Film and Mass Media Assistant Professor, Georg Koszulinski, had the amazing opportunity to premier two of his documentaries in in addition to receiving one very prestigious award. In an interview, Koszulinski talks about the films, where the films will premier and what he has learned since creating the films.
His short documentary, The Baffin Bay Deglacial Experiment received the Climate Action Award from the Arctic Film Festival. The film is also linked here: https://badexfilm.com/
Here is an article put out by the NSF about the film: https://new.nsf.gov/news/new-film-baffling-baffin-bay
What is the award that this film received?
“The film received the Climate Action Award from the Arctic Film Festival in Svalbard, Sweden.”
What was the most exciting or memorable thing you learned after creating this film?
“The entirety of the experience was so far beyond anything I’ve ever experienced as a filmmaker or otherwise. Virtually every aspect of the experience was unique to me, and a wonderful sensory overload of sorts. The 35 days at sea, mostly above the arctic circle, was an incredibly wonderful and challenging creative opportunity. Learning about the human cost of the work the scientists and mariners do was something that stuck with me—not just anyone would be able to endure what the scientists and mariners undertake as part of their work. It goes beyond the 35 days I spent at sea with them.. their sacrifice and dedication spans a lifetime and builds on the work done by generations past.”
In addition, Koszulinski’s film, Chronotope Earth 1985 to Future will premiere at the Bogotá Experimental Film Festival in August. This film was shot in Greenland last summer, and addresses climate change issues in the arctic, incorporating a speech Carl Sagan gave to congress in 1985.
How was your experience shooting in Greenland?
As someone who grew up in South Florida and lived in the subtropics for most of my life, the time in Greenland felt otherworldly. This feeling was even more surreal as I had just spent 35 days at sea above the arctic circle prior to reaching Greenland, so it was incredible to be able to walk on stable ground again after so long at sea! I walked many miles with my camera every day once I reached Greenland, all over the capital city of Nuuk, and along trails throughout the area. Beyond the fact that the weather was colder than most winter days in Central Florida, the lack of trees was also something I noticed. In all, I would have to say Greenland is one of the most unique and special places on Earth. It was an incredible privilege to be able to spend some time there, and especially as a filmmaker documenting the work of scientists studying climate change.
Please give a brief synopsis of the film.
“Here’s the film synopsis. In brief, the film combines a speech given by Carl Sagan in 1985 with this literary concept of the ‘chronotope.’
In 1938, the Russian literary theorist Mikhail Bakhtin coined the term ‘chronotope’ to describe the role time and space plays in literature. In 1985, the American astronomer, Carl Sagan testified before congress on the subject of the greenhouse effect and the need for the world’s governments to work together to address the issue. Bakhtin’s literary theory applied to specific locations in a story that indicate aspects of time. But what if we considered the earth itself the ‘setting’ for the story, and how might that alter our conception of time? Chronotope Earth 1985 to Future explores this idea.”
Which film festival will you be premiering your film? Where is it located?
“The film will premiere at the Bogotá Experimental Film Festival in Bogotá Columbia.”
Continents Quiver as Memories Erupt into Earthflames
Last but not least, the Camden International Film Festival in Maine is screening Koszulinski’s film, Continents Quiver as Memories Erupt into Earthflames as part of their 20-year anniversary celebration. They are doing a retrospective of films that have screened in years past and is presenting one of Koszulinski’s works.
Here is more information: https://pointsnorthinstitute.org/ciff/
Please provide a brief synopsis of the film.
“A personal essay film reflecting on the intersections between the Anthropocene, the politics of poetry, parenthood, and the history of Alan Moore’s 1980’s run on the Swamp Thing comic book. Earthflames is the first entry in The Anthropocene Cycle.”
What are some things you’ve learned over the years since you created this film?
“Cinema can serve as a form of time travel, and not just in the fundamental ways that films document past and present, and become visible evidence for future audiences, but also as a personal record, akin to a diary or journal. This is equally true for fiction films as it is documentaries—all films are a record of their own production, the ideologies that produced them, the imprints of the people who created them… Prior to making this film, I probably would have made this statement just the same, but the act of making this work, along with the years that have passed since I created it, has made it empirical for me. Earthflames is also a kind of home movie working on multiple time scales, and one of those timescales is the human lifetime. I started making this film when my daughter was born and excerpts of those 16mm home movies find their way into the film, as a kind of visual record of our time together. A child growing up… seeing those images interspersed throughout a collage film might be something like a scientist reading the rings of a tree in order to learn about its age, the weather patterns it experienced, etc. Earthflames is the first film in a collection of work that spans thirteen years, so it is a personal time capsule for me, even as it engages the climate crisis in its deep time historical contexts. All cinema is about time, consciously or otherwise. Light and time are the movies’ two main ingredients, but this project along with the other films in this series brings these elements into the personal realm for me.”
Written by Majdulina Hamed.
Published to Nicholson News on August 1st, 2024.
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