Don Cherry

The Alchemist assembles together a group of people from all walks of life to represent the planets in the solar system. The occult adept's intention is to put his recruits through strange mystical rites and divest them of their worldly baggage before embarking on a trip to Lotus Island. There they ascend the Holy Mountain to displace the immortal gods who secretly rule the universe.

Set to an excerpt of Don Cherry's Malkauns from his border-erasing 1975 album, Brown Rice, Shale Raga extracts corporate video toward resistance a la carbon-based capitalist sorcery, in this case EcoShale technology, which is patented by Alberta-based Red Leaf Resoures, Inc. and promises to "revolutionize" oil shale production in the Book Cliffs of eastern Utah.

The title Amore amore (Love, Love) defines the primary emotive motor of the film and constitutes the filter through which are selected the materials used - people, things, signs - and determines a good portion of the associations though which the sequences unwind.

In the Mossi culture, one of the rites attending the birth of a child and its induction as a new member of the community involves the burial of the placenta. The space in which the placenta is buried is called 'Zan Boko' - a phrase which connotes the religious, cultural and affective relations that bind the child to the land and that embraces the notions of 'rootedness' and 'belonging'. Kaboré tells the story of Tinga, who resists the encroaching urbanization of his native territory. The specific rhythms and vision of the rural community, including its values, social relationship, and individual & collective destinies, are altered when a city is planted on the edge of an ancient native village.

Moki and Don Cherry met in the mid-1960s and soon began collaborating closely. They made happenings, music, art, posters, and record sleeves; they performed together, organized workshops, and toured. The film merges the different worlds they lived in – countryside and city life, and the various disciplines that were interwoven in their artistic practices.

Don Cherry walks around and plays music

Footage shot by Steve Gebhardt during the recording sessions for Carla Bley's staggering and star-studded avant-jazz opera Escalator Over the Hill.

ZERO IN THE UNIVERSE is a comedy, a cryptogram–a message in code to the viewer. Who is Zero? What universe? What is the opposition of Zero and his arch enemy, Steinmetz? What does it come from, and where, if anywhere, does it go. The film presents abundant clues, but the answers are never stated. –J. L.