(2013/15min/color/silent)
A poetic journey from the darkness of early dawn into the brightness of the midday sun in the American South. Filmed entirely on the number 16 bus route in Durham, North Carolina over the course of six months, Sun Song is a celebration of light and a meditation on leaving. Distributed worldwide by MUBI.
“...the final three minutes of Sun Song are as exciting and as impeccably edited as anything I’ve seen in years. It’s the most radical depiction of space travel since the highway scene in Tarkovsky’s Solaris (1972)! That Wanek was able to produce such a mature, surprising, and deeply human piece so early in his filmmaking career gives me great hope.” Sheer Playfulness and Deadly Seriousness, Senses of Cinema, by Darren Hughes
“There is no end to the trip in Sun Song, but the light's role does eventually have a hand in the conclusion, coming first flickering and then laying upon the seats and a final passenger like a passing revelation of an unspoken blessing." Rotterdam 2014. Deep Breaths, MUBI Notebook, by Daniel Kasman
"Inspired by the sounds and philosophy of Sun Ra, this silent workaday evocation of earthbound interstellar travel features working class African American workers as seldom depicted: with grace and poetry." Program Notes for Down To Earth: Extraterrestrials and Heavenly Bodies, Echo Park Film Center, curated by Christopher Harris
AWARDS
Grand Prize, International Competition - Internationales Kurzfilm Festival Hamburg, 2014
Best Short Film - ICDOCS International Film Festival, 2014
Award for Best Cinematography - Ann Arbor Film Festival, 2014
Third Prize - Media City Film Festival, 2014
Prix de la Competition Internationale - Festival Des Cinemas Differents et Experimentaux de Paris, 2014
SCREENINGS
2019 INSTITUTE OF CONTEMPORARY ARTS, London, England
2019 BEIJING INTERNATIONAL SHORT FILM FESTIVAL, Beijing, China
2019 BELO HORIZONTE INTERNATIONAL SHORT FILM FESTIVAL, Belo Horizonte, Brazil
2018 UNION DOCS, Brooklyn, New York
2018 IL CINEMINO, Milan, Italy
2018 CIAP KUNSTVEREIN, Hasselt, Belgium
2017 LATINOAMERICANO CINE DEL NUEVO FESTIVAL INTERNATIONAL, Havana, Cuba
2017 ELBPHILHARMONIE LAEISZHALLE, Hamburg, Germany
2016 FECIBOGOTA, Bogota, Columbia
2016 FESTIVAL CINE RADICAL, La Paz, Bolivia
2015 ART TORONTO, Toronto, Canada
2015 PARALLEL SCREEN, Rotterdam, Netherlands
2015 CINE MIGRANTE FILM FESTIVAL, Buenos Aires, Argentina
2015 CINEMA L'UNIVERS, Lille, France
2015 WINNIPEG UNDERGROUND FILM FESTIVAL, Winnipeg, Manitoba
2015 FRONTLINE CLUB, London, England
2015 NEXT INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL, Bucharest, Romania
2015 IMAGES FESTIVAL, Toronto, Ontario
2015 COPENHAGEN SHORT FILM FESTIVAL, Copenhagen, Denmark
2015 MOVING FESTIVAL OF VIDEO ART, Kyoto, Japan
2015 LES RENCONTRES TRAVERSE VIDEO, Toulouse, France
2015 BEURSSCHOUWBURG, Brussels, Belgium
2015 THE PUBLIC CINEMA, Knoxville, Tennessee
2015 LE FRESNOY STUDIO NATIONAL DES ARTS CONTEMPORAINS, Tourcoing, France
2014 BIENAL DE LA IMAGEN EN MOVIMIENTO, Buenos Aires, Argentina
2014 INTERNATIONALE KURZFILMTAGE WINTERTHUR, Zurich, Switzerland
2014 ANTIMATTER FILM FESTIVAL, Victoria, British Columbia
2014 DOCLISBOA INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL, Lisbon, Portugal
2014 FESTIVAL DES CINÉMAS DIFFÉRENTS ET EXPÉRIMENTAUX DE PARIS, Paris, France
2014 TRINIDAD + TOBAGO FILM FESTIVAL, Port of Spain, Trinidad
2014 TRANSIENT VISIONS FESTIVAL OF THE MOVING IMAGE, Johnson City, New York
2014 WNDX FESTIVAL OF THE MOVING IMAGE, Winnipeg, Manitoba
2014 INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL MESSAGE TO MAN, St. Petersburg, Russia
2014 25 FPS FESTIVAL, Zagreb, Croatia
2014 ARKIPEL INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL, Jakarta, Indonesia
2014 MEDIA CITY FILM FESTIVAL, Windsor, Ontario
2014 LIMA INDEPENDIENTE FESTIVAL DEL CINE, Lima, Peru
2014 INTERNATIONALES KURZFILM FESTIVAL HAMBURG, Hamburg, Germany
2014 ICDOCS INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL, Iowa City, Iowa
2014 EUROPEAN MEDIA ART FESTIVAL, Osnabruck, Germany
2014 CROSSROADS FILM FESTIVAL, San Francisco, California
2014 ANN ARBOR FILM FESTIVAL, Ann Arbor, Michigan
2014 LES RENCONTRES INTERNATIONALES, Paris/Berlin/Madrid
2014 INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL ROTTERDAM, Rotterdam, Netherlands
2013 BFI LONDON FILM FESTIVAL, London, England