Still Here
2000, 16mm

Still Here was based on an excerpt from a poem by Rainer Maria Rilke:

“…If you are still here with me, if in this darkness
There is still some place where your spirit resonates
On the shallow sound waves stirred up by my voice:
Hear me; help me. We can so easily
Slip back from what we have struggled to attain,
Abruptly, into a life we never wanted;
Can find that we are trapped, as in a dream,
And die there, without ever waking up…”

The story revolves around a cellist struggling to compose a piece in memory of a lost lover. The presence of the deceased in memory and dream slowly evokes the lines of music.

Origin
2001, 16mm
Running Time: 5 min.

Film Synopsis
Origin explores the philosophical problem of nothingness through animated drawings and alternative film techniques. It juxtaposes sensual forms and fractal patterns in an open mode of visual representation. The presence of the artists hands within the frame reference the filmmaker and his attempt to find meaning at the junction of science and art.

Production History
The script for Origin evolved from sketches and prose. Beautifully illustrated, Origin was first a work of art on paper and later a film. The driving force of Origin was an attempt to visualize the question of beginnings. What are living things before their life begins? The film moved easily from the illustrated script into the film itself. Using a wide range of techniques including cell animation, rotoscoping and stop motion the concepts and drawings were playfully brought to life. The goal was to create as much of the film with my own hands as possible. Many of the shots in the film where taken with my left hand while my right hand performed the action in the shot. The narrative in this sense is evidence of the mode of production.