1001 Lights - a multi-channel installation (2016)

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Distribution/sales: Mouvement Perpétuel

Distribution/sales: Mouvement Perpétuel

1001 Lights is conceived of as a large-scale video installation to reflect the intimate and life affirming quality of the Sabbath candle-lighting ceremony. One hundred participants from across Montréal’s varied Jewish community have been filmed sharing their practice. Brought together, these moments testify to the cultural and spiritual force of the candle-lighting experience.  The installation evokes a fluid and impressionistic mosaic of shared spiritual experience that draws and builds on the practitioner’s hand gestures and presence, an individual’s ritualized movement and tradition.

1001 Lights reveals a myriad of flames from lit candles appearing on multiple screens, interlayed with hypnotic and repetitive hand movements passing through the ritual of the Shabbat candle-lighting ceremony. The spectator will be immersed in the serenity and awe of the majestic light of the candles and the gentle and purposeful movements of the hands. In such an installation, the viewer is invited into an ambiance of contemplation, a place and time where the outside world momentarily takes a pause, giving time to reflect with these traces of humanity.

Under the guidance of choreographer Ami Shulman, a group of dancers and artists (Carol Prieur, Nancy Prieur, Linda Rabin, and Elizabeth Emberly) developed a choreographic hand dance based upon these candle-lighting traditions. The women’s age range spans generations – they are in their 30’s, 40’s, 60’s, and 70’s. These intimately filmed sequences serve as a central element within the installation.

The sound design for 1001 Lights is subdued and discrete, creating an atmosphere of harmony and texture that is mysterious and enigmatic, enriched in a surround sound environment.

Directed: Marlene Millar and Philip Szporer
Choreographer: Ami Shulman
Cinematographer: Michael Wees
Editor: Jules de Niverville
Sound design: Luc Papineau and Devon Bate
Produced by: Marlene Millar and Philip Szporer
Dance artists: Elizabeth Emberly, Carol Prieur, Nancy Prieur, Linda Rabin, Ami Shulman

Kind financial support provided by the Canada Council for the Arts (Dance on Screen Production Fund), and the Concordia University Part-Time Faculty Association (CUPFA) Professional Development Fund.


 
 
1001 Lights – trailer // Scintillements – bande annonce Three channel video installation, with binaural sound (white lines define screen division, for reference only) // Installation vidéo multicanales couleur, son ambiophonique, 15 min en boucle. Directed and Produced by/Réalisé et produit par: Marlene Millar & Philip Szporer, Mouvement Perpétuel. 1001 Lights is an impressionistic video installation conceived by filmmakers, Marlene Millar and Philip Szporer, revealing the intimate and life affirming quality of the Sabbath candle-lighting ceremony. Over the course of several months, 100 women of all ages from across Montreal's varied Jewish community were filmed sharing their spiritual practice. The installation consists of individually documented ceremonies playing in syncopation. This rhythm serves to unify the experience and encompass a diversity of expression. The transformative movement is projected on three screens in panoramic form and envelops the peripheral sides of the exhibition space. The narrative form oscillates between the quiet hushed resonance ignited by a single candlelight flame, and the fluid hand gesture choreography that elicits an emotive response to its layered meaning and tradition. The installation culminates into a hypnotic orchestration of ritualized shared experience. 1001 Lights provides an environment where time slows down and is altered. ————————————————————————————————————————————— L’installation impressionniste Scintillements, conçue par les cinéastes Marlene Millar et Philip Szporer, dévoile l’intimité de la cérémonie des bougies, lors du sabbat, véritable célébration de la vie. Pendant plusieurs mois, ils ont filmé une centaine de femmes de tous âges de la diverse communauté juive de Montréal en train d’accomplir ce geste rituel. L’installation vidéo présente donc de manière syncopée et simultanée diverses cérémonies particulières. Le rythme ainsi créé unifie l’expérience dans toute sa diversité d’expressions. Ces mouvements changeants sont projetés sur trois écrans panoramiques en périphérie de la salle. La forme narrative oscille entre la douce résonance distillée par la flamme vacillante d’une bougie et la chorégraphie fluide, axée sur les gestes des mains, interprétée par cinq danseuses contemporaines, qui propose une vision émouvante de cette tradition aux multiples couches de significations. L’installation constitue en somme une orchestration hypnotique de cette expérience rituelle. "Scintillements" offre une ambiance où le temps ralentit, se modifie... Scintillements se trouve à la convergence d’une réflexion à la fois intime et collective d’où jaillit une forme narrative illuminée par sa propre « chorégraphie » lyrique, ancrée dans la mémoire, mais échappant à la sentimentalité. Elle nous invite au cœur des fondements d’où la beauté surgit au fil d’une histoire qui illustre l’alliage complexe de choses vues, absentes, révélées ou remémorées. Produced with the kind support of the Canada Council for the Arts, Dance on Screen Production Fund, and the Concordia University Part-Time Faculty Association (CUPFA) Professional Development Fund. Remerciements au Conseil des arts du Canada (Fonds de production d’oeuvres de danse à l’écran), et Concordia University Part-Time Faculty Association (CUPFA) Professional Development Fund —————————————————————————————————————————————— Mouvement Perpétuel (Marlene Millar and Philip Szporer) - bio Co-founded by Marlene Millar and Philip Szporer, Mouvement Perpétuel is a Montréal-based award-winning media arts production company with a mandate to explore the endless possibilities of dance on screen, and is deeply committed to engaging new audiences and promoting cross-cultural understanding through their blend of documentary and art filmmaking. Mouvement Perpétuel reflète le profond engagement de Marlene Millar et de Philip Szporer, et leur volonté de promouvoir l’art et de susciter l’intérêt d’un public plus large par les voies du documentaire et du film expérimental.

15 min (continuous loop)