Those of you gearing up for a long five months of slipping on ice and scraping snow off your windshields might need a lil’ somethin’ somethin’ to remind you of the beauty and majesty of winter. While copious amounts of mulled wine and hot toddies might be the obvious first choice, why not delve a little more into the spiritual, the artistic, the natural side of that sky crud we call snow? And why not do it with your two best musical buddies, Jim O’Rourke and Will Oldham?
But don’t break out those matching parkas and family-size pack of Coors Lite and don’t start mapping your indie vision quest and sleeping bag arrangements just yet. Because it’s a film. You three pals aren’t going on the best gall-darn orienteering trip the North has ever seen. But you are going on a journey into SCIENCE and NATURE, courtesy of Canadian filmmaker Kyle Armstrong’s short documentary on the northern lights, Magnetic Reconnection. Narrated by Will Oldham and scored by Jim O’Rourke, the film contrasts the wonders of the aurora borealis with the man-made junk falling apart near Churchill, Manitoba. Armstrong told Exclaim!, “The aurora footage is probably the best footage ever captured, as I travelled with an auroral imaging specialist with two decades of experience, and a custom built digital IMAX camera, purposely built for shooting the northern lights.” Using a special camera designed by Dr. Robert Eather of Brookline, MA, Armstrong and Norwegian scientist Dr. Trond Trondsen promise to show you the northern lights like you’ve never seen ‘em before. Bigger. Brighter. More northerner.
The film premieres at L.A’s AFI Film Fest, which runs November 1-8. Then, from November 8-16, it visits New York’s Imagine Science Film Festival. Watch the trailer here:
More about: Jim O'Rourke, Will Oldham
