Here

Colour, HD CAM
USA, Armenia, 2011, 120 min
Section: Another View

Synopsis

Here is the first American film shot in Armenia, a road movie which describes the brief but intense relationship between American engineer Will and photographer Gaderine, who has returned to her native Armenia for the first time in many years. The American, whose task is to check the accuracy of satellite maps, discovers a country quite unknown to him, and the fine-art photographer tries to determine whether she still has any connection with her homeland. The two lone travellers decide to continue together, at least for a while. How far will their shared journey take them? This unusual love story is also about discovering Armenia, its people and its landscape – the wild natural surroundings outside and also what is hidden deep within. Director Braden King intersects his tale of exploration with abstract dreamlike sequences which lend the film a rare poetic dimension. The camera plays a fundamental role in the film, allowing us to observe Armenia in all its myriad forms.

About the director

Braden King (b. 1971, Cherry Point, North Carolina) graduated from the Los Angeles-based USC School of Cinema-Television in 1993 and became a sought-after director of commercials and music videos. He worked with Sonic Youth, Chan Marshall, Will Oldham and other musicians. In 1998 he teamed up with photographer Laura Moya to shoot the lyrical meditative documentary Dutch Harbor: Where the Sea Breaks Its Back, about life on the Aleutian Islands off the west coast of Alaska. The film was shown at more than twenty festivals around the world. In his film work, King consistently challenges the normal approach to the medium. The experimental film The Story Is Still Asleep (2008) screened at the Sundance festival, where the director’s latest piece Here was also premiered.