Beyond Quiet

Spectrum and prism divide the screen; whites and light, etc. "Out of this purity comes all colors. I've always been attracted to refracted light and prismatic phenomena" says Bernard. For Richard Devereaux. Super 8, silent, non-narrative.

“A percussive conjuration of a banshee wail, imploring warmth from the winter’s sun, this was naively made in admired response to Mothlight.” (J.B.)

Non-narrative film, highly manipulated: tape-over-frames, ink-tinted, bleached and drawn into. As a montage, abstractly and rhythmically intense. Super-8, silent, color, b&w. Dedicated to Bill Gubbins.

This is a shortened version of a three-movement film made over a summer’s stay in Provincetown, MA (Cape Cod), first alone, then with family. A journal of sorts, it renders the place with obvious affection. The town remains today, to an amazing degree, as it appears in this film from decades ago.

This is one of those rare, total in-camera edits that provided options for many of my later, densely layered films. The timing and lap dissolves were a pitch-perfect gift! Super 8, silent, experimental.—Joseph Bernard

Whale Watch (1) gathers personal sightings while on a public outing, in the company of the great mammals off Cape Cod. – Joseph Bernard

Shot weeks apart, I made two films of personal sightings while on public outings, in the company of the great mammals off Cape Cod. Like icebergs, very little of their bulk, beyond shimmering back and a rearmost dorsal fin is visible as they glide the surface. These forty-ton humpbacks power dive with a grace and purpose that had me conjuring their descending views; diminishing jagged streaks of light into plummeting depths of darkness.