“To graze against the pulsations of time, to feel matter, to linger on the imperceptible frailty of gesture.” That’s the brief synopsis given by the director of this short documentary following Loren Connors, the septuagenarian guitarist who, after a bold and innovative career, was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease in the early-90s. In the face of this diagnosis, the musician faced it the only way he knew how: by carrying on with his work, producing some of his most emblematic records in its sequence. But this documentary doesn’t focus on past glories whatsoever - instead, it shows an artist at work, whether painting or playing guitar, honing his craft, measuring each gesture in its delicate, transient passage.
*** The two short film sessions presented in this edition of SONICA EKRANO take place under the aegis of the European project tekhnē, dedicated to innovative uses and approaches to technology from a user perspective.
The first of these sessions brings together three films that, in different ways, address the issue of (dis)ability in musical creation - from the thoughtful adaptations of guitarist Loren Connors and sound artist Marco Donnarumma to their degenerative physical conditions, to the celebration of the Portuguese punk band 5ª Punkada performing on stages across the continent.