Last April, Spectacle presented EARTH/GRAIN/PIXEL, a selection of formally investigative, mesmerizing, and sci-fi-infused experimental shorts from emerging Brazilian filmmaker Leonardo Pirondi.
To celebrate the occasion of Pirondi and filmmaking partner Zazie Ray-Trapido’s upcoming screenings of WHEN WE ENCOUNTER THE WORLD among this year’s New York Film Festival Currents lineup, Spectacle will host a special one-night shorts showcase of the duo’s respective avant-doc ventures into the collision points between the analog, the cybernetic, and the world caught in between.
Both Pirondi and Ray-Trapido will be gracing the theater in the flesh on Friday, October 6th to present and discuss recent 16mm films, a world premiere, and exciting works in progress.
FRIDAY, 10/6 – 7:30 PM
NONA
dir. Zazie Ray-Trapido, 2022
USA. 6 mins.
A lush portrait of the filmmaker’s grandmother as she approaches her 90th decade and a marker of Ray-Trapido’s skills with collaborating with documentary “subjects,” NONA weaves together vibrant small-gauge tableaus to evoke a warm synergy between aging and blooming. Eva, the titular hero, provides a narration as compelling and distinct as the visuals make her out to be, ranging from her experiences as a Holocaust survivor to her eagerness to start the next chapter in her life.
SMPTE FOREST
dir. Leonardo Pirondi, 2023
USA. 3 mins.
A world premiere of the latest piece in Pirondi’s ongoing ALCHEMICAL VIRTUAL series of formalist micro-length shorts. In line with previous entries, SMPTE FOREST operates as a tech-minded haiku, creating lasting impressions through analog and digital hybridity. The filmmaker’s own description is worth citing here:
“iPhone video and SMPTE color bars were filmed on 16mm at 24fps. The digital overscan of the celluloid is played back at 0.24fps (1% of the original speed). The film is a sequence of 15-second shots in which the computer creates hundreds of frames sampling from three frames. It chooses how to build natural forms out of one of the standard test patterns of NTSC video created by The Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers.”
VISÃO DO PARAÍSO
(VISION OF PARADISE)
dir. Leonardo Pirondi, 2022
Brazil, UK, USA. 16 mins.
Connecting the search for the mythical island of Hy-Brazil off of the Irish coast in the late 15th Century to the race for imagined territories within today’s simulated worlds, VISÃO DO PARAÍSO presents a hypnotic investigation into the ideological underpinnings of unreal and surreal forms of cartographic landscapes through a myriad of inter-medial sources, such as colonial maps, video game time-lapses, and microscopic views of computer circuitry.
TWO WORKS IN PROGRESS
dirs. Leonardo Pirondi and Zazie Ray-Trapido, 20??
USA. 27 mins.