Countdown to FILMADRID: VR ~ Mysteries of the Horizon
It's a reference to an obscure Yugoslavian film
Starting in 2019, I had four video essays selected by FILMADRID and MUBI spread out over a period of four years. As I anticipate my experience at the fest this month, I’m going to repost those four video essays here.
Here’s the fourth one:
Steven Spielberg’s 2022 autobiographical film The Fabelmans introduced the world to John Ford, as played by David Lynch, a veteran director who gives young Spielberg a crucial piece of filmmaking advice: “Where’s the goddamn horizon?!”
As I embarked on a long-awaited trip to Death Valley in 2023, I wanted to follow in the footsteps of Ford. But his advice was met with a cinematic catch-22 when it came to filming in VR 180. While Ford expressed disdain for framing the horizon in the middle, I encountered obstacles that prevented me from composing along the rule of thirds, which meant my first forays into virtual reality were exploratory, to put it kindly.
Me photographing Sidewinder Canyon with my rented Canon VR camera.
Wild at Heart (1990) dir. by David Lynch
This playful video essay riffs on the significance of photographing the horizon, with examples from the filmographies of Spielberg, Lynch and Ford to support this now-ubiquitous admonishment from the legendary picture-maker. Ford’s celluloid lesson is not wholly applicable to VR, but as I juxtapose this contemporary format with the traditional films of my heroes, the wonder of cinematic discovery is shared.
While this brings my Countdown to FILMADRID series to a close, it also opens the door for a future project that has been in the works for at least five years. That is, Zabriskie Point of Departure, the virtual reality film that birthed the video essay mentioned in this post.
Saturn Devouring His Son (1820-1823) Francisco Goya.
While as a sundry metaphor it’s less apt than over the top, Goya’s gruesome masterpiece is applicable in this situation in a couple of ways. One, the original painting is housed in the Prado Museum, which I am poised to vist this week while in Madrid. Two, if ZPOD is Saturn it did indeed devour its son. VR~ Mysteries of the Horizon sprung out of a larger project that is still forming on the page. This video essay was ready first, and for that reason, ZPOD cannot forgive it. If people want to discover this rollicking video essay, it will always be available on my YouTube channel, as well as MUBI’s since it had its international premiere at FILMADRID in 2023.
Now for my next trick, another world premiere at FILMADRID, only this time, not on MUBI’s channel. They never gave a reason why, I just know that my new work, Quantum McFly will screen publicly at La Casa Encendida in Madrid on 6/15 at 12:30pm. However, it will not be on MUBI’s YouTube channel. I could speculate that because of the political subject matter, MUBI didn’t want to touch it. Leave it to my friends at FILMADRID to screen it nevertheless, knowing I will be present.
As I sit at the computer, tired, ever more tired thinking about all the prep I have to do before I leave tomorrow, I remember something about air travel. It all happens in stages. I just need to get from one stage to next, and then I will be pushed along until eventually I reach my destination. I have a swell of guilt in me for not learning more Spanish. But there is still time to master some basic phrases. I would love to learn the word for ‘tomorrow’. Because that is what I will be looking forward to every day until it is time to leave.