SYNOPSIS + STATEMENT

Constructed around selected passages from a Charles Bukowski poem, Sometimes a Soul illustrates how recontextualizing archival material can lead to new, unusual resonances. Here, the presence of the contemporary technological ecosystem is only reservedly implied, yet this ghostly implication provides a background against which the poet's words acquire coarse relief, hinting at the sociological impact of technologically-induced human irrelevance. Formally, the piece explores strategies of hypermediacy and self-remediation, superimposing two modified versions of the same project-specific, self-portraiture, 4K digital video source material: a frame by frame reshoot of its digital projection using a 16mm film camera, and a digital video reshoot of its transmission on a cathode-ray tube monitor. Sometimes a Soul further explores the textural possibilities and specificities of digital video, by experimenting with deliberately induced interlace artifacts.

Sometimes a Soul exists both as a standalone piece, and as one of twelve vignettes composing What Makes Us Human.

TECHNICAL SUMMARY

2023—2025 • Experimental short film • 01:52 • 4K video + Full HD video + 16mm film •

Black and white + color • 1.78:1 • English

CREDITS

Concept, images, sound design: Marco Joubert

Narration: maya rae oppenheimer

Sampled text: Charles Bukowski

Sampled music: John Chowning and Thomas DeLio

With support from: Fonds de recherche du Québec