each moment.
In composing for film, I become aware of the pace and empathy of the images, but I also experience a sense of renewal with each new image. Many of these images have never been shown publicly, and have been locked in vaults until now; I find this inspires a fresh approach to composing. I am inspired by many other composers in my work, but in particular, I connected to my own familiar daily life in this piece. Bringing a feeling of home into the music has made it welcoming and comfortable, but very honest and uncomplicated, too. There are moments of joy, melancholy and some strong emotion in this piece, too.
July 8th, 2009 at 2:38 pm
Sally Golding of The State Library is making the film..
Her comments:
The process of reviewing and selecting these slivers of silver screen memories was informed by the sense of ‘evocation’ or ‘apparition’ that the images themselves seemed to suggest once woven together. The passage of time is an obvious window to allow these wonky, dusty personal memories to begin a new life, but exactly how they operate as an essay film is serendipitous and also a kind of trickery upon the viewer via the process of directing them to ‘see’. It is also concurrent with the fragmentation of memory, the mind affected by time, and the forging of ‘false memories’.
Entirely chemical and physical, film is a beautiful ghostly medium that oddly enough seems so intangible to so many within the current digital age, and sadly it is also the perfect medium for the processes of time to work their destructive magic. Other people’s memories, moments that should have been forgotten by many but remembered dearly by only a few, home movies and amateur footage are an unbelievable trove of historic insights and tales.