Trapart Film’s Lunacy is released on Vimeo On Demand November 4th 2017.
Director Carl Abrahamsson writes about the film:
“Lunacy isn’t “about” the moon per se but could perhaps be seen as being permeated by lunar energies. Where my film Sub Umbra Alarum Luna (2016) was a very conscious tribute to Derek Jarman and his work, Lunacy is a free-floating onwards rumination about the moon’s constant (and necessary) presence.
The project began with me writing a text about the moon for the wonderful Danish art magazine Plethora. This text was later cut up by my wife, Vanessa Sinclair, and then randomly re-assembled and recorded by her. I put these four vocal recordings to music, which created a sonorous cycle of sorts: a lunar reflection, a dark brooding on the human need for sexualizing the planets.
We both quite quickly realized that this was good fodder for a film. So instead of making a spoken word soundtrack for an existing film, we made a film for an existing spoken word soundtrack.
After a successful ”Kickstarter” crowdfunding campaign for the project, I could buy a super-8 film scanner. As soon as that was in place, I started scanning material from my film archive, predominantly from the early 1990s (when super-8 filming was still a financially viable alternative!).
Gradually the film grew around the four quite distinct musical/reading pieces. Odd bits appeared/surfaced from my archive. An unmarked roll beckoned my attention. I decided on a whim to include sections from it, no matter what it was. This turned out to be an auspicious fluke. The film in question was one of those strange 15 minute condensed super-8 versions of feature films that were quite common in the 1960s and 1970s (pre-VHS). This film was Michael Reeve’s 1968 horror gem Witchfinder General (aka Conqueror Worm), in which Vincent Price ruthlessly hunts down alleged witches. A perfect inclusion, given witches’ association with lunar and magical forces. The film changed from a cosmic meditation on the concept level to a tangible tribute to Hecate and all the witches who ever suffered injustice at the hands of intolerant lower beings over the times and spaces.”
LUNACY (Sweden, 2017, 44 min)
Praising lunar forces and witches from all times and spaces, LUNACY acts as a conductor to emotional transcendence and illumination rather than to scientific analysis. The Moon is always there in various degrees of visibility to the human eye, but the power of Hecate and other lunar celebrities remains constant. It’s the only fact that’s relevant in the greater human scheme of things.
Words by Vanessa Sinclair.
Music & Film by Carl Abrahamsson.
Copyright © 2017 Carl Abrahamsson
For more information about the film, interviews, screenings, festival appearances etc, please contact: carl AT carlabrahamsson DOT com
