Close Up

9 February 2019: Pablo Mazzolo: Conjectures

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"Optics, mechanics, chemistry, light waves. A set of scientific variables, which combined in the right way are transformed into an ineffable force that floods senses. It is more than fair to say that Pablo Mazzolo (Buenos Aires, 1976) has managed to modulate with singular mastery the ingredients of cinema to transform them into that energy. His clairvoyant skill with the camera, his instinct when handling the emulsion and the way in which it captures light and colors make it a work of an overwhelming plasticity, in which multiple layers of image (and sense) interact. Reality crosses the threshold of dreams, and cinema becomes an enveloping sensory experience." – (S8) Mostra de Cinema Periférico

Close-Up is thrilled to welcome Argentinian filmmaker Pablo Mazzolo to present a selection of his Super8 and 16mm works.

NN
Pablo Mazzolo, 2014-2017, 2’30 min

NN is a reanimated archival news footage from the time of the Argentine coup d’état. The film reflects on anonymity of subject; the spectre of thousands of disappeared dissidents and civilians during the dictatorship in Argentina.

Photooxidation
Pablo Mazzolo, 2013, 13 min

De-electronation of a molecular entity as a result of photoexcitation. Light increases its oxidation state, at the same time it releases free radical electrons. 

Fish Point
Pablo Mazzolo, 2015, 7 min, 16mm

The film is a kinetic exploration through Fish Point, the Provincial Nature Reserve on Pelee Island (Ontario, Canada).

Conjectures
Pablo Mazzolo, 2013, 4 min
Sound by Alan Courtis

Conjectures about the animal that bumps into itself, aims for big things, and gets sick of it all.

Oaxaca Tohoku
Pablo Mazzolo, 2011, 11’25 min, 35mm

On March 11, 2011, there was an earthquake in the coastal region of Tohoku (Japan). The rupture of tectonic plates expanded through an area of 100,000 sq km. On the other side of the Pacific Ocean, in the coastal area of Oaxaca (Mexico) a tsunami alert was issued.

The Quilpo Dreams of Waterfalls
Pablo Mazzolo, 2012, 10’50 min
Music by Charly Zaragoza

According to the Comechingones natives, Quilpo river dreams of big falls at least once a year. Whoever is near the river at the time will be part of its dreams forever. Shot in the sacred comechingones' shrine. “This shortfilm is a diary of my days at the Quilpo River. I shot with my Super 8 camera in an area of the Quilpo river in Cordoba, considered to be sacred by the Comechingones aborigins. The Quilpo doesn´t have waterfalls so these were shot quite more to the south, near Mallín Ahogado in Rio Negro. Then I intervened the undeveloped celluloid with light through different kinds of glass and masks. When I developed the film, I reprinted with light different positive frames over a new virgin celluloid. Material creating material. The river feeding itself. The film implodes. I try generating conditions for the unexpected to appear.” – Pablo Mazzolo


Pablo Mazzolo was born in Buenos Aires in 1976. He graduated in Image and Sound Design at University of Buenos Aires. His films have participated in festivals like Rotterdam film festival, New York Film Festival: Views from the Avant Garde, Ann Arbor film Festival, Edinburgh Film Festival, Videoex, Chicago Underground, Rencontres Internationales a Paris, among others. He was also invited to attend in various film performances and solo presentations in museums like MOCANOMI (MI,USA), MALBA (BsAs, Arg), MassArt (Boston,USA), FAMU (Ptague, Cz Rep.), San Francisco cinematheque. His film Oaxaca Tohoku (2012) was prized by The Metropolitan Fund of Arts, and The Bienal of Moving Image. His work has been prized in Ann Arbor, Media City, National Fund of Ars, BIM. He is currently running workshops about visual perception and creation of images in institutions specialized in autism. He teaches in the National University of Quilmes, and in the University of Buenos Aires. He also works as a documentary Filmmaker, and editor.