Eikon

Director: Arthur Cantrill    → show biography   ← hide biography

Biography: Arthur Cantrill, born Sydney, Australia, 1938, has been making 16mm films with Corinne Cantrill since 1960. At first films for children and documentaries on art, interspersed with short experimental films. After working in London for four years, where Arthur Cantrill was a film editor at Halas and Batchelor Cartoon Films and then at BBCTV current affairs and documentary, they returned to Australia in 1969 to take up a Fellowship in the Creative Arts at the Australian National University in Canberra during which they made several films. From that time they have worked solely in film as a medium combining kinetic art with formal cinematic concerns and experimental sound composition, and also film-performance.

Director: Corinne Cantrill    → show biography   ← hide biography

Biography: Corinne Cantrill, born Sydney, Australia, 1928, has been making 16mm films with Arthur Cantrill since 1960. At first films for children and documentaries on art, interspersed with short experimental films. After working in London for four years (where Arthur Cantrill was a film editor at Halas and Batchelor Cartoon Films and then at BBCTV current affairs and documentary), they returned to Australia in 1969 to take up a Fellowship in the Creative Arts at the Australian National University in Canberra during which they made several films financed by ANU, the main work being the feature-length Harry Hooton. From that time they have worked solely in film as a medium combining kinetic art with formal cinematic concerns and experimental sound composition, and also film-performance.

Country: Australia

Year: 1969

Synopsis: “A triptych in which the central contemplative image of a woman in repose, filmed against golden Sydney sandstone, is contrasted with two side panels of the same figure in constant movement in a coastal setting. The design of this secular icon is influenced by traditional Orthodox Church icons in which a serene, saintly figure is surrounded by highly coloured images of earthly activity. The optical work was achieved in the camera using matte-box masks and rewinding the 100 feet roll of film for the three exposures. This necessitated planning and editing in the camera, as no editing was possible afterwards. To indicate that it is realised on one roll of film, the orange fogging at both ends is included. The original sound composition by Arthur Cantrill is an aural equivalent of the image: a looped soprano note, representing the central image, is mixed with two tracks of improvised violin which represent the side panels. A stereo version on CD has the female voice centred and the two violin tracks separated to the left and right” (Cantrill Filmnotes)

EIKON is a secular film 'icon' in which the golden colour of the contemplative central figure (a one-take shot) is juxtaposed with artificially coloured side panels of earthly activity, as in the old orthodox church icons. The 'real' time of the central image is contrasted with the fragmented and superimposed time of the side panels. The piece was realised in one gesture on a roll of film with no editing, by matting in-camera and winding the film back to add the two panels. The sound of a looped soprano note and improvised violin connect with the centre and side images.

“(...) imaginative, visual harmony with timeless elements blended in a triptych of Sharman Mellick– the central contemplative figure, with side panels of movement – rock, flesh, woman, girl, water, sky, people, gold, colour, light, hair, wind, sun, leaves. A beautiful film.“ (Mass Media Review, Winter 1970)

Language: without dialogue

Tags: Experimental film