Epitaph, 45 mins, 16 mm/DCP – work in progress
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Shot in Chile and at the Tablelands in Canada, Epitaph reflects on the constant movement of the tectonic plates and the effect on personal geographies over time.
The starting point is the filmmaker’s father’s childhood home in Chile, which remains in the family still today, but will inevitably be lost with the passage of time. The house is located in a region of Chile that has the largest earthquakes in the country, within a country that has the largest earthquakes in the world. This forever creates narratives of destruction and re-building within personal family histories and in the stories that are carried over from one generation to the next. The earthquakes are caused by the active collision of the comparatively young oceanic Nazca plate, with the older continental South American plate just off-shore. Over time, the tectonic movement will eventually carry the entire area deep into the Earth’s mantle, to leave no physical trace behind.
Epitaph combines digital video footage and private and public archival footage, with 16 mm film footage shot on a Bolex camera and processed with different fruits and leaves on the family property, including boldo, figs, fig leaves, walnut leaves, apples, apple leaves, fall grapes, fall grape leaves, olives, olive leaves, plums, mint, avocado peel, yard flowers and other vegetation.
Special thanks to Franci Duran, Elian Mikkola, Chad Tremblay, Claudia Zunza, the Araneda Espinoza family and the Canada Council for the Arts for making this film possible.