Mivan Makia
Mivan Makia shares with us her short film, a place of others, anothers, a further more. A haunting dreamlike journey through mirrors and reflections with a final gathering at the sea.
a place of others, anothers, a further more
Hi! Welcome to The Casserole Series. Can you tell us a little bit about who you are?
MM: My name is Mivan. I was born in Canada but grew up in Dubai. I am back in Canada, for now. I finished my BFA in Film here. My work focuses more on filmmaking specifically analog film. I really enjoy working with Super8mm and 16mm film. I also really enjoy printmaking, photography, performance art, etc. Subconsciously I am always working towards exploring more in those other mediums and start to somehow incorporate the different ones together. I would hate to only make films for the rest of my life.
The mirrors and reflections leave you questioning: Who is looking? What is looking back? Is it a portal? The same sort of questions movies evoke.
MM: You can think of the mirrors and reflections, I suppose as a metaphor to express more layers of meaning or relationships than what immediately meets the eye. I say that because to really try and simplify it, the film is a purposeful manipulation of memories in a heterotopic universe. Essentially what the mirror represents is the idea that a mirror is a utopia because the image reflected is a 'placeless place', an unreal virtual place that allows one to see one's own visibility. However, the mirror is also a heterotopia, in that it is a real object. The heterotopia of the mirror is at once absolutely real, relating with the real space surrounding it, and absolutely unreal, creating a virtual image. Just like the memories.
The narrator, in both text and sound, calls to mind components of sci fi. Like the mirrors, there is a lingering question about time.
MM: I suppose I was mostly trying to tell this piece through image and sound, so I didn’t want to say too much through the narrator but still say something that would add value to the piece. Time definitely whether consciously or not is a factor of the film. The nostalgia of memories, but also the romanticization of what could’ve been. I don't usually care to label my films, they can be whatever the viewer wants it to be. Some people might see this as a really personal sentimental piece or some will see it as this computer lady trying to go through and organize an overload of an individual’s data, and she's having these lags happen where the sound and image has cut to some other sound and image.
The dead fish being returned to the sea wrapped in plastic is haunting. What is your relationship to the sea?
MM: I grew up and lived by the sea all my life, I don’t think I will ever stop making projects by the ocean. I suppose it says something about the whole idea of why fish are and have been so important to me. This idea that I went to the fish market and had to bargain to buy these fish for cheaper, only to wrap them up in plastic and take them back "home" to the ocean. At some points the fish felt like me and I felt like the fish. This idea of going back home where you expect to be happy and then you go back and you realized so much has changed and you are feeling very disassociated. In the fish's case, dead. However, it's also the ocean. The place you went to a lot growing up and a place you share many fond memories with many kinds of different people. I guess that's how the shots of the fish market in the ocean came from.
The film has a very rhythmic editing. You mentioned that the score was created for the film. Can you speak about the sound / image relationship?
MM: The entire score was done by my very talented and good friend Alan. He did the score to my last film as well. It was important to really set a “mood” for each part of the film. First piece being creepy, confusing and explorative to the second one being bubbly, campy, and fun, and the last being the more peaceful, nostalgic, genuine and really just an accumulation of all the highs and the lows. A big part of the film is the abruptness of it. First it was visually through the edit so of course the music had to be as well. For both of us, throughout the whole process of editing this film I think we were both working towards a switch that had to be very abrupt but also rhythmic to one’s ear. It was important throughout the whole process for it to just build more and more from start to finish, like an orchestra.
Mivan Makia is a Canadian based artist from Dubai working with film.
Casserole Recipe of the Week:
Wake-Up Casserole w/ Canadian Bacon
I could eat eggs and bacon for every meal. You’re welcome.
Ingredients:
8 frozen hash brown patties
2 (6 ounce) packages Canadian bacon, quartered
4 cups shredded Cheddar-Monterey Jack cheese blend
1 & 3/4 cups egg substitute
1 cup 2% milk
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground mustard
Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a 9x13 inch baking dish
Arrange hash brown patties in a single layer in the prepared baking dish; top with Canadian bacon. Sprinkle Cheddar-Monterey Jack cheese over Canadian bacon.
Whisk egg substitute, milk, salt, and mustard together in a bowl; pour over cheese layer. Cover dish with aluminum foil.
Bake in the preheated oven for 1 hour. Remove aluminum foil and bake until a knife inserted in the center comes out clean and edges are golden brown (about 15 min)
(from allrecipes)