This is the first cut of early material shot for the “Astronomer” interlude in Braden King’s feature film, HERE (2012). An edited version of the above occurs after Will’s monologue to Gadarine in Meghri (they get a bit drunk and he falls asleep, starts dreaming, maybe).

It is both expansive and pointed and intentionally loose – allowing its own edit and the rhythm of the speaking voice to be percussive point/counterpoint to the abstracted imagery which combines infinite views of the night sky with microscopic views of natural structures such as insects and leaves. These views are double-exposed on a single strand of film producing uncertain results in the process. This edit – presented here in silent original form was submitted to the director and was further edited for the final release. It was also reformatted to 16:9 aspect ratio with cropping ocuring top and bottom of the image.

About the feature: HERE by director Braden King

“Summary / Logline  Measurement and orientation break down in a dramatic, landscape-obsessed road movie that chronicles a brief but intense romantic relationship between an American satellite-mapping engineer and an expatriate Armenian photographer who impulsively decide to travel together into uncharted territory – both literally and metaphorically

HERE contains a series of brief interludes: fictional tales of mythical explorers who map the land in fantastic ways. One imagines the land to be a vast sea and designs ships that might sail upon it. Another devises a navigational method using the clouds instead of the stars. A third creates maps that are actual-size. And so on.

These interludes are the story’s dreams.

They have been illustrated in collaboration with a number of avant-garde filmmakers – explorers themselves – who were sent to a series of extraordinary landscapes around the world to “map” them, using their own idiosyncratic methods.  HERE’s explorers included Paul Clipson, Barbara Meter, Julie Murray, Ben Rivers, Daichi Saito, and Gariné Torossian. The Storyteller’s voice belongs to Peter Coyote. Bill Morrison, Naomi Uman, Guy Sherman and Peter Mettler also collaborated at various points along the way and on other platforms of the project, beyond the feature film..”