Presented at the 60th Pesaro International New Cinema Exhibition, Terminal Island is the short film by the American director Sam Drake.
The works of Drake, made with 16 mm film and found media, they circulated in various festivals and institutions, including Media City Film Festival, Crossroads, Alternative Film/Video, Collectif Jeune Cinéma, Non-Syntax Experimental Image, Winnipeg Underground Film Festival, Transient Visions Festival of the Moving Image, Antimatter and IFFR.
Terminal island The official synopsis
Terminal Island, or the swan song of the Los Angeles palm tree. The splendid panoramas of the capital of California, among other things one of the places with the most pleasant climate that exist, are not exempt from the plagues of the contemporary era, pollution, overbuilding, and from the great fears for unpredictable catastrophes: hence a sermon declaimed in a completely empty futuristic structure. But the ecological concern does not prevent the director from expressively editing intriguing glimpses of Los Angeles and new, at times distressing, shots of a city more complex than his name.
TERMINAL ISLAND – International New Cinema Exhibition – Pesaro Film Festival.
lost paradise
Terminal Island it is a portrait of Paradise Lost. Los Angeles, California is a place of immense beauty but it is also a hotspot for ecological disaster. Smog-filled skylines, overdevelopment and the disappearance of Los Angeles’ iconic palm tree are some of the clues that something serious is happening.
Under an arid sun the few trees that resist the excessive heat struggle, breathing with difficulty. The dry and dying leaves replaced by antennas and microphones. On the ground there are signs of earthquake tremors which highlight the fragility of a city in constant danger.
Everywhere there is a decadent atmosphere: it is like a boulder moving under your feet.
People who need people are the luckiest people in the world.
While the cars speed by in a race against time, raising dust in the sultry air, one more hand caresses the scratches on the worn bodywork, removing the crust of corrosion. Could something be reborn underneath?
The director’s denunciation of how technological development represents a plague of the contemporary era is clear: between pollution, overbuilding and climate change. There is great fear of unpredictable environmental threats that can arrive suddenly and whose anticipatory screams can be heard in spurts. What we do not see is perceived through the echo of distorted voices recorded as if on a tape broadcast over the radio. In his short short Sam Drake expressively and artistically edits disturbing glimpses of an almost futuristic Los Angeles, with shots of a city that now has very little to do with its name. Apocalyptic.
Pesaro Film Festival the news of the exhibition
