Here’s something going on this week that you can only catch only two places in the world: at Vrijplaats Middelstegracht in Leiden, Netherlands and at the Good Shepherd Center here in Wallingford.
The Drone Cinema Film Festival, now in its third year, showcases cutting-edge, ethereal works of drifting beauty that bring sonic drones into the visual realm. This year’s festival,whose theme is GOLD, takes place again at Vrijplaats in Leiden, Netherlands, as well as a brand new location in Seattle, Washington. Cascone said about the new Seattle location, “We had to find a larger venue due to having standing room only at last year’s festival. The Good Shepherd Center Chapel in Seattle is a wonderful setting for this year’s film festival.”
What is Drone Cinema? Drone Cinema draws its inspiration from a wide range of sources, from the mid-century experimental films of Stan Brakhage and Jordan Belson, the hurdy-gurdy used in Early Music, the tambura of Indian music, to the minimalist drones of La Monte Young and Terry Riley and the recent film genre called SlowCinema. Drone Cinema filmmakers offer their vision of what sonic drones look like.
Drone Cinema filmmakers transmute sonic drones into moving images. Cascone refers to Drone Cinema as “transcendigital” media. “Transcendigital media is conjured through active imagination instead of being driven by software,” Cascone said. A member of the audience at the first festival in Leiden commented: “Drone cinema is a lot like the visions I have in a flotation tank.”
You can catch the Drone Cinema Festival Saturday, April 22nd at 7:30 pm on the 4th floor of the Good Shepherd Center (4649 Sunnyside Ave. N). Suggested donation is $5 – $15 at the door. There will be an opening musical act, bitės (Stuart Arentzen, Marc Laurick, Stuart McLeod), as well. Should you choose to attend the Leiden, Netherlands performance, instead, it starts at 20:00 CET, and admission is €5.