Two Films

Straddling the line between documentary and audio-visual meditations on landscape, the Hausswolff/Nordanstad filmic partnership taps both the detritus of human civilization and its uncanny ability to withstand the forces of nature. In “Hashima, Japan 2002” we are given a portrait of the Battleship Island off the coast of Nagasaki, a former mining island established by Mitsubishi and abandoned in the early 1970s. Through a series of captivating still shots, overlaid with a deep sonics of drones and small tonalities, the film captures the island and its haunting history as told through the slow decay of buildings. In contrast, “Al Qasr 2005” leads us to an oasis in Egypt, full of mystery and surprising beauty. Punctuated with found recordings of local songs, the film follows the slow ambience of the desert, the flowing of natural springs, and the steady movements of a landscape seemingly outside of time.