i close my eyes and they disappear
Edmonton, 2011
6:00
Dir: Kyle Armstrong
Super 8, 16mm, HD video
Experimental
Young Audiences Program
Experimental filmmaker Kyle Armstrong describes this work as “a non-narrative dream film” that explores “the thin membrane between waking and sleeping”. He juxtaposes urban environments, in which artificial light is arguably the subject because of its inability to adequately penetrate the darkness around it, with naturally lit rural spaces, in which we can make out trees and fields, yet nothing is ever quite in focus. Images of intersections - bridges, crossroads, horizons, shorelines - recur. A hanging light bulb, swinging aimlessly, is caught by a hand and slowly turned towards the camera. What appears to be a mannequin head is finally consumed in flames. That dreams are remembered as visual experiences in spite of the fact that our eyes remain closed throughout them suggests that the mind’s eye, with all its flawed assumptions, is ultimately our chief organ of sight. Like Wilkinson-Blanc, Armstrong is exploring the use of DSLR equipment here, intercutting sequences shot on a High Definition SLR camera with hand altered 16mm and Super 8 footage. The soundtrack is from the B-side of Remove the Need, a cassette recording of two live, improvised guitar performances by experimental musician and producer Jim O’Rourke.
KYLE ARMSTRONG
Kyle Armstrong is an Edmonton-based filmmaker whose work is predominantly non-narrative in nature. He recently completed seven one-minute “post-consumer” films titled Revision: Decay as well as a no budget film that premiered on Pitchfork.tv for sound artist Mark Templeton. In 2010 he quit his job to spend a month in Winnipeg working on and directing short films for Guy Maddin’s Hauntings project. Kyle is currently in pre-production on an aurora borealis film with auroral scientist Dr. Trond Trondsen. Jim O’Rourke, who produced albums by Gastr Del Sol, Sonic Youth and Wilco, will score the new piece.
