What was the starting point for your film?
The film came from different thoughts and desires. Firstly, I've wanted to do something with Cynthia Loemij for a very long time. She's been a dancer with Rosas for eighteen years and I've always been really impressed with the speed and precision of her movement.
Secondly, my last film, Two Times 4'33", was based on John Cage's famous 'silent work'. It’s centred around what silence means in the cinema and how the viewer experiences this in his or her body. The second part of Two Times 4'33" is completely silent, whilst the camera slowly moves from the pianist to the audience sitting outside. After thinking more about what sound and silence mean for images and how sound makes a spacial experience for image, I wanted to do something with the absence of images and the presence of a body through the medium of sound.
Thirdly, there was also the use of 16mm film. The limitations of the length of a 16mm film roll (three or ten minutes) defined how the piece was filmed and therefore directly or indirectly influenced how time is experienced in the finished film; I find this endlessly fascinating. In this work the length of each shot was decided on in the context of a 16mm film roll of three minutes. These three things together form the origin of the idea for Dissonant.
Do you have any anecdotes about the making of the film?
The biggest problem was with the microphone, which I wanted to have on Cynthia's body to get a good recording of her breathing and other bodily sounds. What I didn't anticipate was that the microphone would come into contact with her clothes as she was moving and cause bad interference. The beautiful dress that Cynthia was wearing had to go because it made too much contact with the microphone. Myself, Cynthia and the sound-woman emptied our wardrobes and brought in all our shirts, dresses and skirts to try out and eventually discovered a very simple top and skirt that worked best for the sound. But it was a shame about the beautiful dress.
Is there anything you want to tell your audience before they see your film?
Go and see it, and above all listen to it.
What other projects are you working on?
I'm busy making a montage about the percussionist Robyn Schulkowsky. It's the third portrait in a triptych, in which the 1970's plays an important role. The other two films in the trilogy are Sylvia Kristel-Paris and Resonating Surfaces.