ALCHEMICAL FIRES (2020)
Shot and Cut by: William Humphrey
Music and Mixing by: Ghazi Bena and Habib Bardi
Alchemical Fires began production at the beginning of the pandemic in late March, 2020. I had returned to my hometown following housing troubles and a work layoff. I committed myself to making a film diary to channel my creative energy. As a self imposed challenge, the film exclusively uses in-camera editing methods. I shoot at a variety of frame-rates and additionally manipulate video speed in postproduction. The film also uses a great deal of prepared liquid light performances as layers for visual effect. The footage is of my hometown, of familiar scenery to me. Despite this fact, my living elsewhere created a distance between myself and this place. The film inevitably captures this rupture of place caused by time. Alchemical Fires is a highly personal film diary that documents the beginning of the pandemic coupled with my personal turbulences.
Following my return to Montréal I worked with Habib Bardi and Ghazi Bena to create the film’s immensely evocative soundtrack. The musical composition included standup bass, sax, guitar, drums, and vocals all performed and mixed by Bardi and Bena.
