By Chrystene Ells. Music: “Hanging Piano” by Chrystene Ells. All rights reserved. Copyright Chrystene Ells, 2011.
‘She Had Died‘ is narrated with selections of my writings describing a life-changing day in June 2010 when I died briefly in an art gallery, leaving my body behind in a kind of seizure while my soul took flight, plunged into a hyper-reality during which I recognized absolutely that I was one with the cosmos. I wrote the music, ‘Hanging Piano,’ many years ago for my brother Damon, who committed suicide at age 13.
The film features ‘Bruce’ the senior widowed gander, who has lost his lifelong spouse and two girlfriends to coyotes and spends his days conferring with himself in various reflective surfaces around the farm.
Shot on 16mm film with a hand-wind Bolex, developed and screened in a weekend at Film Retreat: Rapture, May 2011, Spring Valley Guest Ranch, Eastend, Saskatchewan. Hand-processed in 5-gallon ice-cream buckets, and digitized utilizing the cheapest possible Telecine technique: recording while screening. Digital edit.
Thanks to the supporters of Film Retreat Rapture: Saskatchewan Filmpool Cooperative, Saskatchewan Arts Board, Kodak Motion Picture Film, Frame Discreet, and Don’s Photo, and a special thanks to Berny Hi, Film Retreat organizer.