Symphonic Distress

Marco Joubert

Marco Joubert

Canada

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Marie Tifo Key Cast // Marco Joubert Cinematography // Marco Joubert Editing // Yuliya Zakharava Composer // Pamela Reimer Piano, voice, percussions // Alexandra Gorlin-Crenshaw Puppeteer // Marco Joubert Art direction

Η μουσική ήρθε πρώτη: ένα μεικτό σύγχρονο κομμάτι της συνθέτριας Yuliya Zakharava, στο οποίο η οργανοπαίκτης Pamela Reimer παίζει μια παρτιτούρα πιάνου, ενώ παράλληλα ενεργοποιεί προηχογραφημένες σεκάνς και ενσωματώνει φωνητικά και κρουστά στοιχεία. Όταν μου ζητήθηκε να προσφέρω ένα οπτικό στοιχείο για το έργο, εντυπωσιάστηκα και με κατέκτησε η ένταση και η ομορφιά του από την πρώτη κιόλας ακρόαση. Αν και τόσο η μουσική όσο και η ταινία είναι από μόνα τους απολιτικά και απάτριδα, η επιθυμία για συνεργασία και η επείγουσα παρόρμηση να εκφραστούμε μέσω της τέχνης έχουν επιδεινωθεί από το ξέσπασμα της ρωσο-ουκρανικής σύγκρουσης. Ως εκ τούτου, η πρόθεση, ενώ αποφεύγεται κάθε άμεση αναφορά στον πόλεμο, είναι να προκληθούν σιωπηρά ορισμένα καθολικά συναισθήματα που γεννιούνται από τις συνέπειές του: φόβος, ταλαιπωρία, οργή, ευαλωτότητα, άρνηση, ελπίδα.

The music came first: a mixed contemporary piece by composer Yuliya Zakharava, in which instrumentalist Pamela Reimer plays a piano score, while also triggering prerecorded sequences and incorporating vocal and percussive elements. Asked to provide a visual component for the work, I was struck and conquered by its intensity and beauty from the very first listen. Although both the music and the film are in themselves apolitical and stateless, the wish to collaborate and the urgent impulse to express ourselves through art have been exacerbated by the outbreak of the Russo-Ukrainian conflict. The intention, therefore, while avoiding any direct reference to war, is to tacitly evoke certain universal emotions born out of its consequences: fear, suffering, outrage, vulnerability, abnegation, hope.

Marco Joubert is a self-taught Canadian filmmaker and video artist, with a background in architecture and visual arts. His audiovisual practice, characterized by its formal rigor, tends toward the development of a personal language, situated at the crossroads of cinema, video art, poetry and philosophy.

Thematically, his work revolves around the specificity of the human condition: the implications of our capacity to think and reason; the gap between material comfort and our basic needs; the difficulty of communicating with others; and the ever-looming presence of our mortality. It is about the creation of otherworldly realities that still have the power to resonate with our common experiences as human beings.

Professional experiences, film shoots, workshops, residencies or invitations to festivals have brought him to Nebraska, Chicago, Prague, London, Ottawa, Brussels, Spain, Los Angeles and Minsk. He has had the privilege to collaborate with Marie Tifo, Pierre Curzi, Jean Marchand, Pauline Vaillancourt, Wayne Horvitz and the National Film Board of Canada.

His works were rewarded by the attribution of 31 awards, in addition to earning over 150 nominations; they were screened in the following countries: Australia, Belarus, Bulgaria, Canada, Colombia, Czech Republic, France, Greece, Guatemala, Hungary, India, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Kosovo, Mexico, Peru, Portugal, Russia, Serbia, Spain, Sweden, United Kingdom and USA.