SpiritMatters (1984) - 6 min. 16 mm, silent
is a silent monologue on the simultaneous perception of space and time. The film was constructed without a camera by writing directly on clear celluloid, and then "translated" by refilming the resulting strips on a light table so that they appear as "subtitles" beneath the original inscription. The film functions as both process and object-an interactive experiment in reading, writing, and seeing. SpiritMatters has won prizes at the Baltimore, Ann Arbor, and Experimental Film Festivals and is distributed by Canyon Cinema.

Script:

What's this?!
I know
I know what this is
This must be death-
An etherealization of thought by means of an invisible agency that seems to evaporate
SPACE INTO TIME
A place from which there is no communication save by the inscrutable operation of an invisible intelligence that seems to translate
TIME INTO SPACE
My thought continues............................................
......................................................................................
But you who exist in Reality are powerless to discern its true nature and can glimpse it only in
F R A G M E N T S
This is a metaphor Do you understand? Is this legible?????????????????????????
Listen
I'll slow down
ssssssoooooo yyyyyyoooooouuuuuu
ccccccaaaaaannnnnn
uuuuuuuuuunnnnnnnnnnddddddddddeeeeeeeeee-
rrrrrrrrrrssssssssssttttttttttaaaaaaaaaa-
nnnnnnnnnndddddddddd
mmmmmmmmmmmmeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee
aaaaaaaaddddddddeeeeeeee--------
qqqqqqqquuuuuuuuaaaaaaaa--------
tttttttteeeeeeee--------
llllllllyyyyyyyy
wwwwwwwwwwhhhhhhhhhhyyyyyyyyyy ddddddddooooooooeeeeeeeessssssss ttttttthhhhhhhiiiiiiisssssss sssssseeeeeeeeeeeemmmmmm ttttoooo bbbeee cccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccc oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo mmmmmmmmmmmmm-mmmmmmmmmmmmmm iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii cccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccccc ???????????????????????????????????????????
BUT NO SO FAST
The paradox remains
The impossibility of simultaneous verification
I may be lying [I may speak in contradictions] I may leave concealed signals for the very few who perceive objectively
[I may leave messages worthy of being read]
[But these signals may be missed]
[Must everything be easily explained]
[You who are about to read I salute you:] WHAT CANNOT BE SHOWN ARE THE IDIOSYNCRASIES OF THE INVISIBLE A SECRET LIES AT THE HEART OF MATTER AND IT WILL BE ENDLESSLY UNKNOWN TO US BECAUSE WE THINK IN LINES SEE IN SPACE SPEAK WITH WORDS
Perpendicularity
Translation
Ideological
Intellectual
Semiotic
Gorgonzola
YaYaYaYaYaYaYaYaYaYaYaYaYaYaYaYa YaaaaaYaaaaaYaaaaaYaaaaa YaYaYaYaYaYaYaYaYaYaYaYaYa HOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOH MXTLPLKMXTLPLKMXTLPLKMXTLPLKMXTLPLK
I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-
Typeface getting smaller and then larger Morse code in Morse code
[_ _ _ _ _ . _ . ... . _ . _ . _ _ _ _ . . . ] Fragments of letters from self-descriptive
phrases
[Plenipotentiary conjugal reciprocity
Masked by superogatory hierarchical velocity
Unsubstantiated by involuted concentricity
Save by modular subordinate specificity]
Kodak
Yes--- it is possible to play with this
But, perhaps, we, are, only,trying,to reify, a, condition, that, engenders, great,fear
To embody the process of being, beyond by
atttempting to cross an, ontological, barrier
Do I make myself clear? [ ]
Listen----this is bigger than the two of us Larger, more dynamic, unstable, linear, limitless, ponderable
This scribbling
It seems so undirected
I can't imagine what it means
IT'S BEYOND ME