Rust Belt (2016)

Rust Belt, inspired by the minimalist and structural cinema of Chantal Akerman and James Benning, is a document of industrial decay in the United States, represented through locations in upstate New York. Shot on expired 16mm film as another representation of the loss of materiality and industry within this country, Rust Belt allows the grain of the material to become the focus of the piece. As the 27 minute piece progresses, the grain slowly becomes more dense, eventually obfuscating the entire image, rendering everything but the grain unintelligible wherein the locations and the medium die a symbolic death. Shooting on expired film was an important choice in that most manufacturer's of film have gone out of business in the exact decline of industry that our film focuses on. The remaining expired film, like the locations in the film, is weathered and textured in unexpected, beautiful ways.