When It Was Blue

When I decided to see this film (or actually films) I had no idea what was waiting for me. The description that the Viennale, Vienna's Film Festival provided, did not say much about this extraordinary experience. It sounded a bit like an idyllic film about nature, done via double projection. That is, two projectors project a different film on top of each other.

What that means, and in this particular, is unimaginable. One reel, so far was clear, shows a black and white reel, the other a more or less directly on film painted color film. This creation causes a picture storm, that is so intense, I have nothing to compare it to in my long career as movie goer! I had the rare opportunity to watch a two projector show with 16 mm reels. Most festivals have to show a video composite, as the director of the film later explained, in lack of 16 mm projectors. Therefore, after half an hour, the reels have to be changed, another break into two.

The first reel I had to get used to the unbelievable density of images, fragments of things recognizable, others a mystery. It was simply too much, I had to close my eyes a few times, and after about twenty minutes, I fell into a microsleep. In the break while the reels were changed I found that my girlfriend experienced the same tiredness. Obviously, the sheer amount of unpredictable images created an overload in our brain.

But it did not happen to us again in the second reel, although it was not much different in its abundance of images. I guess drugs might give you similar impressions, but this film in definitely much healthier.

The longer it runs, the more you marvel at the cheer beauty of nature and art, and the art of nature. Because it is the art of the painted abstracts on top of nature scenes that create this magical carpet ride. Don't miss this opportunity!