And people do still access Anyox in the interests of commerce, even long after the mines shut down, because as a bi-product of the smelting process, there are mountains of slag left behind, which themselves are now the subject of mining, since slag - what's left over when the copper has been extracted from the ore - can itself be used in roofing materials. There is a small handful of people still working, mining slag in Anyox, two of whom we meet in Ryan Ermacora and Jessica Johnson's new documentary, Anyox, which opens at the VIFF on Sept. 30th, and screens again October 3rd.
Anyox has been subject of other films, including an episode on the Vice's Abandoned series, and on episodes of the Youtube channel, "Exploring Abandoned Mines" (see their "best of" Anyox episode here). My colleague Dan Kibke - more on whom below - has praised their work, in particular, in preserving these soon-to-be-forgotten aspects of early 20th century history/ industry - I mean, my grandfather, for whom I have been named, worked in the mines in Nova Scotia, but *I've* never seen the inside of one). He also notes, however, that there is a tendency elsewhere visible (on Instagram, say) to present a sort of "selfie-mode" angle on urban exploration ("this is me in the mineshaft!" "This is me at the top of the abandoned quarry!" "This is me in the abandoned amusement park!" and so forth).
But Ermacora and Johnson's documentary has no such aspect; other than a brief bit of Johnson's voice, in the context of an interview, the filmmakers keep themselves out of their film, capturing the strangeness of the landscapes with an artful, removed eye without locating themselves in them. Also welcome is that Anyox is equally interested, along with the strangeness of the environment and the environmental impact of the mines, in labour history, with accounts from workers (discussed below) of the conditions they worked and lived in, attempts to smuggle left-wing newspapers into the mining town, the struggle to unionize, and an eventual 1933 strike, some of which we read about on filmed footage of microfiche (itself presenting as an exotic, antique technology). The combination of artful, Burtynsky-like images of alien industrial landscapes with voiceover narration documenting labour struggles brought to mind John Gianvito's Profit Motive and the Whispering Wind, at times, or maybe certain segments of Michael Glawogger's Workingman's Death. So there are a few layers to Anyox. The three of us who previewed it were surprised and impressed by the artfulness and richness of the film, which, we all agreed, went beyond what we were prepared to settle for, truly impressing us.
About my collaborators on this piece: Dan and his partner, artist Emma Tomic, themselves have explored abandoned mines and other shuttered industrial operations, travelling, for example, to the abandoned mines at Britannia or, more exotically, taking a tour by boat around Battleship Island - Gunkanjima - in Japan. (You've probably seen footage of Gunkanjima in the James Bond film Skyfall, but Dan and Emma, being somewhat less well-funded than Bond productions, didn't have the resources when they went there, long before Bond, to actually land on the island, and had to settle for a view from the ocean; apparently there are now tours available!). Knowing their passion for abandoned industrial sites (as well as other locales, abandoned textile factories and hotels, documented in a book of photographs Dan published), I invited Dan and Emma to watch the film with me; questions were arrived at as the result of the discussion, though formulated in writing by me in the interests of time. (Our questions are in italics; Ryan's and Jessica's answers, also written collaboratively, are not).
Ryan Ermacora and Jessica Johnson
Allan (and Dan and Emma): What's your history with Jessica? Do you have different areas of interest and expertise, or do they overlap? (If IMDB can be trusted, you previously collaborated on a short documentary about the workforce in the Okanagan, and Anyox is the first feature for both of you?)
Ryan and Jessica: Jessica and I are filmmaking partners, we've been making films together for over 7 years.
Yes, our most recent short is on the subject of migrant labour in the Okanagan and is called "Labour/Leisure." We're both interested in histories of labour, resource extraction and the ways in which these subjects intersect with landscape. We’re particularly interested in using cinema to consider the vestiges left behind within the landscape in order to consider the past and possible futures. Before studying film, I studied history, and Jessica studied archaeology, so I think those areas of study have influenced our filmmaking practice. In terms of particular areas of interest/expertise, I'm quite involved in cinematography and work closely with our director of photography Jeremy Cox, including the technical requirements of shooting on film. Jessica is also involved in these processes, as well as doing field sound recordings for our films.
Do you or Jessica have past experience with urban exploration, abandoned industrial spaces, etc? Have you been to other sites around the province? Is it important to you that your locales be local, so to speak, or industrial - or would you be equally interested in other abandoned places around the world, whether they were industrial or not?
Jessica and I made a film in another largely abandoned resource extraction town on the central coast of BC called "Ocean Falls." We’re interested in these types of places as they often reveal a microhistory of the way capitalism encourages constant growth without consideration for the human and environmental impacts. We’re also interested in how people have managed to make a life for themselves, amongst these ruins, often outside of conventional economic systems. The economic conditions that create these sacrificial landscapes are not unique to this province and we’d be interested in making similar work in other parts of the world.
How did you source the archival material? We're guessing that the project began with the archival footage, but there's also footage you shot, the topographical maps, the workers' accounts of conditions, the microfiches accounting labour unrest - what was the order or assembling the material? Was there a point you wanted to arrive at before you actually made the trip to Anyox, given its remoteness and, I presume, the expense and difficulty of traveling there and shooting there...? ("Okay, we have enough to work with, let's go shoot...?"). Or did you go and "shoot first, assemble archival material later?"
The film actually began with a scout of Anyox. After meeting the people who live there, exploring and photographing the landscape, we began doing historical research. The following year we began shooting on location in Anyox. A few months after that first shoot we began reviewing and collecting archival motion picture material. We then did an additional shoot in Anyox the following autumn. We also did two shoots at the BC Archives in Victoria, in order to capture the microfiche and microfilm material. The research we did at the archives influenced what we filmed on the second trip to Anyox. The archival motion picture material is largely from the Library and Archives of Canada (LAC). We spent some time in Ottawa, meeting with archivists and going through material. Our films often involve fairly long processes of research, scouting and photography, before shooting anything for the film itself.
We were stunned at the quality of the archival footage - so much so that I turned, at one point, to Dan and his partner Emily to say, "I feel like I'm watching a Fritz Lang film." It was unfamiliar enough, unreal enough that I half-expected Melies-like creatures to leap into the frame at some point and start cavorting. In particular the "elevator shaft" footage showing activity, well-lit, at many levels of the mine felt like it had been set up by a master craftsman - I presume the lighting was strictly for the film, that the mines were normally much darker, which seems to suggest that this was a major production - people went to a lot of expense and difficulty to get this footage. Was a lot of it shot by the same filmmakers? Was it ever assembled into something previously, some industry documentary or...? It's fascinating. (Was there more of it that you could not use...?).
As we shot our present day material on 35mm and 65mm, we wanted to create a parallel between the present day footage and the archival footage. We knew that formally we wanted the film to use the structural limitations of early cinema, using the static frame and only moving the camera when it’s attached to an apparatus such as the ATV at the beginning of the film. In terms of archival material, while film and lenses have improved over the past century, the improvements are not immense, and a properly preserved and well scanned 35mm negative from 100 years ago can look almost as good as material shot today. A lot of archival material from that long ago has mostly been represented to the public after multiple generations of transfers, often concluding with pretty low fidelity images that are included in educational documentaries. Most of the footage that we found were part of promotional films used for promoting the mining and smelting operations in multiple locations in Canada. Part of our interest in these films is their propagandistic quality, which hopefully contributes to the historical layers within the film. The films were shot by multiple cinematographers. There was a film shot in Anyox filmed by Arthur David Kean called "The Story of Copper" or "Anyox, Story of Copper" which was released in 1918/1919. We spent quite a bit of time searching for this film and speaking with archivists about it, but we were never able to locate a negative or print. It likely was destroyed in a fire like many films that originated on nitrate.
The film actually began with a scout of Anyox. After meeting the people who live there, exploring and photographing the landscape, we began doing historical research. The following year we began shooting on location in Anyox. A few months after that first shoot we began reviewing and collecting archival motion picture material. We then did an additional shoot in Anyox the following autumn. We also did two shoots at the BC Archives in Victoria, in order to capture the microfiche and microfilm material. The research we did at the archives influenced what we filmed on the second trip to Anyox. The archival motion picture material is largely from the Library and Archives of Canada (LAC). We spent some time in Ottawa, meeting with archivists and going through material. Our films often involve fairly long processes of research, scouting and photography, before shooting anything for the film itself.
We were stunned at the quality of the archival footage - so much so that I turned, at one point, to Dan and his partner Emily to say, "I feel like I'm watching a Fritz Lang film." It was unfamiliar enough, unreal enough that I half-expected Melies-like creatures to leap into the frame at some point and start cavorting. In particular the "elevator shaft" footage showing activity, well-lit, at many levels of the mine felt like it had been set up by a master craftsman - I presume the lighting was strictly for the film, that the mines were normally much darker, which seems to suggest that this was a major production - people went to a lot of expense and difficulty to get this footage. Was a lot of it shot by the same filmmakers? Was it ever assembled into something previously, some industry documentary or...? It's fascinating. (Was there more of it that you could not use...?).
As we shot our present day material on 35mm and 65mm, we wanted to create a parallel between the present day footage and the archival footage. We knew that formally we wanted the film to use the structural limitations of early cinema, using the static frame and only moving the camera when it’s attached to an apparatus such as the ATV at the beginning of the film. In terms of archival material, while film and lenses have improved over the past century, the improvements are not immense, and a properly preserved and well scanned 35mm negative from 100 years ago can look almost as good as material shot today. A lot of archival material from that long ago has mostly been represented to the public after multiple generations of transfers, often concluding with pretty low fidelity images that are included in educational documentaries. Most of the footage that we found were part of promotional films used for promoting the mining and smelting operations in multiple locations in Canada. Part of our interest in these films is their propagandistic quality, which hopefully contributes to the historical layers within the film. The films were shot by multiple cinematographers. There was a film shot in Anyox filmed by Arthur David Kean called "The Story of Copper" or "Anyox, Story of Copper" which was released in 1918/1919. We spent quite a bit of time searching for this film and speaking with archivists about it, but we were never able to locate a negative or print. It likely was destroyed in a fire like many films that originated on nitrate.
We were curious what filmmakers, photographers, artists, etc are direct influences? A whole bunch of names came to mind in watching the film - James Benning, John Gianvito, Bill Morrison, Edward Burtynsky, Jennifer Baichwal, Peter Mettler, the Harvard Sensory Ethnography people, even Herzog... but there are probably dozens of people we do not know, dozens of films and photographers that could have a bearing, including Vice... Were there specific influences or inspirations? Did you cross paths with other filmmakers? Is there any reason for the particular interest in the site, now? (We also see that there was a book about Anyox... Curious that it is becoming a focal point...)
Yes, all the artists you mentioned likely had some impact on the film. Particularly, James Benning and Sharon Lockhart are artists we think a lot about. Our friend David Ehrenreich made the show Abandoned. After seeing our film "Ocean Falls," David told us about Anyox and the footage he shot there.
There is a book about Anyox which we read, however we wanted the film to largely be made of primary source documents, allowing the viewer to experience the archival research process that the film explores, therefore we did not use material from the book directly within the film.
The music is very interesting. What is your history with Lea Bertucci and how did you get her involved...? What instruments are we hearing? At some points it sounded like slowed down human voices combined with some sort of percussion, at other times it suggested electronica and/or stringed instruments -, do you know what she is playing. How hands-on was your involvement with Lea - did you ask for specific things, or...?
Yes, she's great. We’ve been fans of Lea’s work for a while and decided to just email her to see if she would be interested in composing a score for our film. We collaborated on the film remotely, as she was working from Berlin. The score was developed through a lot of back and forth correspondence. Lea primarily worked with saxophone, cello, and flute. You might be interested in her album Resonant Field, which was recorded in (and in a sort of collaboration with) a decommissioned grain elevator. This is the sort of work that got us so interested to try to work with her.
What exactly was the source of the labour testimonies we hear? It looked from the credits that these were NOT archival audio recordings of testimonies - which is how it sounded when we watched them - but people reading written texts aloud for the film? (Did you use professional actors for the readings, so they WOULD make them sound natural, and not like read texts?). It was interesting, if this is the case, that you had the Croatian texts read in Croatian, not translated...!
The source of the labour testimonies varies. The two English interviews are archival audio from the 1970s that had been a part of two different radio programs focused on labour history in BC. We sourced those from the BC Archives. For the Croatian account, we recorded that with an actor. We found a Croatian language labour publication titled Borba (Fight) that was published and distributed within Canada. In our research, the book Raising the Workers’ Flag by Stephen L. Endicott pointed us towards Marko P. Hećimović’s story, and cited the LAC as the location we could find Borba.
Yes, all the artists you mentioned likely had some impact on the film. Particularly, James Benning and Sharon Lockhart are artists we think a lot about. Our friend David Ehrenreich made the show Abandoned. After seeing our film "Ocean Falls," David told us about Anyox and the footage he shot there.
There is a book about Anyox which we read, however we wanted the film to largely be made of primary source documents, allowing the viewer to experience the archival research process that the film explores, therefore we did not use material from the book directly within the film.
The music is very interesting. What is your history with Lea Bertucci and how did you get her involved...? What instruments are we hearing? At some points it sounded like slowed down human voices combined with some sort of percussion, at other times it suggested electronica and/or stringed instruments -, do you know what she is playing. How hands-on was your involvement with Lea - did you ask for specific things, or...?
Yes, she's great. We’ve been fans of Lea’s work for a while and decided to just email her to see if she would be interested in composing a score for our film. We collaborated on the film remotely, as she was working from Berlin. The score was developed through a lot of back and forth correspondence. Lea primarily worked with saxophone, cello, and flute. You might be interested in her album Resonant Field, which was recorded in (and in a sort of collaboration with) a decommissioned grain elevator. This is the sort of work that got us so interested to try to work with her.
What exactly was the source of the labour testimonies we hear? It looked from the credits that these were NOT archival audio recordings of testimonies - which is how it sounded when we watched them - but people reading written texts aloud for the film? (Did you use professional actors for the readings, so they WOULD make them sound natural, and not like read texts?). It was interesting, if this is the case, that you had the Croatian texts read in Croatian, not translated...!
The source of the labour testimonies varies. The two English interviews are archival audio from the 1970s that had been a part of two different radio programs focused on labour history in BC. We sourced those from the BC Archives. For the Croatian account, we recorded that with an actor. We found a Croatian language labour publication titled Borba (Fight) that was published and distributed within Canada. In our research, the book Raising the Workers’ Flag by Stephen L. Endicott pointed us towards Marko P. Hećimović’s story, and cited the LAC as the location we could find Borba.
One microfiche headline from The Worker in the microfiche footage that got a sort of surprised "What. The. Fuck?!" reaction from us was, "Government aids mine and smelter bosses by kidnappings in Anyox." Was that hyperbolic - a sort of propaganda - or accurate? Who was kidnapped?
They're likely referring to deportations, as many of the workers were arrested and taken away from Anyox without having committed any crime. The Canadian government at that time was very concerned with newly immigrated workers spreading leftist ideas, and would deport striking workers. This injustice is why we believe they're being referred to as kidnappings. The sentence is quite representative as it refers to the ways in which since its inception, the government of Canada has largely functioned to aid resource extraction industries. This is still true today as BC continues to use police and military force to dispossess Indigenous people for the benefit of resource extraction companies.
Anything else we should say about the film - stories about the shoot, interesting reactions...? Has it played elsewhere? Will you be present at the VIFF...?
We will be at the VIFF screenings. It premiered Cinéma du réel in Paris, and has since played at the Open City Documentary Festival in London, as well as Muta festival in Peru. We'll be showing it at Black Canvas Contemporary Film Festival in Mexico City and Festival du nouveau cinéma in Montreal this fall.
See other documentary recommendations this VIFF in my previous post, and buy tickets for Anyox VIFF screenings here.
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