Handmade film in two parts, exploring a rural landscape with mythical connotations. The film is a diptych - first part: Prelude, 40', second part: Oraison, 30'.

Darkness, darkness, burning bright
In the forests of the night
Vast flowered paths, fresh branches,
Groves full of perfumes, birds and whispers, 
Site often seen again, and always contemplated

(...)

Darkness, darkness, burning bright
In the forests of the night
And the mad impulse of this distraught soul,
And that had, the forehead circled in copper, under the moon

(...)

Frail herbs, tender branches, hollyhocks,
And the shadow that brushes and the wind that knots,
And strongly, with the fists of its clouds,
On the greenish horizon, crushes suns.

Gaëlle Rouard (1971, France) is a filmmaker, alchemist and performance artist. Since the early 1990s, Rouard has been making handmade films, specialising in film processing. She is a longtime member of Le 102, rue d’Alembert, a venue dedicated to diffusion and creation of experimental music and film. Rouard also facilitates workshops in different contexts, from art schools to individual teaching. She develops and explores various methods of chemical processing of film. With performances around the world, she experiments with the possibilities of live multi-projection, both in collaboration with various people and in solo acts. Rouard led the do-it-yourself film lab Atelier MTK in Grenoble for 12 years, until 2006. Her work as been shown in various screens all over the world, such as Centre Pompidou Paris, International Film Festival Rotterdam, Syros International Flm Festival, Institute of Modern Art Brisbane, and many others.

Gaëlle Rouard will also present the Darkness, Darkness, Burning Bright diptych at Cafe Oto (London) on 31st January and with BEEF at Cube Microplex (Bristol) on 3rd February.

Generously supported by Institut français du Royaume-Uni