Portrait #1: Cascadia Terminal
2005, 6 minutes, 16mm hand processed and tinted to SD video
synopsis:
The Portrait Series is part of an ongoing series of filmed places, stories and histories of Cascadia with scores by musicians living in the Pacific Northwest.
A 6-minute mesmerizing stare at the most historically efficient grain terminal at the port of Vancouver, B.C. The Canadian Pacific Railway services the terminal, which can unload up to 300 cars in 24 hours, a pace equal to approximately 25,800 tons of prairie grain. Why are we so attracted to the power of industrial sites? Many kids used to hang out here, get high and make out; it has the feel of a ruin though it is still in operation. A huge compound on the water within the city of Vancouver, Cascadia Terminal expands the spirit and gives the feeling of space, of being maybe further out in the country. There even used to be a squat for a bit, in an industrial building near the property. The gentle intimacy of the beautiful score invites us to step into the landscape, but sadly due to Homeland Security measures affecting coastal ports enacted since this filming, we are no longer allowed.
credits:
score by Tara Jane O'Neil
cinematography: Vanessa Renwick
edited in the camera
online editor: Tim Scotten
awards:
2005 Judges Award Northwest Film and Video Festival
"Scoured, flaring, sepia-toned images of ruined waterfront buildings. Accompanied by dense rich sound design, this 'portrait"'of an abandoned place is at once soothing and transfixing."
Michael Almereyda, judge NWFF, director NADJA and Shakespeare's HAMLET