When It Was Blue: Director Jennifer Reeves & Composer Skúli Sverrison

About This Screening

Cinema Project is excited to once again collaborate with PICA’s Time-Based Art Festival in bringing this visual and aural masterpiece. When It Was Blue is both a celebration and a mourning of two things that director Jennifer Reeves holds dear: the natural world and 16mm film. Using two 16mm projectors, the images are superimposed, creating dense layers of landscapes and ecological imagery from around the globe. As the film cycles through the four seasons and the four points of the compass, an intricate montage connects the diverse ecosystems which are set alight by saturated colors from Reeves's hand-painting techniques and high-contrast optical printing. Along with its haunting live musical score by Icelandic composer Skúli Sverrisson, the work is performed rather than screened, accurately existing only within the live setting.  Jennifer Reeves (b. 1971, Sri Lanka) is a New York-based filmmaker. Her films have shown all over, from the Berlin, New York, Vancouver, London, Sundance, and Seoul Film Festivals to the Robert Flaherty Seminar, the Whitney Biennal, Princeton University, and the Museum of Modern Art. She has made 20 plus film works since 1990, pushing the boundaries of film through optical-printing, film stock “mis-use”, and direct-on-film techniques including hand-painting film frames. In 2003 Reeves added multiple-projection film and music performance to her repertoire. When It Was Blue premiered in 2008 at the Toronto International Film Festival. Skuli Sverrisson is a world-renowned Icelandic composer and musician. In the early 90’s he became active in the NYC new music and improvisation scene performing with such greats as Derek Bailey, Arto Lindsay and Wadada Leo Smith. He began working as musical director for world-renowned performance artist, Laurie Anderson in 1999 and has collaborated with her on numerous projects including Moby Dick, Life on a String and Hidden Inside Mountains. In 2004 Skuli formed the group Seria winning the Icelandic Music Awards “record of the year” in 2006. Skuli tours extensively year round and has worked with some of the most extraordinary performers in the world including Lou Reed, Ruyichi Sakamoto, Blonde Redhead, and Allan Holdsworth. For more info about TBA go to www.pica.org