The Voice That Thrilled the World

This short was released in connection with the 20th anniversary of Warner Brothers' first exhibition of the Vitaphone sound-on-film process on 6 August 1926. The film highlights Thomas A. Edison and Alexander Graham Bell's efforts that contributed to sound movies and acknowledges the work of Lee De Forest. Brief excerpts from the August 1926 exhibition follow. Clips are then shown from a number of Warner Brothers features, four from the 1920s, the remainder from 1946/47.

The devastating impact of industrial and military ocean noise on whales and other marine life.

film about the desire of listening. An intermingling of voices from childhood, dreams, history, sex and politics. A visual essay about the universe of sounds. What is sound? What is the sound experience? Sound placed and replaced as Energy. Nothing more should be said. The final conclusion, while the spectator flies over an infinite sea, talks about spreading fragility open. That is the Sound.

Hundreds of boxes left by the famous uruguayan musician and political activist Alfredo Zitarrosa (1936-1989) who run away the dictatorship in the 70s, have not been touched since his death 27 years ago. Now his wife and daughters are trying to save the memories, tapes, music and sound recordings that the boxes contain to the posterity.

A documentary about Walerian Borowczyk’s sound sculptures, featuring curator Maurice Corbet.

In “Everybody’s Cage”, German film artist Sandra Trostel turns John Cage and his approach to art into a tangible fascination, without giving in to explain just a single bit of it.

Since the 1930’s, sound gurus referred to as Foley artists have recreated the sounds that infuse a film with life. During a film’s post-production, Foley artists recreate sound that will match the moving image on-screen, using whatever objects are at their fingertips, from hundreds of pairs of old shoes to clunky old tools and squeaky mattresses. But how will Hollywood’s low-tech sound artists survive as digital technology consumes modern movie-making?

An unusual documentary exploring sound. Unique elements of Japanese culture are revealed through ancient rituals and extraordinary musical spectacles. A young Buddhist priest whose family has been serving a temple for the past 500 years is also a DJ and beat-boxer. A drum teacher takes part in a costume performance of a 700-year-old ghost story. A female performer plays the Sho, a rare bamboo instrument that is believed to imitate the call of the mythical phoenix. The core ideas explaining the magical potential of sound that permeates all parts of the film are presented in the tradition of Shingon Buddhism. These beliefs are explored through following Buddhist chanting lessons for student priests at Shuchiin University in Kyoto.

"Central Park" is composed of 11 films that offer a visual, sound and poetic journey through 11 cities crossed by the artist. Fascinated by the city, space and urbanism, Dominique Gonzalez-Foerster has been developing the concept of "tropical modernity" for several years, starting from the cohabitation and the confrontation between architecture and vegetation. It is around this research that she designed "Central Park" 11 films : - Kyoto (1998) - Taipei (2000) - Buenos Aires (2003) - Los Glaciares (2003) - Hong Kong (2000) - Encore Tapei (2000) - White Sands (2003) - Brasilia (1998) - Paris (1999) - Shangai (2003) - Rio de Janeiro (2000)

The film accompanies musicians who have devoted themselves to new, uncharted sounds with a great deal of passion. They build new instruments and work with quotidian noises. In the process, the ostensible noise often becomes sound. An adventurous journey of discovery into the realm of noises and sounds, rhythms and stillness. Together with people who listen closely and without reservation. A film that aims to engage viewers to listen with their eyes and see with their ears. Astonishingly sublime.

Pure sound unaltered by human hands is becoming increasingly difficult to find. Gordon Hempton is an Emmy Award-winning sound recordist who has spent the last 30 years trying to find and record the vanishing sounds of nature in an attempt to capture a disappearing sensory experience. Filmmaker Nick Sherman observes Hempton in the wilderness for 30 days and uncovers an obsessive artist on a quest for perfection in this obscure medium. Hempton’s natural ability to locate and articulate himself through sound has a contagious energy and gives his work a transportive quality. Soundtracker is a fascinating meditation on the world’s changing landscape and the things we may be leaving behind in the service of progress.