Sunstone by Filipa César and Louis Henderson

Sunstone tracks Fresnel lenses from their site of production to their exhibition in a museum of lighthouses and navigational devices. It also examines the diverse social contexts in which optics are implicated, contrasting the system of triangular trade that followed the first European arrivals in the ‘New World’ with the political potential seen in Op-art in post-revolutionary Cuba. Incorporating 16mm celluloid images, digital desktop captures and 3D CGI, the film also maps a technological trajectory: from historical methods of optical navigation to new algorithms of locating, from singular projection to multi-perspectival satellitic visions. Registering these technical advances progressively through the film’s materials and means of production, Sunstone creates “a cinema of affect, a cinema of experience—an Op-Film.”

Sunstone by Louis Henderson & Filipa César

Portugal, United Kingdom, France, 2018, 35 minutes, Colour/B&W, 5.1 Surround, 16:9.

Original format: 16mm film and HD video. 

Available formats: HD Video / / / HD Digital file / DCP

Production: Spectre Productions and Stenar Projects 

Info: Sunstone was co-commissioned by Contour Biennial 8, Mechelen and Gasworks, London.

Additional Financial Support: The Institute of Cinema and Audiovisual Portugal, Arts Council England, Gulbenkian Foundation, Cristina Guerra Contemporary, Fluxus Art Projects.

Distribution: LUX and Video Data Bank