Film Categories: Ecology

  • Insect Express

    This is a music video for the song “Insect Express” by Brooklyn-based musician, El Tryptophan. The video explores an intersection of species; insect flight patterns and modes of industrial travel merge as collective rituals in a fever dream.

  • Witch’s Work

    This animation weaves together a series of surrealist scenarios inspired by the monstrous women of Ancient Greek mythology. The animation begins with the ritual of the Graeae, a trinity of sisters from Greek mythology, who pass their divining shared eye between them. The first vision is a pan of a river, which reveals the figure of Lilith, who represents female sexuality in Jewish mythology. Lilith gives birth to an owl, a crystal, and a glowing orb. This orb transforms into a dancing, humanoid blob, which undergoes a physical transformation into a snake. The snake makes its way to a nest…

  • SENSORS

    In the summers of 2017 and 2018 record breaking forest fires dominated British Columbia with the number of forest fires in 2018 exceeding the 2017 record. One key difference between the two years was the timing of the widespread outbreaks. In 2017 the BC interior was inundated by haze and smoke as of early June while in 2018 the haze and smoke didn’t engulf the landscape until late July. Up until then the temperatures were relatively mild with enough moisture to create light conditions that were some of the most interesting I’ve seen in years. As satisfying as the early…

  • Senescent Vivarium

    Bordering on the fantastic, “Senescent Vivarium” represents four distinct seasons created by plants and insects selected to imitate authentic biospheres. These macro worlds are architectural masters of their own domain yet defy traditional still life representations. Transient narratives of familiar ecological cycles are pushed further into supernatural territory by the effects of hand processed 16mm black-and-white film, and a deeply atmospheric sound score.

  • CARBON SKY

    During the in-between period of the 2017 record breaking forest fires and the 2018 record breaking forest fires, conditions were often ideal in the BC interior for filming at a fixed place with a fixed camera. I would often return to the exact same location time and time again. Sometimes five, ten, or twenty times over a period of days, weeks, and months. The locations that sustained my fascination were more or less located in a geographical triangle from Kamloops to the east, Cache Creek to the west, and Spences Bridge to the south. My main focus was on the…

  • FURNACE

    For three years I researched and filmed various locations in the interior of British Columbia, Canada in more or less a geographical triangle from Kamloops to the east, Ashcroft to the west, and Spences Bridge to the south. My main focus has been the semi-deserts, deep valleys, and plateaus to define how I see the interactions of the natural and manufactured worlds, worlds brought into my perspective by the ever changing presence of shadow and light. Since I began filming this movie in 2016 there has been a yearly increase in the widespread smoke and haze from each new record…

  • CORNUCOPIA

    The interior Plateau of British Columbia is a confluence of volcanism, plate tectonics, and glaciation punctuated by intermittent cycles of fire and droughts. The perennial constant in shaping the plateau is the influence of storms from the Pacific Ocean and the multiple mountain ranges (including the Rockies) that carry glacier silt and other minerals through the myriad of rivers and lakes. For 1000’s of years First Nations Peoples thrived in this region with civilizations and customs that remain a powerful guiding presence today. In 1858 gold rush fever gripped a region in North America that would later become part of…

  • A Year

    An examination of the natural textures of the world and their changes over the course of one year.

  • Flower

    This animated film seeks to rediscover a positive, joyful reunion with the earth via the medium of flowers. Using different animation techniques, the filmmaker exploits myths surrounding flowers to examine the way to a peaceful civilization. Also available on DVD on the compilatiion “James MacSwain Retrospective.”

  • M3RM41D

    based on past research to find gender radicalism in the wild, this rock was !discovered! with a moderately blown-out tri-colour weave and wearing a mad decent lipstick. I danced with it for a few minutes before i realized it wouldn’t be able to survive outside of its natural habitat, thus i released it back into the wild.