PLAINS
a film by Romanne Walker
FEATURE PRESENTATION
JUNE 21, 2023 • 9 PM
@ LIGHT HOUSE ARTS CENTRE
(1800 ARGYLE STREET, HALIFAX)
A Q+A WITH ROMANNE WALKER, JONATHAN CARROLL
& CAT BLUEMKE WILL FOLLOW THE SCREENING
2023 / CANADA, UK / 60 mins
Shot by a two-person crew throughout Nova Scotia’s South Shore, director Romanne Walker and cinematographer Eli Speigel’s Plains is an experimental docufiction following couple Jon and Cat as they develop virtual-reality video games and their new left-leaning online role-playing game, Peasant Sim. Plains strikes a bittersweet nerve, depicting Jon and Cat’s attempt to carve out an autonomous lifestyle and creative practice in the idyllic setting of a Nova Scotian fishing village, while acknowledging and discussing the looming presence of techno-feudalism. The film is dense with strong, contrasting images of what the filmmakers refer to as “the paradox of using technology as an attempt to grasp a freer and more accurate version of reality,” navigated by the compelling presences of its subjects. —Rebecca Falvey