Bella, Maia and Nick. From nothing to something to something else, part 1

Manon de Boer

HD video, color, 16:9, no dialogue, GB/BE, 2018, 26’

Bella, Maia and Nick witnesses the reunion of three teenagers surrounded by musical instruments in a room overlooking the sea. They play the instruments or rather play with them, mounting and using them in unfamiliar ways. Together, they try out and abandon ideas, switch instruments, invent others (the windowpane or the wooden cupboard). They stop, start again, get bored, distracted or excited. “We should”, “What if”, “I can’t”, “Try this”, “What else can we do?” Meanwhile, the camera records what happens, what is about to happen or, even, what fails to happen. It stays in the transition “from nothing to something” and in between one attempt and the next. Bella, Maia and Nick looks carefully into the time spanning between already and not yet, which is the time of potentiality. “We should just make funny noises.” Fun is to play and noise is that which is not yet meaningful. A sound to which you don’t pay much attention but which already contains the promise of a rhythm, sound or melody. The editing of the film mirrors the playfulness of the kids for they both wander, avoid the build up of tension and deviate from working towards an aim.

Bella, Maia and Nick was commissioned by CAST for Groundwork in Cornwall in 2018. 

Groundwork was organized by CAST (Cornubian Arts & Science Trust) in partnership with Tate St Ives, Newlyn Art Gallery & The Exchange and Kestle Barton and was funded by an award from Arts Council England’s Ambition for Excellence scheme, with support from Freelands Foundation, Ampersand Foundation, Quercus Trust, Outset Contemporary Art Fund, Cornwall Council and Kestle Barton Trust.

In 2019 Manon de Boer made the second and third part of the trilogy: Caco, João, Mava and Rebecca and Oumi.

With Nick Frantz, Maia Roberts, Bella Stevens 
Cinematography and image editing Manon de Boer
Sound recording, editing and mix Laszlo Umbreit
Color grading Loup Brenta at Cobalt
Production Teresa Gleadowe and Marie Logie
Co-produced by CAST and Auguste Orts

Commissioned by CAST for Groundwork, 2018, in Cornwall
Supported by Arts Council England, Mondriaan Fund, Elephant Trust, International Musicians Seminar, Prussia Cove, Kestle Barton Trust, Helston Community College Music Department, LUCA School of Arts, The School of Film & Television, Falmouth University
Courtesy Jan Mot, Brussels

Caco, João, Mava and Rebecca. From nothing to something to something else, part 2

Manon de Boer

HD video, color, 16:9, no dialogue, PT/BE, 2019, 49’

Caco, João, Mava and Rebecca follows 4 teenagers improvising with dance and movement. The camera follows each of them in long continuous shots, observing an intimate process of play and research into the body’s possible movements. The subjectivity of each dancer is made palpable through the closeness of their breathing, emphasized by the contrasting sounds of the outside world and the other dancers off-screen. As in the first and last part of this trilogy, Bella, Maia and Nick (2018) and Oumi (2019), the film avoids building up tension and deviates from working towards an aim. Instead it explores the timespan between the already and the not yet, the time of potentiality.

With Caco Lebre, João Pataco, Mava José, Rebecca Axt  
Cinematography Artur Castro Freire
Cinematography and image editing Manon de Boer
Sound recording, editing and mix Laszlo Umbreit
Camera and sound assistant Mona Convert
Production assistant Leonor Azedo
Color grading Loup Brenta at Cobalt
Produced by Auguste Orts

Commissioned by Calouste Gulbenkian Museum, Lisbon
Courtesy Jan Mot, Brussels

Oumi. From nothing to something to something else, part 3

Manon de Boer

HD video, color, 16:9, no dialogue, ES/BE, 2019, 15’

Oumi is the third and final part of From nothing to something to something else, a series of three portraits of teenagers. While the first two films followed groups of three and four youngsters, Oumi focuses on just one girl quietly improvising with objects around her, singing, and often withdrawn in her own thoughts. The sensorial, intimate aural presence of her breathing and her voice contrasts with the sensation of witnessing an inner world one has no access to. 
In Oumi, as in the first two parts of the trilogy, Bella, Maia and Nick (2018) and Caco João, Mava and Rebecca (2019), the teenagers were only instructed to explore and improvise with sound, movement or whatever else came up, allowing themselves to play, experiment or just do nothing. All three films avoid building up tension and deviate from working towards an aim. Instead they explore the timespan between the already and the not yet, the time of potentiality.

With Oumi Niang
Cinematography Artur Castro Freire
2nd camera and image editing Manon de Boer
Sound recording, editing and mix Laszlo Umbreit
Color grading Loup Brenta at Cobalt
Produced by Auguste Orts
 and Centro de Creación Contemporánea Matadero Madrid 
Supported by Beursschouwburg Brussels, LUCA School of Arts and Friends of Auguste Orts Fund

Image: OUMI. From nothing to something to something else, part 3 (2019) by Manon de Boer