Leighton Pierce is a former musician who has been making avant-garde shorts on 16mm and digital for some time now, and the Festival managed to grab a curation of some of his more recent work; a collection of films from 2002-2004, and a wee gem from 2007, where it felt like an audience member had to sit back and let the images and sound wash over them. If the film was successful, it can be pieced together afterwards; if not, you’re still left with little moments of beauty. Pierce’s films are very sensory, and capture all these little fragmentary moments in life. He also maintains a strong focus on the elements, water, air, fire, wind and earth all make appearances and form a major backbone of his imagery. This is particularly evident in the opening film ‘Wood’, where fire and water intermingle to renew life by the final image, yet also according to Pierce, seeks to maintain “an overlapping acoustic environment”. ‘Evaporation’ feels like a child noticing little patterns of water that an adult probably would pass over.

There is an ephemeral quality to the images Pierce deploys, especially in ‘A Private Happiness’ which looks at a pair of lovers. This film’s imagery is so impressionist and transformative, that the eye never manages to fully grasp the detail in each individual shot. The narrative itself has the same feeling as a Stan Brakhage reflection on lovemaking. Another example is ‘The Back Steps’ a series of looped images, where even despite the repetition, it is difficult to pick up anything from the shots except the mood and textures. Pierce utilises sounds in ultra-realist ways, and they paradoxically seem to come from the image itself, yet also exist outside of the shot. The soundscapes have the same effect as a painter like Kandinsky’s colours – evocative, independent, formless yet highly structured.

All this made for a fascinating movie watching experience. Even if I misread or ignored a number of elements while letting the film drift over me, it was certainly challenging and stimulating. Even if these short films and the director’s work ultimately won’t be to everyone’s tastes, Explorations of Folded Time does highlight the intellectual and artistic explorations that film can indeed facilitate.—Brannavan Gnanalingam