Daïchi Saïto: earthearthearth (35mm)

earthearthearth takes the majesty of the Andes mountain range in Chile as the starting point of an otherworldly journey. Across the film’s thirty minute duration, Daïchi Saïto continually shifts our view of the rocky landscape as colour, tone and presence are manipulated through 16mm analogue filmmaking techniques—including hand-processing, optical and contact printing, solarisation, cross-processing and bi-packing, to name a few. The film’s swirling, psychedelic visuals are married to a beautifully undulating soundtrack by saxophonist Jason Sharp, led by emphasis on the composer’s own biorhythms (principally breathing and heartbeat). The body, just like the earth, is an important home for each of us. Through this evocative work, Saïto and Sharp equate both of these homes with the physical medium of celluloid film.

Produced through strictly analogue processes—captured on 16mm, edited on film and blown-up to 35mm—earthearthearth is here exhibited as the artist has intended, through 35mm projection. earthearthearth was commissioned as part of the Media City Film Festival project UNDERGROUND MINES, supported by the Canada Council for the Arts.