It’s October, and here in Victoria that means it’s time for the Antimatter [media art] film and media art festival. One of the movies screening at the fest this year is from Los Angeles-based filmmaker Zhuoyun Chen; Only If You Could See a View Above the Clouds is inspired from a difficult period of transition in her life.
“I collected these images because I was coming out of a long-term relationship, and during that relationship my ex-boyfriend would always say I’m a person who has really delayed emotions, like whenever he was trying to communicate with me emotionally it’s like speaking to a rock surface… and I think that really stayed in me,” says Chen. “And I think after the breakup I was going through a very difficult period of time, and there was also the pandemic, but I spent a lot of my time going on hikes alone and it was amazing, it was like spending time with myself in nature and going to places, and that’s also why there are a collection of rock images in the film. And I think with that, in the back of my head, I think I created this film. I guess the main theme in this film is more just like, visual or emotional feedback to whatever I was going through during that specific period of time in my head.”
Chen says that she originally planned for Only If You Could See a View Above the Clouds to be a part of longer project.
“[The film] initially was for a longer piece,” says Chen. “I’m currently working on another film, and this black and white Only If You Could See a View Above the Clouds, it was made for part of this longer piece. But when I was filming last year I realized that this piece, it’s more of a narrative, experimental film, and my thoughts have been changing and I realized that maybe I could come up with a different narrative or a different film based on all the black and white images that I collected. So, [for] this film I used all the black and white footage that I shot for this current film that I’m working on, and I came up with more of an emotional rollercoaster piece.”
Some of the visual effects of the film were challenging as well, says Chen, as was dealing with the emotional process of putting the film together.
“Most of the special effects in the film were done in camera and with optical printer,” she says. “And there is one shot that is actually done in computer, it was also an accident. I wanted a specific effect, and I was trying it out on my computer. It’s the shot of the tree towards the end of the film, and I really liked it. I also tried to do it physically… and it didn’t come out very well, so I thought, ‘Why not?’… I think emotionally maybe when I was editing the film I had to put a lot of emotions into assembling the footage together.”
Chen says that the only expectation she has for the short film is for viewers to have an immersive experience.
“I don’t really have a specific expectation, to be honest,” says Chen. “I know it’s a relatively abstract film, even for me… I think experimental films, there’s rarely a narrative within the film, everything is pretty visual. And maybe there is a sense of atmosphere you can feel. It’s pretty cryptic also, so I don’t have a specific explanation, really.”
Antimatter [media art]
Various times, until Saturday, November 25
Various prices and venues
antimatter.squarespace.com