Midsummer
Director: Masha Vlasova
Country of Origin: United States / Finland
Premiere: Tennessee
Synopsis: Midsummer is a cyanotype photogram film, where the sunlight, along with plants, insects, and water, are all employed in the process of filmmaking. The production of the film began in Finland, during Juhannus, the celebration of the longest day of the year in, when the sun doesn’t set. Blank 16mm film strips are coated in cyanotype emulsion and exposed to sunlight with natural materials, capturing the fleeting moments of nature's cycle. The landscape is both material and collaborator, where its physicality is literally imprinted into the filmic surface. The film explores the ephemeral nature of life, the swift passage of time, and the interplay between humans and the environment. Each frame captures not only the landscape but also the transient and dynamic processes of nature, creating an image that is at once tangible and elusive, grounded in the physical world yet imbued with a sense of mystery.
