The Two Sights

Forum 2020

The closing titles say The Two Sights was “collected” on various islands of the Outer Hebrides from 2017–19, but what does the film gather? There are the images, captured on 16mm, which survey all this ravishing landscape contains, taking in its rocky cliffs, beaches and plains, alighting on its flora and fauna and the houses and ships sprinkled over it, picking out currents, reflections and shifts in light. Then there are the sounds, recorded with the mic visible in the first shots, keening birds, the roaring wind, the crashing, gurgling, trickling of the water. In voiceover, a whole anthology of tales can be heard, narrated in both English and Gaelic, stories of dog skeletons, drowned villages, and family members passing away, although songs, silence and the shipping forecast are just as at home there. But like any great collection, it’s not about the individual elements, but how they overlap, about how the crow hanging on barbed wire conjures up another story never told, about how the ripples seem to reverberate along with the woman’s harmonies, about how each anecdote floats over the rushing air. Sight by eye, sight by ear, two sights that ripple and flow together.

by Joshua Bonnetta Canada / United Kingdom 2020 Gaelic, English 90’ Colour & Black/White World premiere | Documentary form

Crew

Written and Directed by	Joshua Bonnetta
Cinematography	Joshua Bonnetta
Editing	Joshua Bonnetta
Music	Joshua Bonnetta
Sound Design	Joshua Bonnetta
Sound	Joshua Bonnetta
Sound Mixing	Josh Berger

Joshua Bonnetta

Born in 1979 in Canada. He is an artist and filmmaker working in sound and moving image across installation, performance, and theatrical exhibition.

Filmography (selection)

2002 Cathode Aurora; Video installation, 6 min. 2004 Patchwork; Film installation · First Snow; 2 min. · November Light; 2 min. 2007 By Grace; 3 min. 2009 Parting; Film and video installation 2010 Long Shadows; 12 min. 2011 American Colour; 25 min., Video installation, Forum Expanded 2012 2012 American Colour; 25 min., Video installation, Forum Expanded 2012 · Remanence I – (Lost, Lost, Lost, Lost); 2 min., Forum Expanded 2013 2013 Strange Lines and Distances; Video installation, Forum Expanded 2013 2016 Lanterna; Installation 2017 Land of Thin Air; Video installation · Low Islands; Film installation, 65 min. · Lago; Sound installation, 44 min., Forum Expanded 2017 · El mar la mar; 94 min., co-directed with J.P. Sniadecki, Forum 2017 · El mar la mar

Bio- & filmography as of Berlinale 2020