Escucha

A personal reflection on hands, the word "tear," and caring for oneself that experiments with sound, silence, and definitions.

Starting his new job as an instructor at a New England school for the deaf, James Leeds meets Sarah Norman, a young deaf woman who works at the school as a member of the custodial staff. In spite of Sarah's withdrawn emotional state, a romance slowly develops between the pair.

A tale of separation portrayed through a rift between image and sound.

A WWII paratrooper gets lost in a forest as the line between reality and memory begins to blur.

For an anxious person, being trapped on a boat with someone you don't like can be the tense. Stuck for hours afloat, nothing on the line, bad conversation, and cold winds as resentment rises. Both people chained to a rod and tackle because one won't speak up and admit that they want to go home.

A film featuring architect, sculptor, and musician Nobuo Kubota in a sound-sculpture performance. From within a cage-like structure filled with traditional musical instruments and sound-making devices fashioned from ordinary objects and toys, Kubota creates an aural/visual montage of musical notes and noises. Praised by music educators as a valuable tool for teaching creativity in sound exploration and musical innovation, the film reveals the infinite percussion possibilities of simple objects and presents a portrait of a versatile performer whose imagination has led him far beyond the confines of conventional music. Directed by Jonny Silver - 1982 | 20 min

A mysterious rumble splits the sky and reverberates in the middle of the forest. A man delves into its depths to discover its origin and answer the questions presented by the universe.

From high up in the glacier-carved mountains of Northern Spain, towards the Atlantic Ocean in the cities of Porto and V.N.Gaia in Northern Portugal. A journey through a river and through sound.

A Man discovers a bag in the middle of the wilderness. A tape is found inside which contains a recording of a mysterious sound. The next day he hears the sound for himself and decides to record it.

"A soundscape is any collection of sounds, almost like a painting is a collection of visual attractions," says composer R. Murray Schafer. "When you listen carefully to the soundscape it becomes quite miraculous." David New's portrait of the renowned composer becomes a lesson unto itself, gracing viewers (and listeners) with a singular moment of interactive subjectivity. This film was produced for the 2009 Governor General's Performing Arts Award.

See the sound of the noise.