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Of the Last Reel in Front of You
Hybrid Documentary / 6 Minutes / 2023
“A hybrid documentary that follows a projectionist Alan Butterfield as he and the filmmaker embark on an exploration on their relationship with the past and present through the medium of film projection, time and space, and their surroundings.”
Starring:
Alan Butterfield
Aaron Lian
Kate Stewart
Rosy Fasano
Zac Cutcliffe
Producer: Wentian Jin
Writer/Director: Yan Geng
Cinematographer: Tom Xiao
Assistant Director: Barney Wilson
Assistant Camera: Felix Leung
Sound Recordist/Designer: Zac Cutcliffe
Production Designer: Wentian Jin
Gaffer: Fletcher Turale
Colourist: Tom Xiao
Editor: Yan Geng
BTS: Antony Zhang
What began as a second-year end-of-semester production, with the collaborative effort of a small crew, led to the final form of this short film. A heartfelt thank you goes to Alan, whose life served as inspiration and who entrusted me to interpret it through this film. Through the conversations I shared with Alan during the process, it evolved into a journey that felt organic and personal for the both of us, extending beyond what this film originally set out to achieve.
I met Alan from a projection workshop that he held at school at the end of 2022. We spent the entire day with him learning about the evolution of film and its chemical and physical workings. During the introduction, we learned that Alan used to studied physics in the 70s. He briefly talked about time and space which piqued my curiosity as I've always had my interest in these topics although not from a scientific point of view. Time and space build the physical environment that surrounds us, at the same time, they embody emotions and memories that make us who we are emotionally. In reality, we are fragile, we are not special nor important. On a cosmological scale, 100 years is merely a second but occasionally, you might see moments that last more than a second - you see how three of us laughed on that green leather couch, him cried in front of you for the first time, how she stopped texting you, the way he smiled when he picked the neighbour’s roses on the side of the road on the way home. At precisely these moments, every atom of us is special.
Watch it on SBS onDemand.
Screenings:
- Sydney Film Festival 2024
- SBS onDemand
- Mubi
- Press