A Canadian-born animator who was nominated for an Oscar for his co-direction of Lilo & Stitch, has moved into live movie-making with a concert film for one of the world's most enigmatic bands.
Dean DeBlois of Ottawa was looking to move out of animation when he came across the haunting, ethereal music of the Icelandic band Sigur Ros.
Jon Thor Birgisson of Sigur Ros performs at the 40th Montreux Jazz Festival in Switzerland this July.
(Associated Press)
"After Lilo & Stitch I threw myself into live-action filmmaking, setting up projects around town to write and hopefully direct," he told CBC Radio's Q cultural affairs show.
"I turned to music video because I've always been a fan of it and especially the videos of Sigur Ros were very inspiring to me because they are very anti-MTV. They have these very beautiful, cinematic stories within the context of an eight to 10 minute song."
He met members of the band after a concert at the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles, where he now lives, and talked about filmmaking with them.
Three years later, after Sigur Ros had a horrendous experience trying to make a concert film, he got a call.
The result is Heima, a word meaning "homeland," a concert film that will have its Canadian premiere in Toronto this weekend as a special presentation of the Images Festival. It is also available nationwide on DVD.
The four-man band Sigur Ros is known for its mystical, other-worldly music — and their truculence when an interviewer begins to ask questions.
Their film, begun by another filmmaker, was meant to record a series of concerts the band did around Iceland in 2006 — all of them free and unannounced.
"The footage they got back, as Jon Thor (Birgisson) the lead singer put it, kind of depressed them," DeBlois said.
DeBlois brought out film footage's underlying storyÂ
By January 2007 they were ready to shelve the project, but their manager convinced them to send it — all 110 hours — to DeBlois.
As an admirer of films such as The Last Waltz and Meeting People is Easy, DeBlois felt the missing element was the underlying story of the concerts themselves.
"All forms of filmmaking are structure. There needs to be something that links it all together," he said.
"They started out with this noble intent of giving something back to the Icelandic people and it became bigger than they thought it was going to be."
DeBlois was able to isolate the gems inside the footage, including a rendition of Gitardjamm filmed inside a derelict herring oil tank in the far West Fjords.
The film also shows a windblown, one-mic recording of Vaka, shot at a site where a group was fighting the construction of a dam, plus concerts in front of 100 confused townsfolk and some of the group's largest concerts ever.
DeBlois also convinced Sigur Ros that part of what was missing was the atmosphere of Iceland itself.
As a result, Heima has breathtaking scenes of the beauty of relatively unknown sites in Iceland.
"All the things they see as 'What is big deal, this is my backyard,' from foreigners' perspective, this is fantastic," he said.
He even convinced them to speak about their music and their homeland in more than monosyllables.
"That is the Icelandic way — it takes time to get in on the inside. I think they just decided to trust me."
Related
External Links
(Note: CBC does not endorse and is not responsible for the content of external sites - links will open in new window)
More Arts Headlines »
- Canadian jazz great Oscar Peterson dies
- The jazz odyssey is over for Oscar Peterson: the Canadian known globally as one of the most spectacularly talented musicians ever to play jazz piano has died at age 82.
- Tributes pour in for 'giant in music' Peterson
- Tributes are pouring in for Canadian jazz musician Oscar Peterson, who died Sunday at age 82.
- Broadway, Hollywood choreographer Michael Kidd dies
- American choreographer Michael Kidd, who created dance for the stage musical Finian's Rainbow and the movie Seven Brides for Seven Brothers, has died.
- German avant-garde composer Hans Otte dies
- German avant-garde composer and pianist Hans Otte has died, his former employer Radio Bremen said Wednesday. He was 81.
- Bangladesh cancels Paris exhibit after statues stolen
- Bangladesh has cancelled a cultural exhibition in Paris after centuries-old artifacts were stolen en route to France.
Arts Features
Blog Watch
Most Blogged about CBC.ca Articles
Note: CBC does not endorse and is not responsible for the content of external sites - link will open in new window