A Quiet Sun

In production

A Quiet Sun is a poetic, experimental short film (c. 30 minutes) that explores themes of isolation, accessibility, and life in the margins. The work centres on the subtle interdependence of all living things. Ultimately, it stands as a celebration of difference and a quiet refusal to disappear.

The film shows footage from a single seaside location filmed over several years. It follows the gaze of a woman who spends the quiet hours at a small seaside restaurant and neighbouring shoreline. We see the seasons change; micro vignettes of daily life move into the surreal beauty of empty beaches, monochrome waves, and snow.

The film concludes with a dreamlike dance sequence that is a vibrant, joyful, and emotionally contrasting against the monochrome backdrop of Swedish winter, and the nearly invisible Quiet Sun.

The titles of each act are work-in-progress, signposts for collaboration.

PART I:
A SUMMER WAVE ALWAYS ARRIVES

People on the beach. Children buying ice cream. The hum of life in full colour. The sound of trees, the sea, the hum of cyclists and conversation, the soft clatter of plates. People’s voices. Laughter. Pompous men. Eavesdropped conversations. We hear the owner of the restaurant talking about this place. It is a meeting place. A living room. Everyone is welcome. It has become a haven for the woman. Accessible. The sounds swell and recede with the waves, we see the people coming and going. We feel the humour, lightness and the soothing rhythm of summer.

PART II: LATE SUMMER
A NOBLE KIND OF SILENCE

The season lingers, suspended between fullness of people visiting the restaurant and absence and silence in the off hours. As the restaurant begins to empty; the laughter and movement of others fade into the distance. The horizon over the sea is a constant. Jackdaws linger. Observation becomes memory, and memory becomes dream. Images become more abstract and fragmented; the shimmer of light on glass, a hand reflected in water, the slow drift of scarf in the wind. Colours fade and shapes dissolve into as the real and imagined begin to blur. The soundscape also becomes more surreal and repetitive. As fragments of voices fade, we are immersed back into the waves, the pulse of her own breath.

PART III: AUTUMN
PLEASURE IN MELANCHOLY 

Autumn arrives and brings soft-edged, muted colours. The air is colder and this changes the sounds. We see the residue of summer, a closed kiosk, flowers, but the light has changed. Everything feels both near and far, macro and micro, as if viewed through memory. Shadows stretch and breathe. The wind rises. The restaurant empties, the shoreline is empty again. She films the horizon until it stops being a line. The drone of waves folds into itself, a pulse, a mantra, a kind of hypnosis. Some figures appear on the beach. She knows him. They are there together. Maybe it is a trick of her mind. The encounter is wordless, reality blurs, she surrenders to a hallucination. Even in disorientation, there is pleasure.

PART IV: WINTER
THIS TOO BELONGS

Snow falls softly, blanketing the world in stillness. The restaurant is quieter now; the shoreline nearly empty. A lone figure appears in traditional costume, moving slowly against the white landscape on the boardwalk, onto the pier, on the rock. A dance. They are making gestures- telling a story through sign language, mudras. Their movement is deliberate, defiantly optimistic- so colourful, a stark contrast of beauty, generosity of culture, expression, colour and richness against the monochrome, cold autumn winter.

All above images are sketches.

Sound collaboration with Andrew James Hunt
Title graphics and poster created with Chaimaa Lahnin
With thanks to Between Coffees
Choreography in collaboration with…..to be announced