Picture of Light takes the approach of a poetical essay documenting the search for a natural wonder; the mysterious Aurora Borealis. It's incorporeal lights and colors pouring from the sky lure a small film team of six to Canada's arctic. After strenuous and complicated technical preparations - among other things, the camera had to be protected against temperatures dropping to minus 40 degrees Celsius - and with 50 pounds of batteries in their luggage, they set out on a 3000-mile train journey through practically uninhabited snowy landscapes to the end of the civilized world - Churchill, Manitoba.

Violent snowstorms force the crew to settle down to a long wait for a clear night in which the Northern Lights may appear. Soon the TV set gains importance as the only link between the inhabitants of Churchill and the outside world. While waiting villagers are interviewed about their life under the Northern Lights: the Croatian hotel owner hardly takes any notice of them; the priest is reminded of the searchlights during World War II; an old man speaks of the lights hypnotizing effect and remembers that people used to tell the weather forecast by them; another enthuses over the beauty of their colors. A member of Space Lab 3 reports live form outer space about his scientific observations of the polar lights, explaining the effects of their enormous sources of energy on the earth's magnetosphere. Mettler himself gives a diary-like voice-over of the events, augmenting the film images with background information, anecdotes and Inuit legends; at the same time questioning the act and responsibility of creating filmic representations of this natural phenomenon.

Over the course of a one-year editing process, the film gradually took shape out of the 18 hours of film material collected during two trips to Churchill. The lights could only be made visible by shooting three frames per minute and later expanding time on the optical printer. Mettler was aware that the images presented to the audience would suggest a reality completely different from the actual experience. Already during the long and cold nights in Churchill, Mettler had questioned the impulse to collect images. Not least for this reason, in Picture of Light he decided for the first time to make use of the voice-over; with which he self-critically tests the powerful potential and authority of the 'invisible' voice.

Picture of Light like his earlier films, deals with the tension between nature and technology, science and mythology. It reflects the desire to track down a wonder and to capture it on film, questioning ways in which experience molded by the media increasingly threaten to replace our individual and authentic experiences.

Original Version: Color, Super 16 mm blow-up and 35 mm.
Further Information:

Excerpts of other Mettler films, articles and photo gallery.

Catalog Number: MC-695	Type: Feature	Genre: Documentary
Copyright: 1994	Length: 83 minutes	Format:  DVD  Region: 0 (All)
TV System: NTSC	ISBN: 9780978292911	UPC: 094922719294
Label: Grimthorpe Film Inc.

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Films In Compilation

2007-07-17  All Movie Guide By Sandra Brennan This beautifully filmed documentary allows viewers to experience the ethereal beauty of the aurora borealis as it is seen in the Canadian Arctic Circle in the middle of winter. Much of the documentary chronicles the process the filmmakers went through to capture the phenomenon on film. Viewers are also taught many of the 170 Inuit words used to describe snow and ice.

	Preludes: Selected Works of Peter Mettler MC-696, 1997 Scissere A first-person foray into the disorienting realm between reason and sensation, Peter Mettler’s SCISSERE is an incorrigibly inventive first feature film. It deploys a seemingly inexhaustible repertoire of optical effects, in rendering the... more >	$US 29.95 home   $US 23.96 $US 121.50 educ   what's this Wholesale pricing available Available now! Format: DVD, NTSC
	Top of His Head, The by Peter Mettler MC-697, 1989 THE TOP OF HIS HEAD is the story of Gus Victor, a satellite dish salesman whose ordered world is turned upsidedown by a radical and alluring performance artist. A cryptic note left by Lucy leads Gus on a quest which draws him out of the tyranny of... more >	$US 29.95 home   $US 23.96 $US 121.50 educ   what's this Wholesale pricing available Available now! Format: DVD, NTSC

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