Decasia + Light Is Calling

Directed by Bill Morrison

67 minutes / Color
Release: 2012
Copyright: 2002

Decasia and Light Is Calling are included on one Blu-Ray.

Bill Morrison created DECASIA entirely with decaying, old found footage, melded to the music of Bang on a Can's Michael Gordon, performed by the 55 piece basel sinfonietta. The result is a delirium of deteriorated film stock, a moving avant-garde masterpiece that leaves its meaning open to interpretation and, most importantly, your imagination.

"In Light Is Calling, a deteriorating scene from James Young's The Bells (1926) was optically reprinted and edited to Michael Gordon's seven-minute composition. The aesthetic of Morrison's film is inexorably intertwined with many of Michael Gordon's pieces. We watch a decomposing film reel of a soldier who meets a mysterious woman in the woods. A meditation on the random and fleeting nature of life and love, as seen through the roiling emulsion of an ancient film. Morrison's short was made through the process of reshooting decomposing black and white film, and the result is a dreamy, melting, light-drenched scene." —The Viennale

Ways to Watch

Individuals

Home use Blu-Ray for $34.98

Colleges, Universities, Government Agencies, Hospitals, and Corporations

Purchase DVD for $298.00

Credits

A film by Bill Morrison
Music by Michael Gordon

Select Accolades

  • Decasia: Library of Congress National Film Registry 2013
  • Decasia: Sundance Film Festival 2002
  • Decasia: Rotterdam Film Festival 2002
  • Decasia: Viennale Film Festival 2002
  • Decasia: Full Frame Documentary Film Festival 2003
  • Light is Calling: Best Film, Berlin International Short Film Festival 2004
  • Light is Calling: World Premiere, Sundance Film Festival 2004
  • Light is Calling: Juror's Choice Award, Black Maria Film and Video Festival 2004
  • Light is Calling: Tribeca Film Festival 2004
  • Light is Calling: Festival del Cinema Ritrovato 2004

RELATED TITLES

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A legendary cinematic exploration of the beauty of decaying archival footage by experimental film artist Bill Morrison. Music by Michael Gordon.

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Artist Bill Morrison and musician Bill Frisell evoke the Mississippi River Flood of 1927 and ensuing transformation of American society.

Bill Morrison | 2013 | 80 minutes | Color | English

A sumptuous cine-poem created from decaying archival footage. Music by Michael Gordon.

Bill Morrison | 2004 | 8 minutes | Color

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