Embraced, 2011 was edited in Pasadena, California but the footage was shot in Arles, France in the Autumn of 2011. The long text that goes with the video was written during a record cold spell in January 2012 in Vitrolles, France. The filming of Embraced was a magical day in Arles. From 2010 from 2012 I was lucky enough to spend months at a time in Arles. Almost everyday I went for long meandering walks around the city including the outskirst of the city. One chilly extremely windy Fall morning with crystal blue skies, I was out on a long walk with my camera. I am always sensitive to "the place" of situations as I think about what I might be able to film. This is kind of my compass as to where to go. This sense led me into a filed that just really had my interest. So I started filming in the midst of all of this tremendous minstral wind with the sun at a fantastic angel causing the light to case rich shadows making everything look very three-dimensional. As I was panning around with the camera framing the scene I realized through the viewfinder that I recognized the building about a thousand yards away was the Abbey of Montjour which Vincent VanGogh drew.
It was a very strong and wonderful moment for me that I threw my desire to find a location to make film, that is, through art had discovered the very area that Vincent VanGogh was drawn to in 1888, some 123 years earlier. So I filmed all morning. Breaked for lunch at a friend's moms house for a home made Provencial meal. Then I returned and filmed until sundown.
The long text I spenting a few week writing considering my existence in France as an American artist and from this the mixture of ideas and emotions that ran through me. After finishing my writing I returned to Los Angeles and stayed in Pasadena to put the film altogether. I have never screened this film, never having found the right venue for it.
© Copyrighted Brice S. Bowman 2011
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