Music for an Owl

Running time: 12 mins

The moving image is, obviously, the raison d'tre for both the existence and success of the film arts and industry. Sound movies, and later television, expanded popular story telling beyond the scope of early radio broadcasting and its sole reliance on sound. The audio and visual elements of a movie combined to create some measure of a reality in which artistic expression could take place, be it a story, a documentary, or an abstract work. This series of short films concentrates on works that consistently rely on their visuals to advance the story and set the mood. Subjects run the gamut from Jos Neutgens' meditative examination of heavy machinery and earth in motion to Sanny Overbeeke's and Hein van Liempd's stunning interpretation of a Charles Bukowski poem. From Australia, director, Gregory Godhard, brings a hypnotic work that literally dives into the picture. Purcell Carson's grainy black and white documentary about an ice cream truck operator mixes easily with the animation films of Ties Poeth and Alina Hiu-Fan Chau as the stories rely on the visual sense as much as any voice-over. The mixing of animation and live-action to visually augment the narration furthers director Mary Lewis' compelling tale about the origins of a Newfoundland family.