SYNOPSIS + STATEMENT

The music came first: a mixed contemporary piece by composer Yuliya Zakharava, in which instrumentalist Pamela Reimer plays a piano score, while also triggering prerecorded sequences and incorporating vocal and percussive elements. Asked to provide a visual component for the work, I was struck and conquered by its intensity and beauty from the very first listen. Although both the music and the film are in themselves apolitical and stateless, the wish to collaborate and the urgent impulse to express ourselves through art have been exacerbated by the outbreak of the Russo-Ukrainian conflict. The intention, therefore, while avoiding any direct reference to war, is to tacitly evoke certain universal emotions born out of its consequences: fear, suffering, outrage, vulnerability, abnegation, hope.

TECHNICAL SUMMARY

2022 • Experimental short film / Music video  • 10:04 •

4K video • Color + black and white • 1.33:1 • Silent film

CREDITS

Screenwriting, directing, photography, editing, production: Marco Joubert

Composer: Yuliya Zakharava

Piano, voice, percussions: Pamela Reimer

Interpretation: Marie Tifo

Puppeteer: Alexandra Gorlin-Crenshaw

Extras / Hands: Marco Joubert, Pamela Reimer

Animals: Camouflage, Clara, Cosmos

With support from: Canada Council for the Arts

VIEWING LINK

Watch Symphonic Distress on Vimeo

OTHER LINKS

Yuliya Zakharava's website

Pamela Reimer's website

Alexandra Gorlin-Crenshaw's website