Pneuma

Pneuma (1983)

The images in this film come from an extensive collection of out-dated raw stock that has been processed without being exposed, and sometimes rephotographed in closer format. Each pattern of grain takes on its own emotional life, an evocation of different aspects of our own being.

Date of release
1983-06-06
TMDB
4.0 / 10 (1)
Runtime
28m
Genres
Documentary
Director
Nathaniel Dorsky

Interesting facts

Pneuma is a 1983 American avant-garde short film directed by Nathaniel Dorsky. It captures grain patterns from unexposed film stocks.

Production

Dorsky made a series of personal, autobiographical films in New York during the 1960s before shifting his focus toward nature and the world around him. In 1971 he moved to California, where he spent some time working on exploitation films. Disoriented in a new environment, he began to feel "lost and depressed" during this period.

While working on a roll of film, Dorsky lost interest in shooting on the rest of it and submitted it unfinished to a film laboratory. When reviewing the result, he found that he liked the unphotographed section more than anything he had shot. He decided to start collecting unused film stocks instead of recording new footage. The film's ending originated with an old roll of Ansco 400 stock Dorsky had bought in a camera store in Los Angeles.

In 1976 Dorsky had the processed rolls rephotographed, sometimes increasing the contrast or magnifying the images to enlarge the grain patterns. He eventually began reviewing this available material after the completion of his 1982 film Hours for Jerome. He edited the film from nearly twenty types of film emulsion.

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