161! PRESS KIT (JUNE)

GABANA FILMS presents
CONTACT:
Max Montalvo / Gabana Films
613 876 7283
gabanafilms@gmail.com
A GABANA FILMS PRODUCTION
www.gabanafilms.ca
1 161!
a film by
MAX MONTALVO
appearances include
SARAH HARMER
YABSIRA MONTALVO
produced by
NADIA GAMMAL
cinematography, writing, editing, sound design
MAX MONTALVO
in collaboration with
FERNANDO MONTE
additional camera, editing
NYLES SPENCER
sound design, sound mixing & mastering, editing
Canada • 2013 • 6 mins • B&W/Colour • English
Press materials available at www.gabanafilms.ca
A GABANA FILMS PRODUCTION
18 Maitland Street • Kingston • ON • K7L2V2
2 locations
Andalucia, Spain
Prince Edward County, Ontario
Kingston, Ontario
poetry
‘Ode to Age’ written by PABLO NERUDA
read by SARAH HARMER
recorded, mixed & mastered at The Bathouse by NYLES SPENCER
in Bath, Ontario
inspiration
JOHN CAGE
ROBERT RAUSCHENBERG
STAN BRAKHAGE
THE TRAGICALLY HIP
webpage randomizer designer
BRENT WATHEN
webpage developer
DAN VAN STAALDUINEN
webpage art design
KRISTA VAN STAALDUINEN
3 colour correction
ANDREW MANDZIUK at Fearless Films
hair & makeup
DEB HAMILTON
“Now For Plan A”
Music by The Tragically Hip
Words: GORD DOWNIE
Produced by GAVIN BROWN
Recorded by LENNY DE ROSE
Second Engineer DAVID MOHACSI
Additional engineering provided by FILIP SMIALEK
NYLES SPENCER, and AARON HOLMBERG
Assisted by ALASTAIR SIMS, KEVIN O'LEARY,
BRITTANY HUSZCZO
Recorded at Noble Street Studios - Toronto, ON,
and The Bathouse Recording Studio - Kingston, ON
Mixed by MICHAEL H. BRAUER
Mix Assistant and Pro-Tools Engineer: RYAN GILLIGAN
Mixed at Electric Lady Studios, NY
Mastered by BOB LUDWIG at Gateway Mastering & DVD
Universal Music Canada
Additional Background Vocals by SARAH HARMER
Universal Music Canada
copyright 2012
Arte Humane Inc.,
Bhaji Maker Inc.
Ching Music Inc.
Dirty Shorts Music Inc.,
Wiener Art Inc.,
Southern Music Pub. Co.,
Canada Ltd. (SOCAN/ASCAP)
4 with special thanks to
KRISTEN & GUIDO BASSO, FINNEGAN, SUE CROSSWELL, JANICE
DEAKIN, ALEX ROCKINGHAM, SARAH HARMER, GORD DOWNIE,
PAUL LANGLOIS, JOHNNY FAY, GORD SINCLAIR & ROB BAKER
161!
www.161factorial.com
© 2013 Gabana Films
www.gabanafilms.ca
5 About 161!
Every act of perception is to some degree an act of creation and every act of
memory is to some degree an act of imagination.
Gerald M. Edelman
Perception has been defined as the mental representation of our surroundings.
It allows us to experience a stable world despite a constantly changing
environment. This process is critical for the survival of all moving creatures.
We begin to see when light reaches the back of our eyes. Cells in the retina
deliver neurochemical information to the visual cortex of our brain, which in
turn creates a mental picture of what the eye sees. There are regions of the
brain that form memories about things we see, hear, taste, feel or smell. There
is also a specific area that recalls the emotional context of an event. Certain
objects, smells or sounds can trigger strong memories about a distant past,
which can have a profound effect on emotion.
Although science provides a fascinating insight into how our bodies work,
perception remains beyond the grasp of science. Science can peel off its layers,
but it cannot get to the core of what perception is. It cannot really tell us what
‘red’ is. While cells in the retina and neurons in the brain can explain the
biology of vision, we are no closer to explaining why we experience the world
individually, in the way that we do. How our senses are integrated with our
memories and feelings remains a mystery.
161! A digital art piece about perception & introspection
In today’s digital culture we’re inundated with information. We are evolving to
recognize and process images much faster than ever before, perhaps leading to
a different type of appreciation for what we see. A massive amount of
information is at our fingertips; we appear to spend less time reflecting on
things that we experience than we did in the past.
161! shows a contrast between a child playing on a beach and a woman in a
modern home. Are we perceiving the scenes of the woman and child as taking
place simultaneously? Are the events occurring on the beach a distant memory
in the woman’s mind, or are they a product of her imagination? Is it all a
dream? In considering these possibilities, the brain searches for visual and
auditory clues in an attempt to create a story.
Rather than come away with a narrative understanding of the film, perhaps you,
the viewer, can embrace its impressionistic quality, and immerse yourself in
6 each individual image, in the range of colours, sounds, and sequences
presented at random. In so doing, you may find another kind of meaning,
sense-based, more personal, and possibly with even greater resonance.
Production notes
I was very fortunate to spend a few days at Noble Studios in Toronto in
February 2012 with The Tragically Hip as they recorded their acclaimed studio
album ‘Now For Plan A’. One evening, Gord Downie recorded the lead vocal
track for a song called ‘Wysteria’, whose title was later changed into ‘Now For
Plan A’. I was drawn to the song’s melody, rhythm and the harmonizing vocals
of Gord and guest vocalist Sarah Harmer immediately. Later, as I began
visualizing the music video, I thought of contrasting the innocence of a child
with the loss of innocence of an adult. Several months later I was privileged to
film Sarah as the adult, opposite our 4 year-old son Yabsira.
While editing the music video, I became immersed in reading Richard
Kostelanetz’ ‘Conversing with Cage’, a book that explores John Cage’s life and
art through a series of interviews. The ideas in that book sparked the thought
of expanding the notion of a traditional music video into a broader concept. As
a result, I decided to randomly re-arrange the 161 images that made up the
completed video into a new sequence by drawing 161 numbers from a
container and placing the scenes in that order. The result of the re-assembled
‘random’ version was very powerful. That digital sketch began a journey of
self-discovery into concepts of perception that eventually led to the creation of
the digital art piece 161! (‘161 factorial’).
Images
The pictures that introduce the film were shot in the southern province of
Andalucia in Spain with a Beulieau Super-8 camera a few years ago while my
wife Nadia and I were filming ‘El Payo’. The scenes that follow were shot with
a Canon 7D camera in two separate locations; the serene beach in Prince
Edward County provided the ideal backdrop for capturing the innocence of a
child discovering the world. Four months later, we filmed Sarah Harmer at the
beautiful contemporary home of friends in Kingston.
Sound
161! begins with Sarah Harmer reciting the opening lines from Pablo Neruda’s
‘Ode to Age’, a poem which explores concepts of time and the human
experience. As I thought of the emotional effect of watching both the original
7 and randomized versions of the film, it was intriguing to consider manipulating
the sound by removing the song and replacing it with a series of ambient
tracks. Recording engineer Nyles Spencer record the sound of the lake as
heard late one evening from The Bathouse, the Hip’s recording studio in Bath,
Ontario. We eventually created several additional audio tracks, one of which
includes Sarah Harmer’s reciting Neruda’s entire poem. All alternate audio
tracks actually still contain the song ‘Now For Plan A’, added at 180 degrees out
of phase to itself, thus making it inaudible.
The randomizer
While showing a colleague the ‘randomized’ version of the film, he suggested
randomizing the 161 scenes each time the film plays. The mathematical
calculation for the total number of versions of the film is 161! That number is
7.59 x 10286, which is larger than all the atoms in the observable universe. A
long-time friend of mine who has written computer programs that simulate
protein folding loved the concept; within a couple of weeks Brent built the
‘randomizer’, which not only re-orders the 161 scenes each time the film plays,
but also randomly selects one of the several audio tracks that were created for
the art piece.
Max Montalvo 2013 8 Biography – Max Montalvo
Born and raised in Mexico City, Max immigrated to Canada with his family in
1982.
161! is Max’s latest project, which he describes as a ‘visual poem about human
perception’. It exists in 3 separate forms: an online art piece that will broadcast
continuously once launched and is forever changing; a short film with the
original sequence of images with an alternate soundtrack; and as the official
music video for The Tragically Hip’s title track for their latest studio album,
‘Now For Plan A’.
In 2010 Max directed his first feature length film, EL PAYO, an award-winning
documentary chronicling the tragic story of David Phillips, an obscure and
influential non-gypsy guitarist who spawned a vibrant flamenco culture still
thriving across Canada. Underscoring Phillips’ own sublime flamenco sound,
EL PAYO featured original music & performances by a number of
contemporary stars, including the acclaimed ‘First Lady of the Guitar’, classical
guitarist Liona Boyd, flamenco musicians Jose Valle 'Chuscales', Miguel de la
Bastide and Paco de Leon, and The Tragically Hip's guitarist Rob Baker and
percussionist Johnny Fay.
Max has recently worked with The Tragically Hip on their acclaimed latest
studio album, Now for Plan A, nominated for the 2013 Juno Rock Album of the
Year. In addition to directing music videos for the album's lead single “At
Transformation” and the songs “The Lookahead” and “Now For Plan A”, he
directed the short film “Raspoutine”, an inside-the-studio look at the band’s
recording process. He has also directed music videos for the band Stripper's
Union.
In addition to filmmaking, Max is a practicing emergency room physician in
Kingston, Ontario, where he lives with his wife and their five-year old son.
9 Filmography
Music videos
STRIPPER’S UNION
•
•
•
Bulletproof White Limo (2005).
I Give you Away (2011).
When Your Beauty Fades (2011).
THE TRAGICALLY HIP
•
•
•
At Transformation (2012).
The Lookahead (2012).
Now For Plan A (2013).
Films
•
•
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EL PAYO (2010). Feature length flamenco documentary (69 minutes).
RASPOUTINE (2012). A behind the scenes look at The Tragically Hip’s
recording of the album Now For Plan A (11:21 minutes).
161! (2013). Visual poem about human perception (7:05 minutes).
10