Producer – Director : Gil TAWS
Director of the photography : Lubomir Backchev

Original : Super 35 mm
Theater print: BetaSP
Running time: 11 minutes
Film Gauge: 1:2.35

Click here to view the embedded video.

The film is shot in Skaftahreppur a district of Iceland situated in the south of the islande. A part of the film was also shot in Reykjavik. Skaftahreppur is a special district since a large part of it is covered by lava that is originated by the Lakagigar eruption. This has greatly influenced the landscape but also the people living there and consequently the film and the shooting.

The director of the photography is Lubomir Backchev (La graine et le mulet, L’esquive).
The music is improvised by Skuli Sverrisson, recorded in New-York. Skuli Sverrisson is an Icelandic bass player. His music is profound and clear.
Both men have done a amazing work.

walking in a dream

“Sister of tears
Sister of angers,
you are the hidden beauty
of flowers.”

The entire poem (french) :

Pure exaltation
Exaltation pure
Clair, diffusant dans les airs
Le parfum des stellaires
Petite sœur,
De colère et de pleurs
Tu es la beauté
cachée
Des fleurs
Leur bonheur
Leur humeur,
Décalant le monde
Vers le gris et le bleu
Décalant le monde
De tes marées, supportant,
Les vent dominants
De ta voix
De ton chant
De ta soie
Du battement
De tes doigts
Sur les toits.

The old car

The kiss

Held this idea in my mind for years but did not have the means to make it come to life. I have been working in my lab for months and I start to feel the strain of  this reclusion on my spirit, my and my body.
Yet, I feel stronger than ever before.
I started by building the skeleton in the heart of wintertime.
Bone by bone.
I should have finished soon because I already have glimpse of flesh in my day dreams and nightmares. I can´t wait for that, can´t wait to see if this multi-pieced body will shine with harmony and if it will inspire pity and distrust. But what I fear the most and what has been sucking energy out of my brain like a parasite is the absolute despair that I will face if my  Creature will have no soul.

05/07/10

I gave “it” a name : The Vertical Theory. It is an old one and is not definitive but this will be the name of the skeleton.
I gave myself two objectives :
finish the skeleton before the end of the summer.
finish the flesh before the end of the winter.
The autumn is going to be the moment of transition, the place where waters come together.
Yesterday, I did progress well, adding an important join to the legs : an unknown man is horse-riding to the group, event that insufflates fear and panic in the group and that will ultimately set thing in motion again.
I got in the evening, striking shocks as clear as melted ice.  The last image that came to me was the mother and her baby in the shelter cave drinking dripping water while waiting for the air outside to clear.

12/07/10

I have placed an important piece of the structure yesterday; Realizing hours latter how of a central and strategic position it was situated. From now on, the story is going to bend,  things that were still should go into motion, things that were being built in the shadows should come to light and the daemons that hide underwater will tear up the surface.Yes, I did have a central piece and this is one more step forward to the end.

From the horizon, a man is horse riding toward them. This event is frightening because of its lack of explanation and reason. Two sub-groups are created : the one that want to talk to this stranger and other that want to reject him for he is, to them, death. Ultimately, he will be the grain of sand that will disturb and breaks hell loose. He is now making he first steps towards them with a way out to freedom and life.

14/07/10

My work has been drastically slowing down until I realized that at this stage of the conception, the distance between the join should be increased. That make perfect sens, longer bone for the lower part of the body, with a reduction of the size towards the end. I am entering a new area of the story. It is a valuable assets to get  this precept.

I have also now a clear map of the geography :

21/07/10

Yestarday, a friend of mine send me a warning  : “beware of the villagers with their nasty forks and shovels“. I did follow her advice and when night fell down, I put all lights to death, double check the locks and stayed home, working far into the night with only one candle. I could not go to sleep since, that day, was an extremely creative one. Major ideas took shapes in my thoughts and where cascading in my mind for many hours. The strength of the process, the load of the work created high tensions in my body and I force myself into rest today so as to be be more efficient tomorrow. Before laying down, I ventured outside and did not see anything abnormal, seems like nobody was around during the night. I met with the priest and did not feel any tension in him.

I think I am safe to keep on…

Before humanity was born, there was no word.
Things, beeings, were uncathegorized, everything was one.
But slowly, shouts, murmurs, complains became words.
Words became identities, carrying there own meaning,
like cells carry their own genetical informations.

Words were alive, words were dying.

None of those native words reached us. It is of course possible to find some traces of them. If we would have been archaeologists, we could have excavated some words, and maybe find the remnants of them. Fossilized words.

But recently, one of them arrived to us.

He was alive, with flesh and bones, with a voice, with a spirit.
He is alive with flesh, bones, voice, spirit.
The first word ever spoken that meant anything and everything
at the same time.

12/14/05

My eyes feel green is the fourth chapter of the Rain Cycle.

First shots of the movie

(Poême trouvé rue des Erables –15/01)

Une plume

Glisse sur la soie du silence

Penses

A moi.

Un étang

Contemple le vol

D´une plume chutant

Sans voix

Un nuage d´acide

Pense ses première gouttes

S´écrasant sur la voûte

Liquide

Un oiseau

Trace

Un horizon

De glace

L´hivers

Flaire le printemps

Précoce et volant

L´hivers

N´est qu´un frère du vent

Le printemps, l´amant

Chantant, tournant

Au grès

Des vents.

Over the years so many people tried to make us believe that the value of a film was the number of people who saw it, the benefits it generated and the awards it had. Because cinema was not a craft but an industry. We were never told that our movies could be legends.

We could be adventurers, craftmen and kings at the same time.

Now dear readers, I would like to share with you one of my day dreams. I was a King of modern days. My kingdom was large and prosperous. I had made for my son, not the most beautiful sword but the most beautiful film. It was created to accompany him during life’s battles. When sadness would try to drown him into its darkness, the film would shine into him and light up the path to the shore. When ghosts of the past would come and try to enlarge his heart’s wounds, the film would be there to defeat this invisible army. It would act like a sword and a shield at the same time.

He would give the film to his son, who would give it to his son and the film would travel from generation to generation till it disappeared and became legend.

A movie can be a sword.

When I decided to have this movie created, I knew that it should be like a sword. A straight and double-edged movie which could cut at once the head of its owner’s doubts.

Long to be powerful but short enough to leave its owner with a necessary degree of freedom. The film should be light to allow speed and versatility of the owner spirit. It should be made of the finest material, for time to flow smooth over it.

When I opened my eyes, I realized two things:

Firstly that my film could be a sword for a king, that another one could be a beautiful dress, a shelter for the one spirit who suffers.

My film could be everything but a film.

Secondly, I realized that I could make a film for a single person, and a single person could watch it. It would not decrease its value, or alter its nature.

Excalibur was one and only one, owned by one and only one man.

My movie does not have to be seen by as many people as possible.

It does not have to make money or go to markets and get prices.

The reason is simple: because talking to one man or a million men is the same. Like the straw of grass contains the whole universe.

A single human being contains the whole humanity.

Nagnu thus rules.

Giil Taws