The Trail to Koskimo, His First Hunt (excerpt) by Bill Brand

The Trail to Koskimo, His First Hunt by Bill Brand
1975, 16mm, color, 34 min
Picture are seen through a maze of swarming dots. Sometimes the dots form a screen, sometimes they are the substance of the picture. The soundtrack quotes excerpts from a 1930 Franz Boas text about a Kwakiutle Indian shaman. The story serves as a metaphor for the struggle of an image-maker while the picture chronicles the particular struggle of the filmmaker developing a new style. In the Boas text, a man relates his learning the ways of a shaman. Doubting the magic in the shaman's practice, he wants to understand the method in order to fin out the truth. he learns the secrets of his teachers but finds only tricks. he then travels to the village of Kiskimo to witness the curing of an old woman by a famous shaman. There the man uses his own tricks to cure the woman when the older shaman failed. The shaman is then fooled into admitting that the traditional practice consists only of tricks. This film is about the desire to master the magic of the image while following a path of doubt and skepticism.

Rental: $70.00
16mm Rental: $70.00

Category:

Film & Animation

Tags:

• experimental
• media