I am working on a film combining an old home movie (the last time my grandfather celebrated my grandmother’s birthday, when I was six years old) and a new one: a performance executed by my mother. I asked her to plant some seeds in the garden of her family, where flowers used to be.
I decided to film another video on May 23th, exactly 21 years later, since I also wanted to analyze the old home movie scenes to prepare the new ones, in order to get something more coherent. Here are some shots from the actual footage and the brief script.
0:00-00:17
Giardino retro
zoom su sedie e alberi – zoom su cibo tavola e zia (sotto gazebo)
00:17- 0:30
Cancello ripreso da giardino retro
arriva zia, zoom
00:31-00:52
giardino retro
zoom su costanza, parla e cammina,
zoom su Maurizio, zoom sx su zio prepara cibo
00:52-1:22
giardino retro
zoom su zie, cibo, tavola (sotto gazebo), ripresa semi
circolare (180 gradi avanti 180 indietro) stando ferma sotto gazebo
1:22-1:47
giardino retro, rose della galleria delle rose, zoom, dx, sx senza zoom,
gazebo interno
1:47-2:00
giardino retro, corridoio erboso prima delle rose visto da gazebo, nonna,
2:00.-2:28
tavolo sotto gazebo, vari zoom su tavola e persone, dx, sx, zoom a caso su
albero
2:29-3:03
nonni mangiano sotto gazebo, zoom, dx, sx
3:03-3:48
Costanza nel prato sul retro zoom avanti e indietro
3-48-4:10
mangiano sotto gazebo, zoom
4:10-12:12
Costanza nel prato, mangiano sotto il gazebo, torta, foto
12:14-11:06
giardino davanti, sedie, io nonno e costanza merenda, nonna, fiori
16 minuti:
camera ferma: ripresa di giardino dietro da metà cortile
camera ferma: ripresa su cancello e giardino
camera ferma: ripresa giardino davanti da metà cortile
camera ferma: pozzo, gazebo, laghetto
camera ferma: lavandino esterno, arriva m che riempie annaffiatoio
camera ferma: vaso cemento, arriva m che scava e pianta
camera ferma: sotto palme, m scava e pianta
camera ferma: palme, ripresa dal basso
While I was working on and thinking about this project I suddenly reminded what may have influenced me: in 2015 I saw “Ashes”, a touching mockumentary by Steve McQueen at Venice Biennale, two screens on the same panel were showing on a side a home movie portraying a young boy and, on the other one, the documentation of the construction of his tomb. Another work that inspired me is “Third memory”, a film by Pierre Huyghe; a work on the complex link between re-enactment and the lability of memory.