JW Griffiths’ quirky little film is shot entirely on the Nokia N8 mobile phone. It is the winner of the Nokia Shorts competition 2011. Two citizens from opposite ends of the Atlantic. At which common point will they meet, if at all? Shades of the “Griffin and Sabine” trilogy, but in a more contemporary and refreshingly simple, concise manner.
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Director: JW Griffiths Producer: Kurban Kassam Director of Photography: Christopher Moon Editor: Marianne Kuopanportti Sound Design: Mauricio d’Orey Music composed by: Lennert Busch
July 2, 2011. Here I go a-wandering somewhere in Montreal or Quebec City or Toronto and the roads and towns in between southern Ontario’s wine country. Through streets and crowds, familiar smells, ancient whispers, new sounds, the beats of the Jazz Festival in Montreal, the cheers on Canada Day in Toronto, and a song that for some reason always stirs that old wanderlust inside my gipsy heart. And reignites that vagabond whimsy buried inside: subdued through months of practiced stoicism and yet, stirring once in a while amidst summer heat and long amaranthine warm night skies, forgotten lyrics and the sheer abandon of tumbling, intoxicating melodies.
And here I go a-wandering though poignant Paris, the labyrinthine streets of Venice, the merchants’ markets in exotic, overwhelming India and through the dazzling colors of Burano, the snow-capped mountains of Salzburg, the inexhaustible energy of New York City and pensive train rides along the ocean of the Pacific North-West……and I find a release to this restlessness, to a searching mind that is never satiated…..looking forward to the surprises around an unexplored corner, the fractal geometry of a new tree to marvel at, and at times, recalling the sheer exhaustion of working through the night at the studio and the nebulous state of heavy eyes and tired arms in the soft haze of the break of dawn.
And the resonance of rich memories and an inspired frenzy to learn and love, to live and laugh – permeates through the lyrics…..
Oh, Dylan! Whence from do such thoughts find way to your fingertips…?
Then take me disappearin’ through the smoke rings of my mind Down the foggy ruins of time, far past the frozen leaves The haunted, frightened trees, out to the windy beach Far from the twisted reach of crazy sorrow Yes, to dance beneath the diamond sky with one hand waving free Silhouetted by the sea, circled by the circus sands With all memory and fate driven deep beneath the waves Let me forget about today until tomorrow.
Tambourine Man – Bob Dylan
Hey ! Mr Tambourine Man, play a song for me I’m not sleepy and there is no place I’m going to Hey ! Mr Tambourine Man, play a song for me In the jingle jangle morning I’ll come followin’ you. Though I know that evenin’s empire has returned into sand Vanished from my hand Left me blindly here to stand but still not sleeping My weariness amazes me, I’m branded on my feet I have no one to meet And the ancient empty street’s too dead for dreaming.
Hey ! Mr Tambourine Man, play a song for me I’m not sleepy and there is no place I’m going to Hey ! Mr Tambourine Man, play a song for me In the jingle jangle morning I’ll come followin’ you.
Take me on a trip upon your magic swirlin’ ship My senses have been stripped, my hands can’t feel to grip My toes too numb to step, wait only for my boot heels To be wanderin’ I’m ready to go anywhere, I’m ready for to fade Into my own parade, cast your dancing spell my way I promise to go under it.
Hey ! Mr Tambourine Man, play a song for me I’m not sleepy and there is no place I’m going to Hey ! Mr Tambourine Man, play a song for me In the jingle jangle morning I’ll come followin’ you.
Though you might hear laughin’, spinnin’ swingin’ madly across the sun It’s not aimed at anyone, it’s just escapin’ on the run And but for the sky there are no fences facin’ And if you hear vague traces of skippin’ reels of rhyme To your tambourine in time, it’s just a ragged clown behind I wouldn’t pay it any mind, it’s just a shadow you’re Seein’ that he’s chasing.
Hey ! Mr Tambourine Man, play a song for me I’m not sleepy and there is no place I’m going to Hey ! Mr Tambourine Man, play a song for me In the jingle jangle morning I’ll come followin’ you.
Then take me disappearin’ through the smoke rings of my mind Down the foggy ruins of time, far past the frozen leaves The haunted, frightened trees, out to the windy beach Far from the twisted reach of crazy sorrow Yes, to dance beneath the diamond sky with one hand waving free Silhouetted by the sea, circled by the circus sands With all memory and fate driven deep beneath the waves Let me forget about today until tomorrow.
Hey ! Mr Tambourine Man, play a song for me I’m not sleepy and there is no place I’m going to Hey ! Mr Tambourine Man, play a song for me In the jingle jangle morning I’ll come followin’ you.
The Gipsy Geek 