OFFICIAL SELECTION: UNIVERSITY AND VOCATIONAL STUDENTS

Theme: Human Connection

Directed by Alexander Fingrutd

Country of Origin: United States of America

Hand processed 16mm film, clear leader, carbon dust, splicing tape, book plates from “The Chain of Life in Geological Time,” astronomical images from the ESO, and a sound collage of natural and man-made audio sources.

Living things are interconnected through their underlying carbon based structure. Carbon Dust symbolizes the elemental commonality between living things and nonliving organic material. They share the same basic carbon component. The film goes from formless microcosmic enlargements of dust, navigating the multitudes of life through time, to macrocosmic source-returning star-travel. The cycle of life is depicted from cosmic birth to cosmic return.

Carbon dust was directly applied to the film and adhered to the surface. Raw carbon material is examined up close. The film is a meditation on a substance which we are largely composed of. The dust serves as a microscopic representation of the cosmos and star formation. The dust that was once a part of a billion year old organism is forever recycled from one life form to the next. We follow the path of this dust through all the variety of life it has been a part of.

Credits
Director - Alexander Fingrutd