SILT GIVES MUSICIAN A BOOST
For Natural Sympathies’ debut album, Porous, Regina synth-pop artist Amber Goodwyn commissioned eight local filmmakers to produce videos for each of her seven songs.
The videos are screening sequentially at Silt Studio on Friday night to kick off the album release party, which also includes a performance and glam-themed dance party.
The films will also be unveiled on Youtube, one a day, starting Friday.
“In the spring, I applied for funding and didn’t think I would get it, because it’s sort of like a bonkers project to make an experimental, episodic, feminist, sci-fi musical,” said Goodwyn. But that’s exactly what she wrote in her Saskatchewan Arts Board application.
The films follow a loose narrative, about an extraterrestrial named Natural Sympathies, whose spaceship crashes on Earth. She learns about her new surroundings while journeying to fix and fuel her ship (an “amazing” gold and pink set piece created by visual artist Zoe Schneider).
“It’s an experimental narrative, so it was never intended to ... follow classical film logic,” said Goodwyn. “Our aim is less to tell a classical story than it is to make visual poetry.”
The filmmakers each adopted a different style. Adrienne (Sunny) Adams used paper animation; Elian Mikkola used digital and analog photography techniques; Ania Slusarczyk shot on black and white Super 8; Eric Hill and Evie Ruddy each made films in saturated colour.
Ian Campbell, Mike Rollo and Kyath Battie were the other filmmakers. Natural Sympathies’ backup dancers are among the characters: The Mutual Affection are Avianna Hudym, Jenelle Jakobsen, Caitlin Mullan, Meghan Trenholm and Shayna Stock.
They will perform following the film screening, which starts Friday, at 9:30 p.m. at Silt Studio. Doors open at 8 p.m. The theme of the evening is “glam” (open to interpretation). Admission is a suggested $10 to $20, with proceeds split equally among the artists.
Tickets can also be bought in advance at siltstudio.com. Five spots are reserved for people who can’t afford entry; inquire at naturallysympathetic@gmail.com.