Canadian Premiere
Camera Lucida
Topology of Sirens
Directed by Jonathan Davies
Hosted by Director, Jonathan Davies and Producer, Tyler Toarmina.
Credits
Official selection
FID Marseille 2021
Black Canvas Contemporary Film Festival 2021
Chicago Underground Film Festival 2021
Sarasota Film Festival 2022
Jeonju International Film Festival 2022
Director
Jonathan Davies
Producer
David Croley Broyles, Meredith Cohen, Tyler Taormina, Sergio Uguet de Resayre
Writer
Jonathan Davies
Cast
Sarah Davachi, Whitney Johnson, Jeff Kober, Samantha Robinson, Courtney Stephens
Cinematographer
Carson Lund
Sound Designer
Jonathan Davies
Editor
Carson Lund
contact
Omnes Films
USA
2021 105 mins
OV English
“An offbeat combination of erudite esoterica and sensory pleasures”- Neil Young, SCREEN DAILY
Cas (Courtney Stephens), an academic and amateur musician, moves into her aunt’s old home. The discovery of a mysterious hurdy-gurdy—a hand-cranked, fiddle-like string instrument popular during the Renaissance—prompts another: microcassette tapes nestled in the instrument, labeled with cryptic symbols, and containing stranger, abstract soundscapes. Cas’s curious detective story begins, an investigation and pilgrimage through the lush landscape of a charming California town populated by post-hippie audiophiles, musical experimentalists, analog tinkerers, community TV VJs, niche luthiers and conservationists of things both old and beautiful—a myriad of encounters that invite her to reflect on her on own history and practice.
An Omnes Films production (HAPPER’S COMET, also among this year’s selections, and HAM ON RYE), TOPOLOGY OF SIRENS is a fantastical, shimmering debut from music supervisor-turned-director Jonathan Davies. Overtly inspired by ‘90s PC point-and-click adventure games such as Myst, yet seemingly operating like a once-removed, sun-kissed subversion of L.A.-set noirs (think an airier, female-led LONG GOODBYE), TOPOLOGY seems to exist outside of time and worldly preoccupations. A balm for weary souls, it takes the call of its titular sirens as both narrative logic and supernatural destination. And as Davies unveils one clue at a time, we begin to hear and see the world like his protagonist. For audiophiles and fans of works such as Sara Adina Smith’s THE MIDNIGHT SWIM or Apichatpong Weerasethakul’s MEMORIA, here is a film perfectly attuned to life’s mysteries, and to the frame of mind necessary to discover them. – Ariel Esteban Cayer