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Japon [Japan]

Baram LXIV: The Violence of Sadness -- Synopsis

Two brothers and two poets. But one with the poet's disease, alcoholism. As this brother dies of liver failure … and family dysfunction … and medical indifference … the first brother reflects on one of the central obsessions of the second brother: the degree to which our perceptions of the real are framed by presuppositions that blind us to the boundarylessness of existence. We do not live in a world; we live in worlds. In a sense, death is integrated into life; it is within us, even as we live.

Makin' Shelter - synopsis

This is from a project-within-a-project (the Baram Series). This particular piece -- Makin' Shelter -- is about refugees. But it is also about the perils and poverty caused by war and the actions of demagogic politicians.

Baram VIII - synopsis

The movie is set in Seoul. Unlike earlier videopoems of mine, generally set in Hadong, a southern province of South Korea, Seoul is world-famous as an immense metropolis. But it, too, has its green spaces -- one of which is Soreapeul (close to the French quarter of Seoul). But, while still natural, it is an area in which development is also encroaching

This is from a long series of "authorial movies" -- these are videopoems that are created by the author; furthermore, all aspects of the movie are also done by one person, giving the overall work the same subjective singularity that literature has.

Baram VI - synopsis

Attached is "Baram VI", from a series of movies I have made about nature -- largely in northeast Asia, where I live, but also parts of Canada and Europe. I am interested in nature itself -- as a beautiful entity, which deserves admiration but not sentimentalization -- and also the relationship between nature and the urban.

The movie is set in Hadong, in a southern province of South Korea. It is an area in which development is encroaching upon rural areas.

Baram V - synopsis

Attached is "Baram V", from a series of movies I have made about nature -- largely in northeast Asia, where I live, but also parts of Canada and Europe. I am interested in nature itself -- as a beautiful entity, which deserves admiration but not sentimentalization -- and also the relationship between nature and the urban.

The movie is set in Hadong, in a southern province of South Korea. It is an area in which development is encroaching upon rural areas.

Baram IV - synopsis

Attached is "Baram IV", from a series of movies I have made about nature -- largely in northeast Asia, where I live, but also parts of Canada and Europe. I am interested in nature itself -- as a beautiful entity, which deserves admiration but not sentimentalization -- and also the relationship between nature and the urban.

The movie is set in Hadong, in a southern province of South Korea. It is an area in which development is encroaching upon rural areas. 

The Industrial and the Green - synopsis (complete)

The movie opens in Yongin, a region of Kyonggi-do province that is close to Seoul but that still retains a certain amount of rural character. However, this rural character is always being impinged upon -- by cars, by development.

The movie begins with a dialogue with Lee Su-jeong (my wife) as we hike on a nature trail near the university where I work. It then moves to an extended conversation with Yves Millet, a colleague at the same university, and one who has written extensively on the subject of nature within the context of the "anthropocene" -- the idea that we have now entered an age in which human activity is the major force shaping the planet, and that these changes cannot be reversed. The movie then returns to an extended conversation with Lee Su-jeong on the topic of healthy food, and its place within an industrialized society like South Korea's.
 
This is an experimental documentary made with Lee Su-jeong and Yves Millet, on the topic of industrialization and the protection of natural spaces/natural ways of doing things, in South Korea. The movie is intended to give something of a personal and intellectual overview of the issues involved, but to also create a meditative state in the viewer.

Instruments de bruit, Instruments de Evolution" - synopsis

Voici la traduction française de "Instruments de bruit, Instruments de Evolution". Comme je l'ai dit, ceci est une vidéo basée sur la tension entre l'urbain et le naturel en Asie du Nord; une région de la planète où la terre est rare et la spéculation immobilière est fardée.

Ceci est un récit expérimental et impressionniste qui montre la voie dans laquelle il y a un équilibre difficile entre le naturel et le développé en Kyonni-do, la province où l'on trouve Séoul.

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Here is the French translation of "Instruments of Noise, Instruments of Evolution". As I said, this is a video based on the tension between the urban and the natural in northeast Asia; a region of the planet where land is scarce and property speculation is cutthroat.

This is an experimental and impressionistic narrative that shows the way in which there is an uneasy balance between the natural and the developed in Kyonni-do, the province in which one finds Seoul.

The Penz - synopsis

This is a very simple movie that was made in the wake of the Charlie Hebdo massacre.At that time, people were initially horrified. But then, a heated argument arose at PEN -- the international literary organization -- when a dispute arose whether or not to give a prize in memory of the victims of Charlie Hebdo. What was forgotten was their direct experience; terror is not just an act by a perpetrator, but also a horrifying confrontation of imminent death on the part of its victims.


This is a short movie on terror -- not the phenomenon of terror as violent act, but as something quarreled about by "the chattering classes", and then as something experienced, by those who have been targetted.

Baram CVII: synopsis

Baram CVII is one of a videopoem series, this time with footage shot in Hadong-gu and Yongin-gu of South Korea. Both areas contain exquisite nature. Both are under threat from development. Furthermore, within Korean culture there is a strong tradition of poetry and art celebrating nature. So, in a sense, this video poem shows what still exits, and celebrates it, too.

Synopsis - The Baram Series (iPhone)

A short video shot on an iPhone about the tension between nature and urban development in northeast Asia. This is one of the most crowded places on earth, and it is a nexus of the natural and the human-made.

Baram LXXXIV: Siren Scenery (synopsis)

A short video shot on an iPhone about the tension between nature and urban development in northeast Asia. This is one of the most crowded places on earth, and it is a nexus of the natural and the human-made.

Nature/ La nature/ Naturaleza/자연/ Природа/ 自然 -- THE INDUSTRIAL AND THE ...

Hiking in Seoul

From a precursor to the Baram series.