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Video poem of the moon. First screened as part of Scenes From the Aro Valley, curated by Campbell Walker (Paramount Theatre, Wellington, 20-23 April, 2006). Also featuring films by Colin Hodson, Alex Greenhough, Elric Kane, Diane McAllen, Andy Chappell and Campbell Walker. Part of a suite of videos made in 2004.
“Five experimental shorts in about 7 minutes by Richard (Dick) Whyte, among other things a ghost in the margins of almost all the Aro Valley films, and possibly the least known and most active filmmaker involved with the movement.” (Campbell Walker, Scenes from the Aro Valley programme notes)
“[Sergei] Eisenstein, we recall, championed the use of ‘montage’ theory in film. Here film communicated by a succession of juxtaposed images that did not need to have a linear, narrative or consequential relationship between them. Shot ‘A’ followed by shot ‘B’ created a new meaning ‘C’ in the mind of the viewer. Eisenstein likened this to ‘haiku’ – a traditional Japanese poetic form in which a short succession of separate images combines in the mind of the reader to create a total meaning which is greater than the sum of its component parts. In this way, meaning is suggested rather than stated. Eisenstein hoped to communicate specific meanings, but in the haiku… the implication is far more abstract.” (Richard Howells, Visual Culture)
“Maya Deren had attempted to find a filmic equivalent to the haiku shortly before her death. She left the project incomplete. [Stan] Brakhage too used the analogy to the haiku in discussing his 8mm Songs. By including the two haiku series in Lost, Lost, Lost [Jonas] Mekas contextualized them as steps in the development of his poetic incarnation as a film-maker.” (P. Adams Sitney, Eyes Upside Down: Visionary Filmmakers and the Heritage of Emerson)
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