Inspired by Villeneuve

Posted on December 26, 2020

With the extra time available during the holidays, I have been keeping myself busy going through my movie backlog. One that had been sitting molded was Incendies, a Canadian film by Denis Villeneuve. These days, he is by far my favourite director, having directed Blade Runner 2049. It was a daunting project for any filmmaker, opening one’s work to scrutiny by industry peers and comparison with the movie’s legendary predecessor.

Never shy to meet my heroes, I looked for his interviews. One word in particular stuck to my head after watching them – meditative. That is his distinctive vision. He always uses a single camera, no matter how big the movie is, and lingers on a shot, allowing viewers time to absorb the story and reflect on it.

This led me to a weekend project. Poring through four years of video footage, I picked out ones that were beautiful and mesmerizing to stare at. Like a painting, but moving, enabling another dimension to experience photographs.