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First Surface, 27 minutes, 16mm, Color, 

     A boy of twelve is afflicted with the memories of his entire lifetime, a disease with peculiar symptoms.  He cannot separate remembrance from reality and finds himself appearing at random  moments in his own existence.  Manipulated imagery and untraditional structure are used to evoke this state of mind and chronicle how he comes to terms with his condition.  Score by Mike Gordon of Phish.– Ted Lyman

 

“ …The film is most interesting for me as a vehicle for autobiography and for the way it reveals connections between generations.  It does so without extensive recourse to specific detail, but rather through the experience of watching oneself mirrored and restated in another.  An extremely condensed interior space is seemingly an homage to social-science films of a generation ago, and the exteriors are set in a landscape whose natural beauty has not yet been totally altered by human habitation and industry.  It is an ideal and imaginary place, well over the horizon from the complexity of social reality.  It is perhaps the memory of the father’s childhood, or of his father’s.  Its strength lies in its capture of both an inner reality and a regional one.” – Pat O’Neill, Artist

 

“The film is technically complex yet beautifully rendered.  By using images of mirrors and photographs and manipulating the element of time Lyman creates very effective metaphoric devices to illustrate and better understand the boy’s struggle to better understand to reconstruct his memories in the context of his family.  I feel Lyman has created a very original film that is personal, articulate and conveys a significant command of cinematic language.” –Peter Hutton, Film Artist and Professor

 

First Surface

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