THE WRITER’S SELECTION: MIKE CAHILL
By Kelly Richman
As an individual trained within the traditional margins of the visual arts – including experience creating in studios, learning in classrooms, and working within museums – I embrace situations that expand my knowledge of art and enable me to understand and observe it in its many diverse forms. During a Modern and Contemporary Art course as an undergraduate, I became enthralled with performance art; through a recent abundance of free time (and magazine subscriptions) as a postgraduate, I have discovered my excitement over the aesthetic creativity, artistic significance, and social role embedded within fashion; and, thanks to ROOMS’ recent exploration of the work of director Mike Cahill in ROOMS 15, I have found myself increasingly drawn to a new artistic outlet: film.
ROOMS 15 introduces I ORIGINS and an interview is conducted with Mike Cahill, the director ofI ORIGINS, Raindance Film Festival’s opening act. After learning about Cahill’s approach to film and his interest in the inherent dialogue between science and emotion, I decided to do a little bit of research and learn about his body of work. In addition to the excitement that accompanied my discovery that he and I are both Georgetown University alumni (Hoya Saxa!), I found myself particularly interested in another of his films, Another Earth, and subsequently watched its trailer. While the plot appears rich and complex and the acting is superb, it is, unsurprisingly, the film’s artistic approach and unique aesthetics that I find myself most excited about. With beautifully rendered shots of the sky, movements portrayed in slow motion, and an emphasis on capturing minute details, it is unsurprising that, as an art-centric individual, I am drawn to Another Earth and, ultimately, to the work of Cahill.
Thus, while I had wholly anticipated a consequent desire to view one film while reading Cahill’s interview in ROOMS 15, I must admit that this is not the case.
I now want to see two.
