The Culturist Film Club #5: Geographies of Solitude
The 5th edition of The Culturist Film Club will take place on July 15 at Jameel Arts Centre in Dubai with a screening of Geographies of Solitude by Jacquelyn Mills.
The title alone drew me to watch this film last October at the Viennale and I’m glad for the opportunity to show it in Dubai.
The film is about Zoe Lucas, a naturalist and environmentalist and the only human inhabitant on Sable Island (Canada) for more than 40 years. We learn about her life on the island as an observer and record keeper of the flora and fauna, and the litter that gets washed up on the island from around the world, and creating an archive study of ocean pollution trends and patterns.
Shot on 16mm, Jacquelyn Mills integrated materials and sound from the island into the film. A beautiful and intimate portrait about life and nature.
If in Dubai, please join us.
Date and time: Saturday, July 15 at 7.00pm.
Location: Lobby, Jameel Arts Centre, Dubai (location map)
Free entry. Register here.
About the film:
Geographies of Solitude
Director: Jacquelyn Mills
2022, Canada, 103 min, English
Geographies of Solitude is an immersion into the rich ecosystem of Sable Island, guided by naturalist and environmentalist Zoe Lucas who has lived over 40 years on this remote sliver of land in the Northwest Atlantic Ocean.
Shot on 16mm and created using a scope of innovative eco-friendly filmmaking techniques, this feature-length experimental documentary is a playful and reverent collaboration with the natural world. Zoe leads us among wild horses, seals and bugs, through peaks, valleys, roots, sands, weathers, seasons and stars.
The intangible is evoked with hidden sounds and vanishing light. Much like a field book, the film tracks its protagonist's labor to collect, clean and document marine litter that persistently washes up on the island shores.
The film won three prizes at the 2022 Berlinale where it made its world premiere, and has gone on to win Best Canadian Feature, the Grand Jury Prize at South Korea’s Jeonju International Film Festival, and many more honors, including Best Emerging Director for Mills at Hot Docs.
About the director:
Jacquelyn Mills is a filmmaker based in Montréal. Her works are immersive and sensorial, often exploring an intimate and healing connection to the natural world. Her award-winning documentary In the Waves (2017) premiered at Visions du Réel. Geographies of Solitude (2022) premiered at the Berlinale Forum winning three awards, and has since garnered 19 awards including Best Canadian Feature Film at Hot Docs and Grand Jury Prize at Jeonju.
Jacquelyn is a Sundance Alumni and an IDA Documentary Award nominee. She has also worked as editor, sound designer and cinematographer on many internationally acclaimed films.
