Manon De Boer

Film

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François Bonenfant: Your voice is present in a great deal of your work. As the sensorial vector of thought, it accompanies meaning but also reminds us of breath, of a materiality that precedes or succeeds language. How do you plan to explore this intermediate state this time? Manon de Boer: This time, I’d like to further explore the voice as matter occupying and thereby embodying space. I want to create a tension between the voice when connected to a body we see and the voice present in a space where we cannot locate the body as its source. In the moments when the voice is present as “pure voice,” I’d like to explore how a non-differentiation between body and space can be brought about by a voice.

FB: How does On a Warm Day in July differ from your earlier films and also connect with them?

MdB: Questions of how your voice moves in-between thinking and breathing, in-between language and timbre, in-between me and the other, were always present in the way I gave space to the voice in my former films, both in the soundtrack and in the image. In On a Warm Day in July I’ll continue to explore this. The voices in previous films, however, are more defined as a voice-off or singing an existing piece of music, whereas in the new film the voice will be more undefined, more a granular material, moving from singing to breathing to breathing as singing.

FB: On a Warm Day in July is based on a few phrases from a 17th century woman composer in Italy, Barbara Strozzi. Can you say something about this choice?

MdB: Claron McFadden, the singer in this film, suggested I listen to “Lagrime mie” by Barbara Strozzi as an example of music that corresponds with her way of breathing when singing. When listening to this Lamento I was fascinated by the way the breathing was developed, extended and withheld around the word “respire.” Experimenting with this word and phrases from “Lagrime mie,” it turned out to be the perfect point of departure for improvisation.

Manon De Boer

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