Drowning in Flames 1994 Directed by Gariné Torossian
Once again, this Armenian Canadian filmmaker proves that she is the world’s best alchemist of handmade abstract film, this time taking on the aesthetic of her contemporaries, Mike and Doug Starn. A natural homage and collaboration, in that Torossian's own darkroom techniques of decaying and obliterating the surface of film echo the Starns’ approach to photography in deterioration. Drowning In Flames is a spectacularly mesmerising non-stop express train of images from art history books mutilated into submission. No computer could create the kind of organic textures that seem to peel off the screen, and the effect is akin to an ancient manuscript crumbling in your hands as you turn the page.
