Spectres of the Spectrum
{{Infobox film
| name = Spectres of the Spectrum
| image = Spectres of the Spectrum cover.jpg
| director = Craig Baldwin
| producer = Craig Baldwin
| writer = Craig Baldwin
| cinematography = Bill Daniel
| editing = Bill Daniel
| studio = Other City Productions
| released = {{Film date|1999|10|5|VIFF}}
| runtime = 94 minutes
| country = United States
| language = English
}}
Spectres of the Spectrum is a 1999 science fiction collage film by American filmmaker Craig Baldwin. The story follows a father and daughter living in post-apocalyptic wasteland as they fight against corporate control of the electromagnetic spectrum. The film mixes found footage with live-action scenes.
Plot
In the year 2007, a telepathic woman Boo Boo and her father Yogi live in a post-apocalyptic wasteland. The New Electromagnetic Order rules the world, opposed by the TV Tesla resistance movement. Boo Boo, able to withstand the radioactive atmosphere, must go back in time 50 years and trace TV broadcasts of Science in Action to find an encoded secret from her grandmother. Meanwhile, Yogi scans the history of the electromagnetic conflict. After decoding the secret message, Boo Boo flies into the Sun to unleash a chain reaction that weaponizes the Sun's energy.
Cast
- Sean Kilcoyne as Yogi {{cite web|url=https://www.tvguide.com/movies/spectres-of-the-spectrum/cast/134645/|title=Spectres Of The Spectrum – Cast|publisher=TV Guide|accessdate=19 December 2018}}
- Caroline Koebel as Boo Boo
- Beth Lisick as Boo Boo (voice)
Production
File:Craig Baldwin 5.jpg with his collection of films in 2015]]
Baldwin worked on Spectres of the Spectrum over three years. The film primarily draws from archival material that Baldwin kept in the basement of his studio space in San Francisco.{{cite news |last=O'Reilly |first=Finbarr |date=February 11, 2000 |title=BooBoo and Yogi fight the power: Experimental film explores theme of media concentration |work=National Post |page=B6 }} His collection included hundreds of educational Science in Action episodes, discarded by the Exploratorium. Baldwin was motivated to use these because the show regularly had military figures as guest stars, which he thought perfectly captured "the reality of science being coopted by the military".{{cite web |url=https://believermag.com/logger/chomsky-does-not-make-movies-jim-knipfel-interviews-filmmaker-craig-baldwin/ |title=Chomsky Does Not Make Movies: an Interview with Filmmaker Craig Baldwin |last=Knipfel |first=Jim |date=June 29, 2017 |website=The Believer |access-date=October 13, 2018 }}
Additional live-action scenes were shot on 16 mm film. Caroline Koebel's scenes did not have sync sound, and voiceover was added instead.{{cite magazine |last=Eisner |first=Ken |date=November 29, 1999 |title=Spectres of the Spectrum |magazine=Variety |volume=377 |issue=3 |page=58 }}
Release
Spectres of the Spectrum premiered October 5, 1999 at the Vancouver International Film Festival.{{cite web |url=http://viff.org/cgi-bin/viffnote99.cgi?key+SPECT |title=Spectres of the Spectrum |year=1999 |publisher=Vancouver International Film Festival |access-date=October 11, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20000421130615/http://viff.org/cgi-bin/viffnote99.cgi?key+SPECT |archive-date=April 21, 2000}} It was selected to screen at the 1999 New York Film Festival,{{cite news |last=Holden |first=Stephen |date=October 9, 1999 |title=Marching in the Vanguard |url=https://archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes.com/library/film/100999avant-film-review.html |work=The New York Times |access-date=October 11, 2018 }} the 2000 Whitney Biennial,{{cite news |date=February 3, 2000 |title='Spectres' screens experimental filmmaker's work |work=The Ithaca Journal |page=C8 }} and the 2000 London Film Festival.{{cite news |last=Romney |first=Jonathan |date=November 14, 2000 |title=Spectres of the Spectrum |url=https://www.theguardian.com/film/2000/nov/14/artsfeatures |work=The Guardian |page=25 |access-date=October 11, 2018 }} When the Church of Scientology found out about a mention of L. Ron Hubbard's time working as an intelligence agent, they sent Baldwin a letter documenting their account of Hubbard's life.{{cite magazine |last=Carley |first=Christopher |year=2008 |title=Talk About a Combustible Mix: An Interview with Craig Baldwin |magazine=Cineaste |volume=34 |issue=1 |page=23 }}
=Critical reception=
A. O. Scott wrote that the Spectres of the Spectrum was "exhausting and ultimately bewildering…[but] not without a certain visual and conceptual brilliance, or, thankfully, a sense of humor."{{cite news |last=Scott |first=A. O. |author-link=A. O. Scott |date=March 17, 2000 |title=Yogi and Boo Boo, Yes, But Not One Picnic Basket |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2000/03/17/movies/film-review-yogi-and-boo-boo-yes-but-not-one-picnic-basket.html |work=The New York Times |page=E29 |access-date=October 11, 2018 }} Jonathan Romney of The Guardian called it "radical pop art, and head-spinningly entertaining storytelling, if you manage to keep up with it." In his review for Variety magazine, Ken Eisner described it as a "concentrated lightning bolt of fascinating weirdness" but noted that it was relatively inaccessible for mainstream audiences and could become "a coveted item among youthful cognoscenti."
References
{{reflist}}
External links
- [http://www.othercinemadvd.com/spectres.html Spectres of the Spectrum] at Other Cinema
- {{IMDb title|0224156}}
Category:1999 science fiction films
Category:American science fiction films
Category:American collage films
Category:Films directed by Craig Baldwin
Category:1990s films about time travel
Category:1990s avant-garde and experimental films