Red Knot Journey

Red Knot :: IFC Screening NYC

rkadmin — Fri, 30 Jan 2015 18:38:55 +0000

Red Knot :: IFC Screening NYC

The experience of sharing Red Knot Journey – the photographic works and film – with a small audience revealed how compelling it is to invite community together around art and how important it is to set the stage for a larger conversation. Red Knot Journey, the film, photographic works and soiree, are part of a contemporary travelogue that invites us to examine our closest relationships, to each other, to the ends of the earth and our impulse to
create and explore.

MICHAEL SIMMONDS :: CINEMATOGRAPHER

rkadmin — Fri, 05 Dec 2014 20:42:30 +0000

MICHAEL SIMMONDS :: CINEMATOGRAPHER

The cinematographer MICHAEL SIMMONDS was an enormous gift to this project. The Herculean task of shooting a feature film with a hand-held camera is a craft unto itself. Along with real strength and endurance, it requires a cinematographer with a visceral understanding and a philosophy of what it means to “be” the camera. It’s a physically challenging exercise that becomes unimaginably more difficult on a ship crossing one of the roughest seas in the world.

Before leaving New York, Simmonds and I met to look at my own photographic works. Simmonds responded to and appreciated the experimental nature of my photography, which is mostly derived from motion picture documentary footage I have shot on previous projects. We also perused the published collections of some of our favorite photographers: Sebastian Salgado, Robert Frank, and Hiroshi Sugimoto, to name a few. We discussed and watched films, including Cassavetes’ A Woman Under the Influence, Happy Together by Wan Kar-Wai, Malick’s Days of Heaven, Polanski’s Knife in the Water, and Cukor’s Adam’s Rib. I brought several of these on board and often found my team soaking them in late at night. They were films that we loved and respected.

Although we discussed all kinds of contraptions that could perhaps stabilize the camera on board the ship, Simmonds and I realized after a few meetings that a more fluid, hand-held feel would serve the film best. At that moment, we shared the reckoning that he would be holding the camera on his shoulder for most of the twenty-one-day shoot at sea.

In Michael Simmonds, I discovered a true master at his craft. Perhaps one of my favorite moments came with one of our first outings on the shores of the South Georgia Islands. It was a howling blizzard. We didn’t have much time to get the crew, equipment, and actors to the shoreline. Everyone suited up in gear and boots and made their way onto the various Zodiacs for a shore landing. Once everything settled and we set our minds to the work at hand, I looked over at Simmonds behind the camera. The snow had let up a bit, but his mustache was still covered in ice as he stood there in a tweed blazer and scarf he had apparently purchased before the trip. He looked like the true gentleman and artist he proved to be. The tweed blazer didn’t make many more outings as we progressed further south, but that image of the true romantic that is Michael Simmonds gave me great comfort that I had chosen the right partner to realize this film.

TODD MURPHY :: ART DIRECTOR

rkadmin — Fri, 05 Dec 2014 03:57:51 +0000

TODD MURPHY :: ART DIRECTOR

TODD MURPHY is a mixed media artist whose work includes themes of “metamorphosis, allusion, and life-in-the-moment.” His work includes painting, sculpture, photography, and site-specific pieces. His work has been exhibited in galleries and museums throughout the world. He has been a visiting artist and several colleges and universities in the United States. In addition, Murphy’s work has been used in film, music, and theatre. He is currently working on a new body of work for an upcoming exhibition.

Peter’s Journal :: 68 Degrees South

rkadmin — Thu, 04 Dec 2014 16:00:18 +0000

Peter's Journal :: 68 Degrees South

CAPTAIN + CHLOE

rkadmin — Thu, 04 Dec 2014 15:40:41 +0000

CAPTAIN + CHLOE

The Captain (Billy Campbell) and Chloe (Olivia Thirlby) alone, together in the southern ocean.

February 23rd :: 68 Degrees South

rkadmin — Thu, 04 Dec 2014 15:12:21 +0000

February 23rd :: 68 Degrees South

Journal Entry #17: There’s nothing incidental about returning from a journey like the one we took to Antarctica. I held Antarctica as a destination inside for the better part of my life. Every since my father spun a globe in my room, the poles rooted in my imagination.

It was nothing like I imagined. There are no words to describe the majestic beauty and delicate impermanence of icebergs the size of buildings floating like nature’s Brancusi’s at sea. It’s fair to say that I was blinded by my ambition to walk in the footsteps of explorers. Perhaps it was blindness that drew them to the poles, repelled us away from the comforts of home and into the wild.

I still can’t explain where the inclination to touch something virgin and wild comes from – perhaps it is the wellspring of all life – that we yearn to preserve what is wild within ourselves, and thus wild in our environment.

Having returned, I question the distinction between self and what’s around us. Borders, territory, even our own skin are very thin barriers to what is flowing all around us, through us, all the time.

In retrospect, what happened down there, between Chloe and I, was the finest gift I could have dreamed of. There’s nothing easy about losing yourself for the first time; yet somehow, getting lost is the only choice, and having this other there, to help you pick up the piec- es, is perhaps a marker of what it actually means to be married.

FIONA STRUENGMANN :: ARTIST

rkadmin — Thu, 04 Dec 2014 15:08:58 +0000

FIONA STRUENGMANN :: ARTIST

FIONA STRUENGMANN is an artist bringing her design aesthetic and skills to the Red Knot feature film as well as to its print and online mediaprojects. Fiona has been working with the range of Thunder, Perfect Mind’s projects since their inception. Her collaborative skills and her ability to interpret and realize a range of unique aesthetics have been an integral part of this artistic process.

Interview Scott Cohen – SIFF 2014

rkadmin — Wed, 11 Jun 2014 10:36:08 +0000

Interview Scott Cohen - SIFF 2014

When your first film explores a young relationship on an antarctic explorer, why not look to Roman Polanski’s directorial debut, KNIFE IN THE WATER.

FIPRESCI GRAND JURY PRIZE

rkadmin — Mon, 09 Jun 2014 05:45:37 +0000

FIPRESCI GRAND JURY PRIZE

SIFF 2014 BEST NEW AMERICAN CINEMA

GRAND JURY PRIZE – International Critics FIPRESCI Award at SIFF

Red Knot, directed by Scott Cohen (USA/Argentina/Antarctica 2014)

JURY STATEMENT: An ethnographic journey to the South Pole becomes an unsettling tale of fumbled love and transcendent redemption, capped by an extraordinary performance from Olivia Thirlby.

Red Knot Film

rkadmin — Mon, 26 May 2014 17:30:13 +0000

Moments…

rkadmin — Mon, 26 May 2014 12:15:27 +0000

This curious world we inhabit…is more wonderful than convenient; more beautiful than useful; it is more to be admired and enjoyed than used.

- Thoreau

Olivia Thirlby :: Chloe

rkadmin — Mon, 26 May 2014 12:00:44 +0000

Olivia Thirlby :: Chloe

Olivia Thirlby resides in New York City where she was born and raised. She has trained extensively in classical Shakespearian acting in New York at the American Globe Theatre, and in London at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. She began acting professionally in 2003, and plans to pursue a career in both theater and film. Thirlby, a darling of independent cinema with five films in production at the moment is equally comfortable working on blockbusters as she did when starring as Judge Cassandra Anderson alongside Karl Urban in Lionsgate’s Dredd. Thirlby first gained attention for her performance as Flight 93 passenger Nicole Miller in the critically acclaimed drama United 93 and as Leah, best friend to Ellen Page’s Juno in Jason Reitman’s blockbuster.